‘KILLING EVE’ | BBC AMERICA
Creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, star and creator of Amazon’s heartbreaking comedy “Fleabag,” now turns her twisted attention to merging humor with thriller. “Killing Eve,” based on the Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings, centers on the mutual obsession between a British spy (played by Sandra Oh) and a beautifully creepy psychopathic assassin (Jodie Comer).
The reviews:
The A.V. Club’s Lisa Weidenfeld raves, “Waller-Bridge was equally assured in ‘Fleabag’; here her dry wit finds its perfect avatar in Sandra Oh, who anchors the show so effortlessly it may be an actual crime that no one has been giving her roles this good. She imbues Eve with an effortlessly earthy vibe, simultaneously a little off-putting yet very real.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman is slightly less enamored: “A couple of big twists are telegraphed well in advance, mostly by bad decisions the characters otherwise probably wouldn’t make,” although he concedes it is “relentlessly engaging and surprising where it’s least expected, making for the next must-see show of 2018.”
The scoop:
Sandra Oh is having a ball playing the novice spy, even while acknowledging that the blend of drama, thriller and irreverence is tricky work. “I think that’s one of the reasons why people are surprised by the show,” she says. “It keeps you leaning forward, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.” When super spy Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) asks Eve to lead a secret task force to catch Villanelle, Oh found that the plot point resonated beyond the series.
“Eve’s first position is insecure — ‘I don’t deserve it,’ ” she explains. “Especially in where we are and the movements that are going on now, there are a lot of us who don’t see the actual grace, power, skill, whatever — readiness, within ourselves. It’s a beautiful time to awaken to it. And definitely I feel ‘Killing Eve’ is about Eve’s awakening to herself.”
‘It keeps you leaning forward, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.’ — SANDRA OH, on ‘Killing Eve’s’ unexpected blend of genres