All’s fair in love & war
Spy analyst Eve enters dangerous and romantic territory while hunting assassin Villanelle in dramedy series Killing Eve.
Killing Eve
Season 1 Thursdays (from 10 June) SABC3 (*193) 21:00
Asuccessful romcom series needs a hair-raising yet humorous boymeets-girl plotline where the couple are occasionally separated by complicated obstacles, such as careers or loved ones, along with a dose of suspense and a pinch of seduction.
Add drama, action and murder to the mix and you’ve got dry dramedy series Killing Eve (2018-now), but there’s a twist to the love arc – it features two women at its core.
The tale begins when desk-bound analyst Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, Abby in 2017 in anthology drama series American Crime, 2015-2017) is tasked with solving a mysterious murder. “She is convinced that it’s a woman behind the crime, and much to Eve and her colleagues’ surprise, she is correct,” says 49-year-old Sandra. And it turns out that fashionable psychotic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer, Kate in British medical drama series Doctor Foster, 2015-2017) has been on a killing spree.
Ignoring her bosses, Eve sets out to catch Villanelle. “One is the hunter, the other is the hunted,” explains Sandra. “Villanelle is young, powerful and filled with vitality, while Eve is middle-aged, seemingly unremarkable and a little plateaued. Their differences draw them together as much as tear them apart,” explains Sandra. But what begins as a cat-and-mouse chase turns into a steamy affair between the two.
OBSESSED MUCH?
When Villanelle discovers Eve’s mission to track her down, the assassin sets out to silence Eve first. But it’s soon revealed that neither Villanelle nor Eve is able to follow through with their tasks as they first grow obsessed with each other and then develop feelings for one another. “Rather naïvely, Eve admires Villanelle’s freedom – or what she perceives to be freedom. Villanelle lives on the edge. She is candid in her behaviour and lacks remorse,” explains Sandra.
In some twisted way, Villanelle’s carelessness is thrilling to upstanding Eve. “Eve will never admit to it, and I don’t even think that she’s conscious of [her fascination] with Villanelle. It’s not just that Villanelle wears great clothes, because she does. It’s her personality, her individuality, the flair with which Villanelle moves through the world. I believe that [Villanelle’s self-assurance] is a trait which Eve needs to integrate herself. I think that’s an extremely attractive part of Villanelle.” By midseason, Eve’s off-the-books assignment takes over her life, interfering with her job and her marriage to Niko (Owen McDonnell, McArthur in single-season drama series Paula, 2017).
SOLVING THE RIDDLE
In a twist, hardened killer Villanelle ends up stripping Eve of her dull and frumpy old self rather than actually killing her. “Eve goes down a rabbit hole and she starts falling and losing pieces of her identity. It’s fantastic to play someone who’s losing perspective and changing,” explains Sandra.
Jodie says that as much as Villanelle is attracted to much older women with curls in their tresses, her character is captivated by Eve’s normalcy. “Villanelle sees Eve in a way she can’t see herself. Eve has this nine-to-five job, friends and a husband. She’s happy and that’s what Villanelle craves: human contact and, essentially, settling down,” adds Jodie. “As the season progresses, you’ll think that one is in control, then [the power] totally shifts to the other. Villanelle is taken aback and somewhat interested in that Eve is able to call her out and see through her tough exterior.” But don’t expect a fairytale ending to the season, as the two lead characters are fiercely competitive and they’ll fight to break each other until one woman is standing and the other is in a pool of blood, fighting for her life.