HOT PURSUIT
Killing Eve
NETWORK BBC America AIR DATE April 7th, 8 p.m.
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The first season of this thriller about the mutual obsession between frazzled spy Eve (Sandra Oh) and fashion-conscious but childlike assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) was so delightful and surprising in almost every way, it seemed particularly ripe for a sophomore slump. Inevitably, there are some creaks and stumbles as showrunner Emerald Fennell (replacing the great Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who’s hard at work on Season Two of her seminal series Fleabag) deals with the aftermath of Eve stabbing Villanelle in last year’s finale, and with making this cat-and-mouse game an ongoing story rather than a miniseries. But if Villanelle isn’t in top form to start, the first few episodes are, offering enough funny, shocking and sexy reminders of what makes each woman tick. Villanelle struggles to heal and to find clothes that are even slightly flattering (in one moment that ends up feeling particularly twisted, she dons superhero pajamas that belong to a young boy she meets in the hospital), while Eve keeps battling sexism in the intelligence community. (When a younger male colleague asks Eve why she thinks an overlooked new target must be an older, nonwhite woman, she retorts,
“The fact that you just interrupted me midsentence makes me think that!”) The leads are electric — Oh’s laughter early in the premiere is a miracle — and though, in the end, the show might not feel built for the long haul, it’s good fun for now.