Killing Eve

Killing Eve
Genre Drama
Based on Codename Villanelle novella series
by Luke Jennings
Developed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Starring
Country of origin United States
United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Sally Woodward Gentle
  • Lee Morris
  • Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 42 minutes
Production company(s) Sid Gentle Films
Distributor IMG
Release
Original network BBC America
Original release April 8, 2018 (2018-04-08) – present (present)
External links
Website

Killing Eve is a British-made drama television series produced by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America. It is based on Luke Jennings's Codename Villanelle novella series, and developed for television by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The first season of eight episodes was ordered on November 15, 2016, and premiered on April 8, 2018. Shortly before its premiere, BBC America renewed Killing Eve for a second season.

Premise

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a desk-bound MI5 officer, begins to track down talented psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer), while both women become obsessed with each other.[1]

Cast and characters

Production

Sally Woodward Gentle, of Sid Gentle Films, optioned Luke Jennings' Codename Villanelle, which began as a four-part novella series published from 2014–2016. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, after the success of Fleabag on stage, was recruited to write the show, which was then commissioned by BBC America in November 2016.[8] Sandra Oh was the first to be cast in June 2017.[9] IMG boarded for distribution rights later the same month.[10] Jodie Comer was announced as main character Villanelle about a month later.[11] Kirby Howell-Baptiste was cast as Elena in August 2017.[7] Production also commenced in August 2017, with filming on locations including Paris, Tuscany, Berlin, Romania,[12] Cheshunt, Turville, London[13] and West London Film Studios. The building used as Eve's base of operations is in Warwick House Street, just off Trafalgar Square. Filming also took place at Nell’s Café, a popular roadside café off the A2 near Gravesend in Kent, as well as the M2 motorway nearby.[14]

Shortly before its premiere, Killing Eve was renewed for a second season.[15][16] Filming for the second season started on July 16, 2018.[17] It is set to premiere in Spring 2019.[18]

Episodes

No.Title [19]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [19]U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Nice Face"Harry BradbeerPhoebe Waller-BridgeApril 8, 2018 (2018-04-08)[10][20]0.423[21]
Psychopathic Villanelle—a young, beautiful, and prolific assassin—leaves a trail of high profile murders across several countries including in Italy. MI5 officer Eve Polastri connects a new assassination to a series of such killings which she has been researching on her own time. Though her theory that the assassin is a woman is dismissed by her superiors, Eve's unauthorised interview with the only witness confirms it. The witness is murdered while in hospital in London, along with a nurse and two guards, causing MI5 to fire Eve and Bill. Impressed by Eve, Carolyn Martens, head of the Russia Section of MI6, recruits her for an off-the-books assignment to track the killer.
2"I'll Deal With Him Later"Harry BradbeerPhoebe Waller-BridgeApril 15, 2018 (2018-04-15)0.371[22]
Following her assignment in Budapest, Villanelle's handler Konstantin is concerned about her increasing recklessness on the job. He also informs her that a covert MI6 task force, led by Eve, is investigating her string of assassinations. Eve realises that a nurse she saw at the hospital before the murders may be the killer and recruits Elena and Bill as her assistants. Villanelle forms a relationship with her neighbour Sebastien and carries out another murder, of a successful parfumier, at a dinner party in Paris.
3"Don't I Know You?"Jon EastVicky JonesApril 22, 2018 (2018-04-22)0.388[23]
Villanelle lures Eve to Berlin by using Eve's name while committing another murder, and trails Eve as she investigates it. Eve's associate Bill Pargrave spots Villanelle and follows her. Before Eve can get to him, Villanelle stabs Bill repeatedly, killing him.
4"Sorry Baby"Jon EastGeorge KayApril 29, 2018 (2018-04-29)0.503[24]
Konstantin punishes Villanelle for her recent unpredictable behaviour by making her work with two other operatives: Nadia and Diego. The three are to assassinate Frank Haleton, Eve's former MI5 boss who Eve has discovered is a mole. Eve rushes to Frank's rescue, while Villanelle manipulates Nadia into killing Diego, and runs Nadia over with her car.
5"I Have a Thing About Bathrooms"Jon EastPhoebe Waller-BridgeMay 6, 2018 (2018-05-06)0.518[25]
Eve and Carolyn get Frank to a safe house, and he tells them that he is being paid by a shadow organization "The Twelve", who use Villanelle for purposeful destabilization. Villanelle breaks into Eve's home to talk to her, and takes her phone, which Villanelle uses to track down Frank and kill him. Konstantin tells Villanelle that Nadia is alive and has to be killed before she can be questioned by anyone.
6"Take Me to the Hole!"Damon ThomasGeorge KayMay 13, 2018 (2018-05-13)0.537[26]
Eve and Carolyn track down Nadia to a Moscow prison, and are allowed to speak to her due to Carolyn's camaraderie with two Russian Intelligence officers, one of whom is Konstantin. Eve and Carolyn offer Nadia a deal, but before she can accept, she's killed by Villanelle, whom Konstantin had transferred into the prison for that purpose.
7"I Don't Want to Be Free"Damon ThomasRob WilliamsMay 20, 2018 (2018-05-20)0.485[27]
Eve investigates Anna, Villanelle's former teacher with whom she had a deep relationship before Villanelle killed her husband. Villanelle is broken out from prison, meets her new handler and is given her next target: Konstantin. Villanelle breaks into Konstantin's home but he escapes. Eve discovers that Carolyn secretly met Villanelle at the prison earlier that day, before she escaped.
8"God, I'm Tired"Damon ThomasPhoebe Waller-BridgeMay 27, 2018 (2018-05-27)0.701[28]
Konstantin goes to Carolyn and Eve for help, confessing that Villanelle is after him. Eve and Konstantin have a confrontation with Villanelle in a cafe; Villanelle kills Konstantin and escapes. Carolyn fires Eve from MI6, but Eve independently tracks down Villanelle to her Paris apartment. The pair confess their mutual obsession with each other, following which Eve stabs Villanelle and Villanelle flees.

International broadcast

In the United Kingdom the series was shown on BBC One and also on the stream-only BBC Three.[29] The first episode was broadcast on September 15, 2018[30] and seen by 5.42 million viewers within seven days of the first broadcast[31].

Irish broadcaster RTÉ2 was the first broadcaster in Europe to premiere the show,[32] and the first episode was broadcast August 27, 2018.[33]

Reception

Critical response

The show has a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 58 reviews, the consensus stating: "Seductive and surprising, Killing Eve's twist on the spy vs. spy concept rewards viewers with an audaciously entertaining show that finally makes good use of Sandra Oh's talents."[34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 83 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[35]

Jenna Scherer, writing in Rolling Stone, described Killing Eve as "hilarious, bloody, unclassifiable" and idiosyncratic, "a stylish story of obsession and psychopathy that's disarmingly warm and lived-in".[36] Scherer went on to write that the show "undermines every rule of TV", with what it does best being its "dry wit, razor-wire tension, sex appeal and the looming threat of violence".[36] Hanh Nguyen wrote on IndieWire that one of the show's most appealing aspects is "how it subverts expectation", allowing it to "constantly surprise and delight".[37] Along the same lines, Troy Patterson wrote in The New Yorker that the story discloses "a life independent of genre conventions" and that the triumph of the show's style is its "reconciliation of the outlandish and the intimate", adding that the "Jason Bourne-style escapism of the bare premise, inflected by the assertively odd tone, yields fresh depictions of fear and grief".[38] In the context of Vulture's selection of Sandra Oh as the best actress on television (June 2018), Matt Zoller Seitz wrote that there was "no precedent" for the "wild extremes" of the show's "comedy and thriller elements".[39] While Mike Hale acknowledged in The New York Times that "scenes and characterizations play out differently than we're used to" and the comic style is distinctive, he also wrote – in contrast to most reviewers – of being "just as conscious of (the show's) congruences with standard examples of the genre ... as ... of the differences", citing Berlin Station, La Femme Nikita, Covert Affairs and Homeland.[40]

Scherer described the show as a feminine take on a traditionally masculine genre—"more interested in giving space to character beats and the weird chaos that can leak into the best-laid plans".[36] Similarly, Melanie McFarland wrote for Salon that Killing Eve has been dubbed a "feminist thriller", calling it a "perfect show for the #MeToo era," saying that it "slakes one's desire to see piggish misogynists get what's coming to them" but also delves into complex trust issues among women and shows "sisterhood's might and peril (as) powerful ... but ... also complicated and devoid of guarantees".[41] Along the same lines, Willa Paskin wrote in Slate that Killing Eve is a story about "the literal dangers of underestimating women: of not seeing the woman who can kill you, underestimating the woman who can stop her".[42] Paskin added that the "disfigured, beating heart" of the program is "the way that Villanelle's gender and manner, her very femininity, keep our acculturated brains from being appropriately terrified of her".[42]

Jia Tolentino acknowledged in The New Yorker how critics have noted that women characters are substituted for men "in every meaningful part", that the men are "formulaic" but the women are "deeply strange".[43] However, Tolentino asserted that Killing Eve "isn't shaped around the concept of women; it's shaped around these women, who are unlike any others in their wild, unlikely interior weirdness and flux".[43] She added that a defining feature of the show is its "constant reversals in tone and rhythm", with the show's thrill coming "from pattern rather than resolution".[43]

Ben Goldberg wrote in Into that the series "never outright explains its characters' sexualities, but unlike shows that queerbait their audiences, Killing Eve does not need to name the relationship between Eve and Villanelle in order to recognize it", adding that the show "does not shy away from its characters' sexual attraction but also complicates this narrative at every turn".[44]

Hannah Giorgis wrote in The Atlantic that the show's greatest success is "how alluring it makes its villain: to both Eve ... and audiences", and that Villanelle's character subverts feminine stereotypes so as to "carve a jagged space into the serial-killer canon".[45]

Ratings

The show's first season had unbroken increases of weekly ratings growth among adults aged 25–54 and 18–49, which no other television show had accomplished in more than a decade.[46] The final episode's 1.25 million viewers (Nielsen live+3) was 86 percent greater than for the premiere episode.[46]

No. Title Air dateRating
(18–49)		Viewers
(millions)		DVR viewers
(millions)		Total viewers
(millions)
1 "Nice Face" April 8, 20180.100.423[21]0.3480.771[47]
2 "I'll Deal With Him Later" April 15, 20180.070.371[22]0.3970.769[48]
3 "Don't I Know You?" April 22, 20180.080.388[23]N/AN/A
4 "Sorry Baby" April 29, 20180.110.503[24]0.4750.978[49]
5 "I Have a Thing About Bathrooms" May 6, 20180.130.518[25]N/AN/A
6 "Take Me to the Hole!" May 13, 20180.140.537[26]0.5361.073[50]
7 "I Don't Want to Be Free" May 20, 20180.110.485[27]N/AN/A
8 "God, I'm Tired" May 27, 20180.130.701[28]0.6331.335[51]

Accolades

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2018 Gold Derby Awards Best Drama Series Killing Eve Nominated [52]
Best Dramatic Actress Jodie Comer Nominated
Sandra Oh Nominated
People's Choice Awards The Bingeworthy Show of 2018 Killing Eve Pending [53]
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Sandra Oh Nominated [54]
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Phoebe Waller-Bridge (for "Nice Face") Nominated
Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Drama Jodie Comer Nominated [55]
Sandra Oh Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Drama Killing Eve Nominated
Outstanding New Program Killing Eve Won
Program of the Year Killing Eve Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "About the Show". BBC America. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  2. ↑ Petski, Denise (June 13, 2017). "Sandra Oh To Star In Title Role Of Killing Eve BBC America Series". Deadline Hollywood.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "BBC acquires Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Killing Eve". BBC Media Centre. March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ Petski, Denise (June 28, 2017). "Killing Eve: Jodie Comer Cast As Lead In BBC America Series". Deadline Hollywood.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Mitovich, Matt Webb (January 12, 2018). "Sandra Oh's Killing Eve Gets Premiere Date, Intense First Photos". TVLine.
  6. ↑ http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/killing-eve/cast-crew/niko-polastri
  7. 1 2 Petski, Denise (29 August 2017). "Killing Eve: Kirby Howell-Baptiste Cast As Series Regular In BBC America Drama". Deadline Hollywood.
  8. ↑ Petski, Denise (November 15, 2016). "BBC America Greenlights Dark Thriller Series Killing Eve From Fleabag Creator". Deadline Hollywood.
  9. ↑ "Sandra Oh Cast in New BBC America Series Killing Eve". BBC America. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Lodderhose, Diana (June 21, 2017). "IMG Boards BBC America's Killing Eve With Sandra Oh". Deadline Hollywood.
  11. ↑ "Jodie Comer Cast Opposite Sandra Oh in BBC America's Killing Eve". BBC America. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  12. ↑ Clarke, Stewart (4 April 2018). "Phoebe Waller-Bridge Twists the Spy Genre With BBC America's Thriller 'Killing Eve'".
  13. ↑ "BBC America's New Thriller Killing Eve Starts Filming in Europe". BBC America. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  14. ↑ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Killing Eve Article".
  15. ↑ Nemetz, Dave (April 5, 2018). "Killing Eve Renewed for Season 2 at BBC America Ahead of Premiere". TVLine. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  16. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (April 5, 2018). "Sandra Oh's Killing Eve Renewed at BBC America". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  17. ↑ Thomas, Damon [@damonUK] (July 16, 2018). "And so it begins....#killingeve2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ "'Killing Eve' Returns Spring 2019 with Three Cast Additions". BBC America. August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  19. 1 2 "Killing Eve – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "First Look Photos: BBC America's Killing Eve Premieres April 8". BBC America. January 1, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  21. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (April 10, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 4.8.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  22. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (April 17, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 4.15.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  23. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (April 24, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 4.22.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  24. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (May 1, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 4.29.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  25. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (May 8, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.6.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  26. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (May 15, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.13.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  27. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (May 22, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.20.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  28. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (May 30, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.27.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  29. ↑ "BBC - BBC acquires Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Killing Eve for BBC One and BBC Three - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  30. ↑ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com.
  31. ↑ "Weekly top 30 programmes - BARB". www.barb.co.uk.
  32. ↑ "RTÉ launches first-rate new autumn season". 16 August 2018.
  33. ↑ Byrne, John (27 August 2018). "What's on? TV highlights for Monday".
  34. ↑ "Killing Eve: Season 1 (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Killing Eve: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  36. 1 2 3 Scherer, Jenna (May 14, 2018). "'Killing Eve': The Cracked Female Spy-Thriller Buddy Comedy of the Year". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018.
  37. ↑ Nguyen, Hanh (May 6, 2018). "Killing Eve: TV's Newest Assassin Subverts Storytelling Cliches, Which Makes Her Scary as Hell". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018.
  38. ↑ Patterson, Troy (April 27, 2018). "Why "Killing Eve" Is Not the Show It First Appeared to Be". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018.
  39. ↑ Seitz, Matt Zoller (June 27, 2018). "The Best Actress on TV Is Killing Eve's Sandra Oh". Vulture. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018.
  40. ↑ Hale, Mike (April 5, 2018). "Review: In Killing Eve, Female Spy Hunts Female Assassin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2018.
  41. ↑ McFarland, Melanie (May 26, 2018). "Feminist thriller "Killing Eve" has proven a perfect show for the #MeToo era". Salon. Archived from the original on May 26, 2018.
  42. 1 2 Paskin, Willa (April 10, 2018). "Killing Eve Makes Murder Dangerously Fun". Slate. Archived from the original on May 30, 2018.
  43. 1 2 3 Tolentino, Jia (May 27, 2018). "The Pleasurable Patterns of the Killing Eve Season Finale". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018.
  44. ↑ Goldberg, Ben (July 2, 2018). "The Queer Ambiguity of Killing Eve". Into. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  45. ↑ Giorgis, Hannah (May 28, 2018). "Killing Eve and the Riddle of Why Women Kill". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018.
  46. 1 2 TV News Desk (June 1, 2018). "BBC America's Killing Eve Ends First Season With Unbroken Streak of Weekly Ratings Growth". Broadway World. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018.
  47. ↑ Porter, Rick (April 19, 2018). "Fixer Upper finale goes out strong: Cable Live +7 ratings for April 2–8". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  48. ↑ Porter, Rick (April 26, 2018). "The Last O.G. scores for TBS in cable Live +7 ratings for April 9–15". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  49. ↑ Porter, Rick (May 10, 2018). "Suits finale gets solid bump in cable Live +7 ratings for April 23–29". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  50. ↑ Porter, Rick (May 24, 2018). "Atlanta finale gets a good boost in cable Live +7 ratings for May 7–13". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  51. ↑ Porter, Rick (June 7, 2018). "'Krypton' finale gets a big bump in cable Live +7 ratings for May 21–27". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  52. ↑ Montgomery, Daniel (July 26, 2018). "2018 Gold Derby TV Awards nominations: 'This is Us,' 'Gianni Versace' and 'The Handmaid's Tale' lead the way". GoldDerby. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  53. ↑ Macke, Johnni (September 5, 2018). "2018 People's Choice Awards: Complete List of Nominations". E! News. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  54. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (July 12, 2018). "Emmy Nominations: 'Game Of Thrones, 'The Americans', 'Atlanta', Defending Champ 'Handmaid's Tale' Among Top Nominees". Deadline. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  55. ↑ Nemetz, Dave (June 19, 2018). "TCA Awards: Killing Eve, Americans, Atlanta, Good Place Lead Nominations". TVLine. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  • Killing Eve on IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Jennings, Luke (August 5, 2018). "Killing Eve: how my psycho killer was brought to life". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. (Author's story of the novellas and adapting to the television series)
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