‘KILLING EVE’ is a drama spy thriller based on a novel by Luke Jennings that’s a big hit in both the U.S. and U.K.
It stars Sandra Oh (Dr. Yang of “Grey’s Anatomy”) as Eve Polastri, an investigator with the British Intelligence MI5 who’s called to look into the death of a man in Vienna. She quickly deduced that the assassin is a woman.
This is Vilanelle who’s real name is Oksana (played by Brit actress Jodie Comer who has done other TV series but this is definitely her breakout role). Oksana is a remorseless psychopathic killer and even kids are not exempt from her evil deeds.
The boss of MI5 resents Eve’s astute observations and dismisses her, but she’s quickly hired by another group, MI6, and this is where she makes progress in finally locating, and later, meeting Vilanelle in person.
The show is spiced up with so many sexy and risque elements, like Vilanelle is AC-DC, shown having sex with both men and women.
This is not surprising as its head writer is Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the Brit actress-writer who won the Emmy for the hit half-hour comedy show, “Fleabag”, which critics just loved but which we didn’t get to stand after a couple of episodes as its very bawdy, sex-oriented humor didn’t sit well with us. She’s even shown masturbating while watching Pres. Obama on her tablet.
“Killing Eve” works well because it’s quite well written and defies your expectations. A lot of deep dark secrets of some characters are revealed and there are many twists as it goes along, including in the background of Vilanelle, who was recruited while imprisoned in Russia.
There were times we don’t want to watch anymore because the character of Vilanelle is so dark, has no redeeming values. She’s so ruthless and obviously has no conscience and we want her to be killed already. But we can’t just give it up as the acting is just splendid.
Sandra Oh is great as Eve Polastri, but Jodie Comer has the flashier role. And she effortlessly makes the most of it. The character is evil and violent, but it’s a very nuanced performance, definitely subverting the usual feminine stereotypes.
She can be scary, but when she’s on screen, you cannot take your eyes away from her. We love even her Russian accent. She can make evil so seductive and eventually, she becomes fixated on Sandra Oh.
No wonder she has since won so many best actress awards for this role. We’re not sure if we’d still watch Season 2 but if we’d miss Jodie, we just might.
