We were set to wait until summer to watch season three of Killing Eve...and then the BBC took pity on us and delivered during lockdown: is it worth the watch?
There’s good news and bad news (which at the moment is an improvement on the status quo of bad news and very, very bad news).
The good news is that the third season of Killing Eve is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer and it looks like it’s going to be better than season two, the bad news is that the BBC are making us work for it: there’s no box set, just a new episode released weekly.
Series three will stream weekly on BBC iPlayer and will later air on BBC One from Sunday April 19 – new episodes will be available to watch from 6am on Mondays and the new series will air at 9pm.
The idea is to prevent spoilers for BBC One viewers – on which note, there are several below, so STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM.
When the curtain came down at the end of season two of Killing Eve, it seemed as if the title had come to pass: there was MI6 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) motionless on the ground, her seemingly lifeless body watched over by her nemesis/girl crush Villanelle (Jodie Comer).
It might, however, SPOILER ALERT, be difficult to have a third season of Killing Eve without Eve. And seeing as there have been trailers all over BBC3, I think it’s fair for me to say that Eve is alive, having survived Villanelle’s bullet in Rome.
Quite why the assassin’s assassin didn’t think to check her victim was actually dead is anyone’s guess, and particularly in Eve’s case but there we are – the sun has not set on Ms Polastri, meaning the cat and mouse game continues.
Or does it?
Just as the rest of the world lives through the wake up call of wake up calls, Eve treats her miraculous escape as a chance to reinvent herself and has found herself a brand new job working in a kitchen.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. She’s drinking a lot and living in a tiny flat with regular visits to husband Nike (Owen McDonnell) who is suffering every shade of Villanelle fear, reasonably enough, and is rehab.
Eve is bored senseless with normal life although she rails against embracing the dark side once again when she sees former colleague Kenny (Sean Delaney): “I’m totally done with her, done with that, end of story,” she tells him.
Chinny reckon, Eve. Villanelle, meanwhile, believes that Eve is dead and even if she had time to think about it for more than a minute, there’s someone else to distract her: her old mentor, Dasha (Harriet Walter).
At her wedding to a rich Spanish woman and a touching speech that namechecks Eve (“I’m so much happier now she’s dead”) before she spots an unexpected guest: Russian agent Dasha, who is keen to get her former pupil back on track and equally enthusiastic about willing Villanelle on to even more dastardly acts of violence.
The younger women is more than happy to oblige, not quite so happy to find herself being offered a ‘management’ role.
Elsewhere, Caroline (Fiona Shaw) is getting used to MI6’s new ‘overseer’ Paul Bradwell (Steve Pemberton), Hugo (Edward Bluemel) is suing his former bosses for injuries sustained and Kenny (Sean Delaney) is doggedly searching for The Twelve.
There’s no getting away from it, with Villanelle convinced that Eve is dead, there’s a lack of purpose and chemistry which, one hopes, will return when the pair are reunited.
New writer Suzanne Heathcote still delivers entertainment, though, it’s nice to see Kim Bodnia back as Villanelle’s handler for example, and did we mention the devastating twist at the end of episode one? No? Well, there is one, with a distinct South Park nod.
If season two felt a bit of a pale imitation of season one, this new series does seem to be shaking things up a little, not an easy task when the shock value of Villanelle’s kills has muted.
But it’s a good hour of telly, the leads remain compelling, the concept clever – and let’s face it, matching up to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s series one would be virtually impossible. I’ve got no idea where this series will go from episode one, but that’s kind of what draws you back, isn’t it?
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here