Hit Or Miss: What Happens After 'Killing Eve'

There are spoilers about season three episode one of Killing Eve in this piece. 

Not every breakup ends with an attempted murder. 

However, when MI6 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and international assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) collides, the chemistry reaction goes beyond your everyday romance: blood must be shed. At the end of the first season, after a brief moment of emotional intimacy in Paris, Eve stuck a knife into Villanelle; at the end of the second season, running away from chaos and betrayal together, Villanelle shot Eve among the Roman relics. The unlikely pair, a middle-age government worker stuck in a plodding marriage, and a flamboyant killer haunted by her lack of humanity, are both searching for something that keeps their blood bumping. Until it doesn’t. When season two ended with Eve dropped dead on the ground, the viewers were left wondering: what happens after the killing of Eve?

Spoiler: Eve is still alive. After all, her name is in the title. Season three trailer starts with a triumphant intro from Dusty Springfield’s ‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,’ as Villanelle sways her way to sing her aria from the extravagant window of a Spanish Gothic mansion. “When I think about my ex,” Villanelle casually voice-overs her introduction, “I’m so much happier now she’s dead.” We learned that Villanelle doesn’t know Eve survived the gunshot. 

Then as the classic Killing Eve font flashes—OBSESSION NEVER DIES—the camera pans overhead at our survivor, Eve, waking up and screaming at Kenny Stowton (Sean Delany) standing by her bedside, a callback to the first time we were introduced to this character. But this time, she’s in bed alone. The trailer went on cutting through moments of all the characters we loved: Konstantin Vasiliev (Kim Bodnia) looking through a window with suspicion; Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) holding up a giant foam thumb; Niko Polastri (Owen McDonnell) driving through a dusty road in a even dustier truck. The fast sequence reminds us that Killing Eve remains violent and uniquely campy—there are clowns, knife hidden in a clown horn, garden scissor, a gymnast, some running, some dancing, more running, Villanelle bashing someone’s head open, and an exploding house. As the anxiety of the trailer rises up to a boiling point, a rather calm voicemail takes over. “Admit it Eve,” Villanelle speaks through a pink toy in Eve’s hand, “you wish I was here.” At last, the trailer leaves as with Villanelle as a clown screaming into the camera. Killing Eve returns. 

Season three’s show runner Suzanne Heathcote takes over from the creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the last season’s show runner Emerald Fennell. The charisma that kept us fascinated about the show stays the same: women behaving badly. But the new season is also exploring new grounds. For the first time, Eve is seen living and working in Korean culture. Briefly speaking Korean during missions in the last two seasons, Eve has been seen using her race to advantage as a MI6 agent: people aren’t threatened by middle-aged Asian women. Although the casting of Oh was colorblind, as the script develops with Oh in mind, the character is not. Eve has been exploring her sexuality and power to an astonishing degree, bringing her closer to the freeing yet dangerous psyche of Villanelle. This is unlike any other Asian women we’ve seen on television. Now we are getting to know Eve on a more personal level, living in New Malden, London’s Koreantown. After being traumatized abroad, Eve is seeking physical and mental recovery in her own culture. “It's a retreat,” Oh describes Eve’s new character development to The Hollywood Reporter, “She's retreating into a place where she feels safe, where she feels anonymous, where her tasks in some ways are very simple and very grounding.”

In the first episode, we see Eve grocery shopping in a Korean market, and making dumplings in the back of a Korean restaurant. Even though the activities are unexciting, for the first time, Eve is content. After leaning towards women like Villanelle and Carolyn, she has learned her lesson of independence, and finally she is standing her ground. Even though Eve is not a new person reincarnated after her “death” in Rome, she remains full of life in recovery—we see her yelling at a rude pedestrian on the street; we see her telling off her co-workers in the restaurant. The new season unapologetically starts a Korean woman’s story in her mother tongue—the power has been reclaimed. The cliché return of a character from the dead has always been a complete evolution, or chaotic pattern of behavior. A near-death experience has been a tool in Television to spice up the character, and ironically used to death. Killing Eve, however, is using its pathos to ground Oh’s character, paving the way for an exciting (and deadly) season to come. 

Season three of Killing Eve premiered on April 12, airing on both BBC America and AMC.