Contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen Season Two
I got the memo: Killing Eve Series 3 streams from 6am on Monday 13 April 2020. I wonder how many people did start watching at 6am. I got to it on Tuesday - as stylish, witty and engaging as ever, you start looking straightaway to see where all the characters you know are at.
Source Konstantin, Villenelle, Eve, Carolyn.
Villenelle is living it up, getting married, entranced by her bride and her money (that wedding speech doesn't go down so well), but still, you know, enthralled by Eve. There's another guest at the wedding, from the past. A fight ensues and the warring couple head off in the "just married" car, tins rattling behind, both with bloody noses.
Meanwhile, over in London, Eve is not having a great time. She's resigned in every way, a grey life, grey clothes, living on snacks, working in a kitchen in a Korean restaurant, an unkempt studio flat. Niko is in an institution, the house is being sold, he is really not interested, try as she might to perk him up.
I never really got Niko, or the relationship. He's a nice guy, I understand, but what has he got that Eve could possibly want? She's so intelligent, so tricksy, complex. He's a nice guy (this is nothing against nice guys, but for drama purposes, this isn't doing it for me).
Anyway, whatever these two are up to, whatever kind of life they managed to put together, flamboyantly, in Villenelle's case, like a matador; deflatedly, in Eve's case (in more sense than one when you see the scar on her chest), life and the series writers haven't done with them.
Fortuitously, Eve sends a text triggering a series of events ...
Both lead characters are excellent again, Sandra Oh ultra-sexy, exuding warmth, intelligence, feeling; Jodie Comer androgynous, smart, cold, mischievous. I loved the references, the coming to life of Eve, moving from everything is too much to nervy, scared (she does good scream, does Sandra Oh) and you know she's not going to let this drop.
I've started watching Series 1 and 2 again. They're a great pleasure. Konstantin, of course, was always very engaging, but the great finger-licking delight on a second viewing is Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens. Excellent.
Series 3 is joined by Harriet Walter, and her character in this is an interesting contrast to Lady Brockenhurst in Belgravia, currently playing over on ITV. In fact, the two programmes highlight the difference in plotting. Belgravia, in spite of the (not-so) secret at the heart of the plot and the sculduggery of the various low-lifes, is no match for the crossing, double and triple crossing twists and turns of Killing Eve.
There are so many gorgeously satisfying moments in Killing Eve, but the best in Series 1 (so far, anyway, on my second viewing) has to be the exchange between Villenelle and her odious new handler, Anton(?). After telling her how it is going to be, she simply shoots him. So many times when being a psychopath would have come in handy at work.
Just read this review in the Guardian, with the following beautiful quote about a new character: "He is played to perfection by Steve Pemberton, who specialises in people who make your hackles rise and your teeth itch as soon as they open their mouths."
Looking forward to re-watching the rest of the first two series and the rest of Season Three. Great Fun.
