Killing Eve

It might be funny and sexy, but the spy thriller is out of new ideas. And now even the fabulous costumes are in short supply.

She’s living in a hotel and enjoying a casual thing with a muscly colleague at the private security firm where she now works: he buys her burgers, sharpens her hand-to-hand combat skills, and cheerfully agrees to unfussy sex in a surveillance van, after a conversation about firing a weapon turns her on. Killing Eve is funny, sexy and the source of numerous already brilliant actors’ best work, but it has made no sense for some time. A criminal network called the Twelve keeps murdering beloved minor characters, and Eve plans to destroy it, but what the Twelve wants or why we might care has remained murky.

KILLING EVE's Konstantin Vasiliev has become a popular figure in the BBC spy thriller but the TV actor has since revealed how he almost didn't make it past ...

The spy thriller, which is one of BBC iPlayer’s most-streamed shows, hadn’t always intended to keep certain characters for as long as they have, according to actor Kim. Detailing his relationship with the brutal Villanelle, he said: “There is a strong sense of paternalism that he shows towards (her).” He began: “I had long talks about him with Phoebe (Waller-Bridge) back at the start, and Konstantin was meant to be a baddie who had to be killed off. "So he could have the opportunity to be a more flexible character, show a greater range of emotions,” Kim told Radio Times. Speaking about his character, the Killing Eve star explained how he had championed the longevity of Konstantin, who was only meant to feature up until the fourth episode of the first season. BBC viewers see Konstantin Vasiliev (Kim Bodnia) as a Russian mayor while the fierce Caroline Martens (Fiona Shaw) goes to extraordinary lengths to chase down The Twelve and the person who ordered the hit on her son.

Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh) are back for season four – the final of the BBC series. But the first two episodes move things at a slow pace.

Killing Eve has always kept longtime fans (ourselves included) on their toes with where it wants to go and the twists that lay ahead. In season three, it seemed more that they were willing to tap into the childhood and longstanding trauma Villanelle has been holding onto for so long, spurring her every move in the process. So the theme of season four, it seems, is a little more nature vs nurture in style, with Eve embracing her ruthless side while Villanelle tries to deny hers. At the moment, it seems just to be happy meandering towards its conclusion. If the first two episodes are anything to go by, it's arguable the series as a whole is a little more tortoise and the hare. When the show first appeared on our screens back in 2018, during the height of the #MeToo movement, seeing this will they/won’t they cat-and-mouse game created and led by women was as powerful as the bright pink dress Villanelle twirled about in.

The actor, 56, stars as Konstantin in the BBC series opposite Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri and Jodie Comer as assassin Villanelle.

Not because we are better, or worse, but because women are just interested in it. He said: 'It seems as if women can do a lot of things that men just can't do. He said: 'It seems as if women can do a lot of things that men just can't do. Originally meant to be a baddie, Kim explained: 'He is surrounded by women as the main actors. She said: 'It's very surreal, we are just about to start filming the last 2 episodes. Women make it funnier.

“I've killed so many people. I don't want to do it any more, any of it.” So said Villanelle (Jodie Comer) to Eve (Sandra Oh) in the last episode of the third series of Killing Eve, soon after she'd pushed Rhian Bevan, an assassin hired by the Twelve, ...

The final season of the darkly comedic thriller reunites Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.

But it’s hard not to expect and want something more from a project with this calibre of performers; it shouldn’t just be “fine”. Fans will surely be sad to see Killing Eve go, but it may be a good thing for the showrunners to wrap the show up now while they still have a chance to control where it goes. The programme is entertaining, and no viewer will regret spending an hour or two with it. As Eve determinedly voyages across borders and around dangerous corners to uncover this secret gang, it’s hard to fully care whether she finds it. Though the wide-eyed kookiness can become a touch grating after a while, Villanelle is always funny: “JUST DUNK ME!” she tells the vicar when she realises Eve isn’t coming. For Eve, it’s a job in private security, which she uses as a front for her real personal mission: figuring out who’s in charge of elusive global assassin agency The Twelve. The now-retired assassin has been living with a vicar and his daughter, who has become infatuated with the mysterious Russian. Villanelle even serves fish and loaves for dinner every night as she wants to have a “roadmap” for good behaviour.