Killing Eve
Jul. 2nd, 2018 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
We finished the first season of Killing Eve last night. I’ve heard it described as ‘the lesbian Hannibal,’ though it’s really not. It’s more like Hannibal written as a crack!fic, with all the slow, dark, psychological drama removed and a bigger dose of humour dropped in (not that Hannibal is without humour, just that Eve adds more). Unfortunately there are differences that stop me from buying into the central relationship.
Hannibal works for two main reasons:
1. Will Graham knew Hannibal as a trusted friend before he knew him as a murderer, so the relationship was already there.
2. Will Graham was thoroughly established as weird from the start – weird enough that his colleagues discussed it, weird enough that when he did discover Hannibal was a serial killer, it didn’t disturb him as much as it should…
As an added bonus, Hannibal has a huge amount of charm, which he uses on everyone liberally, so it’s easy to see why people like him, with his quirky European eccentricities.
Villanelle OTOH is perfectly capable of using charm when she needs to, but rarely does. She’s a glamorous, untraceable, international assassin – why should she bother? So most of the time she does exactly what she pleases and acts like a demanding, bratty teenager. Not quite so appealing….
Villanelle’s obsession with Eve makes perfect sense – of course she’s intrigued by the woman who not only figured out the links between her kills, but managed to actually find her in person and as a bonus, happens to be just her type physically. My problem with the series’ progression is with Eve. She’s just far too normal.
Eve has a sweet, mutually supportive and non-restricting marriage. Eve makes and maintains good long term friendships with her work colleagues. She does have a deep knowledge and interest in assassins and other mass murderers which she follows as a hobby outside of her work interest, but that doesn’t mean she’s automatically going to fall for one.
This is where more detailed spoilers come in.
Eve knows Villanelle is a psychopathic assassin before she ever meets her. It’s reasonable that Eve would be impressed by her abilities to get into places, kill people and get out again. It makes sense that there would be a professional respect for her skill. But I see no reason at all why Eve would like Villanelle the person. Villanelle stalks her, steals her stuff, threatens her husband and kills her friend. No amount of pretty is enough to make up for that.
You can make an argument that Eve really is that weird, that her husband and her friends are all just a cover life to patch things together, like Will’s marriage to Molly in season three. The trouble is the series is giving me no evidence for that, so I can’t just assume it. I love what Eve does at the end of the season – what she does with the gun, the trap she sets to get Villanelle close and unguarded, and it works. And then the sudden change of heart doesn’t make any sense, and left me going, ‘Huh? Well, that just sucked.’ It’s a shame, because the first seven episodes were entertaining, but that season ending didn’t have enough background to justify it and really dragged it down.
Hannibal works for two main reasons:
1. Will Graham knew Hannibal as a trusted friend before he knew him as a murderer, so the relationship was already there.
2. Will Graham was thoroughly established as weird from the start – weird enough that his colleagues discussed it, weird enough that when he did discover Hannibal was a serial killer, it didn’t disturb him as much as it should…
As an added bonus, Hannibal has a huge amount of charm, which he uses on everyone liberally, so it’s easy to see why people like him, with his quirky European eccentricities.
Villanelle OTOH is perfectly capable of using charm when she needs to, but rarely does. She’s a glamorous, untraceable, international assassin – why should she bother? So most of the time she does exactly what she pleases and acts like a demanding, bratty teenager. Not quite so appealing….
Villanelle’s obsession with Eve makes perfect sense – of course she’s intrigued by the woman who not only figured out the links between her kills, but managed to actually find her in person and as a bonus, happens to be just her type physically. My problem with the series’ progression is with Eve. She’s just far too normal.
Eve has a sweet, mutually supportive and non-restricting marriage. Eve makes and maintains good long term friendships with her work colleagues. She does have a deep knowledge and interest in assassins and other mass murderers which she follows as a hobby outside of her work interest, but that doesn’t mean she’s automatically going to fall for one.
This is where more detailed spoilers come in.
Eve knows Villanelle is a psychopathic assassin before she ever meets her. It’s reasonable that Eve would be impressed by her abilities to get into places, kill people and get out again. It makes sense that there would be a professional respect for her skill. But I see no reason at all why Eve would like Villanelle the person. Villanelle stalks her, steals her stuff, threatens her husband and kills her friend. No amount of pretty is enough to make up for that.
You can make an argument that Eve really is that weird, that her husband and her friends are all just a cover life to patch things together, like Will’s marriage to Molly in season three. The trouble is the series is giving me no evidence for that, so I can’t just assume it. I love what Eve does at the end of the season – what she does with the gun, the trap she sets to get Villanelle close and unguarded, and it works. And then the sudden change of heart doesn’t make any sense, and left me going, ‘Huh? Well, that just sucked.’ It’s a shame, because the first seven episodes were entertaining, but that season ending didn’t have enough background to justify it and really dragged it down.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-03 06:35 am (UTC)But on the other hand, I don't care. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer are just so fabulous - everyone in the show is - and the writing so sharp, the plot so nutty, that we both watched in it in fascination, even if the ending left us going 'huh'.
Hannibal failed to grab us the same way. And for me, it's because Hannibal the character and the actor do nothing for me, however charismatic the rest of the cast. If Hannibal doesn't work for you, then the rest of it is a bit of a yawn.
Villanelle didn't start off by fucking with Eve's head, and her motivation for killing being the fun and the money makes more sense to me than Hannibal's cannibalism.
Oh well. Killing Eve was fun. I bought 'Remember Me' because Jodie Comer is in it and we're just coming to the conclusion of this very stylish short horror series. You might like it.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-03 02:34 pm (UTC)Cannibalism isn't the motivation for Hannibal to kill, it's just something he does with the bodies afterwards. The motive in most cases is that those people annoy him (or in a few cases because they find him out and it's self-preservation). But yeah, if one of the main characters isn't doing anything for you, the series just isn't going to work.