Killing Eve – Full season 3 Review

Episode Guide

Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Management Sucks – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Meetings Have Biscuits – | Review Score – 3/5
Still Got It – | Review Score – 4/5
Are You from Pinner? – | Review Score – 4/5
End of Game – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Beautiful Monster – | Review Score – 3/5
Are You Leading or Am I? – | Review Score – 3/5

If there’s one word you could use to describe Killing Eve season 3 it’s inconsistent. Split across 8 episodes and adopting a new show-runner this time around, Killing Eve produces some of the best and worst material of its 3 season run. On the one hand, some great acting combines nicely with a dark sense of humour that tonally sets the series up for a winner and the new character ideas are interesting enough to stick this out to the end. Unfortunately, Killing Eve squanders its potential with some poor editing, a messy story with multiple plot threads left dangling at the end and lots of plot holes that are difficult to look past.

The story picks up where last season left off as Eve returns to London very much alive and wiping her hands clean of MI6. Villanelle meanwhile finds herself in Barcelona and teaming up with Dasha, ambitiously setting her sights on the illustrious prize of becoming one of the top dogs for The Twelve. When someone closest to Eve meets an untimely death at the end of the first episode, our former-MI6 agent is thrust back into action again as she tries to piece together what happened and hunt down The Twelve – inevitably bringing her back into contact with Villanelle again.

As the series progresses, the structure of the season changes slightly and fractures, focusing on a number of different characters in a series of episodes that splits the narrative focus. In doing so, the show loses a consistent tonal voice and those once-sharp edges become blunt ends. Those expecting answers and a decent conclusion will almost certainly be left disappointed too and although Killing Eve produces simple and enjoyable enough drama, it just doesn’t compare with what we’ve seen previously from this show.

The real winner of Killing Eve this year is Jodie Comer, who delivers another fantastic performance as Villanelle and acts as the proverbial glue that holds everything together. Sandra Oh does okay and she’s given a few moments to shine but these feel too infrequent as her character hits a lot of one-note moods thanks to the scripts that dictate her traveling along a much darker and moodier path without ever pulling the trigger and turning to the dark side.

Carolyn has a much bigger role to play this year too, and a lot of this comes off the back of that big aforementioned plot twist at the end of the first episode. Even though the writing isn’t as strong as it’s been in previous seasons, it’s good to see the acting has never dropped in quality.

The stylish cues, including the big expository text to showcase the different countries we’re traveling to and the eclectic soundtrack are still here to enjoy and there’s enough in this that fans of the show will love the continued exploits of Villanelle and Eve’s misadventures. Those looking for something to match or surpass what’s come before however will almost certainly be left wanting. The show squanders its potential with a messy narrative and unfortunately no level of acting can hide some of the glaring issues inherent in this season.

It’s a shame because Killing Eve has always produced decent enough drama but here, it pales in comparison to what’s come before. With a fourth season already green-lit, there’s plenty left in the tank but whether this British series can turn it out and get back to what made the show so great to begin with, remains to be seen.

Published: 01 June 2020 at 8:35pm on TheReviewGeek.com

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