Season 1 |
Season 2 |
Season 3 |
Season 4 |
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Episode Guide
Just Dunk Me – | Review Score – 3/5
Don’t Get Eaten – | Review Score – 3/5
A Rainbow in Beige Boots – | Review Score – 3/5
It’s Agony and I’m Ravenous – | Review Score – 3/5
Don’t Get Attached – | Review Score – 3/5
Oh Goodie, I’m the Winner – | Review Score – 3/5
Making Dead Things Look Nice – | Review Score – 3/5
Hello, Losers – | Review Score – 3/5
Killing Eve is one of those shows that always punched above its weight. Season 2 is arguably where this show peaked and since then, the writing has been on a consistent downward spiral.
Now onto its fourth and final season, Killing Eve plummets to even lower heights with a poorly written, poorly plotted mess that’s as meandering and drawn out as it is unsatisfying for fans that have stuck with this one since the beginning.
Before we dive into this messy season, it’s worth remembering that Killing Eve’s story has never really been the beating heart of this series.
Instead, the driving force has been the excellent characterisation between the show’s two lead characters, Villanelle and Eve. These two have crackling chemistry together and their turbulent love/hate relationship has ultimately helped to elevate the weak story material.
With that in mind, season 4 picks up some time after the events of season 3. Konstantin is off in Russia playing politics, Eve has turned into a ruthless, cold assassin, while Villanelle has become holier than thou, dead-set on making changes to her life. Oh and Carolyn is off galivanting in the sunny recesses of Europe.
However, they’re all called back into action with the threat of The Twelve looming over them. This group, if you’ll remember, are the deadly assassins that essentially play the role of puppet masters, and they need to be stopped no matter what.
It’s a simple enough set-up but the new showrunner, Laura Neal, wildly misses the mark. To coin an old Fifa term “this kid couldn’t hit a barndoor with a machine gun.”
The season not only bungles its two main characters, it also introduces several new players that have barely any depth and somehow get better endings than Villanelle and Eve. Now, I won’t divulge any spoilers here but if you thought the Games of Thrones ending was bad, wait until you see what Laura Neal and her team have cooked up for the end of this one. It’s not pretty.
Before we get there though, the story and pacing of this fourth season is all over the place. At times the story meanders through pointless subplots, while other times it rockets through plotlines leaving big holes in its wake. At one point, a character is arrested and all hope looks lost. But then the next episode they’re freed by another character and it’s never brought up again.
But going back to those earlier character gripes, Killing Eve doesn’t really know how to handle its players, nor does it seem to have any understanding of what made this show click all those years ago.
Eve and Villanelle are largely separate for almost the entire season, with the latter handled extremely poorly. In fact, during the middle portion of episodes we only see Villanelle in a few scenes, replaced instead with a woman named Helene, who happens to be part of The Twelve.
Now, The Twelve has been the least interesting part of Killing Eve for a while but Season 4 doubles down on their threat and presents them as a massive antagonistic force that needs to be stopped. While that in itself is fine, the final fight to stop them HAPPENS OFF-SCREEN.
For all of its build-up and hype, Killing Eve falls flat on its face. It drags its fans through the mud, meandering around plotlines and character tropes that just don’t work. And worst of all, it tops that off with an insulting final episode that rushes through its plot to pat itself on the back with a massive THE END.
To quote Lord of the Rings, “If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end, as to be worthy of remembrance.” Killing Eve’s will be remembered all right. Remembered as one of the worst finishes to a TV show in recent memory. Move over Game of Thrones, there’s a new champion atop that rotten podium.
2/10
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Verdict - 2.5/10
2.5/10
Story writers make an unspoken pact with their audience to not cheat. To follow the arc of characterizations they’ve set out, to remain faithful to personalities and (even believably changing) circumstances. The last season of Eve breaks all these foundations of story, all these promises it had made to us. The story became a caricature of itself in both writing and acting.
The first two seasons were promising and exciting because they were so fresh. When had we last seen authentic three dimensional female characters acting in the world as “the bad guys”?
So disappointing after so much promise.
– Two words: Simply. Awful.
– Excessive number of lesbians per square foot.
– Pretty disgraceful imagery of Comer as a “drag” Christ, complete with bear, double halo and gold boots. Would the producers be willing to try the same trick with a drag Mohammed, just for laughs?
I was so confused watching Season 4 that I thought I must have missed something in the previous seasons. Meandering and muddled, then the extremely unsatisfying, if not sudden, end. This series really took a nosedive. Review is spot on.
I agree with most points of the article except…. no no no no no – Games of Thrones will always be the champion of worst finales and its not even close.
I ‘saved up’ to binge watch s4. Watched all s3 the day before to catch up. The review is spot on. Killing ‘the 12’ off camera and then shooting Villanelle … for what reason? As for Eve… from frumpy nerd office analyst to sexy international master spy and assassin. Nothing to do with the woke times we live in I’m sure. (cf Dr. Who). Sorry, it’s a bomb.
Good review, and it seemed logical ( to me) that Eve would have been shot and killed too. But hey, I didn’t write it.
For all those complaining about the ending how else do you think an assasins life is going to go. Konstantin even said it to Pam “one day it will be you” or words to that effect. I agree seasons 1 and 2 were far superior but it always happens when TV shows go too many episodes. I’ve read another review saying its anti LGBTQ+ because they killed off villanelle…… What absolute tosh
Spot on review. I so wanted season 4 to be a memorable finish – for the right reasons. Unfortunately, it is a memorable finish for all the wrong reasons. Bad overall plot and poor scripts for each episode. What a lazy script writing team with no feel for the series and the characters in it. The actors tried their hardest with crap scripts. I’m going back to watch season 1 and 2 to restore my joy in the series and try to forget season 3 and 4 were ever written and pretend I never saw them.
Just managed to watch season 4 and it was terribly disappointing. Whole season was all over the place. No beat. I was so disappointed. I wish they left Season 4 to be written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Would have done the characters more justice.
I really didn’t like the ending. Thought it was a cop out
Very disappointed in the way it ended!
and to think I was liking season 4 better than the third, the ending managed to undo all the progress done and ruin the characters’ arcs. the show’s legacy is done for
Bravo! Great article and spot on on all points!