‘Killing Eve’ Recap: ‘Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Of the many new shows that arrived on the television landscape last year, only one continues to stand out in my mind as one of the absolute best of that particular crop; Killing Eve. Because this unique spy drama took every single trope found within the genre, and outright turned them on their heads, all while providing us with a slow burning and fascinating tale that featured all kinds of impressive twists and turns and quality character development and it’s one that I’ve been anxiously awaiting to see return to the airwaves, since the season one finale, ‘God, I’m Tired’, left us with so many brilliantly unresolved plot points.
 
For we were no closer to learning anything about the Twelve and Eve’s big chance to bring Villanelle in ended in disaster since you know, she freakin’ stabbed her and well, that lovely cliffhanger is what left me hungry for more and thankfully, the long and painful wait that we’ve all experienced when it comes to this dynamic series finally came to an end last night, since the season two premiere, ‘Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?’, plunged us right back into this magnificent world. And rather than toy with a time jump, or waste any time with a grand setup and reintroduction to these dynamic characters, the show dove right back into where we left off, picking up a mere thirty seconds later from the end of the finale, with Eve and Villanelle on the run from the Twelve’s lackeys and it also didn’t take that long, for the series to continue to shatter every last cliché that comes with this genre.
 
Because normally, when a villain is on the run in a spy story, our hero starts a relentless pursuit. But here, the whole experience in Villanelle’s apartment left Eve quite rattled, and she was happy to return home, and keep a low profile while processing everything she’s experienced to date, and work to keep her mind calm when it comes to the fact that Villanelle may come for her. But try as she might, finding that calm and sense of normalcy was simply impossible for Eve, and she wasn’t herself until Carolyn brought her back into action in the hopes of getting her input on where Villanelle is, and what her next move might be and well, this was a wonderful place for the show to go storytelling wise. Simply because, it reminded us of Eve’s humanity, and how bravery can be a scary thing, and kudos to the series for showing us a rattled heroine, instead of the same old, same old, and it was equally as wonderful to see her energized to be back on the case and back at British Intelligence.
 
Yet, the series wasn’t quite done with flipping spy drama tropes upside down since Villanelle’s story was equally as unique. For normally, the bad guy has a safe haven to go to in these tales, a place to recoup and regroup so that they can continue their evil machinations. But for Villanelle, there was no safe house to go, just the hospital, wherein she had to use her usual charms to keep her identity a secret with the Twelve on the hunt for her and what made this part of the episode such a delight to watch, is the sheer fact that Villanelle was also humanized and vulnerable for the first time ever on the show, since she was forced to take a minute to heal, and she even bonded with her roommate, a young man who was badly disfigured after an accident that made him an orphan. If anything, the only part of this story that could be considered of the norm, is that Villanelle did take the time to regroup and plan her next moves and well, that would indeed be Eve’s worst fear (or dream, potentially) come to life in that, she’s headed for London to find her obsession and that’s where this one leaves us, with our talented assassin, on the road to follow her heart.
 
In the end however, this really ended up being quite the incredible season premiere to say the least. For the decision to pick up right where we left off immediately drew me back into the story and more importantly, everything that made this series a delight to watch last year was present here. Eve is as quirky as ever; Villanelle can still scare you with her ability to turn off her humanity on a moment’s notice in order to get the job done and the black humor that leaves the audience laughing heartily was present here as well and I couldn’t be happier. Because it means season two has already found its stride, and it can only grow from here, and I will definitely be on my couch, and ready to go to watch this one, because I have to learn more about the Twelve and see what will happen between Eve and Villanelle, which means, I’ll be counting down the minutes until next week’s episode, in order to get my fix when it comes to this phenomenal series. Until then.  

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