'Killing Eve' Recap: 'Nice Face'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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Regardless of what career field we choose in life, there is always going to be downtime, and ruts that we get into while on the clock. What matters more when those slow moments arrive, is how we handle them mentally. The wise thing to do is to find new ways to make our work day interesting. But some are simply content to let the mundane wash over them, and dream of a day when something new and exciting happens at the workplace and oddly enough, both of these elements are explored in fascinating fashion in the Pilot episode of the brand-new series on BBC America, Killing Eve.
 
It accomplished that, by introducing us to a woman named Eve Polastri who is quite frankly, bored to tears with her job. There’s simply nothing interesting happening in her workplace, which is ironic when one considers that she works for MI-5, a division of British Intelligence, but she goes about her day and lives her life like the rest of us, until a surprise drops into her lap. There’s been a violent murder in Vienna, one that is filled with suspicious circumstances and a phantom murderer and well, this ugly crime piques Eve’s curiosity in ways she never knew imaginable, and it prompts an incredible change in her personality.
 
Because suddenly, Eve can think of nothing but the case, to the point where she breaks protocol and starts her own independent investigation to prove that she’s right in her theory that the killer in question is a previously unknown female assassin and what she isn’t aware of yet, is that she’s one hundred percent right, and that this attempt to add a little excitement into her daily life is going to change her life forever and well…I’ll say it now, this series is downright brilliant. In part due to the fact that it’s a wonderfully fresh take on the spy genre since it’s filled to the brim with quirky and laugh out loud comedic moments, something you simply don’t find that often in stories such as these. But more importantly, what truly separates this tale from the rest of the spy pack, are the incredibly dynamic characters that inhabit this world.
 
For starters, I love that this story is filled with two strong female leads, and that they truly have their own identities. Eve really is a strong woman searching for something more in her career field, and she knows she’s capable of doing more for MI-5, and her boredom and desire are beautifully contrasted in this story by our killer, Villanelle, who knows she is the best at what she does, and finds new ways to keep her dream job as interesting and fun as possible and it’s just incredible to see both a hero and a villain with such depth in a genre that traditionally keeps things as two dimensional as possible.
 
But what matters most here, is that Killing Eve puts great care into its storytelling. Because it made use of every single minute of the hour it was on the air to tell its tale and that allowed for everything to be fleshed out to the fullest and Eve will eventually find out if this push for excitement will be filled with wonder or regret, because she is now up against a formidable opponent, one that knows how to blend in with ease and well, I’m hooked. I have to know how this story ends and I’ll be tuning in to enjoy a unique game of cat mouse that will likely continue to surprise the audience week in and week out. Until next time.

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