KILLING EVE Slays

Article first published as TV Review: KILLING EVE on Seat42F.

WARNING: Some relatively light spoilers contained within.

BBC America’s newest drama, premiering tonight, is KILLING EVE. Based on Luke Jennings’ Villanelle novellas, the series is essentially a cat-and-mouse game between a serial killer and a super smart intelligence agent. While that does sound a bit done-to-death as a premise, the lead performers, their individual personalities, and the dynamic between them, makes this one highly compelling and totally worth watching. With some great supporting characters, a few stereotypes tossed on their heads, and beautiful settings throughout Europe, it is one I can definitely recommend.

KILLING EVE takes its time getting started. When we first meet Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy), she is working as an assistant at MI-5. Although she is smart and obsessed with female serial killers, she doesn’t have much authority to investigate. When she raises solid, valid points to her superiors, they are quickly shot down. This obviously can’t be where she operates from for the course of the series, but it’s not until episode two where she really settles down into what will be her base of operations, in the role she needs to front this story.

On the other hand, the hired assassin, Villanelle (Jodie Comer, Doctor Foster), is pretty much fully formed from the beginning. Traipsing across the continent towards whatever target she is sent to next, she enjoys her job and is very good at it. Villanelle isn’t the master of her destiny, but she acts like she is, rebelling when those who would direct her do things she doesn’t agree with. She is probably insane, definitely psychopathic, and also highly intelligent. I wouldn’t want her attention on me.

The two women do cross paths directly early on, which is appreciated, rather than keeping them apart for a very long time, as one might expect the series to do. The scene is magnetic, and communicates much of what the rest of the season will surely be, layered with delicious, beautiful tension. While they really don’t start their personal game until the very end of the second hour, this meeting helps drive through all the set up, hooking viewers early on, rather than making them wait until the plot is fully formed.

Comer and Oh are fantastic, and while they steal focus in every scene, they have plenty of help to build up the world. Kim Bodnia (The Bridge) manages to convey danger and threat while appearing not at all dangerous and threatening. David Haig (Penny Dreadful) plays the epitome of mentor, knowing what buttons to push to properly guide and motivate Eve, while also seeming like an every man, in a good way. Fiona Shaw (the Harry Potter films), always excellent, is terrifically understated here. Owen McDonnell (An Klondike) plays the supportive husband as more than just a trope, someone who both truly understands and doesn’t at all get his wife, Eve. Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Barry) is just plain fun at this point. Together, they effectively help sell the show.

KILLING EVE is on BBC America, and I’d say it shares some DNA with one of the network’s best former series, Orphan Black. It has a similar dark tone, with a slightly offbeat story and a solid ensemble. Once again, it’s a magnetic female lead, two this time, that will be the number one reason to watch, while giving them a fleshed-out framework to be supported by. Other than that it once more involves law enforcement and a criminal, a conceit extremely overused on modern television, this is a really great series, and definitely one I want to continue watching. Thankfully, it’s already been renewed for a second season.

KILLING EVE premieres tonight on BBC America.

Creepy THIRTEEN

Article first published as THIRTEEN Review on Seat42F.

The British series THIRTEEN premieres this week on BBC America. It is about a kidnapped girl who reappears a baker’s dozen years after his abduction. Sent home to her family, the police don’t seem sure the girl is who she says she is, and the mystery only deepens from there.

In many ways, THIRTEEN is a lot like American Gothic, a CBS series I gave a scathing review to earlier this week. It centers on a family with secrets. It’s a dark mystery that is sure to have a lot of unexpected twists. It’s soapy drama, with a family torn apart by a tragic event struggling to figure out what’s true and get on with their lives.

But THIRTEEN is also a shining example of the stark difference between British and American programming. While American Gothic goes for sensationalism at the expense of a complex story, THIRTEEN seems like it’s dropping the breadcrumbs that will eventually lead to the answers. And the CBS series insists on making each member of the clan shady in their own way, while the vast majority of the ensemble of THIRTEEN seem like perfectly normal, well-adjusted individuals who just have this one bad thing that happened to them, so is far less soapy or sensationalist.

Part of the problem is the number of episodes that an American series has as opposed to our British counterparts. While stateside series usually do a minimum of thirteen hours, meaning limited stories must be stretched out, British ones can get away with half a dozen or so, five in this case, so can concentrate just on the central conceit if they’d like to. What this makes for is a superior product that is far more engaging than most of the broadcast network fare here. (Cable networks do shorter, more flexible runs, so are largely exempt from this comparison.)

Another huge difference is that series from the UK aren’t so concerned with casting a bunch of familiar faces. The main group in THIRTEEN have resumes, but they aren’t nearly so omnipresent on our screens as those in American Gothic and lots of other U.S. shows. Funny how a smaller country seems to find a wider variety of performers and not overuse the good ones.

What they lack in recognizability, the cast more than makes up for in talent THIRTEEN stars Jodie Comer (My Mad Fat Diary) as Ivy Moxam, the recently escaped prisoner. Her look is haunting, and the nuance in her performance is impressive. Even when some may doubt her story, or parts of it, the viewer won’t lose sympathy for this woman who seems to have gone through so much.

Richard Rankin (Burnistoun) and Valene Kane (The Fall) are the obligatory detectives, DI Elliot Crane and DS Lisa Merchant, respectively. While the role they play is not much different than most of these slow burn crime dramas, they are every bit as capable as others who have exceled in similar programs. They are going to be the figures that audiences latch onto, even while Ivy remains front and center.

Roundings things out are Natasha Little (The Night Manager) as loving mother Christina, Stuart Graham (The Fall) as the ineffectual father Angus, Katherine Rose Morley (Last Tango in Halifax) as suspicious sister Emma, Joe Layton (Tatau) as Emma’s supportive fiancé Craig, Eleanor Wyld (Honest) as best friend Eloise, and Aneurin Barnard (The White Queen) as childhood boyfriend, Tim Hobson. They won’t all get distinct subplots, but it’s the exact right mix to explore Ivy’s story, and they all do a good job.

So THIRTEEN, while more or less being a very typical type of British drama, is better than what we’re getting on The Big Four in the summer because of its makeup. It’s compelling and well made, and while it’s not wholly fresh, it’s still very entertaining.

THIRTEEN premieres Thursday, June 23^rd at 10/9c on BBC America.