Miss Flicks

Killing Eve: The novelty has well and truly worn off

The law of diminishing returns is very real when it comes to Killing Eve, a show that should have been one season but has somehow managed to be eeked out to four.

I loved the first series, liked the second quite a bit less and was thoroughly underwhelmed by the third so it shouldn’t have really been a surprise that the fourth would be the shadow of its former self. I’m simply watching it because it’s the last season and I’ve come this far so I might as well finish – but it’s a slog and I don’t particularly care about the story anymore.

That’s because the show has run out of ideas and no longer knows what to do with its characters. Instead, it goes for attempted viral moments such as Villanelle (Jodie Comer) dressing up as Jesus or Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) getting in the bath with Hélène (Camille Cottin). The latter made no sense at all but then again, most of what Eve does baffles me as the character is so different and practically unrecognisable these days.

It’s a struggle keeping up with the plot and who the heck The 12 are but it’s not complete trash. I’m still fascinated by Villanelle and Comer’s wacky performance, Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) has some terrific lines of dialogue and Shaw delivers them brilliantly (“penchant for the penis”), and there are a lot of cool costumes and locations to look at.

Thankfully, this week’s episode showed promise and an interesting sign of what’s to come in the final three episodes. It’s such a shame that it took until episode five for it to find a sense of direction and gain some forward momentum. It just shows that the storyline for this season couldn’t sustain eight episodes and there has been a lot of filler to bulk it out.

One thing is for sure, I’m glad it’s already been decided this is the final season as it might mean the last few episodes reward my commitment to the show!

New episodes available on BBC iPlayer every Monday and broadcast on BBC One the following Saturday