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Season 3 Review:
A show that was once fresh and exciting with rich, likable characters and charming, witty humour, has become nothing more than a stale repeat of itself that appears to just be going through the motions.
Most of this, I believe, is due to the fact that Phoebe Waller-Bridge hasn't been the head writer for the show since the first season, and it shows. The witty, dark humour that was extremely hilarious that was seen in the first season, has been poorly replicated for both seasons 2 and 3 now, and it's getting old. Villanelle has become a mockery of her original character, making funny quips and edgy jokes whatever chance she gets. Now and again it's slightly charming but that's only due to Jodie Comer's performance being charismatic.
Speaking of which, something the show does right and has always done right is seen in the performances. Jodie Comer, Sandra Oh, Fiona Shaw and Kim Bodnia are all very good whenever on screen and honestly, I'd say they're the only thing that makes this show watchable anymore. The rest of the cast do their jobs but are nothing more than acceptable, but I guess that's all they need to be, given the fact that the show concentrates on the relationship between Eve and Villanelle, or at least that's what it should concentrate on.
The show has seemed obsessed with juggling the '12' subplot for the last two seasons now and I genuinely think that it's not working in its favour. It creates a messy string of events that's trying to resemble an overarching plot,but fails to do so. Only making the show more convoluted and confusing than it needs to be. I think Killing Eve was something that should've stuck with a 1 season run, without its witty humour and clever character writing, the show only seems to be becoming a parody of itself, like it's a Sunday morning soap opera.It's no longer smart, it's no longer interesting and it's rarely amusing, only getting around 2 chuckles out of me for the entire season. It seems as if it's trying to go for shock value by killing off characters out of nowhere and doing nearly nothing interesting with the people left. Kenny dies in the very first episode and characters seem to get over it fairly quickly, with the mention of Kenny only coming around every few episodes and only having consequence in the final episode. Still, it only resulted in killing off another bland and boring character that no-one seemed to care had died. Sandra Oh and Fiona Shaw prance around and argue while this character has a gunshot through his head and neither part seemed phased at all by the murder. New characters aren't fun to watch and seem to be there just to push the plot along.
I feel constantly bored by watching this show now, which is something I never thought I'd say. Season 1 was a new and exciting assassin drama that at it's core was a romance with a little bit of dark humour sprinkled it. Since then, the show seems to have become a full blown comedy, that's not actually as funny as it thinks it is and has a little bit of drama sprinkled in with convoluted subplots and boring characters everywhere. The romance is still there but the thing is, with it not being anywhere near as well written, I just don't care anymore. Eve could stab Villanelle in the throat next season out of nowhere and it wouldn't be surprising for the show to pull something like that. And I still wouldn't care because Killing Eve has become something that it never should have been - mediocre.
It's sad that something once so great has fallen so far. I'm not looking forward to a fourth season. I was excited before I watched this because I thought it could be an improvement and a return to form. But no, it was just worse. And now I just have no desire for anything more from this show. I hope it gets cancelled. It should've stayed at one season and left it there. Killing Eve has become bland and needs to be put out of its misery before it actually becomes full on bad. Because that's the direction it's heading. Oh well.
Positives:
- Excellent performances from the main leads.
- Now and again a humourous moment.
- The 5th episode was actually quite fun since it ignored the stupid 12 plot and focused on developing Villanelle.
- The final scene is well shot and nicely symbolic, showing an essence of what the show once was.
- The kills are creative and sometimes fun.
Negatives:
- The majority of characters are either mockeries of what they used to be or are boring and underdeveloped.
- Most of the humour is no longer witty or funny.
- The writing has fallen dramatically in quality.
- Unnecessary, badly written subplots that just make the story more confusing and uninteresting.
- Killing characters for shock value.
- New characters are annoying or bland.
- The entire season is carried by 4 actors, and sometimes they can't even save it.
- Characters seem to sometimes just give exposition to each other with a little quip filled in before doing the same in the next scene.… Expand
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