I stumbled upon the British comedy, Crashing, a couple of years ago — a sitcom about 20-somethings living on the premises of a defunct hospital. Apart from the wacky setting, the show had some of the most dysfunctional characters I’d seen, and some outrageous sequences. The lead character, and creator, a woman named Phoebe Waller-Bridge, went on to create and play the titular role in Fleabag — another comedy about a damaged protagonist. Both these shows were star-making turns for Waller-Bridge who, as writer, thrives on giving a bizarre twist to the most mundane occurrences.
Waller-Bridge’s latest work as writer/creator is on BBC America’s show, Killing Eve, an adaptation of Luke Jennings’ novella series, Codename Villanelle, about the battle of wits between an MI5 officer, Eve Polastri, and a contract killer, Villanelle. I haven’t read any of Jennings’ novellas, but Waller-Bridge’s quirky, feminist stamp is unmissable.
The first refreshing aspect here is that both, the detective and the killer, are women (female detectives, in fact, are a norm on shows like The Fall and Top of the Lake, but the antagonist is almost always a man). Gruesome murders, inter-departmental rivalry, and the fear and paranoia attached to other serial killer dramas are all part of Killing Eve’s DNA. But even while keeping these familiar tropes alive, Waller-Bridge makes the genre seem fresh with an inventive approach and loads of biting humour.
Killing Eve is the kind of show where, during a discussion about a spine-chilling murder, the protagonist is more concerned with finishing off a croissant, because it’s possibly her first meal of the day. Or when a character storms out of a room after an intense discussion, it turns out he’s only out looking for chocolate.
Waller-Bridge isn’t cast in any of the roles here, but you see facets of the characters she played on Crashing and Fleabag in both Eve and Villanelle. Eve, played by Sandra Oh, isn’t an ambitious detective; she in fact holds a desk job. But her fascination for specific killings around the globe, all of which — it turns out — have been committed by Villanelle, is what draws her to the case. Similarly, Villanelle (Jodie Comer) seems content wiping people off Earth’s face while leading a charmed life in her Paris apartment, but finds herself drawn to Eve’s investigation into her, and Eve specifically.
Both characters experience a deep sense of awe and mutual respect for each other, making it impossible for either to imagine their lives without the other. It’s a love story-cum-dark comedy-cum-procedural, all rolled into one, and the good news is: there’s a Season 2 on its way.