Without watching the Golden Globes I might not have ever heard of the show Killing Eve, so thank goodness I was too tired to change the channel when football ended. Killing Eve follows two women, one an assassin, Villanelle, and one Eve, an MI5 agent, whose fates intertwine low-key because of Eve’s fan-girling over the assassin. Throughout the first season viewers watch a cat and mouse game in beautiful European cities, where Eve tries to catch Villanelle. While the story of Eve and Villanelle is entertaining, the performance and just overall tone of the show are big players in the success of this show.
I’m convinced that anything that has the BBC attached to it will have solid acting and a decent storyline. There are so many crime shows on TV, how do you pick one worth your time? Well, awards are a good sign the show might not completely suck. A better indicator is the talent on the show (because the awards shows are kind of biased). Of course, the writers contribute significantly to the overall product, the on-screen talent does great bringing the story to life. The sharp dialogue and intricate storyline alone could sell the show, but throw in folks like Sandra Oh, and you have a winner for crime fans and the casual TV-binger who only just discovered BBC America shows.
The show moves quickly and doesn’t open itself to that dead lull in episodes the way some shows do (you know, those filler episodes of garbage that had no business being made but the studio needed 22 episodes). Since season one only consists of eight episodes, each episode concisely tells a story that contributes to the overarching story of the season. Perhaps this is just another thing that makes Killing Eve successful. There’s power in brevity, especially because it keeps viewers engaged. People don’t have the attention span to watch 20 episodes in a weekend on Hulu and actually retain most of what they consumed. The culture around watching television is evolving, and Killing Eve caters to that lack of attention span of many viewers, while also delivering substance for folks who are willing to set their phone down and actually watch a show.
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