Back in 2018, Killing Eve cut through the stodge of the UK TV scene like an ice pick through the forehead. Produced by BBC America and BBC Three, the series focused on the deadly but oddly playful assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and the MI6 agent, Eve (Sandra Oh), bent on catching her. It was, for a while, must-see TV. It took several months to arrive in the UK, having debuted somewhat unusually in the US first. When it came, eventually, it seemed to bring with it some of the style and invention of the better US crime dramas. The innate tackiness that usually accompanies even the biggest British thrillers was nowhere to be found. Written by Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it was also a welcome spin on a genre often dominated by men: a cat-and-mouse romp a la Heat, with the homoerotic subtext instead manifested as text.
On Monday, Killing Eve begins its fourth and final season. There are a number of likely reasons the show is being brought to an end. For one, there’s Comer’s burgeoning Hollywood stardom. There’s been a fair amount of creative upheaval behind the scenes – the showrunner has changed every season, with Waller-Bridge succeeded by Emerald Fennell, Suzanne Heathcote, and now Laura Neal. But perhaps the biggest reason Killing Eve is calling it quits is that it’s simply run out of road. The thrill has gone. Its viewing figures have remained solid – though down from the heights of season one – but it has, for want of a better phrase, dropped out of the cultural conversation. For many of us who were won over by Killing Eve’s first season, it feels like we’re now watching the afterglow of a star that burnt out years ago.
