‘Killing Eve’ Season 4 Review: Eve and Villanelle’s Final Showdown Is off to a Simmering Start

Killing Eve Season 3 ended on not a plot cliffhanger, but an emotional one. After three seasons of chasing after and almost killing each other, Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) met on a bridge to decide what was next in their relationship. The two are in love, you see; or at the very least in lust, mentally and physically obsessed. Eve is on the side of the law, and Villanelle is a psychopathic murderer, but really all that matters is what these two feel about each other, an all-consuming obsession that fills their every waking hour. Yet just when it looks like Villanelle is about to kiss Eve, for real (and it’s clear that’s exactly what Eve thinks is going to happen), instead the killer tells her to turn around and walk away.

Eve is confused, but because she is entirely under Villanelle’s spell, she agrees. Like gunfighters, they walk away from each other to opposite ends of the frame until, unable to look away, Eve turns back, Orpheus to her Eurydice. Then Villanelle turns back, too, a smile on her face. They stare at each other, and the viewer is left to wonder what happens next. Was this a test from Villanelle? Did Eve pass? Or fail? And when Season 4 — the final season of the series — picks up, will these characters be saying the words out loud that we know they’ve been screaming in their hearts this whole time: “I love you”?

The answer, based on the first three episodes provided for review by BBC America, is: no. Or at least: not yet.

As with the past three seasons of Killing Eve, the show has changed hands from the Season 3 showrunner (Suzanne Heathcoate) to a new, Season 4 showrunner (Laura Neal, who previously was on the writing staff of the series). Meaning when we pick up, there’s a new story that’s being followed, and a significant amount of time has passed since that scene on the bridge. Perhaps in reference to the myth referenced above, Eve is essentially on her own and in mourning, while Villanelle is doomed to an ironic hell of her own making.

Or more literally, Eve is razor focused on tracking down the shadowy organization that has completely ruined her life, The Twelve, while Villanelle is cosplaying as a pious religious zealot in a misguided effort to better herself. The situation Neal has set up is an obvious one, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t satisfying to watch, as Eve swings towards her darker nature in order to eradicate evil, and Villanelle tries to channel her better nature while her worst impulses continue to bubble up, always at the wrong time. Oh plays Eve as harder, angrier, like an animal poised to attack at any moment. Meanwhile, Comer is softer, looser, far from the merciless killer we met four seasons earlier. It isn’t long before these identities get mixed up, though… Eve and Villanelle are nothing if not two halves of the same whole, and the lamb can’t pretend to be a lion for long (or the lion a lamb) without getting confused. The duo really only know who they truly are when they’re around each other.

For fans of the series, not seeing the resolution of that bridge scene proves to be a hiccup right at the top of the season, and the premiere is hampered by the need to feel in the blanks of how these characters got from there, to here. But the good news is that Neal and company are savvy enough to know they can’t keep these characters apart for long. Despite what they might say out loud, or what their actions might indicate, the animalistic attraction between the two is the driving force of the series, more than the mysterious heads of The Twelve, or any of the show’s shocking murders or mysteries… It’s Eve and Villanelle who are the engine that keeps the story going. Rather than forcibly pairing them up like a mismatched buddy cop comedy (see Season 2) or having them chase each other incessantly (see the still untouchable Season 1, or Season 3), there’s a more casual sense to how the two keep finding each other.

But when they do come into contact, the chemistry that Oh and Comer show off is, as always, palpable. Purposefully banal scenes and simple discussions become infused with an intensity that few other acting couples can produce on screen. And as frustrating as it might be to not see Season 4 open with them living in a remote cabin in the woods together as lovers or some similar variation, as fans may have speculated, the tension seems to indicate — at least in the early going — the show understands there needs to be some sort of release at the end of the run, an acknowledgement that there’s more there than fluttered eyelids and pursed lips, ready to be, but never kissed.

There are other elements to the show, as well, of course. Carolyn (Fiona Shaw), Eve’s former boss who has been utterly broken down and corrupted by The Twelve, floats through the middle of the show like a ghost, unable to connect to anyone from her colleagues to even the circumstances she’s been thrust into. This sort of plotline could seem aimless, but Shaw is a powerful enough actor to make every moment of stillness feel like it’s suffused with meaning. There are other characters who pop up as well, including some returning favorites like Kim Bodnia’s Konstantin, who is in a particularly hilarious place this time around. The new characters make less of an impression, though they’re mostly there as fodder for the ongoing secret war against the Twelve.

Another element that Neal’s take on the show gets right? It’s pretty funny. And gruesome. While it’s hard to say based on only three episodes that the show is anywhere near back to the heights of the beloved first season of the series, Neal has a steady handle on what works on Killing Eve. And what works is that combo of dark comedy, horribly bloody deaths, casual sex and offhand, razor sharp comments. The show is at its best when it’s as off-kilter as Comer’s performance as Villanelle, and the first three hours capture that tone only sporadically. But when they do, particularly thanks to some off-the-wall twists involving the repentant (?) killer, it’s as weird as the high points of earlier seasons.

But ultimately, it comes down to two characters, not one: Eve, and Villanelle. There’s an invisible string that connects them as they travel the globe, and every other character on the show knows it. There isn’t a moment where Eve is doing something where it isn’t, in some way, about Villanelle; and vice versa. A lot of the legacy of these two, and the show as a whole, depends on what happens over the course of those final, sure to be twist-filled episodes. That said, it’s clear even in the early going that the show will, and must end with one resolution, and one resolution alone: will Eve and Villanelle finally tell each other how they feel about each other? As is, they’ll need to cross that particular bridge when they get to it.

Killing Eve premieres Sunday, February 27 at 8/7c on BBC America. The first two episodes premiere the same day on AMC+, with new episodes rolling out a week early digitally.

Where to watch Killing Eve