Killing Eve Review: Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body? (Season 2 Episode 1)
The Season 1 finale of this show was wonderful and absolutely exhausting. Thankfully, viewers don’t have to come into Killing Eve Season 2 Episode 1, “Do You Know How to Dispose Of A Body?,” with many memories of all of the events of Season 1.
We pick up about 30 seconds after Eve and Villanelle’s near-fatal knife dance. Eve is running out of the building and encountering Villanelle’s blood along the way, seemingly afraid to talk to Carolyn and probably in shock.
I mean, how else could she offer congratulations to a nearly engaged couple the second after she confesses to her boss, “I think I might have killed her”?
Of course Villanelle is alive. If her stab wound were near-fatal, she wouldn’t have been able to disappear as quickly as she did in the season finale. That’s not to say she’ll be winning any Olympic medals any time soon.
She’s hiding in an enclosure very near to the building, and it makes me wonder about Eve.
She must not be too into finding Villanelle — if she were to take just a few more minutes to search, she would’ve found her.
That said, having a huge sweet tooth myself, I so appreciate Eve’s impulse to run to the Metro and the nearest candy store to stress eat while in shock.
I must confess I’m not normally a thrill seeker, even where my TV is concerned. As a former Grey’s Anatomy fan, I was drawn to Killing Eve by the promise of Sandra Oh in a leading role and all of the critical praise the show has received.
It’s hard for me to keep track of much of the chasing that goes on beyond the cat-and-mouse dynamic between the two leading ladies. So I absolutely love the care the show has always taken to focus on its characters and slow down its pace for human moments.
Of course, only getting hit by a car after suffering her presumably near-fatal stab wound can slow down Villanelle. She’s as sarcastic as ever on the ride to the hospital before the driver who hit her literally drops her body and leaves.
I’m invested in her journey because I’m attracted to her personality for some reason (who really knows why they love Villanelle, right?) Yet, it’s almost shocking that any viewer could care about Villanelle at all. Perhaps that’s what makes this show fantastic.
She kills her innocent hospital roommate Gabriel, mostly because she chooses to tell him so much truth about her life. His comment that he wishes he had died in the car accident just conveniently cues her that it’s the right time to do it.
But most viewers probably share my exhilaration that she escapes the hospital and finds her way to Eve… why? It’s pretty obvious they aren’t going to live happily ever after. Why do we crave that chase?
This seems to be the question Eve is dealing with on the episode. She’s fired and trying to sink into it. She relishes in long talks with window salesmen and takes really long baths to try and forget and tries to cook dinner to a soundtrack that gives off major ’90s vibes.
But even as early as on the train ride home, there are clues that Villanelle is on Eve’s mind for more reasons than the chase. She traces a heart sketch she finds in a compartment and lies to Carolyn about whether she found Villanelle in Paris.
She’s supposed to be the “normal” one. But I suppose she crossed that line long before eating burgers in a morgue with her boss and a medical examiner being persuaded to come back to work with a very simple yet scary argument.
Villanelle is going to chase Eve anyway, so why not keep working for Carolyn as the chase continues?
As fast as I was able to relate to Eve’s rush to the candy store and her long conversations with the window salesman to try and escape, it’s clear that by the end of the episode Eve has recovered enough to continue the chase.
Villanelle has never really stopped; she just needed wounds tended to before she could continue on.
It’s nice of the show to give us a reprieve. It’s what the characters need, and it’s a way to ensure that the vibe remains the same. We don’t meet many new people — just Gabriel and the medical examiner. Both play minor roles, and one is dead eventually anyway.
There isn’t much new plot to take in until Eve is given details of her next work mission. We can just enjoy the show for all of the quirkiness that drew us in from the very beginning.
Of course, there’s still the incredibly confusing and irresistible dynamic that exists between our leads. No matter what I watch, no matter how much is explained to me, I always have one question for every character at the end of an episode:
But — why? We may not know that answer for years. But I’ll keep coming back for more, especially if there will be candy.
What did you think of this episode of Killing Eve? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
Killing Eve airs Sundays at 8/7c on BBC America.
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.