Killing Eve Review: Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey (Season 3 Episode 1)
Two weeks ahead of its scheduled release and not a moment too soon, Killing Eve is back!
After the events of last season’s explosive finale, our favorite psychologically twisted spy-thriller is poised to deliver new murders, higher stakes, and deeper backstories for its characters.
Killing Eve Season 3 Episode 1, “Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey,” brings the audience up to speed on what Eve and Villanelle have been doing since they parted ways in Rome, and for Villanelle, that includes getting married.
Her behavior during the wedding is extremely on-brand and full of her usual theatrics; she rocks a black suit, seizes on her toast as an opportunity to brag about Eve’s supposed murder, and concludes the festivities by tackling an unwanted guest inciting pandemonium.
Jodie Comer continues to draw upon a seemingly endless catalog of facial expressions, the best of which is the petulant frown she wears while sitting the backseat of the car with her arms crossed and shoulders slumped, like a toddler in time-out.
No one mixes brattiness and violent intentions quite like Villanelle, and as always it’s an absolute pleasure to watch.
We also learn that Villanelle has been taking time off since Rome, but she’s willing to resume work in order to pursue a new ambition: rising through the ranks of The Twelve.
This is an interesting development for the character since she had previously seemed content to carry out her hits, get paid, and ask few questions. But the thrill of the assassinations is wearing off, and Villanelle is likely tired of being managed by other people.
In most situations, she’s both more skilled and more competent than the men assigned to supervise her–and if that’s the case, why shouldn’t she be in charge?
Her pursuit of a job promotion is probably less about operational specifics than it is about a desire to exercise agency and make her own decisions.
For all of her physical and tactical capabilities, Villanelle has never held even the most basic form of power over her own life choices. And if going rogue hasn’t created the desired results so far, maybe playing by the rules will yield better ones.
Eve, meanwhile, is now living a mundane existence as a prep cook. Her cramped new apartment is strewn with empty glasses and used tissues, and she is subsisting primarily on red wine and instant noodles.
The sorry state of Eve’s living space isn’t just a manifestation of depression or trauma, although she is certainly dealing with both. There is a sense that living this way, in isolation and relative poverty, is Eve’s method of punishing herself for her recklessness.
“Who says I want to be happy?” she asks Kenny, sidestepping his invitation to go out and socialize. She also turns down an opportunity to earn more money at work, and, most telling of all, she sleeps with her door unlocked.
That last detail doesn’t feel like an accident, but rather a deliberate invitation for danger. If she got robbed, or worse, perhaps it would feel like a balancing of the scales as retribution for the suffering she inflicted upon Niko, Gemma, and others through her own foolhardy sense of invincibility.
Despite Eve’s determination to leave her work for MI6 behind, it seems like wishful thinking that someone so curious and prone to obsession could actually move on without looking back.
Which brings us to Kenny, who continued his investigation on the sly and ended up in The Twelve’s crosshairs.
Kenny’s death is sure to inspire mixed feelings.
On the one hand, killing a beloved character this abruptly can feel like a decision made for shock value, a cheap way to start the season off with a bang.
But Kenny was also the lynchpin holding the relationships between Eve, Carolyn, and their respective professional lives together. His death will throw everyone, even his usually unflappable mother, off-balance, and set their courses of action for the season.
The show seems to be establishing Carolyn up as a major character moving forward, and it will be interesting to see how she handles such a personal loss. We know she has some connection to The Twelve via her relationship with Konstantin – will the death of her son now prompt her to turn against them?
As the new showrunner and lead writer this season, Suzanne Heathcote has given herself plenty of intriguing material to work with.
“Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey” eases into things but teases plenty of imminent drama.
What did you think of this episode of Killing Eve? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Killing Eve airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC and BBC America.
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Ariel Udel
Ariel fell in love with storytelling on the night Flight 815 crashed on a mysterious island, and has been blogging about television ever since. She has an affinity for messy female anti-heroes and an enduring love of Battlestar Galactica, Xena: Warrior Princess, Lost, and Halt and Catch Fire.