Two years after the third season, Sandra oh And Jodie Comer finally return to wear the role of Eve and Villanelle. So here are our impressions in preview of Killing Eve 4 related to the first episode entitled Just Dunk Me.
The previous season had ended with an ending that did not guarantee the certainty of new chapters. Well, the first official teaser has instilled hope in fans, who will be able to enjoy the series just hours after the US broadcast of the BBC. The first episode will in fact be available on TimVision, also dubbed in Italian, starting from February 28th.
What does the preview of Killing Eve reveal to us?
A short recap shows us the last significant moments of Killing Eve 3. The hunt for the secret organization of the Twelve proceeds, Eve (Sandra Oh), now without the affection of her husband, wants to investigate the death of Kenny, her collaborator, and track down Villanelle (Jodie Comer) who, after having stopped working for the Twelve, agrees to join M16 at the proposal of the boss Carolyn Martens. The two protagonists, at the end of a long cat and mouse hunt, finally find themselves shoulder to shoulder. Soon, however, their paths split: Villanelle wants to give up the murders and change her life and Eve, getting too close to the mind of her “enemy”, is no longer the same as her. So will the two women be destined to meet again?
A bizarre start that retains the original atmosphere
The new season opens with the meeting of an ambiguous character, Konstantin, involved in the Twelve and all too lucky to escape any bad luck. True to her passion for investigations, Eve has a case on hand with a new co-worker. Carolyn is in danger of a crime she committed and, in the meantime, Villanelle joined a Christian community and is about to receive baptism. This last detail makes the opening words of “Just Dunk Me” really bizarre and alienating; let’s not forget that some time has obviously passed since the last actions of the characters, so it is still difficult to contextualize some events. Soon every question mark will be cleared up, with a series of unexpected surprises.
What immediately catches the eye in this preview of Killing Eve, after almost two years of absence, is the fact that its tenor is exactly the same as in previous seasons, keeping one homogeneous narrative style and a script with shrewd lines, worthy of our two protagonists. The continuous irony on the most macabre details persists, and the characters, even though they are going through a phase of transformation, manage to be somehow linked to the image that they have transmitted to the viewer since the very first episode of Season 1. The last chapters of Killing Eve 3 they had given more space to the main plot, diverting attention from some aspects that characterize the crime genre, such as the subplots, the individual investigations into individual murders, typical elements of the detective story. This is an aspect that seems to be back in “Just Dunk Me”, while not losing sight of the true focus of the story.
The characterization and evolution of the characters
If the atmosphere of Killing Eve it has not undergone particular transformations, it cannot be denied that the two protagonists are veterans of a very intense evolutionary path. The TV series has always enjoyed an effective characterization of the individual characters. Just think of Carolyn: shy, stinging, features visible in her grim face as well as in her sarcastic and cynical words.
Air of changes for the protagonists
Eve and Villanelle have always been two opposite poles: the first reserved, discreet, the second exuberant, excessive, expansive. Both dedicated to their work, indeed obsessed with it. Their last meeting was decisive for a very important turning point: both, albeit in different ways, are tired and in need of something new.
In a way, we already know that their roles were almost reversed, and this one preview of Killing Eve can confirm it. The vulnerable Polastri is now stronger, while we are facing a modest and fragile Villanelle. But are these changes real? Each of them seems ready to deny the transformation of the other, hindering the individual desire to prove exactly the opposite. After all, we are still faced with two women obsessed with each other and with an almost spasmodic desire to prove that they are different, even better.
The need for rebirth
Villanelle’s character is perhaps the one who has always aroused the most curiosity. She is a cold unscrupulous killer, she over the course of the series she has been able to slowly reveal the small details of her tormented background. A young murderer whose childhood was unknown to us; her life from Oksana, her real name, only comes to light in the fifth episode of the third season, when we get to know her real family. Villanelle tries with all her heart to live the life she has always dreamed of, but she realizes she can’t and she walks away once again in the most disastrous way possible. She is a woman who, year after year, has always been looking for someone to feel a morbid attachment to, until the arrival of Eve.
L’preview of Killing Eve 4 shows us yet another attempt to leave the old life behind, longing for a rebirth that Polastri absolutely must see. It emerges the need to finally prove oneself betterbut the real question is “Who is this change intended for?” or better “Is it a real will or a mere self-belief driven by an obsession with Eve?”. The hope is to finally find an answer in the course of the new episodes of the fourth season.
Centrality and symmetry
The aesthetics of Killing Eve it doesn’t seem to have changed at all over time. This new episode shows a particular attention to some shots. First we noticed the presence of a symmetrical pattern in the photograph. Many significant scenes see the characters exactly in the center of the frame, an expedient that alludes to the total focus on them from a narrative point of view.
To this symmetry is then added a very precise symbolism, referring to the sacral world and clearly linked to the rebirth of Villanelle. Here the camera plays with optical illusions, showing the woman as a sacred and divine being. Depth of field are exploited to create illusory images: the protagonist in front of the statue of an angel as if the wings belonged to her or under a mirror full of concentric rays, with a shot from below that reproduces a sort of halo behind the head of a she. These virtuosities possess a symbolic value and, at the same time, they enrich the aesthetics of the episode, highlighting an attention to detail that perhaps in previous seasons we had almost never met.
