Killing Eve Product and Media Language

Question 1

Genre

Answer 1

• Blackly comical spy thriller that subverts conventions of a traditionally masculine genre

Question 2

What and when was it broadcast

Answer 2

• First episode of season 1
• Broadcast in April 2018 on BBC American in the USA
• September 2018 in the UK

Question 3

Who is Killing Eve produced by

Answer 3

• In the UK by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three

Question 4

When did the show run

Answer 4

Four seasons from 2018 to 2022

Question 5

What records did it break

Answer 5

• Weekly ratings in the USA
  -Became the second most-watched show on BBC iPlayer in 2018

Question 6

Showrunners

Answer 6

• Female writers and directors
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge scripting the first series

Question 7

What is the show based on

Answer 7

The ‘Villanelle’ series of short novels by Luke Jennings, which were originally self-published

Question 8

Plot of Killing Eve

Answer 8

Focuses on a ruthless female assassin, Villanelle, and the bizarre relationship she develops with female MI5 agent, Eve Polastri, who is pursuing her

Question 9

What the show was praised for

Answer 9

Its portrayal of strong, complex and dangerous women

Question 10

Awards it’s won

Answer 10

• Best Drama at the BAFTAS
• Numerous individual awards for Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer

Question 11

Killing Eve as a cross-genre

Answer 11

• Characteristics of the spy and thriller genre
  -Plot of an obsessive agent pursuing a criminal nemesis
  -‘Dramedy’ show that fuses serious drama and black comedy

Question 12

Female led sub-genre

Answer 12

-‘Cat and mouse’ thriller
-Driven woman detective becomes personally obsessed with her quarry

Question 13

Critics praise of subverting conventions

Answer 13

-Replacing all the usually male characters with women
-Consistently surprising audience expectations with unexpected twists and character behaviour

Question 14

Protagonist

Answer 14

• Government agent Eve Polastri who breaks the rules but gets results

Question 15

Antagonist

Answer 15

-Ruthless criminal that the hero is pursuing
- Binary opposite of the hero and takes please in chaos and carnage

Question 16

Admiration between Eve and Villanelle

Answer 16

Admire and even envy the characteristics of their rival, as well as sexually desiring them

Question 17

Femme Fatale

Answer 17

-Villanelle subverts this, depicted as a amoral psychopath who leads a glamorous lifestyle
- Never uses her sexuality to entice her victims
- Sexually liberal, but the costume and the way she’s shot doesn’t sexualise or objectify her

Question 18

Spymaster character

Answer 18

-Bill and Carolyn actively encourage Eve in her pursuit
- Villanelle’s handler Konstantin isn’t a cold-blooded taskmaster, but almost a father figure

Question 19

Narrative

Answer 19

-Typical of the crime/investigation genre
-A brutal murder prompts dedicated investigators to find clues and interview witnesses
-Reveal of the killer’s identity
-Confrontations between hero and villain as the climax

Question 20

Enigmas

Answer 20

Created then answered, often leading to another enigma and the investigation continues

Question 21

Long form TV genre

Answer 21

-The investigation will take place over an entire season or seasons, with cliff-hangers or major plot developments
-Killing Eve follows this format

Question 22

Killing Eve twisting the conventional narrative

Answer 22

-Balancing screen time between Eve and Villanelle, prompting the audience to empathise as much with the antagonist as they do the hero
-Main narrative isn’t the killers identity, but what will happen between Villanelle and Eve when they finally meet

Question 23

Intertextual references

Answer 23

• Espionage thrillers such as ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ and Bond stories
  -Villanelle’s character is reminiscent of the female killers from ‘La Femme Nikita’ and ‘Atomic Blonde’
  -Eve’s bumbling scruffy image reflects ‘Columbo’ and other shabby detectives

Question 24

Narratology (Todorov): The equilibrium

Answer 24

-The equilibrium: first scene with Villanelle and the ice cream is striking but also shows the character’s normal life
-There is no disruption to Villanelle’s life until she is told Eve is tracking her in episode 2

Question 25

Narratology (Todorov): Eve’s narrative arc

Answer 25

-We are shown her equilibrium: comfortably married with a boring desk job before a clear disruption
-Seeing the Polish diplomat’s murder and guessing it’s a female assassin compels her to investigate further

Question 26

Narratology (Todorov): Enigma codes

Answer 26

-Subvert
-Enigma focuses on character and relationships, such as who is Konstantin to Villanelle? Where did she come from? What made her this way? What will Eve do when she finds her? And what will be the outcome of the inevitable confrontation?

Question 27

Waller-Bridge interview

Answer 27

Stated in an interview that “people are exhausted by seeing women brutalised on the screen”, especially in the crime genre, where women mainly feature as a corpse: “while a male detective stands over it, talking about his divorce.”

Question 28

Killing Eve praise on representation of women

Answer 28

Putting women in key roles that lead and define the narrative
-Reflecting social change, increasing power of women in the workplace, and the conflict women feel between career success and personal fulfilment

Question 29

Script

Answer 29

-Serves to undermine the machismo of the spy thriller genre
-By making Killing Eve a thriller comedy drama hybrid, the show can satirise the ridiculous elements of the spy genre whilst providing genuine emotional heft to the story

Question 30

Genre (Steve Neale)

Answer 30

-Genres may be seen as being limited by familiar tropes, they are marked by difference, variation and change
-Neale would say they also need to display something original
-Killing Eve does this by providing a unique female perspective and challenging audience expectations

Question 31

Visual codes: codes of clothing

Answer 31

-What the costumes tell you about the two women
-Scene in episode 2 where Villanelle steals Eve’s suitcase, what she does with Eve’s clothes, what it tells us about Villanelle’s interest in Eve, how Eve responds when the suitcase is returned

Question 32

Visual codes: Gesture and Expression

Answer 32

• Naturalistic workplace behaviour of Eve, Bill and Carolyn and how this subverts the melodramatic elements of the spy thriller genre
• Compare to Villanelle

Question 33

Visual codes: Iconography and Setting

Answer 33

-Eve’s home communicates ‘comfy’ domesticity and constricts Eve
-Compared to Villanelle’s Paris apartment, which suggests wealth, indulgence, and freedom but also a sense of emptiness

Question 34

Technical Codes: POV

Answer 34

• Immediately placed in Villanelle’s point of view
  -Close-ups, POV and shot reverse-shot are used to make us empathise with Villanelle
  -Her facial expressions aren’t immediately readable and her behaviour is shocking

Question 35

Technical codes: Camera and Editing

Answer 35

-Used throughout Villanelle’s scenes in the focus episode
-Even though she is a vicious psychopath, the audience is encouraged to empathise with and even admire her

Question 36

Technical codes: Violence

Answer 36

Despite being a very violent show, Killing Eve has surprisingly little blood – mainly due to the limitations imposed by BBC America

Question 37

Audio codes: Dialogue

Answer 37

-The understated, naturalistic way the MI5 agents talk subverts the serious, jargon- heavy language in other spy thrillers like those by writer John Le Carré
-The discussions between Eve and Niko are amusingly unsentimental
-They indicate the close and easy relationship between the two – this comfort later contrasts with Eve’s more passionate obsession with Villanelle

Question 38

Audio codes: Music

Answer 38

-Almost all the songs used are by the band Unloved, who specialise in moody, 1960s ‘noir’ songs
-Music supervisor Catherine Grieves says the feminine yet threatening tone gives another ‘voice’ to the darker sides of Villanelle and Eve