Everyone’s favorite Russian psychopathic assassin is back with the third season of Killing Eve. The first episode of the new season picks up after the events in Rome.
Following the botched mission in Rome, Villanelle (Jodie Comer) has gotten married. However, her wedding day gets interrupted when her former trainer, Dasha (Harriet Walter), arrives and recruits Villanelle back into The Twelve. Since being shot, Eve (Sandra Oh) has gone into hiding and works in a Korean restaurant in New Malden, London.
Within MI6, Carolyn Marten (Fiona Shaw) has been placed under investigation because of her unauthorized missions, whilst her son, Kenny (Sean Delaney), has left the service to work as a journalist. When Eve accidentally contacts Kenny, he reveals he has been investigating The Twelve despite the risk to his life.
“Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey” essentially acts as a pilot episode. Its job was to re-establish the character and show what has changed between the seasons. Season Two picked up where Season One left, so it went straight into the action. The gap between Season Two and Three was much bigger, so there were a lot of changes for the characters.
Since the events of the Season Two finale, Villanelle’s life was on the up, and Eve went downwards. Villanelle had a luxurious wedding in Spain, and she makes a thinly-veiled speech about her past relationship and intentions, which the guests dismissed as humor. Eve has had to go off the grid, hiding with the immigrant community and lives in squalid conditions. It’s a pretty sad existence.
Eve’s husband, Niko (Owen McDonnell) has suffered a lot because of the events in Season Two. He has been institutionalized, and the intelligence services have covered up Gemma’s death as a suicide: an action that Niko objects for the sake of Gemma’s family.
Kenny was the driving force for this episode. He was the one who tries to get Eve out of lonely existence and get her involved in his investigation. Kenny’s fate at the end of the episode is going to be emotionally important for the rest of the season.
Killing Eve‘s big selling points were the violence and humor, and Season Three continues this. The episode opens with a flashback to 1970s Moscow, where the Young Dasha (Catalina Cazacu) beat-up a male gymnast. Villanelle gets to do a skull blasting when she returns to the assassination game. The wit was present with characters having some witty lines. My favorite moment was when Villanelle sees Dasha at her wedding.
“Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey” does what it set out to do, reintroduce the characters, and set up the main plotline for the season ahead.
