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Fans react to Killing Eve finale

Warning: Be sure you have seen S4 E8 before reading this post.

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Warning: Be sure you have seen S4 E8 before reading this post.

Writer Laura Neal recently told Metro.co.uk: ‘”I hope fans will be really excited by the ending. It’s Killing Eve so there will be blood, but I hope the fans will find it glorious and triumphant.

“That was the kind of feeling we wanted people to come away with when we were talking about the final episode.”

But that wasn’t what some fans got from the final episode, when a final romance between Eve and Villanelle was cruelly extinguished at the hands of Carolyn in London. Many fans were calling it “Bury Your Gays” a TV Trope in which LGBTQI characters are deemed more expendable than their heterosexual counterparts.

She also told Salon the team discussed many possible endings for the pair.

“I think the reason we went with this one is because it just felt like the most truthful end to both of these characters’ stories. Especially with Villanelle,” she said.

“This is a character who has doled out so much violence herself in her life, and so much pain and destruction.

“She is steeped in killing. It felt appropriate that her end would be bloody in some way.

Neal added, “We liked the idea of her finally achieving something that she wanted to achieve, which is an act of goodness.

“She pushes Eve off of the boat and she saves Eve in that moment.

“She does this selfless thing that I think she talks about wanting to do in Episodes 1 and 2. [But] she can never quite find the right way to do it.

“So, even though her ending in some ways is tragic, I also think in some ways it’s triumphant. Because she proves to herself and to Eve – and to the audience almost – that she can change.”

Many fans took to social media to vent.

And here’s what some press had to say:

Digital Spy:
Now, the issue isn’t that someone important died. The stakes have always been high on Killing Eve, and you could argue that it would be unrealistic if both characters emerged from all this unscathed. No, the problem is that given this show’s queasy history with LGBTQ+ representation, immortalised by the many queer-baiting think pieces that have been written about Killing Eve since day one, you’d think the writers would try to avoid the biggest, perhaps most problematic queer trope of all. Yes, we are of course referring to “Bury Your Gays”, the fun old notion that LGBTQ+ characters are more likely to be killed off than their straight counterparts just because. Well, not “just because”. It’s actually because of deep-rooted bigotry across our whole society, but you get the drift. And so, more queer deaths also means that queer romances are far more likely to end in tragedy too.

Variety:
The whole thing is so abrupt, so hackneyed, so amazingly unoriginal that for one hopeful minute, I was sure it had to be a trick. But no: “Killing Eve” really ends with Villanelle drifting away into the Thames, Jack in “Titanic” style, as Eve screams into the night. When the show’s signature block lettering slams “THE END” onto the screen, it’s so jarring that it feels like a slap in the face. If I were to give the show the benefit of the doubt, I’d say that it made such a cliché choice on purpose. Like Carolyn, maybe Season 4 showrunner Laura Neal (who wrote the series finale) wanted to surprise people by not surprising people. Pulling off such a move, however, requires some serious finesse that this blunt force trauma of an ending just doesn’t have. Anyone who’s seen a single spy thriller could have called this “twist” from a mile away. Hell, anyone who’s gotten invested in a TV love story between two queer women should’ve been steeling themselves for tragedy the second Eve and Villanelle finally found some semblance of happiness. Granted, this particular couple was made up of a rogue assassin and spy who flirted with death even more than each other. This ending working wouldn’t necessarily have come down to both of them making it out alive. But if one or both of them were going to end the series dead, Eve stepping back from an embrace only to see Villanelle blinking through a gunshot wound is as boring a death scene as it gets. (See also: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” infamously killing off Tara in much the same way over 20 years ago.) For as much as the swelling music and harrowing shots of Villanelle’s corpse floating away tried to underline the drama of the moment, it was way too predictable to be at all effective. This absolute most basic way to end an otherwise complex story just made everything that came before it seem like an enormous tease.

San Francisco Chronicle:
This 11th hour, or more literally, 32nd hour (four seasons of eight episodes) development spared the BBC America spy thriller from the hall of shame reserved for shows that pander to queer audiences. Those of us who had waited since 2018 for former MI5 agent Eve (Sandra Oh) and assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) to acknowledge their feelings at the same time, in the same place, were rewarded with about 20 minutes of them having fun and showing physical affection. The show’s characteristically violent (but uncharacteristically badly staged) final scene then dashed all hopes of the romance ever growing further in a “Killing Eve” movie or reboot — or even as a flash forward in the planned prequel series focused on Fiona Shaw’s Carolyn Martens. Or maybe not all hopes, if the writers revive a biblical storyline introduced early in season four. Was it better to see Eve and Villanelle show their love only briefly than to never have seen it at all? Absolutely. But the ridiculous delay of this crucial plot point until the series finale highlights the creative timidity of the past two seasons. It tarnished the legacy of “Killing Eve,” a onetime critical and awards darling (Oh won a Golden Globe and Comer an Emmy in 2019).

The episode is available on iview and screens Sunday night on ABC.

7 Responses

  1. Genuine question – why put a spoiler warning at the top of this post but you spoil the winners of reality shows like Bake Off, Eurovision and Survivor in the headline? I read the site every day to keep up with the industry but will often watch shows on demand, and knowing who wins takes some of the fun out.

    1. Killing Eve has not yet broadcast on ABC, only on iview as the story indicates. But Eurovision and Survivor etc are big events that are broadcast to the masses (I was actually one of the few media who used to hold off Eurovision results until they were broadcast on Sunday nights). Some are so big I would do a Live result, but give a warning of this in advance. Otherwise you would have seen DWTS and Survivor results the next day, which is entirely reasonable. For a TV site it makes sense to have a post on winners. There’s also a few other aspects around use of photo, SEO & archive. It makes a big difference to note “Julie Goodwin wins MasterChef” not “another Masterchef winner declared.” The rule of thumb is broadcast = news, so I don’t spoil the winners as you suggest, I’m filing entertainment news on an entertainment site. It’s a spoiler if something has not yet happened….

  2. Yes, agree the ending was a letdown.
    But have loved Killing Eve overall. Its surreality and soundrack blended perfectly.
    Actually expected Eve may die and Villanelle would ride off alone into the sunset. Would have loved to see a spin off series continue with Villanelle rather than Carolyn.
    Will miss her – she has been sublime.

    1. Yes I will also miss Villanelle. A wonderful “charactor” and deserved a better finale.
      And I’ll miss Constantine’s weird laugh.
      I enjoyed the whole series, but the ending didn’t do justice to a great series.

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