Killing Eve Is Now on Netflix. Longtime Fans Are Concerned for New Viewers

AMC

If you were in the Killing Eve trenches from 2018 to 2022, you aren’t entitled to compensation. But honestly, you should be, because the hit spy drama is now trending on Netflix, introducing a host of new viewers to Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) — and the show’s controversial ending.

In case you’ve been living under a queer TV rock and this is your first introduction to the series, a quick recap: Loosely adapted from British author Luke Jennings’ Villanelle novels, the show centers on the homoerotic, psychosexual cat-and-mouse game between MI5 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer), an assassin with a penchant for couture, murder, and women — not necessarily in that order.

To paraphrase Saturday Night Live’s Stefon, Killing Eve has everything: Murder as a sapphic love language! To-die-for fashion! Globetrotting! Beloved lesbian actress Fiona Shaw!

But for all its thrills, it’s Eve and Villanelle’s unconventional courtship that forms the twisted, bleeding heart of the entire series. When the two first cross paths, both women are growing restless. Eve has a boring government desk job and a nice, dull husband, and for Villanelle, a nonstop parade of luxury goods and contract kills has left her discontented. As their mutual obsession deepens, the two bring out unexpected sides in each other, with Villanelle drawing out Eve’s repressed desires and dark impulses, and Eve reawakening feelings in the unapologetically murderous Villanelle that she thought she couldn’t experience.

Oh and Comer’s chemistry is electric and quite literally award-winning! In 2019, Comer became the youngest-ever actor at the time to take home the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series. That same year, Oh became the first woman of Asian descent to win multiple Golden Globes when she earned a trophy for her Killing Eve performance to go along with her 2006 Golden Globe win for Grey’s Anatomy.

Understandably, Netflix users are lapping it up after the show was added to the streamer earlier this week. At the time of writing, Killing Eve ranks third on Netflix’s top 10 U.S. TV shows chart. Earlier this week, the official Netflix X account went so far as to pander to Eve and Villanelle shippers, sharing an iconic Season 1 scene in which you could cut the sexual tension between Oh and Comer’s characters with a knife (for example, the knife Villanelle sensually presses against Eve’s chest in the clip).

Plus, if you’re still reeling from Andrew Scott telling Fleabag devotees to go outside in a recent interview, then you’ll be happy to know that the first season of Killing Eve was helmed by none other than Phoebe Waller-Bridge, head writer of Killing Eve’s near-perfect first season. Waller-Bridge also served as a producer for the rest of the show’s run. Saltburn director Emerald Fennell took over as head writer for Season 2, followed by Suzanne Heathcote for Season 3, and Laura Neal for Season 4.

New viewers should be warned that because Killing Eve fell into the hands of a different showrunner each season, its back half varies quite a bit in terms of overall consistency and quality. But as a showcase for Oh and Comer, it’s more than worth investing in.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to talk about Killing Eve in 2024 without its (largely reviled) series finale looming over all the fun. I won’t spoil the full nitty, gritty details, but I do feel like I have an obligation to warn sapphics that potential sorrow and anger lie ahead. Let’s just say that, after four seasons of challenging what queer genre TV can be, the show doubled down on the dreaded “Bury Your Gays” trope. To be clear, queer characters dying doesn’t automatically mean that a story is guilty of this trope, especially given that this has always been a murder-laden series that’s literally called Killing Eve.

But the way in which the show undermines the relationship between its two leads with an utterly bewildering last-minute twist left many queer viewers — myself included — justifiably enraged and heartbroken that Killing Eve’s legacy was tainted.

Still, I can’t shake my fondness for early Killing Eve and what it meant to me as a lesbian and lover of all things genre TV. Luckily, I’d argue that the show’s first season functions perfectly as a limited series in its own right. If you’re hungry for more, Season 2 is a tad uneven but ultimately a fun watch that I wouldn’t begrudge anyone. If you do stick around, I recommend turning off the series finale with a few minutes to spare and enjoying some high-quality Villaneve GIFs in all their glory.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.