"Killing Eve." / "Bad Monkey."

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“Killing Eve” (Netflix) 4 Seasons, British spy thriller. Based on the “Villanelle” novel series by Luke Jennings, Season 1 was written by Phoebe “Fleabag” Waller-Bridge. Wry sarcasm, twisted sexuality, and cartoonish violence usher the next three seasons, written by Emerald Fennell (she wrote “Promising Young Woman”), Suzanne Heathcote, and Laura Neal. 



       This hard to let go series follows a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturing a psychopathic assassin. The investigator is Eve Polastri, played with equal amounts of zealous vulnerability and focused persistence by Sandra Oh. The psycho assassin a.k.a. Villanelle is Jodie Comer, whose addictive performance is smothered with macabre glee, surreal contradiction, and playful, erotic allure. 

       In between this surge and flow river and raging volcano are Carolyn Martens, head of the Russia Section at MI6, and Konstantin Vasiliev, Villanelle's handler. Portrayed by Fiona Shaw, restrained and scheming, and Kim Bodnia, fatherly and sinister. The chemistry of these 4 people with varying, contrasting degrees of insane cool make “Killing Eve” a popular binge-watch device. 🎥👍📽


“Bad Monkey” (Apple TV+) black comedy crime drama, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen. Premise: Andrew Yancy is a former police detective who has been reduced to conducting restaurant inspections in South Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist pulls Yancy into a world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and The Bahamas.



       Mr Yancey is Vince Vaughn, all mouthy. What else is new? The series kicked off just fine until it fell into a “running around the bush” bore, crisscrossing Florida and Bahamas. And it's all Vince's mouth doing it. Yaddayaddayadda.

       Michelle Monaghan's Bonnie Witt/Plover Chase, a woman with a secret past, promised an interesting side story. But it was upstaged by the annoying Meredith Hanger as the criminal Eve Stripling, all tired cliché. The day is saved by the amazing grace that is Jodie Turner-Smith as Dragon Queen/Gracie, an Obeah–practicing woman. 

       Nope, the monkey didn't steal any scenes, dammit! (There will be a Season 2 but Ms Turner-Smith won't be there. Dammit!) 🎥💻📽


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