It’s true: Jodie Comer’s performance on Killing Eve has no equal

Jodie Comer took home the 2019 Lead Actress in a Drama trophy at this year’s Emmy Awards – and zero people should be surprised. Her performance in Killing Eve is that good.

The Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama category at the 2019 Emmy Awards was no joke – featuring a veritable murderer’s row of talented names and previous winners like like Robin Wright, Viola Davis, Sandra Oh, Laura Linney, Mandy Moore and Emilia Clarke. But the woman who walked away with the coveted statuette was none of these – in fact, it was first time nominee Jodie Comer.

The Killing Eve star wasn’t nominated last year, during the popular thriller’s debut run. (A year which actually saw Comer’s co-star Sandra Oh take home the Outstanding Lead Actress award at the Golden Globes.) But if Killing Eve’s first season was about Oh reminding us all that we’ve taken her for granted as a performer for far too long, then its second was Comer staking her claim as Hollywood’s next big thing.

Comer’s has been turning in fantastic performances for years now in dramas such as The White Princess, Thirteen, and Doctor Foster. But her breakout turn as assassin Villanelle in the buzzy BBC America drama has made her something of a household name. (At least among TV enthusiasts. We’ve been on the Villanelle train since the first episode!)

Villanelle is the sort of role every actress dreams of. Striking, bold, complicated and more than a little bit insane, the Russian assassin is utterly compelling from her very first moments onscreen. (In which she knocks over a child’s ice cream with a predator’s grin.) She gets all the best outfits and best lines. She loves killing people almost as much as she adores luxury products, and her fascination with MI-6 agent Eve Polastri drives much of the series’ plot.

And Comer attacks the role with singular gusto, inhabiting every aspect of Villanelle’s character – from dangerous serial killer to lost and broken soul. In her hands the campy assassin never becomes a caricature, but rather a fascinating, fully realized woman with complex layers. Her Villanelle is a dangerous mix of bravado and insecurity – with a dash of recklessness thrown on top. In the midst of her indulgent love for murder and mayhem, Comer never lets us forget that Villanelle is deeply broken, bored and lonely in ways it doesn’t seem as though she entirely understands.

In short: Her performance is truly a wonder to behold.

It’s perhaps even more remarkable when we consider the fact that neither Comer’s performance – nor the show itself – let us forget that Villanelle is a monster at heart. Sure, she’ a monster we can occasionally sympathize with – her AA confession about how bored and empty she feels is remarkable for how honest it is – but the show never lets us forget what those feelings mean for us, as viewers. It revels in confronting us with the fact that our obsession with Villanelle is as twisted as hers is for Eve, and forcing us to recognize that we’re all out here pretty much rooting for an unrepentant murderer.

Comer’s performance reflects this dichotomy, drawing us in even as she underlines the dark and inhuman nature of Villanelle’s interior life. It’s a balancing act that most performers would likely find difficult to maintain for an episode or two, let alone multiple seasons. And that’s just one of the many reasons Comer’s has earned so many awards of late, and has deserved every one. Season 2’s final moments see Villanelle rocket between supreme satisfaction, childlike glee, heartbreak, and fury and it’s anyone’s guess where her character will go next season.

But no matter what happens, we already know that, as an actress, Comer is more than up to the challenge.

Killing Eve will return for a third season at some point in 2020.