What makes Villanelle so endearing?
Villanelle — played by Jodie Comer and created by Phoebe-Waller Bridge — is beyond deadly, evil, and erratic. Then why are we so drawn to her?
Villanelle is the primary antagonist of the hit BBC spy-thriller show Killing Eve created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Throughout the series, she is chased down by an MI6 agent Eve Polastri played by Sandra Oh resulting in the two women being entangled in a cat-and-mouse chase.
There are little to no reasons to “love” Villanelle as a character — her moral compass is haywire, she is selfish, and most of all, she is extremely dangerous. She is nothing short of a killing machine with wavering morality. Plus, she does not discriminate against killing elderly people or kids or even people whom she loves who disobey her. Bit of an extreme example but so is Villanelle.
Then why do we still end up rooting for Villanelle?
Because we have never seen a character quite like Villanelle on television.
Killing Eve, in a lot of ways, is a classic spy thriller. Eve Polastri attempts to hunt down Villanelle and Villanelle is the apple in the Garden of Eden, constantly tempting Eve to get closer.
But unlike most spy thrillers, the main antagonist is a female character. And no she is one of those no-nonsense female characters who are made so tough and lifeless that they become one-dimensional rather than intriguing.
Villanelle is expressive. She is engaging. She is hilarious and undoubtedly stylish – both in her fashion sense and the way she executes her tasks.
She represents a liberated woman — a woman who does not need to repress herself to seem more appealing to the world and a woman who is completely comfortable in her skin.
When we take a step back and really examine why women specifically love the character of Villanelle, it is because the show does not just focus on her gender. She is extremely smart, always in vogue, sure of herself, undeniably fearless, and undoubtedly terrific at her job.
That is what women want — to not have their gender be the only defining thing about them.
Villanelle knows exactly what she wants at any given moment. And it is perhaps this conviction that draws us to her. While it is easy to say that immoral characters are unlikeable, watching even immoral characters act with purpose and conviction is… straight-up cool.
Not to mention the tense, slow-burn romance between Villanelle and Eve which slowly takes center stages as the series progresses.
As the filming of the fourth and final season of Killing Eve progresses, here’s to hoping that we get more television series with more female protagonists and especially, more female writers.
