Why did Killing Eve sideline Eve in Season 2?

The Atlantic

The BBC America spy series betrayed its central character in its second season, making Sandra Oh's Eve Polastri languish in Villanelle's shadow, says Sophie Gilbert. Season 2, she says, seemed to repeat the Season 1 story, but flip the characters of Eve and Villanelle. "It may be too much to expect fictional characters to stay totally consistent across multiple seasons of television," says Gilbert. "But it’s also hard to think of a series that’s elevated its antagonist to such an extent in its sophomore season while sidelining its central character. The show, after all, is called Killing Eve, and yet it’s easier to imagine it functioning now without Eve than without (Jodie) Comer’s mesmerizingly weird and compelling performance of Villanelle. Oh, who’s equally gifted and addictively watchable onscreen, just hasn’t been given the material this season to measure up. (It’s worth noting that the vast majority of GIFs ripped from the show this season feature Comer, an unscientific analysis that nevertheless suggests how little fun Eve has been allowed.) Being unsympathetic is one thing; being dully idiotic because you’re in the throes of sexual mania or possibly embracing psychopathy yourself is another entirely."

ALSO:

• Season 2 often struggled with maintaining tension when Eve and Villanelle are together
• "Seriously?!? This is feeling a little familiar...How long can this cat-and-mouse game continue?"
• Executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle breaks down the Season 2 finale: "We've sort of toyed with whether or not they'd do a Thelma and Louise, but then we go, well then what do they do?"
• Gentle says of Season 2: "We had it vaguely mapped out...but we didn’t have the detail of it mapped out"
• Showrunner Emerald Fennell: "I think the audience needs to feel what it would be like to kill someone"
• Sandra Oh reacts to Season 2's shocking final scene