Emmys 2019: Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer are both nominated for 'Killing Eve' but who deserves the win the most?
The women of 'Killing Eve' are killing it at the 2019 Emmys! With both the leading ladies of the spy thriller nominated for lead actress in a drama, the stakes are already high and so are the expectations. But while Emerald Fennell wrote the second season and was able to live up to the debut one that came from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the biggest question waiting to be answered is which leading lady should take home the Emmy this year: Sandra Oh for playing the confused, but determined MI6 agent Eve Polastri, or Jodie Comer for playing the psychopath Russian assassin, Villanelle?
On one hand, we have Oh, who made Emmy history last year by becoming the first Asian actress nominated in a leading role category. Oh might not have taken home the trophy in 2018, but things just got better with her performance as the same character, in the second season of the show. The fumbling, clumsy MI6 agent she plays only got more complex as she tried to work things out with her husband, Nico (Own McDonell) while also being latently confronted about her burning and increasingly blatant feelings for her target assassin, Villanelle. Oh's brilliance was exuded in scenes where Eve tried to seek out Villanelle and partner with her in busting other assassins, and as the lines got more and more blurred between the two, it was Oh's sheer expertise in tip-toeing on the fine line that helped Eve strike the perfect balance and all the right chords.
That said, the only thing that could even compete Oh's excellence as Eve would be Comer portrayal of Villanelle. The childlike petulance, the need to feel like she belongs, and the constant yearning for Eve's attention and affection despite knowing how much her marriage means to her are what makes Villanelle a sociopath we adore. Every murder she commits was like an elaborate artistic masterpiece she put up only for Eve, and there could hardly be anybody better than Comer to exude that twinkle in Villanelle's eyes, and the soft cracks in her voice when she realized that maybe after all his time, the two didn't have a shot at a happily ever after at all. Villanelle might be a psychopath, but she is a serial assassin with a closet full of couture and Comer's portrayal of that twisted, quirky professional assassin has truly earned her the faith of fans who now practically want her to kill them the way Villanelle takes down her targets.
It's difficult to compare the two when both of them are at par with each other's performance in season 2, and there are no picking sides if one is an ardent fan of the show. So the fairest thing of all would be a tie because let's be real, nobody else deserves to win more than these two!
The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards airs on Sunday, September 22 from 8 p.m, only on Fox.