Pride Month 2020: How Sandra Oh's Eve Polastri saved 'Killing Eve' from falling prey to queerbaiting
Back in 2018, the world was taken by storm by a dark, dangerous and driven queer force of nature: Villanelle from BBC America's hit spy thriller 'Killing Eve'. The professional assassin played by Jodie Comer was rivaled by the MI5 operative hunting her down: Eve Polastri. Grey's Anatomy's iconic Sandra Oh played the confused, fumbling agent who somehow just couldn't understand how or why she was so obsessed with the young assassin she had been tasked to kill. This sparked off a cat-and-mouse chase with both inevitably admitting their innermost, darkest feelings towards each other, but no consummation of those feelings whatsoever. The fact that in 2019 Oh went on to deny any possible hints of Eve being queer only fueled allegations of the show simply queerbaiting its audience, but as time went on, we soon realized no coffin had been nailed any sooner. Eve's arc, in fact, is what paved the way for 'Killing Eve' in a direction that couldn't be any farther than queerbaiting.
For those unaware, queerbaiting refers to a show using characters to lead the audience to believe they are queer just to titillate and attract viewers, without even progressing with that arc or making it any level of canon whatsoever. So even after Eve admitted her fixation to Villanelle, lying next to her in bed in her Parisian apartment right at the end of the Season 1 finale, the fact that Oh would blatantly tell Gay Times “You guys are tricky because you want to make it into something … but it just isn’t,” was just disappointing.
The reason? Well, Eve's confession isn't just your typical "I can't forget you." She tells Villanelle and in as many words “I think about you all the time. I think about what you’re wearing, and what you’re doing, and who you’re doing it with. I think about the friends you have, I think about what you eat before you go to work, and what shampoo you have, and what happened in your family. I think about your eyes and your mouth, and what you feel when you kill someone, I think about what you have for breakfast. I just want to know everything."
While most of that is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's exceptional writing, let's also not forget that isn't the only time Eve and Villanelle admit their inexplicable magnetic pull towards each other, all without a kiss. It's true, words seem to be all they have, but the way Oh executes this delicate exploration of her character's sexuality, the way she channels those confusing tidbits of Eve just learning that she is attracted to a woman - that it is even possible for a happily married woman like her - is both subtle, and commendable. And that is exactly where 'Killing Eve' wins. True, not everybody can be as eloquent as the MI5 agent, but hey, she uses the arsenal she comes packed with and none of that is misleading.
While the fandom had to wait three years for the two to finally lock their lips (and what a violent, rushed, out of the blue lock it was!) one can't forget all the ways Eve has stood up for Villanelle in an evidently beyond platonic manner. For one to understand why the two hadn't kissed earlier, one needs to understand both Eve and Villanelle and their personal restraints that come from the life they have chosen. While being incredibly attracted to each other, Eve wants to do right by her husband Niko. Her need to do the job she's been tasked with runs heavy too. For Villanelle, the calculated but impulsive girl tries her best to convince Eve there is more to life than being a good wife, but when she fails, she accepts her seclusion gracefully.
From trying to kill each other to kissing each other and finally admitting the teeny tiny chance of growing old together - whatever accusations of queerbaiting were hurled towards 'Killing Eve' have been successfully evaded thanks to a wonderful thing called character development on the titular character's behalf. But if one remembers all the events from Season 1 closely, they will also remember that time Eve openly admired Villanelle's flamboyant, unpredictable ferocity all the way in the beginning when she had countered her rigid bosses at the MI6, noting “She is outsmarting the smartest of us, and for that, she deserves to do or kill whoever the hell she wants.”
True, Season 3 might have been about Eve and Villanelle finally realizing they are just pawns in an elaborate game played by people trying to control them, but Eve's fascination with Villanelle was intensely appreciative right from the beginning. These are two women out to replace James Bond and his damsel in disguise and that isn't the only male-dominated arena they are trying to establish a name for themselves in. And for Eve to stand up like that for a deranged albeit fashionable, bratty psychopath, not once, but every single time the opportunity presents itself is nothing short of love. Eve and Villanelle are stunning proof that love isn't dignified by the number of kisses you share or how frequently you engage in physical intimacy. It can involve a stab to the gut, a gunshot to the chest and you can still choose each other when the time is right and nothing feels more perfect.