Breaking The Scene (Killing Eve — Smart Exposition)

Killing Eve is… wow. The premise sounds boring, but the show? The show!? It has some of the smartest, funniest, most thoughtful writing I’ve seen in a while. Granted, I’m only on Episode 5, but I’m already fully willing to rant about this show and get a copy of every script available for it. It is good.

The Show: Killing Eve (available on Hulu)

The Writer: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Regardless of me being overly in love with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s exceptional writing, this post is going to talk about one of the small things I’ve noticed so far in the show- how it handles exposition. With it existing in the detective genre, it’s reasonable to suspect that there’ll be a lot of scenes in which one character explains something to another character. And though this sounds boring, Killing Eve uses a variety of tricks to make us forget that we’re encountering an exposition scene.

How Exposition is Espoused

• Exposition Revealed As Defense: In Episode 2, we have a short sequence in which Eve’s boss-turned-coworker, Bill, is unwilling to believe that the assassin they‘re searching for is a woman. Eve, however, believes Bill is upset because he’s no longer her boss. This allows a fun subtext to play out as Eve lightly taunts Bill about not being in charge, and Bill, in order to defend his position, points to various facets of the case. By having the expository details emerge as a defense to personal attacks, the audience is given a clear window into each character’s reasoning for their beliefs in a manner which is both engaging and natural.

• Exposition As a Threat: One of the coolest moments in these early episodes occurs when Villanelle, the elusive assassin, reveals to her handler, Konstantin, that she knows about his daughter. The plot detail is clear- Konstantin has a daughter, and Villanelle knows about her. But that’s not what we really care about- this detail comes up in the context of Konstantin trying to prove his superiority over Villanelle. As a result, when she exposes this detail to him, it obviously isn’t meant to be friendly- it’s a clear, terrifying, and wonderfully intriguing insinuation that she is the powerful one in the room, and if he wrongs her, he might not have a daughter for too much longer.

• Exposition Through Relationships: A wonderfully wholesome scene between Bill and Eve occurs near the middle of Episode 3, in which Bill reveals to Eve his unexpectedly promiscuous past. This doesn’t appear in some randomly forced monologue, however- it’s prompted by Eve wanting explicitly to know more about her partner, and comes in the context of Eve preparing for a meeting with a possible contact. When Bill goes over his backstory, it then feels fairly natural thanks to how him and Eve, through this episode, have continually been learning more about one another. The audience is similarly interested in Bill’s past as a result of his overall warm nature built atop only tiny bits of received context.

• Exposition Through Dichotomy: Another wonderfully memorable exposition-based scene occurs in Episode 4. Here, Eve is trying to brief her boss, Fiona, on a new piece of information in the case, all while Fiona is browsing through a selection of meats. Their conversation unfolds in humorous fashion, with Eve espousing important info and Fiona noting the different meats available to purchase. This allows for comedy to develop in a manner which is unexpected yet natural- while Eve is relaying the details of a sociopath assassin, Fiona is seemingly only focused on what she’s eating tonight. The unexpected manner in how the two conversations play out keeps us fully involved through the scene, both humored and intrigued by the ridiculous premise.

In Summary…

Killing Eve is a really great show. Please watch it if you can. As a writer, I’ve already learned so much about establishing character relationships, rewarding audience expectations, and (obviously) how to implement exposition in a manner which is fun and exciting. I very much doubt this will be the last time I talk about the show, but please, watch it if you can.