Killing Eve first broke into the public consciousness in 2019 with its second season, which went on to be nominated for nine Emmys. The show, about the cat-and-mouse game between MI6 Agent Eve Polastri and international assassin Villanelle, stuck out for its unique concept, characterization and chemistry between the two leads. With that knowledge, I went into the season three premiere “Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey” with high hopes, but was let down by how utterly boring it was.

Season two ended with a massive cliffhanger, and season three picked up a good amount of time later focusing on the character’s lives as they recover from the life-changing event. Eve spent the whole episode working in a restaurant now that she’s ex-MI6, with each moment focusing on her disgusting tiny apartment and her separation from her husband.

Kenny and Carolyn, two supporting characters, also had horrible lives as the former dealt with his horrible new job and the latter dealt with her divorce. Villanelle was the only one who had a personality outside of being depressed, but her burst of color couldn’t even lighten the mood. I understand that the show is just trying to be realistic, but when I watch a show about the obsessive relationship between an assassin and a MI6 agent, I’m not watching it for realism.

The soundtrack was on point as always, whether it was choosing weird angry indie songs or sharp classical music, it managed to set the mood perfectly for each scene. Whoever chooses the soundtrack on Killing Eve needs a raise, because they’re the person who saved this episode.

The constant focus on how much the characters hate their lives was getting dreary. Whether it was how bland the MI6 office looked or Eve’s aggressive apathy, the show was so gray and boring I wanted to avert my eyes. The final five minutes of the episode hitting is what saved me, the period of time in Killing Eve where everything escalates, leaving the characters hanging off a metaphorical cliff. Eve, having finally left her stupor, stumbled upon her usual mystery, with the classical music hitting its crescendo right as the camera panned onto the dead body. The screen went black, and I was left disappointed that the most engaging moment of the episode ended so quickly.

I’d like to say that there’s no way the next episode will be boring considering how “Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey” ended, but I would have said the same for this episode because of season two’s finale. Still, Killing Eve made itself known for a reason, and I’ll try and have faith that season three can pick up and become interesting again.