“Are You From Pinner?” – Aired on May 10, 2020
Writer: Suzanne Heathcote
Director: Shannon Murphy
Grade: 2 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
Highs and lows are inevitable, they often say, and successful TV shows running over multiple seasons are not immune to that problem. Killing Eve is an exceptional case in the sense that it has remained on the high end of the spectrum through most (if not, all) of its existence. “Are You From Pinner?” represents the irritating reality that even the cream of the crop in the industry cannot completely escape the above cliché.
This is a pedestrian, unremarkable hour of TV drama, unless…
— you happen to be an unwavering fan of Jodie Comer and watch anything showcasing her in some form or fashion, or…
— you are a variation of the above, in the sense that you could not care less about the rest of the cast and are here for Comer alone…
— you feel like consuming, along with an alcoholic beverage, an hour of schlock-caricature portrayal of a town in “Mother Russia,”** or…
— you are an fanatical follower of Killing Eve and as such, you chalk it up as an acceptable loss even if a particular episode is composed of a dreary plotline featuring pallid characters with little wit, or…
… Okay, I’ll stop here and recapitulate. Unless you are one of the above, your experience as a fan of Killing Eve will not skip a beat if you never saw this one.
** Thankfully, “Grizmet” is fictitious. Had it existed, not a single resident would have been amused by the doltish portrayal of their town to a global audience.
If you have been reading my reviews for this season, you know that I have been a staunch supporter of this Suzanne Heathcote-led version of Killing Eve and praised the tonal and narrative shifts that have so far marked season 3.
That being said, “Are You From Pinner?” strays too far!
Instead of the intriguing, layered narratives centered on the main characters, we have a simple-minded, single progression of events leading to a painfully predictable climax. Instead of the usual witty dialogues and clever satire, we are subjected to dumbed-down, slapstick humor. Instead of the usual world-building via beautifully shot multiple locations where events tie into each other, working toward a worthy pay-off, we have the narrow scope of a single location in ‘Absurdistan’ where this-n-that happens with hardly any substrate or cultural depth (no! Mother Russia is not Grizmet!)
The previews and trailers, as well as the closing seconds of last week’s terrific “Still Got It,” hinted at the possibility of this hour shining the spotlight on Villanelle’s familial background. While we get to meet her mother Tatiana (Evgenia Dodina) and her brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman), I must question the choice to explore Villanelle’s past as a child in a household where four other individuals with zero ties to Oksana (as everyone refers to her) occupy a considerable amount of screen time and provide little-to-no insight to her “story,” so to speak.
The only saving grace in this context is a boy named Bor’ka (Temi Blaev), whose father Grigoriy (Pedja Bjelac) is now married to Tatiana, which makes him Oksana’s half-brother, not that she even heard of him prior to her arrival. He is an obsessive fan of Elton John and his one goal in life is to collect enough money to see him perform live. Others ridicule and mock him, Tatiana scolds him and calls him “stupid,” the local cook Nadege (Virginia Rogin) refers to him as a “weird asshole,” cumulatively shattering his self-esteem. He has already formed a habit of banging his head against the wall when he feels ashamed or as a failure, as well as smacking it repeatedly with his palm.
His only ally seems to be Pyotr who is treated like an outcast himself, receiving no affection from his mother, not to mention his half-brother Fyodor (Dimitrij Schaad) harassing him, calling him names like “puppy dog,” “idiot,” and “mummy’s boy.” Pyotr tends to sleep at the barn where he ferociously beats the worn-out couch with a baseball bat for his daily anger-management exercise.
The interpersonal dynamics between the three above (Bor’ka-Pyotr-Tatiana) at least provide some clues – because, not much else does – as to what Oksana may have gone through growing up with an abhorrent mother like Tatiana. On a stodgier level, it makes Villanelle hate her mother even more which only makes sense because, frankly speaking, this is a painfully predictable hour, and murder(s) to come need to be appositely justified. It is telegraphed, fairly early in the episode, that we are inevitable on our way to witnessing some type of a climax where Villanelle kills Tatiana to fulfill her quota of at least one murder per episode before leaving town.
Sure, we learn a couple of historical tidbits in the process, such as Oksana being placed in an orphanage at a young age by her mother, or that Oksana used to punch Pyotr in the face, or that her parents had some sort of a fall-out when she was very young because he is nowhere to be found in the family pictures (Pyotr doesn’t even remember him), or that she started a fire at the orphanage.
Yet, nothing in this clunker amounts to any intuitive understanding of Oksana’s upbringing or any substantive anecdote on her childhood. There are no flashbacks to add to our insight on her formative years, no reliable sources from which to gain any knowledge.
Instead, the episode wastes inordinate amount of time on otiose banter flowing from inconsequential individuals like Grigoriy, Fyodor and his girlfriend Yula (Natallia Bulynia), not to mention the unoriginal festival occupying around four minutes of screen time during most of which Yula and her two sidekicks dance for the crowd and sneer at Oksana, and locals participate in run-of-the-mill contests (Villanelle wins hers, whoop-de-doo).
Even the accusations Villanelle and Tatiana launch at each other don’t carry enough clout. They are perpetual liars, so one can never be certain whose version is closer to the truth when confronted by conflicting statements. According to Villanelle, for example, her father was “better” and “stronger” than her mother. Tatiana claims, for her part, that Oksana ruined her father with her “darkness.” Can anyone firmly tell which is the truth? I doubt it. We enter the hour knowing zilch about her father, and exit the same way.
The orphanage told Tatiana that Oksana died in a fire, or so says Tatiana. Is she telling the truth? Why would the orphanage lie?
The orphanage told Oksana that her family died in a car crash, or so says Villanelle. Is she telling the truth? If she were, why did the orphanage lie? Or, did the orphanage receive erroneous information and passed it on? Or, did Tatiana ask them say so to Oksana and they complied (unethically) with her request for some strange reason?
The bottom line is, we spend an hour supposedly focusing on Villanelle’s background (the official synopsis even says so in different words) and come out of it knowing hardly anything more than we did before.
Taking my personal experience of being a regular watcher of Killing Eve into account, I can comfortably say that there is something wrong if, 40 minutes into an episode, I feel that the only memorable scene is Villanelle guffawing at the flat-earth theories of Fyodor and Yula (compared to my usual several-chuckles-per-episode rate thanks to delightfully witty dialogues) and the only thing left to wonder is how Villanelle will discard her victim(s) at the end.
She does not stop with her mother either, does she? She commits mass murder. Oh wait, was I supposed to cheer for her on when she left money for Bor’ka? Sorry. I must have missed that particular nuance.
Until the next episode… and quickly please!
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