Why Fiona Shaw’s Carolyn is the Best Thing about “Killing Eve”

The veteran spy is an enigma that viewers can’t help but want to solve.

I’m about to make a controversial claim.

In my considered opinion, neither Sandra Oh nor Jodie Comer should be considered the best things about the hit series Killing Eve. No, that honour should go to none other than Fiona Shaw’s Carolyn, Eve’s boss (and sometime nemesis) at MI6.

This isn’t to say that Oh and Comer aren’t great, because they definitely are. There’s an electrifying chemistry between the two of them that lights up the screen any time that they appear together (and hell, any time that they don’t). However, as I made my way through each of the three seasons of the series that have aired so far, it was Carolyn that I found myself drawn to again and again. Something about her just seemed absolutely captivating, even though the for the most part we learn less about her than we do either Eve or Villanelle.

Part of her allure, certainly, is the appeal of Fiona Shaw herself. Like most people my age, my first real introduction to her on the screen was as the embittered yet ultimately somewhat sympathetic Aunt Petunia to the titular Harry Potter. Then, of course, she was one of the main antagonists of HBO’s popular (but increasingly…