Killing Eve – I Hope You Like Missionary!

By: Kelly Kearney

Nobody is better at recreating themselves than Villanelle and this week she takes those acting skills to new heights when Eve asks her to cozy up to the Peel family. After The Ghost sang like a canary to the Demon With No Face, MI6 sets their sights on the assassin’s employer, Aaron Peel. Known for being extremely isolated from anyone outside of his sister, getting close to the possible killer is an all but impossible task. Thankfully, Villanelle is a master of disguise who is always looking for a little action as well as a reason to be closer to Eve.

The Morning After

After last week’s encounter with Villanelle (Jodie Comer), it seems Niko (Owen McDonnell) realizes his wife’s biggest turn on must be danger. So, when he comes home from his school trip dripping wet and extremely volatile over what went down with his wife in Paris, it’s no surprise that Eve (Sandra Oh) finds his anger sexy to the max. Pushing her up against the wall, the usually gentle Niko asks Eve what she wants from him. “Do you want me to love you or do you want me to frighten you,” he questions and the answer is obvious when Eve’s fears turns to passion. Almost growling, Niko barks out an order for her to go upstairs and on her hands and knees Eve crawls to their bedroom. Who knew the answer to their marital woes was a little S&M kink, but from the look on Eve’s face in the morning it certainly did the trick. The problem is Niko isn’t really feeling that after glow and instead is sickened by the lengths he had to go to get his wife’s attention. Their night of romance was definitely not his cup of tea and now, more than ever, he knows he can’t be the person that Eve needs. After all the times she put him second to her obsessions, a night of bedroom kinks is what finally does their marriage in. Niko admits he can’t live like this any longer and decides to put some distance between himself and the dysfunction that their life has become. Upset, she begs him not to leave her alone, but he reminds her that she’s not as she has Villanelle. And that truth practically takes her breath away.

Eve isn’t the only one who is having an awkward morning after. Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) interrupts Carolyn’s (Fiona Shaw) afterglow when her latest shirtless conquest finds the Russian whipping up a disgusting breakfast in her kitchen. Neither men seem shocked to find the other, almost as if this is a normal occurrence in Carolyn’s life. Well, nobody but Kenny who looks utterly grossed out as he watches the two men talk around is mother’s sexual escapades. If only Kenny (Sean Delaney) had a job that allowed him to escape his mother’s sex life, but alas Eve has yet to come to her senses and rehire the young tech whiz.

With Konstantin back under Carolyn’s watchful eye, Villanelle’s dreams of freelance killings are on hold. What does a bored killer with nobody to kill do to entertain themselves? Well, breaking into the home of the woman your obsessed with is a one option. Villanelle managed to grab a front row seat to Eve and Niko’s kinky night, so when the agent left for a breakfast meeting with Carolyn she picks her apartment lock and snoops through her belongings. She uses her toothbrush, slips a letter into her bookcase, mixes up her CD collection and shoves a banana into her canister of salt. Just your average female killer trolling the one she loves for no other reason than boredom and the need to let Eve know she’s always watching.

Speaking of that breakfast meeting, Eve meets Carolyn at a hookah bar because the most important meal of the day she says “is just constant eggs. Why? Who decided?” scrambled disappointments aside, the two talk about Peel (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) and his latest victim; a journalist who secretly recorded the extremely private Peel and wound up dead, stuffed inside the narrow pipes of the London sewer system. Now the team at MI6 have to devise a plan to get close to Peel and see what he is up to, but considering he limits his interactions to only his sister Amber (Shannon Tarbet), getting near him is going to be a challenge. It’s not like Eve can do it as he’s already met and insulted her. The idea of trapping him in a honeypot also won’t work since Aaron has never showed any interest in women or men, which just adds another layer to his bizarre personality. The team at Manderley Bay have their work cut out for them, but luckily Eve knows someone with all the skills to get close to Peel by way of his sister, the recovering drug addict. The young woman is attending AA meetings in London and who else but Villanelle and her thespian skills could dupe Amber into giving up her brother? It looks like Eve and Villanelle are destined to be in each other’s orbit. Whether it’s as enemies or co-workers, these two can quit each other and there is no 12-step program that can fix that.

Billie The American Insta-influencer

Knowing the key to this plan is Amber means Eve, once again, needs Villanelle’s help. After trying out a few accents and fake personalities, the partners in crime (solving) settle on the American social media princess and current alcoholic, Billie. With a flawless portfolio drummed up by Hugo (Edward Bluemel) that includes a few barely useful degrees and a couple of DUI’s, Billie and Eve head to London to infiltrate Amber’s AA group. Right off the bat the younger Peel finds a likeminded soul in Billie, but the rest of the support group isn’t really buying the newcomer’s story. It doesn’t help, that Billie ignores Hugo’s file on her background and replaces it with snippets from Eve’s life, a move that leaves the agent both shocked and appalled. When the two women meet to discuss what went down at the group meeting Eve warns Villanelle to never speak of her life and crumbling marriage again. Villanelle isn’t one to be told what to do, even from the woman whose captured her attention and she reminds Eve of who she is dealing with and what she’s capable of. “Don’t speak to me like that, Eve. I like you, but I don’t like you that much. Don’t forget, the only thing that makes you interesting is me,” quips our devious diva. The power struggle between these two is like a game of tug of war and from the look on Eve’s face she knows Villanelle won this round.

Back to the AA meeting, getting close to Amber is proving more difficult than Billie and Eve thought thanks to her sobriety coach and watch dog, Marie (Basienka Blake). Every time Billie tries to make headway with their target Marie steps in to remind Amber to keep her distance. It’s incredibly annoying to Villanelle, who is running out of time and needs a way inside Peel’s inner circle of two. It also doesn’t help that the AA group seems to think Billie’s story is disingenuous and without the truth, her real truth, they have no interest in including her in their discussions. It is as if it’s back to the drawing board for Billie.

While Villanelle is working on Amber, Eve tracks down Niko at work to presumably ask him to come home, but she never gets that far thanks to Gemma (Emma Pierson). She spots her husband in the school’s courtyard with Gemma and it’s glaringly obvious the woman is moving in on her husband. Eve leaves before Niko sees her and makes the decision to stop by Gemma’s home later in the day, knowing her husband will be there. Of course, he is and Eve makes some excuse about dropping off a bag of clothes for him. Everything seems civil, until Gemma invites Eve in for a cup of tea. It’s not long before her anger over this entire awkward situation drives Eve to do something completely out of character. She asks to use the bathroom, but instead slips into Gemma’s room and snoops through her belongings. As she’s furiously rifling through the other woman’s underwear drawer, Gemma catches Eve in the act and she is completely unapologetic over her actions. Eve even goes as far as to threaten Gemma, which sets Niko off, demanding Eve apologize to his friend. At that moment, Eve realizes Villanelle was right all along. Niko is not a good fit for her. She turns to Gemma and says, “I hope you like the missionary position,” and Gemma responds with, “I do, actually.” Knowing she could never be what Niko needs Eve finally calls it quits on her marriage. She’s resigned herself to the fact Niko will be much happier with Gemma than he would playing second string quarterback to Villanelle and MI6. For now, Niko is out of the picture and out of Villanelle’s line of fire. Something that I am sure the missionary loving Gemma is thankful for.

Stake Outs, bullies, and gyros

After bearing her true soul to the AA group, Billie finally gets close to Amber thanks to a tragedy that besets the woman’s sobriety coach. A tragedy that Billie caused when she tossed Marie into the path of a moving bus. Now drying Amber’s tears, Billie lands an invite to the Peel’s home for dinner while Eve and Konstantin listen on a hidden mic outside from a surveillance van. The chemistry between Amber and Aaron is beyond weird and it’s no wonder neither have any interest in dating. The two act more like a bickering old married couple than siblings. Villanelle watches this Flowers in the Attic scene unfold as Eve pipes in talking points through an earpiece. The dinner table conversations and Eve and Konstantin in her ear are too much for Villanelle, so she swallows the earpiece and decides to wing it. Things get angsty when Aaron starts hammering Billie with questions about her education while demeaning her intelligence. It takes everything inside Villanelle to hold back her killer instincts and shut the badgering man up. Unfortunately for Aaron, he goes too far and after calling him a bully Billie smacks him across the face with a book in one satisfying and bludgeoning blow. Inside the van Eve ears Villanelle leave the Peel home and wants to run to her, but Konstantin tells her, “Let her be. You are all over her.” Nobody knows how to deal with Villanelle’s dramatic tantrums like her handler, so Eve stays in the truck while the angry killer heads into town to grab a bite to eat. What she finds is more of an inspiration than a snack. Spotting the gyro meat spit behind the counter she asks the restaurant’s cashier (Azaan Symes) if that contraption works for any meat. One can only assume Villanelle is fantasizing about sticking Aaron Peel on a spit and slathering him in Tzatziki sauce. “People will eat anything if you slice it thin enough and slather it in hot sauce,” the man says. So, yeah, Aaron will probably end up in a gyro sandwich soon enough. Villanelle’s meaty dreams get interrupted by two young women ordering chips and from the look on Villanelle’s face the women shouldn’t have slowed her gyro roll. Outside the eatery and lurking in the shadows Villanelle stalks the women through the dark alleyways until she pops out in front of the frightened two, with neither realizing she was the scary bump they heard in the night. The women offer to let Villanelle walk with them and with a sinister smile on her face she takes off into the night knowing this will probably be the women’s last one. After all, Aaron stoked her flames and a good kill is the only prescription for Villanelle’s madness.