Killing Eve – Oh Goodie, I’m the Winner

By: Kelly Kearney

After last week’s dramatic end that left Eve (Sandra Oh) clutching a bleeding Villanelle (Jodie Comer) to her chest, we finally get the first clue that these two might be ready to give in to their fiery tension and set the world ablaze. Eve is harboring some heavy guilt over the attack on Villanelle and goes through most of this episode trying to apologize the only way she knows how: by ignoring the boundaries the injured woman sets and practically killing her with kindness. This is a different look for Eve, who spent four seasons denying what everyone can obviously see; these two women are connected in every way possible. In love, in hate, in death and rebirth, they’re the tragic tale of Cupid and Psyche, the doomed together and doomed apart other half of one complete whole and the more they push it away, the more harm befalls them both and everyone around them.

Outside of the will they/won’t they drama, Hélène (Camille Cottin) is still taking out members of The Twelve and pulling everyone’s strings like some kind of master puppeteer. They are all in her crosshairs – Eve for kidnaping her daughter, Villanelle for disobeying orders and Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) and Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) for their ties to The Twelve. The only person seemingly off her radar is Pam (Anjana Vasan), who is too busy stitching up her latest victim and wondering if the assassin life is truly for her. As for the defector and original member of The Twelve, Carolyn gets closer to the head of the secret group with a little help from an old friend. The question is, can she be trusted with whatever information she discovers? Where do her loyalties lie and with whom? Lets dive in to “Oh Goodie, I’m the Winner” and find out.

The Artist Formerly Known as Johan

After Eve runs to Villanelle’s injured side, she drags her to Konstantin where Pam takes Cupid’s…or rather Hélène’s arrow out of her back. A very miffed and sort of whiny blonde who felt betrayed by her love angers through the pain. She is still ticked at Eve for sending her to jail and orders her out of the room- which Eve ignores because she can’t leave her side.

In Berlin we see Carolyn has found Lars a/k/a Johan (Ingvar Sigurdsson) at a cabin owned by Konstantin’s ex. She sits down with the artist formerly known as Lars and the two have a chat at gunpoint about the dangers coming for him. Carolyn offers him a quid pro-quo: the name of The Twelve member who ordered her son’s death for the name of the assassin who is torturing The Twelve and coming for him next. Johan laughs off the deal on the table because the last time they met she tried to kill him with an oar to the head. How does he know she will tell him the truth? Maybe she is the killer? He reminds her of the fact she helped make The Twelve and then sold them out by creating an MI6 task force to catch them – leading to her eventual betrayal of her country and teaming up with the Russian FSB. She isn’t exactly trustworthy, so Johan is going to need more than her word, especially if she expects him to out a member they both know she is going to kill. The two come to an agreement and Johan is shocked to hear the person behind the torture and killings is Hélène. In the male dominated world of espionage Carolyn equates Johan’s reaction to “… as if a vagina is an invisibility cloak” and that unfortunate truth is probably how she has been able to waltz into every enemy’s lair virtually unscathed – this one included. The patriarchy can’t see what it dismisses and people like Carolyn, Villanelle and Hélène can easily hide in plain sight. With this news, Johan ropes Carolyn into a plan to lure Hélène to the cabin and surprise her. She refuses until he dangles Kenny’s killer above her head.

The Meeting

Later, when Carolyn shows up to meet Hélène, the woman is shocked to see she was tricked and that the person she ordered to have killed is very much alive and well and in the place of Lars. After the two toss some verbal barbs around they sit down for a bit of awkward small talk laced with threats and surprising heaps of praise. We learn the two women are very alike – both pragmatic, emotionless, deadly and with a keen ability to recognize those skills in the other. The coincidences don’t end there as Hélène admits she knew of Carolyn because their fathers were lovers. In honor of their shared pasts and a little female solidarity, Hélène agrees to let her live so Lars/Johan can hand over his bosses name.

Back to the seaside resort where Villanelle is flat on her stomach admiring the arrow souvenir Pam extracted from her back. Everyone else is arguing about whose fault this is and who owes whom an apology. Eve thinks Hélène shot Villanelle as payback for Chloe’s kidnapping, but Villanelle thinks that is her narcissism talking because it’s obviously about her letting Carolyn live. Konstantin says it’s probably both because that woman is a sadistic and efficient killer. The real tragedy here is the missing apology he is owed from Eve for shooting him in the hand. It was in a very sore spot! Eve shrugs his complaints off like it was only a scratch and their entire back and forth banter makes Villanelle smile. A little part of her looks impressed with Eve’s callousness, not to mention the fact she seems to love the fun family dynamic on display.

Was it good for you?

While Villanelle sleeps off her injury, Eve sits across the room starring and stewing in her worry and guilt. She wants to care for her and attempts to cover her nude chest, but Villanelle pushes her away. Eve tries to avoid her but watching Villanelle try to wrestle a shirt on with only one hand while squinting in pain is too much for Eve and she takes over. The moment is charged and filled with an almost tangible unresolved sexual tension. Eve buttons her shirt and quietly admits she had Villanelle arrested because she thought of would be good for her. “Thought” is the operative word here because when Villanelle practically whispers the question, “Was it good for you,” Eve never answers. However, the look the two share and how Eve lightly brushes away a tendril of Villanelle’s hair says a world of no. The heat between the two is too much so Villanelle drags herself from the bed and staggers out of the room and onto the boardwalk outside of the hotel. Eve jumps into action and follows her on a scooter, knowing she could pass out or be killed at any moment. “You wanna ride?” [beep, beep] I thought I lost you there for a minute,” she says and admittedly she did not like it. Eve fills the awkward silence with news about Lars and the location of their squat pad in Berlin she discovered. Villanelle can’t listen to this and tells her to leave, which she does while leaving behind the scooter so the injured blonde has wheels and doesn’t pass out from over exertion.

Too late! All that walking after taking an arrow to the back has Villanelle at a bus stop in need of a rest. There she meets Gunn (Marie-Sophie Ferdane), the woman Hélène sent to kill her. She hands Villanelle a box of pain killers and finds a hidden note inside that reads, “H wants you dead, I don’t…. Go to Staatsman, Berlin.” The address is the same squat pad Eve was talking about, so she calls to let Eve know they’re on the right track with Lars. She might be angry at Eve, but when it comes to ending The Twelve they’re on the same team.

Set Ups

In London, Pam found her next target working as a sign girl outside a sandwich shop. Posing as the new employee, the target she was sent to kill is friendly co-worker, Fernanda (Monica Lopera). Konstantin ordered the hit on Hélène’s ex and gives Pam the option of walking away before she finishes her first assignment. Once she starts this life, there is no turning back. Pam has no idea who this woman is or the fact her handler is using her take revenge on Hélène. She struggles with the order and tells Konstantin she cannot imagine what this sweet and simple woman could have done to deserve such brutal end. For all the games Konstantin is playing he better watch out because, like Villanelle said, one of his trainees is going to kill him one day. And if Pam finds out he used her for his dirty work, who knows what the embalmer could do.

It’s sad to say goodbye to sweet and friendly Fernanda, but Pam decides to follow through with the job and the killing is a brutal one. Fernanda puts up a good fight, practically dragging Pam down the street until her final last breath. Pam isn’t like Villanelle – she isn’t a psychopath lacking feelings or remorse for her killings. When she expresses this to Konstantin he gives her some advice: to be a successful assassin she needs to take happiness as it comes. She chooses to listen to him and finds her carnival worker and the two engage in a romantic make out session by the beach. Happiness looks good on her and maybe with love in her life she will be able to tackle whatever job comes next.

A Deadly End

There is just one problem, the woman who found Pam and sent her to Konstantin will not be handing out assignments anymore thanks to Villanelle. When Hélène returns from her meeting with Carolyn all her espionage and assassin training goes right out the window because she fails to notice the armed Villanelle hiding under her bed! After changing into something more comfortable and pouring herself a glass of champagne, her (and Villanelle’s plans) get interrupted by Eve knocking at the door. Let the sapphic thrupple dance begin! Hélène offers Eve another round of bath time and kisses and Villanelle is both intrigued by this bisexual news and (we can assume) a bit jealous that the flirtatious French woman rounded a few bases while she has been benched by prison and arrows to the back. With Hélène’s exposed ankles hanging over the edge of the bed, Villanelle isn’t about to listen to what could come next so she hacks at the tendons and slides out from under the bed to reveals herself to a stunned Eve and an almost proud Hélène. While staring into each other’s eyes, Villanelle slits the femme fatale’s throat as Eve watches with an almost orgasmic response. Not that Villanelle cares how she feels because after Hélène is dead she looks at Eve and states this thing between them is over.

The news these two are off again, after barely being back on again, hits Eve hard so she tries to focus on finishing her mission to end The Twelve and that takes her to Johan’s cabin in Berlin. There she finds Carolyn, who she already doesn’t trust, and accuses her of playing both sides while also protecting The Twelve. Their heated conversation is out of sight and earshot from Johan and thankfully so because Carolyn tells her she is very close to getting a name out of “Lars” if Eve would just go away and allow her to do her work. When has Eve ever listened to reason? Predictably, Eve ignores Carolyn’s request and just as Johan is about to reveal the name of the person who ordered Kenny’s death, Eve busts though the door and shoots him dead. Now they are back to square one because Johan will be replaced – not that Eve cares. She did what she went there to do and she did it well, almost as if she is acquiring a taste for killing. And while this makes Carolyn’s work harder, she does manage to get something out of the whole ordeal. Hidden in dead Johan’s pants she finds a little black book that could contain clues to the person she has been looking for. When one door gets slammed shut by an over eager wannabe assassin another one opens and that is what Villanelle is experiencing too now that Hélène is dead and she ended things with Eve. She has time in her hands so she hunts down Gunn on a desolate island off the coast of Scotland. How else is she going to fill that Eve sized hole in her heart? When one obsession ends it makes sense to embark on another with the woman as deadly as she is. One thing is for certain, Villanelle has a type and they’re always deadly and gunning for her. Dangerous romance is what she is dying for.