Killing Eve – Slowly, Slowly, Catchy Monkey

By: Kelly Kearney

After last year’s deadly finale, Villanelle and Eve (yes, she’s still alive) are back but their world has dramatically changed. Rome threw a wrench into everyone’s plans and even Carolyn and Konstantin are struggling to make sense of their new thoroughly less complicated lives. With The Twelve still pulling the strings, their comfortable and boring lives are about to get a shakeup they can’t ignore. It was inevitable that these players were going to be dragged back into this deadly game chess, but why did they have to sacrifice such a sweet and innocent pawn to kick off this war between the two queens?

The Wedding

Moscow, 1974. We meet a young Russian gymnast named Dasha (Catalina Cazacu), whose been training for more than her killer uneven bar routine. Dasha is an assassin and a pretty creative one at that. After a young man (Ralph Maystone) approaches her in the locker room after practice, the young brunette gives him a brutal beatdown and finishes him off with a few pounds of resin poured down his throat. Dasha is a winner and The Twelve’s favorite little killer.

Back to the present and we’re at a wedding. The beautiful bride is giving a toast to her newly betrothed and when the camera pans right we see she’s talking about Villanelle (Jodie Comer)! Dressed to kill in a revealing black tuxedo, Villanelle stands to a round of applause from her guests. She says, “If had known getting married would be this much fun, I’d have done it loads more by now.” We learn her bride, the Penelope Cruz look-a-like named Maria (Carmen Montero) isn’t just a beautiful woman with amazing fashion sense, she’s also loaded. The “all around best package” according to her new wife. It seems the two met right after Villanelle’s “break up” with Eve (Sandra Oh). Maria is the rebound wife, but no closet full of Louboutin’s can stop Villanelle from talking obsessing over Eve. She may say that she’s glad her ex is dead, but even she knows that’s not true. After the drinks start flowing and the party starts swinging, everything comes to a crashing halt when Villanelle spots a familiar face in the crowd. No, it’s not Eve. It’s a much older Dasha (Harriet Walter)! Ruining her big day is a step too far and Villanelle furiously tackles the woman into the food buffet. It seems these two go way back and punch for punch their talents for murder are equally matched. Soon, the wedding turns into a blood bath and Villanelle basically becomes a widow on her wedding day. Pretty fitting for The Twelve’s second best murderers.  Bloody, broody and moody Villanelle and Dasha take off in the “just married” car making it pretty clear this is a keeper/killer relationship.

MI6 London…

In London, we get a look at Carolyn’s (Fiona Shaw) life after Rome. She’s complaining to Mo Jafari (Raj Bajaj) about being been pushed out as lead on the assignment by an uptight and useless bureaucrat named Diane (Maria McErlane). Apparently, this “constricted” woman has been itching to push Carolyn’s buttons and keeping an eye on her work will do the trick. Enter Paul (Steve Pemberton) who is the other thorn in her side. He is a weasel of little man who just asked to oversee the MI6 desk. HER desk! immediately the tension between the two is thick. Carolyn is not ready to play second fiddle to Paul who she seems thoroughly unimpressed with. The two of them sling snarky comments and gentle jabs, as much as their British manners will allow. Unfortunately, now that the expensive disaster in Rome is directly messing with her reputation, Carolyn’s work reality looks fairly grim.

The Keeper…

Carolyn isn’t the only one having trouble adjusting to her new life, Eve isn’t handling it much better. That’s right, she survived Villanelle’s bullet as it went apparently straight through and now she’s hiding out in a Korean restaurant in London. By day she makes dumplings and her nights are spent rocking sweatpants, slurping Ramen and spilling wine while watching trash TV. The world is both depressing and bland without her spicy playmate Villanelle and it shows.

Speaking of Oksana, as Dasha calls Villanelle the Russian boomer gymnast has a message for her. The Twelve have been watching her since Rome and they’ve realized she’s not so easy to replace. Whatever Villanelle wants (whether it be money or clothes) it’s hers, if she comes back to work. Villanelle wants to know the catch and, of course, there is one. If Dasha can get Villanelle back under The 12’s thumb, then they will finally send her home to Russia. After some contemplation, Villanelle agrees but under one condition. She wants to be a Keeper. Dasha laughs her off but after a choke hold Villanelle gets her point across. Dasha agrees but warns her it’s will take some time to earn their trust back. Like the old Russian saying, “Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey,” it’s a process that if she works hard at she could meet her goal. Spoken like a true Olympic athlete, Dasha!

Life Post-Rome

Finally, we get an update on Kenny (Sean Delaney), who broke ties with his mother’s business to go work as a reporter for an online news website. He still keeps in touch with Eve while occasionally dabbling in updates on The Twelve. Kenny may have left the job, but the job hasn’t left him. Loose ends keep him with one eye on his new life and one eye on his old one. A quick online search at the office piques his interest when he sees an update about more unexplained murders. Deaths that seem to have The Twelve’s fingerprints all over them. It’s time to talk to Eve, only she’s at the restaurant insisting she has to stay hidden behind the scenes and she’s not alone in this idea.

Somewhere in another part of town Konstantin’s (Kim Bodnia) many work phones start ringing but he ignores each one as he shops for a gift that is sure to agitate his very annoying daughter. If he’s not willing to go back to work, there is no way Eve is leaving her cushy and safe dumpling maker gig. Besides, she gets to hear the best gossip in London. Like the one about her co-worker’s obsession over some woman that seems to be turning into love. Eve smirks because she knows a thing or two about love and obsession, it pretty much nuked her life out of existence. Still it’s entertaining to watch someone else fall into that familiar trap. After work she heads back to her routine of wine and TV and even engages in some peak quarantine level selfies with her wine soaked toilet paper rolls. Yeah, she really needs to get out more. Without that spark Villanelle brings to her life Eve is a mess. Even Kenny notices it when he stops by to apologize for what went down in Rome. He attempts to spark her interest in anything The Twelve related, but she’s so traumatized after the last time that she emphatically turns him down. Kenny was right about one thing, regardless of her fear that excitement is what makes Eve happy. This new version of herself is missing something and it’s not her husband Niko (Owen McDonnell) who we find out is now residing in a mental health hospital. That tends to happen when you wake up next to the dead body of your co-worker friend. Villanelle certainly knows how to make a point and Niko heard it loud and clear. He wants out of this psychotic love triangle before he’s next on the kill list. Niko isn’t wrong either. No matter how many times Eve tells herself she’s not risking her life to play these games with Villanelle, she’s lying to herself. That was made clear when she tells Kenny she is done with her, when he was simply asking a question about Niko. Villanelle is always on her mind.

Likewise, Konstantin can’t forget about her either even if he wanted to. Ignoring his work phones only lasted long enough for The Twelve to deliver him a message tucked inside his dinner delivery. A note on a menu reads in Russian “It’s time to go fishing.”

Here Fishy, Fishy…

Dressed like a postal worker Villanelle is back on the job delivering boxes and murdering generous shop keeps (Yasmin Al-Khuhairi) Her new target is a friendly woman who runs a specialty spice shop and Villanelle does her best to play the interested and innocent delivery girl. As the helpful woman reaches for some saffron tea, Villanelle knocks the woman from her ladder and subsequently beats her to death. To finish her off Dasha style, she pours the entire bag of saffron down her throat. That should impress The Twelve enough to make her a Keeper, or so she hopes.

Back in London Carolyn and Kenny are packing up their house for a move. Mother and son are still butting heads and Carolyn sees no reason for her son’s drama. She doesn’t feel the need to apologize for Rome and she puts a stern end to his tiff as he storms out and back to the office. Later, his research gets interrupted by Eve who has had enough of the kitchen girlfriend gossip and decides to take him up on his offer to get out of the house. The two agree that she should head over to the office and pick him up at work. As Kenny hangs up the phone, he suddenly hears a door slam. Everyone in the office has gone for the day. He is not alone.

When Eve arrives to pick Kenny up she finds the website offices empty and no sign of him anywhere. His phone is on his desk and that’s when she starts to worry. Before she can even process her next move, Eve hears a crash outside! Peering out the window Eve’s face turns to horror and panic. Taking off down the steps she bursts from the office front doors to find a broken and bloody Kenny laying on the concrete walkway. Someone tossed him off the roof of the building and he plummeted to his death! In that moment, whether Eve knows it or not, Kenny’s murder is a sign that she is about to be pulled back into the world of The Twelve. If Eve is the fish, poor sweet Kenny was the lure.