Killing Eve – Smell Ya Later

By: Kelly Kearney

“I think if you look hard enough you will see we work for the same people.” That quote from Villanelle last season always stuck with me. Who are The Twelve and what, if any, are their ties to the ever-scheming Carolyn and her Russian charmer Konstantin?  Eve and Villanelle have been pitted against each other from the start and this week they find themselves on the same team! The long-awaited reunion is here and thanks to Eve we see Villanelle has a new purpose: making The Ghost sing!

THE DEMON WITH NO FACE

Beginning with Villanelle (Jodie Comer) enjoying a strawberry milkshake from three floors up on an apartment balcony, we see she has not lost her comedic edge. Down below a conveniently parked sports car gets it a taste of Villanelle when she drops her shake, splattering the ice creamy goodness all over the irate owner’s precious ride. There’s only one place to go from there and that’s to the car wash where our favorite assassin strangles the life out of the man while his car gets the full wash and wax treatment. It’s an easy kill and, so far, this freelance murder for hire gig is really working out. There’s just one problem: Villanelle is bored and she isn’t alone. Eve (Sandra Oh) is also lacking her lust for life and it doesn’t help that she’s been coming up empty with The Ghost (Jung Sun den-Hollander). The woman is tight-lipped and won’t offer any information about who hired her or why. Eve is not impressed with the woman’s calm and collected persona and Jess (Nina Sosanya) wonders if maybe her coworker has been spoiled by the flamboyant Villanelle. Speaking of Eve’s killer playmate, she drops her name while questioning The Ghost and the silent assassin finally talks. She says she does know Villanelle and refers to her as “the demon with no a face.”

Eve’s obsession is really starting to worry her coworkers. Well, all of them except Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) who agrees to Eve’s big plan to get The Ghost talking. If their suspect won’t offer up any information maybe she can be persuaded to give up her connections to The Twelve if they handed her over to The Demon With No Face!  It’s odd that Carolyn would agree to such drastic measures and even more odd that Eve doesn’t seem to have the same requirements the other MI6 agents do. Jess even mentions it when she asks Eve why she never sees the woman doing paperwork, something they are all required to do. If there is no documentation of Eve’s work then there is no paper trail proving she was ever an employee at MI6. Eve pauses at that because the thought never crossed her mind, mostly because she has been so involved in catching Villanelle. Why would Carolyn keep her work a secret and why would she agree to use Eve as bait to lure a killer out of hiding? Perhaps there is more to Carolyn than meets the eye?

WHAT IS A PSYCHOPATH?

While Eve is preparing to enact her big plan Villanelle is outside a café waiting for Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) to hand over her new assignment. The Russian manages to avoid mentioning who ordered the new hit, but when Villanelle opens the dossier she immediately flips into a rage. The hit is on Eve and the blonde assassin tells Konstantin she won’t do it. He tries to persuade her by saying she has to because her obsession with the woman is making her sloppy, but she won’t even entertain the idea. Konstantin reminds her that refusing could ruin their new freelance killing venture and besides he says, “You’ll forget about her in a week or two.” The look on Villanelle’s face says that’s not likely.

Unfortunately, psychopaths are unpredictable and we learn this when Carolyn sends an expert on the topic to educate everyone at Manderley Bay. It’s a PowerPoint presentation on psychopaths and their inability to make emotional connections. From the perturbed look on Eves’ face, it’s obvious she does not agree with that particular trait, at least when it comes to Villanelle. Martin (Adeel Akhtar), the expert, tries to drive home the dangers of getting too close to psychopaths by showing photos of Villanelle intercut with photos of her gruesome kills. What he notices, and later reports back to Carolyn, is that Eve had no problems looking at the bloody crime scenes but turned her eyes away from the photos of Villanelle – as if she was struggling to connect the dots between the killer and her ability to kill. The real question that never really gets answered is why Carolyn is hiring experts to invoke responses from Eve, a woman she just agreed to use as bait to catch a killer! You may not be able to manipulate and control a psychopath, but Carolyn is doing a fine job of using both those tactics on Eve. The question is…why?

Despite Martin’s theory that psychopaths can’t feel, Villanelle does feel, in her own bizarre and uncomfortable way. In her the room, the assassin orders champagne and asks the bellhop to stroke her hair while she lays her depressed head on his lap. “Are you lonely,” she asks. “Sometimes,” he replies, “but it’s hard finding the right person.” Villanelle agrees,” yeah, it is.” There is no debate over Villanelle’s state of mind. She’s in mourning for a love she is about to lose, and the life she’s about to take. Her pain is palpable.

FUNERAL FLOWERS FOR THE ONE YOU LOVE

Back in London, the Polastri’s seem to be working on their marriage ever since the two fought over the MI6 secrets. The couple orders Indian food and talks about Niko’s (Owen McDonnell) school trip he’s been roped into chaperoning. Eve is happy for him and probably relieved to get him out of her perfect hair so she can concentrate on the hit she ordered on herself. That’s when the doorbell rings and Eve finds a box of flowers arranged in her name, outside on her stoop. It’s obvious who sent the flowers and they affect Eve in the most peculiar way. She leaves the arrangement outside and immediately propositions Niko for sex. Nothing says a solid marriage like getting hot and heavy over flowers from your not-so-secret admirer.

The next day Niko leaves for his school trip while Eve heads to work to get fitted for a bulletproof vest. Hugo (Edward Bluemel) gladly volunteers to fit her in in the protective gear and the two chat about what she plans to do when Villanelle takes the bait. He tries convincing Eve to stay safe and offers to be her back-up, but Eve declines claiming the only way this will work is if Villanelle trusts her. The meet up has to be alone and intimate. Hugo thinks this is a huge risk and so does Kenny (Sean Delaney), who also tries convincing her it’s dangerous and to tell his mother about what went down in Paris. There is no doubt in his mind that Villanelle will be looking for payback and he can’t watch another friend of his die by her hands. Sternly, Eve draws a line in the proverbial sand and says if Kenny can’t support her on this mission then he can find another job! Now, officially sacked, Kenny heads back to his office to presumably pack up his desk while Eve heads to the train station for home. While waiting on the tube’s platform a man bumps into Eve and for some reason this sets off her temper. Exhibiting signs that can only be described as psychopathic, Eve comes within inches of pushing the man in front of an oncoming train! Luckily common sense prevails, but the fact Eve was on the verge of murdering a complete stranger says she is more like Villanelle than she realizes.

THE REUNION

Now that the plan is set in motion there is no turning back. Eve arrives home and takes off her vest just as the doorbell rings. Like some sixth sense, she knows who’s lurking on the other side. Say what you will about Villanelle, but she never misses a chance to mix death with comedy and costumes. Standing on Eve’s front porch dressed in all black and a veil the two women finally come face to face and the meeting is tense but also bizarrely familiar. Eve calmly asks the woman to take off her shoes as she enters and then offers to take her veil, which Villanelle happily removes. The two head to the kitchen where they always do their best talking. Of course, Villanelle is the one who should be afraid since she got stabbed the last time the two were together and she reminds Eve of that. The two put on their brave faces until Eve touches Villanelle’s face and admits she can’t stop thinking about their time in Paris. The move shocks the normally unshakable assassin and it’s unclear if Eve is manipulating the woman or if she’s truly drawn to her. The moment is tense and chocked full of sexual tension, but finally, Eve lets Villanelle in on why she’s there. She hired the woman to kill her just so she could ask her to help with The Ghost. Villanelle laughs at her brazen stupidity because as a pro she could have killed Eve a number of ways by now. Eve doesn’t seem scared. She doesn’t think the woman will actually kill her. So, when she’s handed a bottle of champagne and vial of pills she calls the blonde’s bluff with a game of Russian roulette, sans bullets! Eve downs the mystery pills and immediately Villanelle tears up and admits Eve just swallowed arsenic. Choking on her bad decision, Eve runs to the sink to vomit while Villanelle turns her panic into laughter. She had no intention of killing the woman she loves. Or did she? Armed with a knife, the killer cozies up behind a vomiting Eve and grabs her around the waist, spinning her around and dragging a dagger down her chest. Breathless and a little turned on she asks, “Will you give me everything I want?” The two come close to sealing the deal with a kiss, but to the viewer’s dismay it never happens. Instead, they walk out of the apartment as colleagues and right past a laughing Konstantin and Carolyn who were spying on the two the entire time!

THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE FOREST OF DEAN

Thankfully, Eve was right about bringing Villanelle on to the team because she manages to get the silent Ghost killer to sing! In a shipping container in the Forest of Dean, a place Villanelle thinks is a strange location for interrogation, The Ghost admits she was hired by Aaron Peele over some super-secret weapon his company is selling – a weapon that The Twelve are interested in buying. This isn’t the answers Eve wanted and she appears less than grateful to Villanelle for cracking this case for her. Eve goes inside the container to check on The Ghost and she finds the woman alive but clearly traumatized. She lifts her tear streaked face and calls Eve a monster! The Monster and the Demon With No Face, what a duo!

With The Ghost case wrapped up, Villanelle has some time on her hands so she dons her best schoolgirl outfit and confronts Niko outside his workplace. He immediately knows who she is and escorts her away from any kids who might be hurt if their encounter turns deadly. Only, Niko is the one with murder on his mind as he slams Villanelle into a brick wall just as she starts spilling all of Eve’s secrets. She tells him about what went down in Paris – about her stab wound, the two sharing a bed and how she’s now working side by side with his wife. She leaves him with a few mustache insults and a “smell ya later,” but as the episode draws to a close we can assume that Niko is safe for now. The problem is though for how long? Villanelle will stop at nothing to ensure her place in Eve’s life and heart and Niko will always be an obstacle she would happily remove.