Killing Eve – Wide Awake

By: Kelly Kearney

As the team gets closer to catching Aaron Peel, Villanelle and Eve take their relationship to the next level with a little help from Hugo and some modern surveillance equipment. No matter the obstacles these two women face, one thing is for certain nothing, not MI6 nor The Twelve, can keep these two apart. They’re now deeply embedded under each other’s skin, and their mutual desire could put Carolyn’s entire investigation at risk.

“Whatever you say, boss…”

When last we saw Villanelle (Jodie Comer) she was having meaty gyro cravings and scaring unsuspecting women in alleyways. This week those clueless women somehow survived her killer instincts and landed in the assassin’s bed, much to Eve’s (Sandra Oh) surprise and obvious jealousy. When she arrives to update Villanelle on the Peel (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) case, she isn’t to happy to find her favorite killer post coital from the night before. She is; however, glad to hear Aaron took the Billie bait and asked her out on what Villanelle assumes is a date. Eve might be glad things with Peel are moving forward, but from her salty attitude it’s obvious she is struggling and Villanelle picks up on her mood right away. Sure, her husband just left her, her friend/coworker Kenny (Sean Delaney) can’t look at her and she can’t get this blonde killer out of her mind, but that doesn’t really seem to be what’s irking her. When asked if Eve if she is okay, she deflects and asks about Billie’s confessions in AA. Eve wants to know if she told the truth about not feeling anything, but Villanelle isn’t even sure she knows when she’s telling the truth, something that utterly confuses and yet intrigues Eve. While it’s true psychopaths have problems tapping into human emotions, Villanelle is honest and admits the only time she feels anything is when she’s with Eve. Stunned into silence, Eve isn’t sure how to respond, especially when Villanelle admits that her night of passion with the two nameless women doesn’t mean anything. “When I’m with them, I’m not with them,” meaning they’re just stand ins for the real deal. Full of mixed emotions and a touch of jealousy over Villanelle’s sex life and her heartbreak over Niko (Owen McDonnell) bailing on their marriage; it’s all too much for Eve to take in. She knows she needs to stay focused on Aaron and his big meeting in Rome, so business first and heartache another time. Aaron is meeting with buyers for his weapon and he ordered Billie to attend. Both women need to be in Rome to see just what Peele is up to and Billie is the only one he allows close to him. As Eve leaves, she reminds Villanelle to read the file since this meeting is way too important for her to wing it like last time.

After the date invite, Villanelle straps on her Billie persona and heads to an empty restaurant for lunch with Aaron. The control freak emptied the entire eatery and even ordered for Billie because, in his mind, he always knows what’s best. Villanelle goes along with his bizarre quirks, including watching her eat because he somehow enjoys that more than his favorite pasta dish. After taking a few orders from him, Billie agrees to join Aaron in Rome where he promises not to touch her. He has no interest in her romantically, although not entirely clear why he wants her to go along at all.

With the date set for Rome, Villanelle heads back to her apartment and checks her phone messages. She is all a flutter when she sees a worried Eve has called numerous times hoping she’s okay. It’s sweet that Eve worries, but if anyone can handle Aaron Peel it’s the lethal “Demon With No Face.” Still, her care and concern is touching and it proves to Villanelle that Eve really does care about her.

“The Safe Word is Gentleman…”

“Have you been razzing her up, Eve,” is what Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) asks when the agent fills the boss lady in on Villanelle’s mindset going into this trip. Eve assures Carolyn that Villanelle’s state of mind is solid but is Eve’s? Carolyn segues from asking about one psychopath’s mood to another. She wonders if her agent is experiencing similar signs of psychosis. Eve deflects the line of questioning as she finds the entire conversation ludicrous and that doesn’t put Carolyn’s mind at ease. Instead, she tells Eve to take Hugo (Edward Bluemel) with her to Rome as back up, “Rome, is crucial,” she says. I hate to be strict, but she mustn’t kill Aaron.” Eve looks at Carolyn as if she’s thinking, “Do you even know this woman?” Apparently, Eve and Villanelle can’t be trusted to go this alone. Before the agent parts ways, Carolyn digs deep into her bag of ever dwindling safe words and tells Eve if things get dicey, the call for help will be, “Gentleman.”

Meanwhile, Villanelle has some unfinished business to deal with before she heads to Italy, namely Niko and making him pay for Eve’s depressed mood. She follows Mr. Polastri and his new friend with benefits, Gemma (Emma Pierson), to a storage facility where she almost chokes on the flirtatious banter between Niko and his “friend.” Frightened right off the bat, Niko demands to know what she wants and shockingly it’s not his dismembered manhood! What she really wants is to make Eve happy and nothing brings a smile to her face faster than Niko’s shepherd’s pie. Villanelle holds him and Gemma at knife point and demands the recipe for the dish. If only mashes potatoes and Worcestershire sauce were all she wanted. After he lists off all the ingredients, Villanelle orders them both to sit down because she has questions and needs answers. “Do you love Eve” she asks and Niko replies that he still does. From the look on Gemma’s face, that truth cuts deep. It’s role is clear; she is the rebound fling and their relationship isn’t serious. The fact Niko still loves Eve is disappointing because Villanelle really wanted to let them both go. Knowing that her threats are real, Niko tries to do the noble thing and asks her to let Gemma go, the fight is between them, not her. Unfortunately for Gemma, Eve would never forgive Villanelle if she killed Niko. If someone has to die to put a smile on Eve’s face, it’s going to have to be Gemma! In Villanelle’s warped mind, killing Niko’s mistress is like a hand wrapped gift and a token of her love.

“I Feel Wide Awake…”

After running into Kenny at Carolyn’s the young tech whiz tries to talk sense into Eve before she goes completely off the deep end and winds up dead. He begs her not to go to Rome, but right on cue his mother interrupts them with some ridiculous excuse about peanut butter sandwiches. His concern falls on deaf ears. The Rome, plan is still a go.

Back at Villanelle’s apartment, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) shows up to prepare his freelance killer for her trip with Aaron He reminds her of the rules and that Carolyn doesn’t want anyone killed. After finding hidden razor wire in her suitcase, he explains the consequences of ignoring those rules. Konstantin warns, “If something happens, you and Eve are on your own.” He then hands her a packet of birth control pills that contain a hidden listening device that will keep her in constant contact with Eve when she’s with Peel. Along with a fake passport and the safe word Carolyn has chosen, this meeting should go off without a hitch…or so he hopes.

Villanelle isn’t the only one preparing for the big trip, Eve heads over to the hospital where Martin (Adeel Akhtar) works to pump his brain for tips on how to spot trouble brewing between Villanelle and Aaron. Martin immediately notices how fixated Eve is with the other woman and asks her, “How much of the day do you spend thinking about her?” Eve answers, “all of it,” but tries to ease his mind by admitting she’s just worried for Villanelle’s safety. Martin isn’t buying it and starts to ask Eve a series of questions to determine her state of mind. What she admits, shocks the expert. While she may not have a sexual relationship with Villanelle (yet, anyway) they are in some kind of dangerously dysfunctional fling and it’s causing chaos in her life, not that she seems to care. Her husband left her, her emotional connections to her old life are dwindling, but instead of feeling depressed and frightened over the life changes, she says, “I feel wide awake.”

When in Rome…

Everyone safely arrives in Rome, with Eve and Hugo setting up their surveillance equipment in their hotel while Billie gets the lowdown on her time with Aaron. Her luggage, along with her birth control pills, were taken by Peel’s staff and she has been ordered to make do with what Aaron has provided for her. Of course, when they took her belongings Aaron found the hidden bug and, much like Eve, is now watching Villanelle via hidden camera. Without the mic, Eve loses contact with Villanelle and starts to worry. Did she swallow this mic too? The radio silence drives Eve to do something that could blow their cover and the entire mission. Instead of waiting it out, she decides to track down Villanelle and Aaron at a local café and sneak the woman the backup mic. Luckily, Aaron gets a call at the café giving Eve the perfect opportunity to pass over the device under the guise of offering Billie some bread. Within in minutes, Aaron is back ordering Billie to stop eating her lunch because they have a meeting to get to. Eve watches the two with a mix of fear and repulsion because she wonders if Villanelle enjoying all of this. The thought is too disturbing for Eve and she heads back to the hotel to listen in on Peel’s meeting.

After a little impromptu Blondie sing along from Villanelle, Eve knows the body mic is working and the meeting is about to begin. Two Russian businessmen sit down with Aaron as he gets a chance to prove why his weapon is worthy of this sale. He goes on to tell both men everything about their lives – from what they had for breakfast, to their infidelities and even what they dream about. Billie seems impressed with Aaron’s little show but the Russians, not so much. Information is Aaron’s weapon and he alone can access the world’s deepest and darkest secrets. The dissertation on their lives is thorough and Aaron uses it as thinly veiled threat. Someone with a planet full of information is dangerous and the Russians know it. The meeting quickly goes from a business proposal to black mail, with the two buyers having no other choice than to agree to Peel’s deal.

Thanks For The Threesome…

After the meeting Aaron and Billie go back to the hotel where the two discover they are more alike than they once thought. Having found no credible evidence that Billie actually exists, Aaron is intrigued and admits the only person who is harder to track than Billie is himself. He calls them both voids, but where they differ is desire. Aaron has none, other than being the world’s keeper of secrets, whereas Billie has sexual desires that absolutely do not include him.

Speaking of sexual desires, Eve is listening in on this entire conversation as Hugo calls it a night and heads to bed. After a while, Villanelle is alone and starts to talk to Eve though the hidden mic. She is breathy and tempting and Eve is instantly turned on. Staying connected through the mic and earpiece, Eve hops into bed with an unsuspecting Hugo, jumping him like sleepy sex toy. Hugo might’ve done the deed, but there is no denying the sex was between Villanelle and Eve and from the look on both of their satisfied faces the morning after it was a long time coming. When Hugo wakes he spots the earpiece and realizes he was used as some kind of conduit for sexual gratification between the two women. He thanks her for “the threesome” and leaves to go get coffee. At the same time, we see a bloody Niko wake up in the storage unit and his morning after is nothing compared to the disappointment Hugo is going through. Propped up next him is a very dad Gemma; suffocated with a bag taped to her head. Her murder is a reminder to Mr. Polastri of how far Villanelle will go to please his wife. Their connection is deadly to anyone who gets in their way. If Niko plans on surviving his Eve’s obsession, he would do well to remember who he is up against and what she is capable of.