Killing Eve – You’re Mine

By: Kelly Kearney

In the explosive season finale the mission in Rome is compromised when Villanelle goes rogue, putting herself and Eve in the crosshairs of The Twelve. As if that’s not bad enough, both women discover they’ve been a pawn in a much bigger game than either of them were aware of, leaving them both desperate and as lethal as ever.

“Got You a Coffee, Mrs. Robinson…”

It’s been said that idle hands are the devil’s playground and when it comes to Villanelle (Jodie Comer), boredom leads the devil to interesting places. Namely, Aaron’s (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) super-secret surveillance room in his palazzo. After snooping around the extravagant palace, Villanelle uncovers Aaron’s secrets behind an unlocked door. On computer with a file named “BILLIE” she finds recordings of her sleeping. If that isn’t creepy enough, there’s another file labeled “MATILDA” containing a video of Aaron killing an unknown woman in her sleep. It’s obvious Aaron likes murder as much as he likes collecting information and Villanelle is intrigued and a little impressed. After her snoop session, she sashays her way to the breakfast table where Aaron is waiting for her. Dressed to impress the killer, Aaron barely notices her as he rattles on about a meeting with a prospective buyer for his weapon. The man interested in the purchase is none other than Villanelle’s horrible handler and full-time executioner Raymond (Adrian Scarborough)! “What a weird looking gentleman,” she says, which (as we know) was Carolyn’s (Fiona Shaw) safe word for trouble.

Across the street in the hotel Eve (Sandra Oh) is having an awkward post-coital morning with Hugo (Edward Bluemel), who can’t stop cracking jokes about his sexy night with “Mrs. Robinson.” Not in the mood to recount the night before, Eve straps on her earpiece and starts to listen in on Villanelle and Aaron’s breakfast chatter. Hugo leaves the room and in that the exact moment Eve hears Villanelle drop the safe word. She immediately flies into a panic, calling out for Hugo. Unfortunately for the posh oxford techie, a gunshot rings out from the hallway sending Eve diving under the bed for cover. In seconds, a man comes barreling through the door ready to kill. Luckily for Eve the assassin gets a phone call that takes him away from his current mission, giving  her a chance to flee before he can come back and finish the job. That’s when she finds a shot and bloodied Hugo playing dead in the hallway. He begs Eve not to leave him, but Villanelle needs her to, and her assassin girlfriend ranks higher than the man she spent the previous night with. She leaves Hugo begging and promises to call for an ambulance before she swoops in to rescue Villanelle. Calling for help becomes a problem when the front desk is deserted and the phone lines appear to be down. Eve writes a note hoping that anyone who finds it will call for help and then she grabs a maid’s uniform and takes off for Villanelle.

Trouble Never Looked So Good

Armed with a paper knife, Eve enters the palazzo through the backdoor posing as the maid sent to deliver the laundry. Inside she gets the shock of her life. Villanelle and Aaron are casually sitting at the breakfast table and laughing. Eve just blew their entire cover for this?! Villanelle isn’t in any danger and Eve stands stunned as Aaron realizes he’s been compromised. With all pretenses long gone, Villanelle drops her Billie façade and Aaron is a little surprised to learn the New Yorker he invited to Rome is actually Russian. Not that he cares, the entire drama unfolding at the breakfast table delights him and he laughs about the lengths MI6 would go to in order to catch him. After a long silent pause Eve orders Villanelle to leave with her, but Aaron makes her a counteroffer. “Come work with me,” he says. “You’ll never get bored here. I’ll give you everything.” Everything is a tempting offer, but it’s all contingent on Villanelle killing Eve. Can she do it? Eve seems to think so and Aaron is all smiles over his front row seat to the murder. The fact is if Villanelle was going to kill Eve it wouldn’t be for the pleasure of a megalomaniac like Aaron. In an instant, Villanelle stands from her chair, slips behind Aaron and slits his throat! If he wanted to watch a murder, he can watch his own. She drags him bleeding to a mirror so he can see the life drain from his own face.

In shock Eve can’t believe what she just witnessed, not to mention the fact that she s terrified of what Carolyn will do once she hears they ignored her orders and killed Peel. With no other options but to run, Villanelle grabs Eve and the two exit the palazzo as Aaron’s guest and her personal maid. The dead man’s guards are none the wiser.

Out in the streets a still stunned Eve starts to realize that Villanelle tricked her into storming the castle to save her assassin princess from the evil Aaron, something that was a total lie and she isn’t handing it well. It doesn’t help that Villanelle keeps cracking jokes about how much Eve needs her and, while that might be true, the laughs aren’t really easing her horrors. Getting the clue that laughter isn’t the medicine Eve needs to pull her out of her post murder funk, Villanelle drops the comedy act and promises to find a getaway car before they both wind up dead. Especially now that Raymond is on the hunt.

A Job Well Done

Before Villanelle leaves to find their ride, she makes Eve promise to run from any danger she sees warning, “Don’t be brave.” Of course, Eve doesn’t listen and instead heads back to the hotel to check on Hugo, who has mysteriously gone missing along with all their surveillance equipment. A knock on the hotel room door snaps Eve out of her panic and Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) waltzes in. Like usual, she’s as glib and mysterious as ever. For one, she wasn’t expected in Rome so why is she there? Eve doesn’t get a clear answer on that because Carolyn speaks in riddles more than she does truths. The boss lady says she’s there to find out what happened with Aaron and to Eve’s surprise. She isn’t upset he’s dead. In fact, Villanelle killing Aaron is pretty much exactly what Carolyn was hoping for and, once again, Eve feels manipulated and tricked by the people she trusted. Carolyn might’ve said she didn’t want any killing in Rome, but she knew the rebellious assassin couldn’t resist. In fact, she was banking on it. For a woman who says her job is to get the team to do their very best, Eve and Villanelle’s very best removed a threat to MI6 and quite possibly the world. “It was never going to be bloodless,” she says. “You’ll get over it.” Feeling used and increasingly angrier by the second, Eve can’t believe she’s been played twice in one day, first by with the safe word and then by her boss who used her like a middleman to sic her pet assassin on a threat like Peel. Carolyn doesn’t mince words, telling Eve that if the roles were reversed Villanelle would never fly in to rescue her, but Eve isn’t so sure about that. Her ego says she and Villanelle have a special connection that goes beyond the woman’s psychopathy. Their bond is solid. It’s why she rejects Carolyn’s offer to get out of this whole mess. “You put a noose around your neck and I’m offering to take it off.” Instead of jumping at the chance for help, Eve threatens to tell Kenny (Sean Delaney) what his mother is up to. Unfortunately, Kenny knows and he was even part of the cleanup crew. Eve has no ammunition to fight Carolyn and without her help she and Villanelle are on their own. For Eve, the connection she has with Villanelle is the only thing she can trust now.

A love in ruins

While Eve is dealing with Carolyn, Villanelle runs into Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) who also offers her a way out as long as she leaves Eve behind. Through their conversation she starts to understand Konstantin and Carolyn set them both up. In her own way, she trusted her bearded friend and the fact he used her is a hard pill to swallow. The truth is Konstantin cares for the Villanelle, but Carolyn used his family as a bargaining chip and she isn’t family. With her trust in him destroyed, Eve is all she has left and she isn’t about to leave her behind. Konstantin asks her one final time what it is about this woman that makes Villanelle want to risk everything. She responds, “We are the same.” And maybe she’s right because after finding her getaway car with a convenient gun in the glove compartment, Villanelle sees just how alike they really are.

In the hotel searching for Eve, Villanelle runs into an axe carrying Raymond who can’t wait to be rid of the mouthy blonde. After a few insults about him being “the worst,” Raymond decides to play a little game. He puts down the axe and offers her a deal. If Villanelle can guess which door Eve is behind then he won’t kill the agent. At that she loses it and attacks the unarmed man. The two come to blows with Raymond getting the upper hand around her throat and choking the life out of her. That’s when Villanelle spots Eve behind him grabbing for the axe. She coughs out, “Do it,” and without another option Eve strikes an unsuspecting Raymond in the back! He spins around and Villanelle drops to the floor grabbing at his feet before he can charge at Eve. Screaming to hit him again, Eve has no choice but to strike Raymond down with two consecutive blows to the head.

Raymond is dead and Eve goes into shock as Villanelle jumps at the chance to take care of the woman who saved her life. She strips her of her bloody maid outfit and escorts her out of the hotel and inside a neighboring building that leads to a hidden tunnel below the city. The two women make their way through the winding maze and come to a wooden barricade that a furious Eve tears down by hand. On the other side it is like a dream; beautiful, Roman ruins and a perfect hiding spot for them to talk about what comes next. The plan? An escape to a remote Alaskan cabin where they can eat spaghetti and live out their romantic Bonnie and Clyde fantasies. With nothing left to lose, Eve agrees to the plan until she spots the woman’s hidden gun. Why did she force Eve to kill Raymond when she was more than capable of saving herself? At that moment, everything locks into place. Villanelle wanted Eve to be like her and she put her in situations that forced their killer connection. Eve isn’t special. She was never breaking through the selfish desires that fueled Villanelle’s quest to find her equal. Trying to convince Eve that they are the same, and this end was what she wanted, falls on deaf ears. Even a tearful profession of love does not convince Eve to surrender to her feelings. This obsession has cost her everything and she slowly backs away from the woman’s romantic advances. Now far apart, Eve chokes out the truth everyone tried to warn her of, “You don’t know what love is.”

In the end, Martin was right. Villanelle lacks the capacity to feel love, needing Eve weak and reliant on her was as toxic as a love can get. Desperate for her not to leave, Villanelle screams, “You’re mine!” But the old Eve is gone and this Eve isn’t afraid of her anymore. With their relationship unraveling before her eyes, Villanelle screams out, “I thought you were special!” And as a tear slips down Eve’s cheek she says, “Sorry to disappoint.” It’s Eve driving another knife into Villanelle’s gut or maybe her heart because the blonde does the unthinkable. She raises her gun and aims it at the fleeing Eve, shooting her in the back! Perhaps it was payback for Paris or maybe a case of “if I can’t have you, nobody can,” but the rejection was too much for Villanelle to handle. She did what any psychopathic assassin with a broken heart would do – she took her pain out on the person she loved most and left her crumpled body surrounded by the ruins of a power-hungry society that, in the end, destroyed itself. A fitting end to a toxic power struggle between two women whose egos, lust for power and obsession with each other became their ultimate undoing. A love ruined, left dying at the feet of a fallen empire…it would almost be poetic if the truth didn’t come at such a deadly cost.