Killing Eve Season 3 Finale: Cold Turkey

In a show like Killing Eve, cold turkey could mean a lot of things.  But especially in this third season, it's meant two things: leaving the killing/spying business; Eve and Villanelle leaving the fatal attraction they have for each other.

Obviously, for the show to go on, at least in the way it's been going, neither can happen.  So, what keeps the show attractive and provocative, is the way in which neither kind of cold turkey happens.

Villanelle has been saying all season she wants to stop doing the hands-on killing.  As good as she still is, this is like Mickey Mantle or Whitey Ford hanging it up in the middle of their incandescent careers (right, I'm a New York Yankees fan).  But no one, no one wants to accommodate her.  Not Dasha, never Konstantin. and, tonight, apparently not even Carolyn, either, who refuses to hire Villanelle as a spy for MI6, after she offered her that job, unless Villanelle were willing to kill for Carolyn.

As for Eve, it's not entirely clear what exactly she wants.  She already effectively left MI6, and came back only to find Kenny's killer.   Given the beyond complex feelings that Carolyn has about her son's death, finding his killer and working for Carolyn was bound to be an impossible combination.   And, indeed, Carolyn's feelings are so complex that even I can't completely understand them.  Yeah, the 12 were responsible for Kenny's death, but Carolyn's attitude about them is even more inscrutable than her feelings for Kenny.

But clearly, Eve and Villanelle do very much want each other.  The very existence of each has come to give the other's existence meaning.   So when, at Villannelle's suggestion, they turned their backs on each and started walking away, we all of course knew they wouldn't get very far at all on that bridge, which they didn't.

Hey, I have a suggestion for the ending of the series: Eve and Villanelle both die at the same time.  That would be a happy ending for their affair, since neither would have to go cold turkey and leave the other.

See you back here, I guess next year, when the next season is on.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm ... Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips ... Killing Eve 3.5: The Darkness ... Killing Eve 3.6: Wounded ... Killing Eve 3.7: The Omelet

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.7: The Omelet

My favorite scene in Killing Eve 3.7 tonight was the omelet near the beginning - more specifically, the way Carilyn uses the omelet as a token of her approval or not, withdrawing it from Mo, then giving it to Eve, then withdrawing it from Eve, because she's so obsessed with Villanelle.  And the omelet is spoken of again, in close to Mo's last words, before he is killed.  The symbolism is good.  The writers/directors/producers of whoever came up with it have no eggs on their faces.

The killing of Villanelle's handler might have been my favorite scene, except she wasn't quite killed, and, sure enough, turns up later alive if not well in a hospital bed.  Right next to Konstantin, who also could have died of a heart attack on the train station, but didn't.  Make that a semi-major and a very major character who are villainous and could have died in this episode, almost died, but didn't.  And who does die?  Mo, who was a good guy, if not a major player.

Indeed, the only reason to kill Mo is that it's more reason to unhinge Carolyn, after what happened to Kenny.  And she more or less takes it in stride, upset, for sure, but only breaking some valuable vases or whatever they were to express her inner anguish after prodded by her daughter.   If the killings of Kenny and Mo were both for the purposes of testing Carolyn's cool, that strikes me as too high a price to pay.  On the other hand, wasn't it V. I. Lenin who said that if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs?  Yeah, but I guess that's a metaphorical omelet.

And next week is the season finale.  Eve and Villanelle tonight were like ships passing in the night, once again, or ships passing on the train, or trains passing in the night, or strangers in the night, to quote Sinatra.  I have a feeling, the way this season is going, that not much more will be resolved between them in the finale.  But I do think that the brunette who killed poor Mo will play a role, or maybe a roll, if another omelet is involved.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm ... Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips ... Killing Eve 3.5: The Darkness ... Killing Eve 3.6: Wounded

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.6: Wounded

Well, wounded applies to at least two major characters in Killing Eve 3.6, just on BBC America tonight.

First. as I intimated in my review of episode 3.4, Niko wasn't killed by the pitchfork in his neck, after all.  As I often say, in the metaphysics of television drama, someone is not 100% dead for sure unless you see the head literally blown or cut off (and, even then, if it's 24...).  Since Nico got prongs only in his neck, I figured there at leas was a fair chance he survived.  Which he did.  But not his wanting to be with Eve, although that was already pretty well gone, too.  But now we hear him, in a voice reminiscent of the late Stephen Hawking, tell Eve just what he'd like her to do.  Not stay with him, in terms a little more vivid.

But there's another wound suffered tonight, this one by Villanelle.  Not that she hasn't been hurt before on the job, but this stab in the arm carries a big symbolic significance:  she doesn't want to do this kind of work any more.  She's been saying that since the beginning of this season.  She wants to assign people to do the killings, not do them herself.

But speaking of killings, Konstantin's daughter happily does one, too, before the episode is over.  He figures in a lot of different subplots tonight, the most interesting (to me, at least) actually being not his own daughter, but what is going on exactly between him and Fiona's daughter.  He may be Kenny's father.  Would he sleep with Fiona's daughter, knowing that there's even a chance that she could be his daughter, too?  This means either he knows for certain that he's not her father, or they didn't sleep together, or both.

Provocative possibilities.  Now that I'm all caught up with Killing Eve, I'll try my best to get in my reviews of the last two episodes of this season in a more timely way.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm ... Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips ... Killing Eve 3.5: The Darkness

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.5: The Darkness

An excellent, standalone episode of Killing Eve - 3.5 - in which Villanelle gets to go back to Mother Russia and her family.

It was clear, or at least I realized, from the beginning that Villanelle was going to kill all or at least some of her family after spending some time with them.  After all, she is a psychopathic or sociopathic (I'm never clear what exactly the difference is) killer.  But it was nice the way it played out.

She spared her brother and the boy (her half-brother) who loved Elton John.  (I've been saying the music is really great this season.)  Both of them were good to her.  So she was good to them.  She was especially good to the boy, leaving him a big wad of rubles sufficient to see Elton John in a farewell concert.  My wife and I saw him in his farewell concert in Hempstead, Long Island in November 2018 (my review is here).  We paid big bucks for that, and it was well worth it.  But it's been a long farewell tour.  Elton John has taken his time saying goodbye to that yellow brick road (sorry, couldn't resist).  So it makes sense that he'd still be touring in this episode of Killing Eve, fortunately written and recorded before the pandemic that's made most concerts around the world virtual (see, for example, mine on April 4, 2020).

But back to Villanelle, what pushes her over the edge, and brings out her killer instinct, is her mother saying she has a darkness within.  Villanelle replies that she her mother has the darkness.  Both statements are true.  But why did Villanelle have to kill her?   See the second paragraph above.

One question: was there anyone in the burning house other than Villanelle's mother?  Maybe not, but tough to say.  We didn't see anyone else - only her mother on the floor.  Anyway, it was a good close to an apt and important episode.  I'm going to watch tonight's episode now, and be back with a review if I'm not too tired,

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm ... Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips

Just catching up with Killing Eve, I just watched episode 3.4.  A powerful episode - like every episode this season, and every episode in the series, I suppose - with two very notable things:

1. Villanelle had one of her best killings, which is to say one of my favorites, of the season.  She strangles an old lady in her garden.  No big deal as a mode of killing, so why one of my favorites?  Because we're treated to Tiny Tim singing "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" as Villanelle kills her.  What's great about that?  Well, here's Tim's hit record.  A masterpiece, and just perfect accompaniment for a Villanelle kill.

2. But old ladies figure in all kinds of ways in this episode.  Villinalle's handler is an old lady, but we've seen her before.   Someone we haven't seen is an old bird in Poland, where Eve's husband Niko has decamped.  Eve is thrilled when he starts texting her.  But it's the Polish woman using Niko's phone.  And when Eve, thinking Niko wants her back, joyfully comes to Poland to reunite with him, she gets something quite else: the old lady killed Niko (assuming he's dead and not just badly wounded) with a pitchfork.  Another great killing scene, in a season in which Eve has witnessed all too many of them.

I should say that the music in this series, though always good, has really stepped up a good notch this season.   My only regret is that Tim is still not around to enjoy this renaissance.  He died in 1996.  Not killed, fortunately, by Villanelle, or anyone else.  Alas, he died of a heart attack, which he suffered when singing, yep, "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" in that wonderful falsetto.  Poetic justice?  Well, no, I wouldn't call his death justice - he didn't deserve to die - but there was something poetic in his dying when singing his signature song.  I wonder if that's what moved the produced of Killing Eve to feature it in this episode?

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm

Well, there were so many emblematic scenes in this Sunday's Killing Eve - episode 3.3 - that it's hard to know where to begin.

But let's start with that fight on bus.  It was perfect.  Villanelle surprises Eve, shortly after she finds out that probably her estranged husband, whom she still loves, in a way, moved to Poland.  They have a pretty bruising fight - which ends with Eve kissing Villanelle, when their faces are close together, and Villanelle asks Eve how she smells.  Later, on the street as the bus pulls away with Eve, Villanelle smiles.  But Eve enjoyed this, too.  The two really do love each other.

As we see more evidence of in a two-part bear scene, which begins with Villanelle sending Eve a stuffed little bear, with a recording of Villanelle telling Eve, "Admit it, Eve. You wish I was here".  At first, Eve is furious and tears the bear apart.  But she finds the player inside, and listens to it, over and over, mesmerized.   The two really do love each other.

Aristotle wrote that if you want to teach someone something, you have to instruct them three times.  Villanelle and Eve, in between their trying to kill one another, instruct each by their actions all time.  And therein instruct the viewing audience.

Caroline had some great scenes in this episode, too.  With her son killed in the opening episode, you have to take seriously any time she's in danger.  So when Villanelle sticks a gun in her face in the car, and pulls the trigger ... well, I was glad to see it was just the guy in back who wound up with a bullet in his head.

Villanelle remains a masterful assassin, whether by blade or gun.  Just not of Eve, because, well, the two really do love each other.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus

A good second episode of the new (third) season of Killing Eve - 3.2 - bringing many of the characters into sharper focus.

It's never 100% clear exactly where Konstantin stands.  And that's exactly what's brought into focus - this unfathomably - in this second episode.  But here's one thing to keep in mind: If Konstantin had anything to do with Kenny being killed, either Caroline or Konstantin won't be alive at the end of this season, because she won't abide him being alive.

I enjoyed the two guys in the Bitter Pill, and the faux hard time they were giving Eve.  It was faux because they all, including Eve, want the same thing: finding Kenny's killer, as they even said to Eve.  Their offices are a good new locus for Eve.  Although they may not have quite the cutting edge tech savvy of the British MIs, the Bitter Pill has a hacker's cunning that will carry them far.

Meanwhile, the big reveal to Villanelle that she didn't kill Eve is, well, life-changing.  Villanelle loves Eve, as the quiet smile on her face after she receives the news amply attests.  It's now clear that her next trip will be to England to see Eve.  But, as always, to kill her or love her?  Villanelle has for a long while really yearned to do both, at the very same time, if possible.

Villanelle was also excellent in the murderous clown scene, and I say this as someone who is bored of the scary clown meme, as Villanelle herself might say.  But she was sharp throughout this interlude, with satisfying repartee, as when she asks her young-man partner-in-clown partner if he's "ten years old".  An all the memorable line, made downright disconcerting, when she kills him a few minutes later.

See you next week.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew!

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 3.1: Whew!

[Huge spoiler ahead, so, if you don't want to know, don't keep reading).

But here's the story of Killing Eve 3.1:

We're catching up with everyone.  Villanelle's being drawn back into it, by someone I think is a new woman we haven't seen before (but I could be wrong), and whom Villanelle has had a long relationship with, though Konstantin's still around, too.

Meanwhile, Eve is working in the back end, almost literally, of an Asian restaurant. (She wasn't killed in that last scene last year.)  She's still trying untangle the relationship with her husband, who looks even more disheveled and irritable than last season.  Carolyn's in her same position.  Kenny has a new job, as a journalist in "an online publication".  His mother's not overly impressed.

But, apparently, she should be.  Because he's looking into the Twelve.  And-  it gets him killed!  As in, thrown off the roof killed.  Just as Eve, who has come to see him, has her back to the window.  He was a major and much loved character, bringing a stabilizing dollop of humanity to the often frenetic, insano storyline.  And he's killed in the first episode?

Since Killing Eve is not science fiction or supernatural, yeah, Kenny has been killed.  But who did it?  The only person we can be 100% sure did not throw Kenny of the roof (or maybe out a high window) is Eve, because she saw his body falling.  Well, I guess, two people. Carolyn didn't kill her son.  Ok, three - Eve's husband didn't do it.  I mean, he looked somewhat crazy, but not likely homicidal.

So that leaves the Twelve, and, more specifically, Villanelle.  But wouldn't that be too obvious?  Yes, and no.   But I've got a feeling it's not Villanelle.  We'll just have to see.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Luther 5.2: "A Chocolate Digestive"

That's what begins Luther and Alice's renewed relationship when she shows up at his doorstep at the end of 5.1 and the start of 5.2.  She tells Luther she wants "a chocolate digestive" before she passes out, and Luther carries her inside his apartment - she's already inside his head - to tend to her wound.

That wound is physical, but the real wound of significance with Alice is the gaping wound her soul, which manifests itself in all kinds of ways, including killing people and loving Luther.  And the strange thing about this, the compelling glue of Luther, is that Luther, or at least a significant part of him, reciprocates in this powerful inchoate attraction.  Therein resides the true glue of this series, and especially this season, as of the end of the second episode.

The two are not quite unofficial partner detectives as yet, but they're verging on it.   Will Luther accede to George's demand for Alice as the price to stop George's beating of Benny Silver?  Luther says yes, but you know he'll never give up Alice - certainly not to George.   Which will leave Alice free to continue doing what she does, including slaying in ways that exceed what we see in Killing Eve, a lot of which is indebted to Luther for the master female assassin that is Alice.

But what makes this season of Luther so good is Alice's logical depravities, and her relationship with Luther, get a run for their money with Vivien and her psycho surgeon husband.   It was Freud who said the surgeon is a sublimated sadist, whose libido is stoked by the lifesaving good that is done in surgery.   The scene with Jeremy doing surgery is an instant classic of Freud writ too large.  His kidnapping of the next victim, though a real not imagined crime, is actually less shocking than Jeremy in the operating room.

Still an open question at the end of this second episode is what exactly is Jeremy's wife, psychologist Vivienne, up to?  We've yet to see a meshing of the Alice/George and Jeremy/Vivienne stories, which will be fun to see.

See also Luther 5.1: Back in Fine, Depraved Form

And see also Luther: Between the Wire and the Shield ... Luther 3.1: Into the Blender ... Luther 3.2: Success ... Luther 3.3: The Perils of Being an Enemy ... Luther 3.4: Go Ask Alice

 

Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities after the End

[spoilers]

Well, the ending of the second season of Killing Eve, on the Beeb tonight, was true to the series name.  Villanelle shoots Eve, who lies on street, apparently dead.   Except, that can't be true, because Killing Eve has been renewed for a third season.  So maybe Eve is lying on the street in the other meaning - meaning, she's fibbing, or the scene is not telling us the truth.

Here, then, are the possibilities:

1.  Eve is indeed dead, and we'll be seeing her next season in flashbacks, or via a heretofore unknown twin.  Nah, all of that is way too trite.

2. Villanelle deliberately grazed Eve.  She's unconscious but not badly wounded, certainly not dead.

3. Villanelle tried to kill Eve but her aim was a little off, because love and disappointment clouded her vision.  Eve's unconscious but not badly wounded, certainly not dead.

4. Eve's not even unconscious.  Villanelle missed completely, and Eve is pretending to be dead, hoping/betting that Eve doesn't send another bullet her way.

4a.  Villanelle missed deliberately.  She was just trying to make a psychological point.

4b.  Villanelle missed because her aim was a lot off.  See #3 above for the rest of this.

5.  The BBC was lying when they announced that Killing Eve had been renewed.  Nah, that's ridiculous.

So the truth of what we saw tonight, to be brought out in the open in Season 3, resides somewhere from #2 to #4a.   I'll see you here next year with more.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex

I thought the high-point of the next-to-final episode of Season 2 of Killing Eve last night - 2.7 - was the very end, where we see that Villanelle has killed Niko's annoying new girlfriend.  It was a high-point because it amply demonstrates two enduring truths about Villanelle:  she's a cold-blooded killer (as are most paid assassins) and she's loyal to Eve.  So of course she would kill Eve's husband's girlfriend.

The problem for our characters, of course, is these two truths of Villanelle could well come into conflict.  And though nothing is certain, it's better than 50/50, I'd say, that the killer will win out over the loyalty.   With only one more episode this season, and Killing Eve already renewed for a third season, however, it's a 100% safe bet that the killer won't win out in this season, at least.

But there's so much killing in Villanelle, that I'd day we're likely to see at least one other expression of it in the finale next week.  Aaron Peel, the British Mark Zuckerberg, is the most likely victim, but he was so weird and even nauseating last night that I'm beginning to think it's unfair to compare him to Zuckerberg in any way.  But that never stopped me before.

The other moment of note is Eve pulling the cover off a sleeping Hugo, waking him up and having a go at it (is that a British expression?  I'm not sure).  But it was good to see Eve expressing herself that way - taking advantage of the situation at hand - and Hugo didn't seem to mind it at all, either.

Hey, the Game of Thrones finale was on last night, and I managed to watch and now review Killing Eve after all.   Says a lot about how compelling this series is, and my high opinion of it.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 2.6: Billie

Hey, I've been so caught up in Game of Thrones - reviewing and thinking about this finale season - that I see I've been remiss in reviewing Killing Eve.  But there are only two episodes left after tonight's this season, and tonight's was one of the best, so ...

Great new persona for Villanelle - Billie - working for Eve and the Brits, so she had to be something special and she is.  Billie has a passable American accent (about 80-90% right, I'd say), and her job is to get the goods on Aaron Peel, a British Mark Zuckerberg, if you get the picture. (Perfect timing, by the way - I checked the credits to see if Chris Hughes was a special consultant.)  Billie's accent isn't totally on key, but her killing instinct is, and in a scene that reminds Eve and us what we're dealing with, she hugs one of the women from her therapy group, on the sidewalk, and then throws her under a passing vehicle.   Villanelle hasn't lost her touch.

Eve hasn't either.  After her husband leaves her - I never liked him, anyway - she does a little spying on him, of course.  Turns out the reason he gave for leaving her - he can't take her dishonesty about her job, etc - was a lie.   The reason was the much more mundane he's having an affair.  And when Eve confronts the woman with Eve's husband, Eve gets off the best line in the episode, which serves as the title of the episode, "I Hope You Like Missionary!" It's great line, typifying the sharp repartee of the series.  I would've used it as the title for this review, but I like my titles to be a little different from the official titles of the episode.

The other significant exchange in tonight's hour was Villanelle telling Eve to back off with her criticism, advising "I don't like you that much," or words that effect (I'm not in the mood to look back it).  That gives us an important indication of the limits of Villanelle's infatuation with Eve.

Next week is the series finale of Game of Thrones, so who knows what I'll be doing with Eve.  But I'll definitely be here with a review the week after, and, who knows, maybe next week after all.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 2.3: Lipstick

Well, the best scene in Killing Eve 2.3 is clearly Eve putting on the lipstick Villanelle slipped her, finding it has a blade when it cuts her lip, and, rather than recoiling in horror, brushes the blood across her lip so it mixes with the lipstick.

That scene about the mouth says it all.   Villanelle loves Eve, this we already know.  It's the weakness that makes Eve so dangerous to Villanelle, who is the superior agent, or at least a more cunning killing machine, sharp as Eve is.   But Villanelle's attraction to Eve mades Villanelle vulnerable, and, as we've already seen, it was almost a fatal attraction - fatal to Villanelle.

But Eve is deeply attracted to Villanelle, also.  If not precisely in the same way, something that both helps Eve understand Villanelle, but makes Eve more vulnerable, too.   The question for both of them, as they hunt and crave each other, is which impulse will prevail.   Libido or thanatos?

It's good to see Konstantin back in action.   He's an excellent counterpart to Carolyn.   And, in many ways, more of an asset to Villanelle than Carolyn is to Eve.  The essence of this story, indeed, is (or are) counterparts.   They might have even entitled this series Counterpart, had there not already been a series by that name, which, alas, was cancelled, but I'm still hoping comes back on some other network, wiser than Starz.

But back to Killing Eve, as exciting and daring as the first season was, I'm beginning to like this second even more.  It has all the style and quirky texture of the first season, with symbolism simmering perfectly under the surface.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim

A crackin' good Killing Eve 2.2 - I had to use that phrase at least once in my review of this series, so  it might as well be now - in which Eve and Villanelle draw ever closer in England, with Eve, nearly choked out in a car passing Eve on the street, but Eve doesn't see Villanelle - so it's ever closer but not yet actually meeting.

Now the guy who is driving the car, and subdues Villanelle, is her new handler - or, from our perspective, her bad guy boss - who knew where she was because she had placed a call to MI6, desperate to escape the urbane psycho's house who was also batting her around.   So this tells us:  MI6 is infested with spies.  Which is true to life, given what happened to MI6 in real history during and after World War II, with Kim Philby and all.   Question: Is Killing Eve offering an accurate portrayal of MI6 today?   That is, is MI6 infested with Russian agents?  I wouldn't know, but that seems a not unreasonable proposition.

Anyway, the new handler has a job for Villanelle, but she and we don't yet know what it is.  It may well be killing Eve, though that would be a little too pat and cutesy given the title of the series.  Eve, for her part, has deduced all kinds of things, as is her wont, including that Villanelle will be jealous of the new assassin, who likes to work under the radar, as, in tonight's episode, a cleaning lady.

At this point, we have a story of Villanelle, still weakened by Eve's stabbing, as much the victim as the aggressor in her interactions, but still able to kill when necessary, versus Eve, who seems no longer tormented by stabbing and almost killing Villanelle.   That's a pretty good match, and I'll be back next week with a report on the next round.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos

As I mentioned in my review of Mrs. Wilson tonight, it was good to see Fiona Shaw play almost the same role in Mrs. Wilson and Killing Eve: a commanding role in MI5.   At this point, her Carolyn Martens in Killing Eve seems to have more integrity that her Coleman in Mrs. Wilson, but Mrs. Wilson ended on a highly ambiguous note, and the second season of Killing Eve is just getting started ....

So, let's get to that  Although Coleman in certainly an intriguing character, the real stars are Sandra Oh's Eve and Jodie Comer's Villanelle.  The latter takes the former's nearly stabbing her to death - in bed - as an expression of Eve's love for her, Villanelle.  It may be that, or something slightly else, but nonetheless potent and somewhat mutual.  On the other hand, if we believe in Freud's reaction formation, then what Villanelle thinks she senses in Eve may be mostly a reflection of what Villanelle herself feels for Eve.

I say "mostly," because Eve is clearly deeply affected by what happened in that bed in Paris.  But is that, at least in part, a deep attraction, a kind of love, or just trauma about having nearly killed someone?  The easy answer is it's likely a mix, but, that's an easy answer.

In any case, the hunter and the game are now reversed, with Villanelle now in England, driven to look up Eve, and do who knows what?  The options range from killing Eve to getting Eve to run away with her.   This first episode of the second season had a nice time getting Villanelle to London, with the high - or low - point being Villanelle killing Gabriel in this hospital.  This shows that, however much she may have been affected and even transformed by knowing Eve, Villanelle's sociopathic tendencies remain securely intact.

I reviewed all of season one in one post, after binge watching it last summer.  This Spring, you'll see me here with a review of each episode every week,

See also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended

Killing Eve: Highly Recommended

Highly recommended.  Not killing Eve - she's a great lead character - but the series, Killing Eve, which I just finished binge-watching the first season of on BBC America.

Killing Eve actually has two very memorable characters, rarely seen on television in terms of their mix of quirky intelligence, self-aware sarcastic humor, and utter devotion to their respective causes.  One is Eve, an MI5 officer who gets enthralled (by a combination of volunteering and recruitment) into an MI6 Russia assignment involving a SPECTRE-like group, the spearhead of which is Villanelle aka Oksana, a deft, gifted, peerless assassin who is all but impossible to beat.  The narrative arc continually surprises us with the way the two become obsessed with one another - obsessed not devoid of its positive elements all along the infatuation/love continuum - as Eve tries to stop and capture Villanelle and she tries to kill Eve.   To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, and just to reveal one of many brilliant exchanges, when Villanelle surprises Eve who asks if Villanelle is there to kill her, the assassin replies that all she wants to do is have dinner with Eve.

It doesn't hurt that these two already iconic characters are played by Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy) as Eve and Jodie Comer (The White Princess) as Villanelle, who are mutually perfect in their performances.  Indeed, so much so, that most of the other characters pale in comparison, even though theY'RE well acted and plotted.

As has been pointed out by more than one critic, most of these other characters are men, and the transcendence of Eve and Villanelle in Killing Eve could be interpreted as a paean to women and an attack on the male member (literally) in the world of spying, and, by extension, our world as a whole. Whatever interpretation you care to give it, Killing Eve is one high octane drama, as delightful as is thrilling, with surprises coming almost by the minute as the narrative unfolds.

After I caught my breath after the ending, I was glad to see there'll be a second season.  But I wouldn't bet on who will be doing what ....