Sins Of A Mother
We’re fast approaching the business end of this season and Killing Eve returns to the main conflict at hand as Eve tracks down the one responsible for stabbing Niko in the neck. At the same time, the episode focuses heavily on Carolyn and her current ordeal while Villanelle’s stand-alone episode last week proves to be the catalyst for what’s likely to be a dramatic final act to this third season. Episode 6 of season 3 for Killing Eve begins in St Pancras London as Eve arrives at the hospital and finds Niko alive but in a bad way. She promises to find the ones responsible but Niko has had enough, telling her in no uncertain terms to “Piss off forever.” Meanwhile, Villanelle meets one of her superiors named Elaine who breaks the good news to her; she’s been promoted to Keeper. The smile and elation soon fades though when she’s given a new assignment involving killing a politician in Romania. As she looks at the postcard telling her to pack warm clothes, she realizes that her role is the same as it was before and curses Konstantin and Dasha for having her believe she was actually going places. At Kenny’s work, Eve looks over the photos from Niko’s stabbing and realizes Villanelle isn’t the one responsible, instead turning her attention upward and stumbling upon Dasha. Understanding that she’s the one behind it, she heads up to Carolyn’s and discusses her theory that Dasha is trying to drive Villanelle out of Barcelona. Given she was the KGB’s top agent, Carolyn warns Eve to be careful if The Twelve are involved. In Russia, Konstantin receives a visit from Villanelle who learns he’s close to leaving the country with Irina, who slips up and reveals they have a trip to Cuba planned. Back in London, Carolyn visits her contact and they discuss Kenny’s death and how there were several calls on his phone in and out of Russia the night before he died. Extracting the information, she visits Paul at MI6 and asks if he’s “working for them”. After a tense few minutes, she brushes off that idea as Carolyn returns to her role and Paul leaves with his belongings. Not long after, Carolyn drives off with Konstantin and after throwing his wallet out the window, she questions him over what happened with Kenny. It turns out he phoned through to ask whether Konstantin was his Father. Telling him to get out, Carolyn heads back home where she and Geraldine discuss their fractured relationship together. Carolyn tells her daughter she doesn’t understand her and goes on to admit they only have each other now. As they keep talking, she implores Geraldine to be honest believing she hasn’t been wholly truthful. It turns out Paul is working with The Twelve as he awaits Konstantin in the dark and gives him orders to find the one responsible for killing Bertha, Kruger’s wife. He promises Konstantin that failing will result in him falling, leaving things on an ominous note as he exits the room. Back in Barcelona, Eve finds Dasha at a bowling alley and they talk about The Twelve and their plans. As she mentions Niko is still alive, Dasha admits that Villanelle will not be seeing Villanelle again given she’s been promoted. “You’ll never win this game,” Dasha promises and walks away. Despite killing her target, Villanelle is clearly not at the top of her game and ends up stabbed with a pair of scissors for her troubles. Later that evening Dasha checks up on her and finds the assassin nursing an open wound. Stitching her up, Villanelle tells her she’s not able to do this anymore and starts breaking down into tears, losing that icy facade we’ve seen for so long. As the episode draws to a close, Konstantin returns home and finds his daughter in the car, running over her Mum’s new boyfriend while grinning from behind the wheel. As Konstantin looks at her wide-eyed, we’re left to wonder whether we’re seeing the start of a new Villanelle in the making. Aside from the slightly disappointing reveal that Niko is alive and clearly been rushed back to London for treatment, Killing Eve continues to deliver decent drama, even if it doesn’t quite hit the same heights as the previous season. With deeper characterisation for our supporting characters this time and much more depth given to Villanelle who’s clearly struggling after the incident involving her family, it leaves the final couple of episodes wide open for where this may go next. The black humour works incredibly well though and this tonal consistency is one of the strongest parts of the show. Alongside that, there’s some interesting symbology in the form of Dasha and Eve’s bowling game and seeing them both matching each other blow for blow is certainly indicative of what’s come so far in this series. Quite where the end of this season leads remains to be seen but given Killing Eve’s popularity, it seems unlikely that things will be wrapped up in two episodes, leaving the prospect of a fourth season in the not-too-distant future.
