“Sorry Baby” – aired on April 29, 2018
Writer: George Kay
Director: Jon East
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
The narrative is moving with deliberate speed in Killing Eve. With only four episodes into the season, a beloved character and several other victims have been savagely executed, an investigation has turned into a pursuit because the assassin’s identity had been revealed, detailed profiles of the main characters have been sketched, and now, by the end of “Sorry Baby,” the face-off between Eve and Villanelle has been announced.
Yet, nothing has felt rushed, contrived, or forced. Showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writing room, and the two directors featured so far, Harry Bradbeer (episodes one and two) and Jon East (episode three and four), deserve high praises for putting on screen one of the most original shows of the year. Now comes the next challenge. Can the Eve-vs-Villanelle duel, by itself, carry the last four episodes? The question is valid because the set-up for the next one sure feels like a season finale for a detective-assassin show. Yet, judging from what I have witnessed so far, I cannot help but trust that Waller-Bridge will find creative ways to keep the audience preoccupied, and thoroughly entertained, through a ride filled with unconventional loops and revelations.
“Sorry Baby” stays in line with the trend set by previous episodes with regard to plot advancement. It takes unexpected turns, delivers provocative dialogues, and complements the plot with quirky character introductions while building on the emotional frame of the existing ones.
It starts with yet another zoom-in shot on Eve’s face. That is now four out of four episodes that Killing Eve made use on that particular method. I call it a method because I don’t blame the writers for repeatedly turning to one of the show’s most imposing assets, Sandra Oh’s recognizable face that can manage to stir anyone’s emotions on a whim. The scene takes place in a church during the commemoration ceremony for Bill, in the aftermath of his death at the hands of Villanelle.
Eve is deeply anguished over the loss of her trusted colleague and friend. Her grief turns to anger when Frank the buffoon makes a maligned speech in Bill’s memory. She storms out of the church, leaving behind a bewildered Niko. Next, her anger transforms into a desire for revenge as she tells Elena, “I want to kill her with my bare hands.” Oh is simply magnificent in conveying all these distinct emotions in a matter of minutes.
Speaking of Frank, I expressed my concern in my review of episode two about his characterization as a comic-relief figure. I wondered how realistic it is that a buffoon like him could have managed to be in a position to lead an intelligence organization that requires high-IQ above all else from its key employees. My question remains valid, because Frank is not only a clown, but also an idiot, a loser, a degenerate coward, and an asshole, not to mention that he “looks most like rodent,” as Martens cleverly notes.
The big revelation of this episode is that he also happens to be the mole. Thanks to him, Konstantin knew instantly the who, when, and how of our team’s pursuit of Villanelle. Add “traitor” to the list of adjectives for Frank. I am still not completely clear on how he got hold of the information in such a timely fashion. I thought the team that Martens put together, helmed by Eve, was secret, thus unknown to anyone outside the five of them. Did Martens inform Frank of the activity just to appease some unwritten rule of ethics between intelligence leaders? I wish a line or two would be inserted somewhere to explain this discrepancy. Or did I miss something?
Villanelle, in the meantime, is having a ball. This woman possesses an impressive ability to get entertained by mundane scenes and useless banter. We already know she gets pleasure from killing, but her eyes also seem to light up with glee whenever Nadia (Olivia Ross) physically assaults her or tries to, at least. She finds amusement in sitting on the couch at the house of Frank’s mother, eating her hot fruitcake, or in dancing around a wooden Konstantin, dressed up as him. She also drips with mock-sympathy as she brings up her awareness of Konstantin’s daughter in a clear indication of threat to her handler. Villanelle is a thrill-seeker in the fullest sense of the term and Jodie Comer eats the role up.
Speaking of Nadia, she is one of the two doomed guest characters in this episode, the other being Diego (Edward Akrout). Villanelle is ordered to team up with them for the next job which happens to target Frank in the small town of Bletcham where his mother lives.
Representations of Diego and Nadia dangerously border on corniness. They are not only shallow, but highly inept at their job. Nadia cluelessly stares around in the mother’s house, not detecting Franks’ hidden presence – Villanelle naturally does – and amateurishly runs after Frank’s car as he drives away to escape the assassins. She lets Diego treat her condescendingly and swallows every lie fed to her by Villanelle. The frequent-pisser Diego, for his part, supposedly leads the trio, but makes one arrogant decision after another, ultimately leading to his demise. Lowering your weapon under the naïve assumption that Nadia would shoot Villanelle? Really, Diego?
I am fairly certain that writer George Kay and director East meant to make them appear silly – Diego’s overuse of pet names for Nadia is one proof of that –, which then begs the question, how in the world did two such ungainly operatives like Nadia and Diego survive until now in the organization for which Konstantin works? Their lack of IQ glares through the screen as Villanelle toys with them like puppets on a string. We are willing to let that question pass because the scenes involving Villanelle and her companions are donned with fascinating dialogues and dexterous acting.
It is, for example, nothing short of brilliant how the little said between Villanelle and Nadia hints at so much history between the two. Nadia is extremely bitter and keeps on physically charging Villanelle. We learn little by little, through subtle phrases dropped here and there, that they were lovers in the past and that Nadia feels somehow screwed over by Villanelle. Ross and Comer excel in these scenes. The former aptly depicts Nadia’s volatility and the latter plays the collected and calculated Villanelle to perfection.
Other meaningful moments are disseminated throughout the episode. Niko’s patience is wearing thin and we see glimpses of a marriage on the verge of collapse as Eve yells at him, in one scene, to “get out” when she realizes that Villanelle stole her suitcase and returned it filled with expensive clothes, and tersely lets him know, in another, how annoyed she is with the fact that his love for her is all that he has in his life. Ouch!
There are splendid, substantial dialogues such as the one between Eve and Martens in the grocery store and the one between Eve and Elena in the car as they make humorous remarks about Martens and Kenny.
And there is something sublime about the choice of the setting for “Sorry Baby.” For three episodes, scenes filmed in large cities charmed our senses. Eve and Villanelle’s cat-and-mouse game played out in the hustle-and-bustle of night clubs, cafés, subway stations, and avenues in renowned locations like Paris, Berlin, and London, among others. This episode, by contrast, largely takes place in a country-side setting in England and moves to empty fields as it approaches its climax. While looking for each other in London and Paris, Eve and Villanelle ironically find themselves in a face-off at an empty field in the middle of nowhere.
And what a climactic moment it is! We are almost tempted to cheer for Frank as he is desperately running away from Villanelle in the fields, in an attempt to reach Eve and Elena – I should add “terrible athlete” to the list of Frank-related adjectives. But his character is, in reality, only a vehicle in the closing seconds. The directorial skills of East dazzles in the last 30 seconds as Frank makes it to the car, throws himself in Elena’s arms, Eve and Villanelle establish eye-to-eye contact, Villanelle takes a shot, and the screen turns dark, in one of the fiercest cliffhangers in the recent history of TV shows.
Endnote:
Eve: “Frank, are you running, or are you crying?”
Frank: “Running and crying.”
Until next episode…