“End of Game” – Aired on May 17, 2020
Writer: Krissie Ducker
Director: Shannon Murphy
Grade: 4 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

Wait, Niko is alive? What?!? A double pitchfork was thrust through the back of his neck, coming out in front and almost pinning him face-first to the barndoor, and he survived? You mean, a renowned ex-KGB assassin, with the experience span of four-plus decades somehow failed her task completion of killing an ordinary dude? A load of codswallop is what I call on both accounts.

Having said that, I would also like to thank the writers for inserting that load into the script, thus allowing the “Piss. Off. Forever” scene to exist because I laughed harder than I can recall in recent memory as Niko typed those words into the speech synthesizer so that the metallic voice could spit them out at Eve. An immediate second wave of laughter ensued when the last word, “Forever,” flickered a few times across the screen in big letters as Niko and Eve stared at each other (and I just chuckled again while writing this sentence).

What follows that idiosyncratic opening is a well-performed dialogue between Villanelle and Hélène who first appeared in “Still Got It” as a member of the Twelve. The way Jodie Comer conveys Villanelle’s state of despondency upon hearing the next assignment is spot-on as usual and the splendid Camille Cottin is captivating in her portrayal of the newly introduced member of the Twelve.

Villanelle is at first elated to learn that her promotion to being a “Keeper” is now confirmed and the two women celebrate with a glass of champagne. It goes awry for Villanelle, however, when Hélène informs her of the “very exciting” first assignment she gets as a Keeper, one that “will cause a great stir,” and hands her a postcard indicating Romania as the location of her next target. It feels eerily similar to what Villanelle was doing as an assassin while taking orders from handlers of the Twelve. Yet Villanelle “was told,” you see, that she would be the one “giving orders.” Hélène swiftly nips that argument in the bud with the question “by who” that a flustered Villanelle cannot answer. Hélène basically lays down the law, telling Villanelle to love it or leave it, driving her point home with a smirky send-off, “Enjoy Romania.”

Back at Bitter Pill, Eve is astutely beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together in a sequence that Sandra Oh sells well as the razor-sharp-minded, intuitive investigator that she is, with an assist from director Shannon Murphy foregrounding just what is needed to show in order to bring alive the intricate thought process taking place in Eve’s mind.

For starters, there is the note attached to the pitchfork by Niko’s assailant, which does not fit with Villanelle’s modus operandi. Had Villanelle intended to kill Niko, he would not have made it alive. Secondly, she notices photos of Bertha Kruger’s dead body (killed by Villanelle in the zaniest assassination of the season in “Still Got It”) which seem to represent, in Eve’s mind at least, the note’s actual point of reference. Her suspicions are further confirmed when Bear shows her pictures of Dasha as the one responsible for the 1974 murder of the gymnast in Russia, seen in the cold open of this season’s premiere. The rumor is that the “Chalk Kill” impressed the KGB enough to recruit Dasha as a youngster back in the days. She now lives in Barcelona teaching “wee kids to do roly-polies” (Bear’s quote, the guy’s hilarious in every way). You can sense the wheels in Eve’s head turning with increased speed, probably visualizing a trip to Barcelona already.

Eve is first is headed to Carolyn’s house to learn everything about Dasha because Eve knows, and probably does everyone else, that if there is a person of interest in the Killing Eve universe, there is a great chance that Carolyn had a drink, coffee, dinner, sex, or a combination of those, with that individual. Sure enough, Carolyn is a fountain of information on Dasha. The first time she met her was long time ago at a café in Sorrento, Italy, when Dasha was first kicked out of the KGB and exiled for killing one of their own.

It doesn’t take long for Carolyn’s sensory radars to detect Eve’s intention to leave for Barcelona. She sternly warns Eve about Dasha, underlining that she was one of KGB’s top assassins before her fallout. This is when Eve spurts out the biggest lie of this season to justify her pursuit: “Someone tried to kill my husband, I intend to find out who.” Sure Eve, everyone believes that Niko is the catalyst behind your desire to go to Barcelona. Wink-wink, smile-giggle, eye-roll.

This was also about where I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked heavens that Killing Eve is back (after last week’s detour), with its cherished bravado of clever dialogues, five-star acting by the ensemble, meaningful character growth and plot advancements on multiple fronts, and doing so without resorting to lunacy with little gist for the sole purpose of eccentricity.

Assuming that one is able to hand-wave the absurdity of Niko still being alive (I was), all of the above takes place within the first 12 minutes of “End of Game” and serves as a much-needed recalibration of the overall arc, and recovery from the uncalibrated hour that “Are You from Pinner?” was, bringing it back on the right track.

Writer Krissie Ducker packs a lot in these initial scenes, without making anything feel rushed, and the rest of the episode greatly benefits from it. Consider for instance the following scene where Villanelle shows up in Russia to talk to Konstantin during Irina’s ice-hockey practice. Thanks to the efficiency of the first 12 minutes, we are aware of the reasons behind her wish to join him and do not need to be brought up to speed, which allows time for the dialogue to include those quirky lines that are part of your quintessential Konstantin-Villanelle exchange.

Her new position within the Twelve no longer tickles Villanelle’s fancy after the meeting with Hélène and Konstantin’s idea of “getting out” suddenly sounds more appealing. Except that Konstantin is not gung-ho about Villanelle joining them. Not one bit! One nutcase in the form of his daughter is more than he can handle during years of secret retirement. The addition of a second nutcase in the mix is the last thing he needs, I reckon.

He refuses to reveal where he is planning on going with Irina and attempts to sway Villanelle by saying that the Twelve would find out if they left together. When that explanation does not wash with Villanelle, he offers to go first and send for her later. She is not swallowing that cookie either. He tries one last card (you guessed it, the ‘Eve’ card) by asking Villanelle if she is really ready to “leave everything” behind, “the clothes, apartment… and her.” She replies, “I know.” Seeing that his efforts are in vain, Konstantin urges her to at least not say a word to anyone because “they” will kill them if they find out. “The plan only works if nobody knows there is one,” he emphasizes.

Speaking of Irina, Villanelle meets her after school and listens to her complain about her mother’s boyfriend (Ion Grosu) for either acting creepy toward her or for making her mom really happy, or both! But Villanelle only met with her because she needs information and what better way to crawl into a kooky fourteen-year-old’s good graces, in order to milk that information, than letting her drive a car, quite wildly in fact, on a vast, empty driveway, while laughing and screaming together? Just don’t ask how, where, or whose car, that’s all. Using subtle lead phrases to manipulate Irina (who is not as clever as she thinks), Villanelle eventually gets her to spit out the location of Konstantin’s secret location for retirement: Cuba!

Another scene that benefits from the efficient set-up of the first dozen minutes is when Eve confronts Dasha in the bowling alley in Barcelona. There is no need for introductions or explanations on the reasons behind the unplanned meeting, thus leaving room for the humor resulting from the underlying bowling competition taking place while the two women launch metaphoric verbal jabs at one another. I admit that the dialogue’s content has less substance than others in the outing and requires a bit of hand-waving** on the viewers part. Yet, the scene still works well because the subtle nuances and inflections used by the two women cumulatively add up to a crystal-clear viva voce to one another: “I know you, and now you know me. Don’t mess with me, or you’ll regret it.”

** Would a life-long assassin like Dasha casually confirm or divulge any information about how she created Villanelle, or that she is working with the Twelve, or that Villanelle has gotten promoted, less than 60 seconds into a conversation with someone she never met before? I doubt it, but I rolled with it, and so should you.

We catch up with Villanelle in Romania, lackadaisically preparing to complete the task assigned to her by Hélène (and fulfill her own quota of at least one murder per episode). It involves the killing a local politician (Calin Bleau) and she is posing as the make-up person to prep him up for a TV appearance. It does not end well for him, of course, but never mind for a second that his head gets electrocuted and fried in the big hair dryer. What is of consequence here is that Villanelle’s apathy results in sloppy work.

Before dying, the man manages to stab Villanelle in the arm with nail scissors. Her DNA is virtually begging to be found by the first forensics expert on scene because she drops the scissors on the floor after pulling them out of her arm, then steps in her own blood as she leaves in physical agony. We later see her in psychological agony as well – I don’t want to do this anymore,” she mutters with teary eyes – as Dasha arrives and stitches up her injury.

Carolyn meets a man named Mike (Vincent Ebrahim) from the Metropolitan Police at a park to collect Kenny’s phone records. He apparently called the meeting because he had emailed the report to her desk over a week ago when the initial request came through and Carolyn has yet to receive it. He wanted to hand it to her in person this time. This raises all kinds of red flags for Carolyn who has been told multiple times during the week by Paul, the pestilent Whitehall Warrior, that “Scotland Yard has been dragging their feet” in responding quickly.

Carolyn wastes no time in squaring up to Paul at the office, point-blank asking him if he works for “them.” Paul, realizing that Carolyn caught on to his lies, repeats the same question back: “Are you, Carolyn?” Neither gives a straight answer and the verbal stand-off ends with both laughing it off (I kid you not) and Paul mockingly informing Carolyn that she is actually standing in her office, not that she could tell!  

Lo and behold, it appears that Paul does work for “them” because he shows up at Konstantin’s home later to put pressure on him to find the culprit behind the missing money from the Twelve’s account in Geneva. Things go from bad to worse for Konstantin when Paul tells him that it was not Charles, apparently, who siphoned money from the Twelve’s account, and that to find the culprit, Konstantin must uncover the identity of the person (read: himself) who ordered the hit on Bertha Kruger. Paul warns, “If there is a breach, we’re both to blame, but believe me, you will be the one who’ll take the fall.” In other words, Konstantin must catch himself and bite the dust or pretend to fail at finding the culprit and still bite the dust. Catch-22 galore!

When it rains it pours, they say, and Carolyn is next in line put the heat on Konstantin. It appears that Kenny’s records show them talking to each other on the phone in the 24 hours leading to Kenny’s death. She tricks him into going for a friendly drive, but soon begins to drive like a maniac, threatening not to stop unless he answers her question, “what did you want with my child?” Carolyn is talking about Kenny of course, but Konstantin thinks that she means Geraldine, so he blurts out, “I swear, I try nothing. She kissed me.” As Carolyn hisses through gritted teeth, “Geri kissed you,” I cannot decide which is funnier: Konstantin involuntarily volunteering too much information or Carolyn receiving information that she never asked for, and probably wished she never heard.

In any case, she insists on knowing why Kenny called him the night before he was murdered. Panic-stricken due to Carolyn’s increasingly erratic driving and fluctuating mood, Konstantin spills out the truth. Kenny wanted to know if Konstantin was his father! Carolyn, utterly shocked, wants to know how he responded. Konstantin says, “I told him I didn’t know.” Whaaat?!? That ambiguous quote opens up more can of worms than I can imagine. To be continued.

Carolyn arrives home and somehow manages to remain lusterless in tone and expression through another mother-daughter reckoning talk initiated by Geraldine. But, she gets the last word in this one. She bluntly, but firmly, describes the nature of their intra-family dynamics, saying that she and Kenny had a connection that Geraldine could not begin to understand, and that Geraldine had a connection with her father that she never understood. Carolyn prefers honesty between them rather than lying to her daughter: “I know other parents do, they tell their children they’re wonderful at this and great at that, but I just…I don’t have that gene.”

Geraldine seems to appreciate her mother’s candor, especially when Carolyn agrees with her that they only have each other left. Yet, Carolyn always has an agenda, doesn’t she? She has one here too, and it comes out at the end. Having prophesied about honesty and how she is unable to lie to her daughter, she turns the tables on Geraldine and puts her on the spot: “You can tell me exactly what’s been going on between you and Konstantin. Where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and why he came to visit you. Because it seems while I’ve been unable to lie to you, you’ve had no problem lying to me.”

As for Konstantin, the consequence of inadvertently jabbering away about Geraldine to Carolyn earlier is probably the last item on his list of worries after Paul’s visit. Feeling his arms twisted from all sides, he sees only one solution. Pack up his luggage, get Irina, and disappear into the horizon at once! He asks Irina to get ready over the phone and leaves for Russia where he has yet one more bad surprise waiting for him.

As he awaits Irina outside the house of his ex-wife’s creepy boyfriend, he notices her in the driving seat of the car parked at the entrance. She turns on the car and drives it straight into her mom’s boyfriend who just dumped the trash bag in the bin outside! She rolls the car over his body one more time for good measure while laughing, as Konstantin’s jaw drops a few more inches toward the ground, before the end credits begin rolling.

Last-minute thoughts:

— Back in my review of “Still Got It,” I wrote the following sentence: “Major characters rival Candide or Odysseus with the frequency and celerity of their travels from one geographical location to another.” Yes, I did the unthinkable and quoted myself because in this episode alone, (1) Dasha went from bowling in the afternoon in Barcelona to catching up with an injured Villanelle in Romania that same evening (wearing the same outfit), (2) Eve went from bowling in the afternoon in Barcelona to stopping by Niko at the hospital in London before dark, (3) and Konstantin went from London in the evening to meet Irina in Moscow later in the same evening.

— Here is my crackpot speculation for what is still to come in season 3: Konstantin will somehow manage to kill two birds with one stone by figuring out a way, with an assist from Villanelle, to pin Bertha’s death and the missing funds on Dasha, causing her demise.

— I could live without Konstantin’s remark on how “everyone’s mother deserves it,” in the same way that I could live without Dasha ditching a baby in the trash bin back in “Meetings Have Biscuits.”

— It appears that Villanelle’s blunder in Romania also cost Dasha her definitive trip back home. I am beginning to suspect she may never get there.

— Ironic that Irina scolded Villanelle for being a bad role model during their drive, yet appears to get so much pleasure from killing someone at the end.

— Bear’s references to “pitchforking” and the glares of Jamie and Eve toward him each time he does so… Priceless!

— Villanelle screaming “Cubaaaaaa” in the car before the switch to Konstantin coming out of a store in London with “Not Cuba” flashing on the screen… Priceless!

— The monologue by Bear as Eve abuses the vending machine with kicks and punches… Priceless!

Until the next episode…

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“Are You From Pinner?” – Aired on May 10, 2020
Writer: Suzanne Heathcote
Director: Shannon Murphy
Grade: 2 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

Highs and lows are inevitable, they often say, and successful TV shows running over multiple seasons are not immune to that problem. Killing Eve is an exceptional case in the sense that it has remained on the high end of the spectrum through most (if not, all) of its existence. “Are You From Pinner?” represents the irritating reality that even the cream of the crop in the industry cannot completely escape the above cliché.

This is a pedestrian, unremarkable hour of TV drama, unless…

— you happen to be an unwavering fan of Jodie Comer and watch anything showcasing her in some form or fashion, or…
— you are a variation of the above, in the sense that you could not care less about the rest of the cast and are here for Comer alone…
— you feel like consuming, along with an alcoholic beverage, an hour of schlock-caricature portrayal of a town in “Mother Russia,”** or…
— you are an fanatical follower of Killing Eve and as such, you chalk it up as an acceptable loss even if a particular episode is composed of a dreary plotline featuring pallid characters with little wit, or…

… Okay, I’ll stop here and recapitulate. Unless you are one of the above, your experience as a fan of Killing Eve will not skip a beat if you never saw this one.

** Thankfully, “Grizmet” is fictitious. Had it existed, not a single resident would have been amused by the doltish portrayal of their town to a global audience.

If you have been reading my reviews for this season, you know that I have been a staunch supporter of this Suzanne Heathcote-led version of Killing Eve and praised the tonal and narrative shifts that have so far marked season 3.

That being said, “Are You From Pinner?” strays too far!

Instead of the intriguing, layered narratives centered on the main characters, we have a simple-minded, single progression of events leading to a painfully predictable climax. Instead of the usual witty dialogues and clever satire, we are subjected to dumbed-down, slapstick humor. Instead of the usual world-building via beautifully shot multiple locations where events tie into each other, working toward a worthy pay-off, we have the narrow scope of a single location in ‘Absurdistan’ where this-n-that happens with hardly any substrate or cultural depth (no! Mother Russia is not Grizmet!)

The previews and trailers, as well as the closing seconds of last week’s terrific “Still Got It,” hinted at the possibility of this hour shining the spotlight on Villanelle’s familial background. While we get to meet her mother Tatiana (Evgenia Dodina) and her brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman), I must question the choice to explore Villanelle’s past as a child in a household where four other individuals with zero ties to Oksana (as everyone refers to her) occupy a considerable amount of screen time and provide little-to-no insight to her “story,” so to speak.

The only saving grace in this context is a boy named Bor’ka (Temi Blaev), whose father Grigoriy (Pedja Bjelac) is now married to Tatiana, which makes him Oksana’s half-brother, not that she even heard of him prior to her arrival. He is an obsessive fan of Elton John and his one goal in life is to collect enough money to see him perform live. Others ridicule and mock him, Tatiana scolds him and calls him “stupid,” the local cook Nadege (Virginia Rogin) refers to him as a “weird asshole,” cumulatively shattering his self-esteem. He has already formed a habit of banging his head against the wall when he feels ashamed or as a failure, as well as smacking it repeatedly with his palm.

His only ally seems to be Pyotr who is treated like an outcast himself, receiving no affection from his mother, not to mention his half-brother Fyodor (Dimitrij Schaad) harassing him, calling him names like “puppy dog,” “idiot,” and “mummy’s boy.” Pyotr tends to sleep at the barn where he ferociously beats the worn-out couch with a baseball bat for his daily anger-management exercise.

The interpersonal dynamics between the three above (Bor’ka-Pyotr-Tatiana) at least provide some clues – because, not much else does – as to what Oksana may have gone through growing up with an abhorrent mother like Tatiana. On a stodgier level, it makes Villanelle hate her mother even more which only makes sense because, frankly speaking, this is a painfully predictable hour, and murder(s) to come need to be appositely justified. It is telegraphed, fairly early in the episode, that we are inevitable on our way to witnessing some type of a climax where Villanelle kills Tatiana to fulfill her quota of at least one murder per episode before leaving town.

Sure, we learn a couple of historical tidbits in the process, such as Oksana being placed in an orphanage at a young age by her mother, or that Oksana used to punch Pyotr in the face, or that her parents had some sort of a fall-out when she was very young because he is nowhere to be found in the family pictures (Pyotr doesn’t even remember him), or that she started a fire at the orphanage.

Yet, nothing in this clunker amounts to any intuitive understanding of Oksana’s upbringing or any substantive anecdote on her childhood. There are no flashbacks to add to our insight on her formative years, no reliable sources from which to gain any knowledge.

Instead, the episode wastes inordinate amount of time on otiose banter flowing from inconsequential individuals like Grigoriy, Fyodor and his girlfriend Yula (Natallia Bulynia), not to mention the unoriginal festival occupying around four minutes of screen time during most of which Yula and her two sidekicks dance for the crowd and sneer at Oksana, and locals participate in run-of-the-mill contests (Villanelle wins hers, whoop-de-doo).

Even the accusations Villanelle and Tatiana launch at each other don’t carry enough clout. They are perpetual liars, so one can never be certain whose version is closer to the truth when confronted by conflicting statements. According to Villanelle, for example, her father was “better” and “stronger” than her mother. Tatiana claims, for her part, that Oksana ruined her father with her “darkness.” Can anyone firmly tell which is the truth? I doubt it. We enter the hour knowing zilch about her father, and exit the same way.

The orphanage told Tatiana that Oksana died in a fire, or so says Tatiana. Is she telling the truth? Why would the orphanage lie?

The orphanage told Oksana that her family died in a car crash, or so says Villanelle. Is she telling the truth? If she were, why did the orphanage lie? Or, did the orphanage receive erroneous information and passed it on? Or, did Tatiana ask them say so to Oksana and they complied (unethically) with her request for some strange reason?

The bottom line is, we spend an hour supposedly focusing on Villanelle’s background (the official synopsis even says so in different words) and come out of it knowing hardly anything more than we did before.

Taking my personal experience of being a regular watcher of Killing Eve into account, I can comfortably say that there is something wrong if, 40 minutes into an episode, I feel that the only memorable scene is Villanelle guffawing at the flat-earth theories of Fyodor and Yula (compared to my usual several-chuckles-per-episode rate thanks to delightfully witty dialogues) and the only thing left to wonder is how Villanelle will discard her victim(s) at the end.

She does not stop with her mother either, does she? She commits mass murder. Oh wait, was I supposed to cheer for her on when she left money for Bor’ka? Sorry. I must have missed that particular nuance.

Until the next episode… and quickly please!

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“Still Got It” – Aired on May 3, 2020
Writer: Elinor Cook
Director: Miranda Bowen
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

“Still Got It” is yet another strong entry to season 3, once again challenging viewers to adapt to the shift in tone and style in comparison to the first two seasons, and doing so even more unabashedly than any the previous three outings did. Showrunner Suzanne Heathcote and the writing room are taking risks, and you better not get left behind.

Sure, you may have already noticed from the first three episodes that the narrative no longer operates within the narrowly confined parameters of the two leads, while the rest of the characters merely contribute as figurants. Sure, characters other than Eve and Villanelle now get regular chunks of minutes per episode dedicated solely to them. Sure, the quirk-o-meter keeps climbing higher. Heck, we even had an opening-credits theme appear out nowhere for the first (and only) time in “Management Sucks.” So, yeah… it is not as if you have not noticed the changes…

But “Still Got It” takes a step further by bluntly plonking that reality in front of the viewers, explicitly integrating those shifts in question into visual and narrative cues. It is non-linear in structure, featuring not one, but two stories told in circular time, one embedded into the other, mind you? It shows in big letters the names of the characters on whom the scenes center and not the locations where they take place as has been the case in the past. Its color correction and frame editing are quite distinct. It showcases two adult women behaving like toddlers high on sugar (or insane-asylum regulars, take your pick) for almost a minute before the obligatory at-least-one-per-episode murder quota by Villanelle is fulfilled (hey, at least some things remain the same). Major characters rival Candide or Odysseus with the frequency and celerity of their travels from one geographical location to another. The only one not traveling does not appear until late in the episode, and when she finally does, she remains on screen for four successive scenes lasting six minutes. In short, “Still Got It” represents the unapologetic confirmation of season 3’s sui-generis nature, in terms of style and storytelling.

In case you have not read my past reviews and think that I am pointing out the above to criticize the show, allow me to state unequivocally that, halfway through the season, I find this Heathcote-led version of Killing Eve absolutely fantabulous. The entertainment value is high. Having settled into their roles, the cast members appear to genuinely have fun performing. More importantly, the threat of lapsing into redundancy in the name of combing through every strand of the old formula is dexterously thwarted. Well done, dear showrunners.

The hour begins with Niko in the countryside of Poland, settled into the routine of daily life in his hometown. He is delivering bread to an old woman named Milena (Anita Poddebniak) who is happy to see him “make it home” where he belongs. He is later having a beer at the local bar when he notices a slew of texts from Eve wanting to talk. He leaves his phone on the bar as he gets pulled off his seat by the locals for a group toast, allowing a mysterious woman nearby (okay, not-so-mysterious if you look closely, it’s Dasha) to snitch his phone and leave the establishment without anyone noticing.

Back to London where Eve wakes up on the couch at the offices of Bitter Pill. She smashes her covers behind the couch in the most unsanitary way possible before getting up and spending the rest of the working day sporting a foul odor and munching on Bear’s Coco Pops, not to mention her panties peeking out of her pant leg. Okay, I’ll stop. She did, after all, brush her teeth (!)

It also happens to be her birthday, not that anyone at Bitter Pill knew until a birthday cake is delivered in a box. A smile forms on Eve’s face as she realizes that Villanelle must have sent it. She opens the box on the roof and finds the cutest birthday cake inside, in the shape of a London double-dutch bus. Then, Eve suddenly turns angry (I’ve heard at least four different theories as to why), hurls the box down from the side of the roof in a fit of rage, and watches the cake get splattered all over the ground in the parking lot below, much like Kenny did, I presume, when he fell (or, was chucked down) from the same spot. Maybe Eve also thought of Kenny at that moment, because her expression of anger turns to shock and regret as she stares at the smashed cake on the ground below.

Sprinkling the eccentric sequence above are ephemeral moments of plot sobriety, such as Eve finally receiving text replies from Niko (or, so she thinks) accepting her request to talk. There is also something familiar, Eve claims, about the crime-scene photo on Bear’s computer of the murdered political agitator in Girona, Catalonia (Villanelle’s spice-shop victim in “Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey”). The way her face is upturned and buried under a sand of paprika reminds Eve of a murder in Russia that was never solved, one where a young gymnast preparing for the Olympics was found dead in a similar position in the locker room, covered in hand chalk (seen in the cold opening of season 3).

Shortly after the cake’s demise, Jamie joins Eve on the roof to inform her that she cannot be “camp out” at the office. Next thing you know, she is a temporary guest in his house, which leads to a brilliant dialogue between them over a couple of bottles of beer. It starts with Jamie chuckling at Eve obsessively looking at her phone and behaving, according to him, “like a sad teenager, waiting for a ‘like’ on Instagram.” Eve soon strikes back with a derogatory remark of her own, thus launching a verbal duel of mine-beats-yours in terms of having a “chequered past.”

It begins benignly with Jamie citing taking a piss in the shower that morning and Eve admitting to never having bought The Big Issue, but quickly escalates into a series of severely grave confessions, with Jamie ultimately coming out on top when he mentions his best friend dying on the drugs provided by him. The broader lesson, courtesy of Jamie: “Do not think that you are the only self-loathing arsehole in the room, ever,” and “it’s all about choices.” Frankly speaking, the excellence of the scene rests less in the content of the dialogue (we already knew about Eve’s bad deeds) than Sarah Oh and Danny Sapani’s outstanding deliveries of their lines.

On the following day, Bear shows Eve the photo of the gymnast killed in 1974 that he found in his research. There was never an arrest made but Eve believes that attaching an identity to the killer in Russia four-plus decades earlier may lead them to the copycat killer in Girona, and to the Twelve. Eve is distracted though as she keeps receiving texts from “Niko” (wink, wink). He must be insisting on her coming to Poland to have their talk because, just like that, Eve drops the conversation with Bear and Jamie in midstream, grabs her purse, and exits the office reminding Jamie with a smile, “Choices, It’s all about choices.”

She is Poland next, surprising Niko who appears to be repairing Milena’s barndoor when Eve arrives at the entrance of the property and waves at him. Niko looks oddly stupefied though, as he waves back at her. The rest of the episode establishes, in a long-winded flashback, that Niko had no idea about Eve’s arrival, and that those texts were sent by Dasha who nicked his phone in the opening scene in order to execute her far more sinister plan.

The satisfying part in all this, story wise, is that when the camera cuts to Moscow for the next scene with Konstantin and his daughter – welcome back, Irina! –, viewers are unaware that a flashback has begun. The pay-off is well worth it as we discover, one scene at a time, the intricacies that took place within the previous 24 to 48 hours (I reckon), until the moment of Eve’s handwave to Niko at Milena’s place. That does not even include the eleventh-hour shocker, instigated by Dasha who, unseen in that initial hello scene, was lurking a few meters away from Niko, holding a pitchfork.

Having failed miserably in his efforts to convince Irina that he was not “full of shit” and that he had “a plan,” Konstantin returns to London in hopes of faring better with Kruger’s widow, played by Rebecca Saire (familiar to fans of BBC’s Vanity Fair from the 80s). She is “in such a muddle” in the aftermath of her husband’s murder that she cannot stop shaking and choking as she talks. Needless to say, Konstantin’s theatrical act (Kim Bodnia’s expressions are a delight to watch here) of the ‘concerned friend’ works wonders.

Charles left his wife an email with an attachment that she is supposed to forward to someone. He also mentioned something about a large sum of money that went missing and that “he’s worked out who’d taken it.” She will forward the email to Konstantin instead, and move to their family holiday house for safety reasons, because Konstantin the concerned friend advises her to do so while cupping her hands in his for comfort!

Next destination in Konstantin’s journey is Barcelona where he startles Villanelle in the street while she is staring at a store window. The next cut shows Villanelle in her lavish mansion dancing and baking a cake, which is in fact the beginning of the second, and shorter, flashback submerged within the prime one already in motion. Dasha stops by with good news. “They” are ready to meet Villanelle for a new contract. Villanelle is ecstatic to hear about the possible promotion and her ensuing triumph dance by herself after Dasha leaves is probably more delightful than any that you and I have ever attempted on our own, but don’t care to admit. She goes out shopping to further celebrate her joyful mood but Konstantin cuts it short by startling her in front of a shop’s window. There! We are now caught up with the prime flashback.

He needs a personal favor from Villanelle, “off the record,” he specifies, as Villanelle echoes his words because she had evidently heard him say this before. She must eliminate the unstable, fragile Mrs. Kruger. In return, he will give her the location of her family in Russia that she had asked him to find in “Meetings Have Biscuits.” That is all the motivation Villanelle needs to fulfill her obligatory quota of at least one murder per episode, which takes place in a riotous sequence that needs to be seen rather than described.

Carolyn takes center stage in a succession of scenes focusing on Geraldine’s angst resulting from what she perceives to be her mother’s apathy toward her following the emotional suffering caused by Kenny’s death, and on Carolyn’s opportunistic nature as she makes a calculated attempt to use the recent calamities (Kenny, Kruger, her own close call with death) to her advantage during a cafeteria conversation with the annoying Paul in order to reclaim control of her office.

The final piece of the puzzle, before we catch back up with the original timeline where Eve waves to Niko, involves the introduction of a new character, an icy-toned, high-heeled, dressed-to-kill member of the Twelve (played by the French actor Camille Cottin, a star in her native country). She criticizes Dasha for letting Villanelle get distracted by Eve and wants the matter resolved because, as if it needed reminding, Dasha can only go home when the Twelve say so. Dasha proposes to kill Eve but that would attract too much attention according to Madame 12, so she tells her to “drive a wedge” between Villanelle and Eve – am I the only one who chuckled at that quote and thought, “Good luck with that”?

Apparently, part of Dasha’s plan to drive a wedge between them involves going to Poland and posing as Magda, the “oldest friend” of Milena. When Niko makes his regular bread-delivery stop and wonders where Milena is, Magda replies that her friend’s appendix got “grouchy” and that she had to go to the hospital, but that it’s “nothing serious.” She asked Magda to take care of her place and her “favourite bread man” until her return. None of it is true, as suspected. Dasha killed Milena and fed her to the pigs. Literally! Sweet ol’ Magda wonders if Niko would be gracious enough to help her with the broken barndoor. He offers to stop by the next day to fix it.

Dasha’s master plan consists of having Eve witness the brutal murder of her husband, and arranging it to look like Villanelle committed the heinous act, which brings us to the present moment as Eve waves to Niko from a distance upon arriving at Milena’s place.

Dasha first attaches a note to the pitchfork that reads, “Still Got It.” Then, in a chilling sequence during which she carefully keeps herself out of Eve’s view, she savagely sticks the pitchfork to the back of Niko’s neck, almost pinning him face-first to the barndoor while Eve, who had the widest smile on her face up to that moment, collapses to her knees in terror as she watches her husband writhe in agony on the other side of the barn and expire in a matter of seconds. The excellent camera work by director Miranda Bowen and the emotive score combine together to convey the miasmic intensity of the sequence with maximum impact.

The ending shot of the outing shows Villanelle alighting from a train in Grizmet (fictitious town in Russia) seemingly ready to meet her family.

Closing thought: I must again question the wisdom of Dasha’s plan, considering the negligible impact of Villanelle’s barbaric slashing of Bill in “Don’t I Know You?” had on Eve’s obsession over Villanelle. Bill was, after all, Eve’s most cherished friend for whom, frankly speaking, she harbored far more affection than she ever did for her husband, and even after Villanelle executed him with multiple stabs, Eve’s infatuation with her never skipped a beat.

Last-minute thoughts:

— The ‘chequered past’ duel between Jamie and Eve was a hotly contested one. I am not convinced that Jamie’s conclusive mention about his friend dying on the drugs he gave him is the worst one I heard in that conversation.

— Villanelle touches her neck anxiously for a moment as she gets off the train in Grizmet. I’ve heard several different interpretations to this, ranging from her somehow feeling Eve’s pain upon witnessing Niko get stabbed in the neck (what? telepathy?) to her feeling closer to Eve when wearing a turtleneck.

— Carolyn is surprised to see Konstantin walking along the sidewalk as she is returning home from work in a car. Curious to see the significance of that fleeting moment in future episodes.

— Irina’s diagnosis of her father during her diatribe is spot on. She is simply not buying his lies to cover up the fact that she has never been a priority for him.

— Did anyone interpret Villanelle baking a cake as her attempt at surprising Eve on her upcoming birthday, thus decisively cluing in the viewers on the fact that they are watching a flashback?

— Mrs. Kruger weeping and saying, “I don’t want to be free,” as she hugs Villanelle is an adequate nod to the title of episode 7 of season 1, where poor Agniya says the same thing before suffering a similar fate at the hands of Villanelle.

— The sound of frogs croaking to help you sleep? Carolyn sure believes in it.

— Rest in peace Niko, but I honestly did not think you would even make it this far.

Until the next episode…

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