Killing Eve Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Don't I Know You?
Carissa Pavlica
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The beauty with which Eve described Villanelle, the details she captured from their very brief meeting in the hospital restroom, were stunning.
If you ask the spy again how to describe the woman, the admiration in Eve's voice will likely be gone after Killing Eve Season 1 Episode 3. It's easy to admire from afar. The adoration disappears when someone you loves succumbs to the rage and hostility existing inside a psychopath.
Once the ball was in motion, there was no stopping Bill's fate, but that didn't make the reality of it any easier to watch.
Sharing with Villanelle she has her own task force at her heels only emboldened her. Whatever emotions she has aren't going to be understood anytime soon, and until then, we're going to see an otherwise living, breathing, laughing husk of a woman watching the life bleed out of her kills.
The ways she chooses to kill are revealing more all the time.
On Killing Eve Season 1 Episode 2, she chose to kill the perfumer by showering her with compliments and praise for something the woman loved and used that to end her life.
Related: Killing Eve Season 1 Episode 2 Review: I'll Deal with Him Later
On "Don't I Know You?" Eve chose to use a man's most intimate desires on his birthday to eliminate him. That he asked for what she was delivering delighted her even further and knowing he had a safe word that wasn't safe at all before she got to watch the light flicker out of his eyes.
Doing that while calling herself Eve Polastri, though, was the equivalent of some of Batman's most heinous enemies.
Kudos to the writers and showrunners, again, for making every moment click. What felt like jealousy or husband and wife banter between Eve and Niko before she left for Berlin (just as Villanelle hoped), we soon discover is something meaningful because Villanelle had planned from the start to take Eve's suitcase.
Even putting Villanelle on a pedestal as Eve had been doing, she was unable to fully understand the ingenious nature to the elusive, hunted woman she was tracking.
Without any care for herself, it's impossible to get into the mind of someone like Villanelle. To the rest of humanity, she's somebody we want to understand, but the fascination with psychopaths is they're unfathomable.
Part of what might be worrying Niko, and it should, is that Eve will lose herself trying to become as close to the woman she's hunting as possible in her attempt to capture her. Is there another way than stepping into Villanelle's shoes?
Related: Killing Eve Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Nice Face
The job, the nature of it, and stepping out of Mi5 has been exciting to Eve until now. She's been in her element, enjoying leading a team and going on a jaunt to Berlin. She hasn't had the time to stop and think about the stakes of the position she's in now.
With the events in Berlin, that's going to change. Drastically.
If my view of Villanelle changed, then Eve's had to, as well. I wouldn't have imagined I'd want Eve to put a bullet into Villanelle's brain this fast, but making Bill so damned endearing and snuffing him out so soon did the trick.
Oh God, I'm going to die, aren't I? Mmm hmm. Daddy's going to die, isn't he?
Bill [holding his baby in the air, in a singsong voice]
The worrying began as soon as Eve and Bill got into their travel groove. Their discussions were too engaging, and a little bit too revealing. They were growing closer than they had been before, and that's never a good sign.
Bill: You can't wear a bra with that dress. Whip it off; this is an important meeting.
Eve: Oh, and important meetings require women to go braless?
Bill: Noooo, dresses like that require women to go braless. A monkey could tell you that.
Knowing Eve's favorite scarf was out in the world with Villanelle meant she would be spotted by either Eve or Bill at some point, and since Bill locked eyes with Villanelle on the road, and he was in protective daddy mode while traveling with Eve, he caught the girl first.
Nobody knows Villanelle probably has a soft spot for Eve because of her likeness to Anna. He hair's likeness, anyway. If Bill had allowed Villanelle to get on that train, Chin might be the one who would have fallen at Eve's feet that evening instead of Bill.
Villanelle had ample opportunity to take care of Eve, but instead, she helped dress her for the evening. Before Bill's death, they were involved in a little mutual admiration society. Post Bill's death, I suspect Villanelle will be on her own.
Now that darkness has befallen Eve and her cohorts, I hope we're not going to see the comedy diminish in any way because while I was screaming "NO" over and over as the hour drew to a close, the comical moments weigh against the darkness perfectly.
Someone will have to come in and be the next Bill. God help us if it's Chin. He may be a little bit too silly for everyday detective work, and Niko might not let Eve continue on the job no matter how many of her mates are lost at the hands of Villanelle.
Sandra Oh played Eve as a real sport across from Chin at that dinner, though. It had to be one of the best, shortest dinners on TV in a while.
Eve: Why did you want to see me, Chin. What do you know?
Chin: OK. This information may make you, ah, uncomfortable. You have... a bit of tissue stuck under your armpit. HAHAHAHA Come on! It was funny! Did you think I was going to give you everything before a proper glass of wine?
Killing Eve tried to keep the tension alive by sending Bill to the back of the line of the nightclub Villanelle entered, but his fate was sealed as soon as he found and faced Villanelle. She has no reason not to kill anyone but Eve.
He realized that only when their eyes met across the crowded dance floor and her face lit up with what others might see as a beautiful smile. It's the honey that draws to her anyone she wants to slaughter.
Bill, though, knew to cut and run -- straight into a throng of bouncing, jostling, elated club dancers. A crowd so thick they're the reason I often say, "I hate people." Bill might have been thinking that, too, as he realized he had nowhere to run, no way to get back to his baby, and his earlier words were prophetic.
Daddy's going to die.
Related: Killing Eve Gets Early Season 2 Renewal at BBC America!
Because it wouldn't have been dramatic nor would it have cut into Eve with the force necessary to drive home what evil resides inside the woman she was describing with what can only be called appreciation, Eve found her friend on the floor, the work of the animal she's hunting.
The investigation will probably take a turn going forward, and Villanelle might not know it, but I know she's about to meet her match. The only thing more powerful than someone with nothing to lose is someone who has everything to lose.
The pain will be palpable, but what's coming is going to blow our minds.
Yes, you late bloomers have to watch Killing Eve online. This is one of the best new shows of 2018. TV Fanatics, WHERE ARE YOU? I'm waiting.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
