Just Dunk Me
Episode 1 of Killing Eve Season 4 starts with the ominous sound of sirens. We’re in Russia with Konstantin preparing for the elections. Eve shows up to see him though, pointing a gun and demanding to know where Helene is. After firing a warning shot through his hand, she has him write down the details needed. Eve is obsessed, determined to take down The Twelve and she sees Helene as a method to this madness. Meanwhile, Villanelle is acting “good” now, and that includes helping out at a church. She’s also trying in vain to send letters to Eve, but she simply rips them up. Instead, she leans on Yusuf to help get the intel she needs to track down the shadowy ringleaders. This brings her to the funeral home of Rhian Beven. If you’ll recall, this was the woman who Villanelle pushed in front of a train last season. However, Eve doesn’t get very far. Meanwhile, Carolyn is in Mallorca keeping up a façade of boring plays and meetings. In reality, she’s keeping tabs on rumblings regarding The Twelve. It doesn’t take long for her to receive intel about Jakub Novotny, a guy found in a warehouse outside Prague. He was brutally tortured, which appears to be the work of someone after those in The Twelve. Hugo shows up though and confirms he’s been promoted. He also warns Carolyn about overstepping her boundaries and even threatens to arrest her for Paul’s murder if she’s not careful. Instead, Carolyn has security take him outside. Villanelle continues to try and act like a “good guy” complete with being baptized and praying to the Lord to let her live a new life. Unfortunately she accidentally kills her new roommate’s cat, which changes everything. Villanelle plays it off like she found the feline outside in the road (explaining the CCTV footage of her with a shovel burying it in the graveyard) and continues to prepare for her baptism. She’s reserved a seat for Eve but the vicar exhibits concerns over whether Villanelle actually wants to do this or whether she wants to be seen doing this. And I think it’s obviously the latter. With intel about the murders in hand, Carolyn flies over to London where she catches up with Eve. Someone has been hutting down members of The Twelve and with three of them dead, she hands over the intel she has and offers to pay for access to what Eve has discovered. Eve realizes that Carolyn is playing a strategic game of chess, so Eve bites back, claiming she wants to throw the chessboard on the floor and burn the pieces. Carolyn eventually leaves. After her baptism, Villanelle shows up to see Eve, forgiving her for not appearing in church. She also drops to her knees and starts praying for Eve. In retaliation, Eve slaps her in the face and walks away. Eve has bigger fish to fry though and that comes from following Pam, the woman who works at the funeral home. She realizes the girl may well be involved with The Twelve. And her suspicions are soon proven correct. Eve is blindsided but does watch as a car leaves the area, holding Helene in the back. Meanwhile, Villanelle finds May in the church. As the two look set to kiss, Villanelle grabs her and dunks the girl in the holy water. However, she pulls out at the last second and saves May’s life. When she heads downstairs back home, she sees a vision of herself, complete with a beard and looking like Jesus.
The Episode Review
Killing Eve is back, and this episode peters in with Villanelle now trying to be good and Eve still hunting down The Twelve. The original dynamic between Eve and Villanelle (y’know, the driving point of this whole show) is lost here as the pair head off on their own and try to move on. But yet, their characters are completely different now and seeing Villanelle trying to be good just doesn’t work. We know this isn’t going to stick and so the whole plotline falls flat. The jumping between countries and haphazard editing is still here too, although the dominant story around The Twelve could prove to be a deciding factor over whether this show can keep things interesting. This show has gone so far off the rails from where it started that this season is almost unrecognizable at times. Still, there’s a nice juxtaposition between Eve and Villanelle, including both of them shooting Konstantin, which is a nice nod. For now though, Killing Eve gets off to a somewhat shaky start.
