Killing Eve (Season 4)

[queer_scribbling]

I finally got caught up on season 3, and I've started in on the fourth - and final - season. Each episode will be in its own comment.


Archival note: I also went on to collect these comments into a fanwork on AO3 here. The 'mid-season thoughts' in particular are longer and more fleshed out over on AO3. You can also find the fanwork on SquidgeWorld Archive.

Comments

[queer_scribbling]

Originally commented on 15 April 2022:

Episode 4: It's Agony and I'm Ravenous

Watched: 15 April 2022

I feel sorry for Pam. Contrary to how Konstantin and presumably Helene have handled other recruits (especially how Konstantin handled Villanelle in the beginning), it feels like there's a non-subtle amount of force in this supposed sculpting of Pam into an assassin. Having Konstantin's rant on the pier mirror her brother's verbal and psychological abuse that prompted her to kill him seemed a bit much on the writers' part.

(On the one hand, I can understand why Helene has blackmail material to keep Konstantin working as a handler slash trainer sort of type. I can get that The Twelve does not let anyone in the ranks go easily. On the other hand, after he literally had a heart attack from the stress of the job and trying to orchestrate an escape to Cuba all throughout season 3, I'm a bit confused by Konstantin being happy with his position as mayor of some small Russian town or whatever he started season 4 as. I don't quite get how he didn't still manage to get himself somewhere that he could hide.)

I can't say that I was entirely surprised by Carolyn being sent to Cuba to talk to someone who lived through an attempted killing of The Twelve members (or possibly just an informant who knows The Twelve). I'm also not surprised that Villanelle was quickly sprung from jail by Helene in order to be sent to kill Carolyn for investigating said murders. I will say that I'm disappointed by Carolyn's nonchalance about using torture to get information and faith in the accuracy of that information, but I also admittedly follow @scripttorture. (The portrayal of fictional people being tortured in a work of fiction is not the issue so much as the myth that torture will produce accurate intelligence gathering.)

I don't know what's going on with Helene and Eve. I got that there's this flirty, 'I could kill you, but I need information you have' thing going on this season, but I honestly don't get why Eve kissed Helene at the end of this episode. (I also could have done without the shaving her leg while Helene took a bath bit or Eve getting into the tub and showing just how awkward fitting two adults in a tub is.) Are we supposed to think that it's part of Eve fishing for info? Are we supposed to think that Eve's trying to replace her assassin obsession spot formerly filled by Villanelle? I'm not sure.

Thoughts about what will happen next: I don't know if Carolyn's going to see whoever the dude who rode away on a moped is, but I think we'll have to find out more info about him. I'm unclear on whether Villanelle is now in hiding in Cuba while on call to kill for Carolyn. I mean, I think that's what happened when Carolyn bargained for her life, but these are wildly different circumstances to when she first offered Villanelle a job. (Is Carolyn still working for whatever Russian intelligence arm she's been with this season?) Honestly, there's a reason why I'm not usually a spy thriller sort.