Honestly, I feel like my initial questions after the flashback scene in episode 5 - where Carolyn under cover as "Janice" in 1979 suggests a group name based on how many people are there, so Johan writes 'The Twelve' on the blackboard - still apply:
So... Is the 1979 group of young people in Berlin supposed to be socialists, anarchists, or communists? I'm not saying they couldn't be a mixture of vaguely coalesced leftists, but I do wish there was a smidge of clarity about that when some shows just throw out names, have someone say ‘bourgeoisie’ at least once, and make sure there's drinking and/or drug use. Am I really supposed to believe that The Twelve was born out of this group?
(A somewhat shadowy international group that’s powerful and can pull certain governmental strings does not sound like an outgrowth of some leftist party group in ‘70s Berlin. The name could be independently chosen, “ironic” or whatever, or this show is following in the tradition of non-leftist in practice but leftist in name groups.)
And that's honestly a bit confusing and frustrating after season 4 has been focused on finding out who is in The Twelve and taking out the supposed high ranking members. On the one hand, Carolyn has been tracking some of them down by name from her old contacts, but she also points out after Eve kills Johan that "they'll just replace him". Is the list of higher ups static and tied back to the '70s, or is it constantly changing and adapting to the present day? Who exactly will replace Johan? Is there a level higher than the people Carolyn has been going after?
On the other hand, unconnected cells mean that only certain level higher ups get to meet via mysterious postcard coordination, which seems to imply a level of importance to being invited. And yet, Villanelle's montage of killing everyone in attendance barely showed any specific people. How is this group organised? What type of hierarchy or level differences are there? Can anyone even take out all of the handler supervisors at once, or are there still members of The Twelve somewhere else to keep the organisation running?
It feels like the audience - or at least, I - haven't got answers to these questions after the final season and the series finale. It's unsatisfying on a certain level, and for me, it feels like a lot of people have died for a small amount of narrative progress this season. Did Eve and Villanelle even succeed in their mission, ultimately? Did Villanelle get killed for nothing? Has Carolyn's mission succeeded? Will she just go back to carrying on at MI6, like she's back in season 1 or something? Is Eve really expected to go back to the security company or whatever she and Yusuf have been doing this season? I'm not sure, and I kind of wish season 4 had gone differently. (Or just rewind back to the season 3 finale, and I'll pretend that's the end.)
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