(S1-3) I just rewatched all three seasons: analysis and critique

Oh boy so the last three days I rewatched all three seasons. Wow this show is amazing I would love to do an analysis of all three seasons and how they each fit into each other but I’m gonna be honest I totally forgot pretty much all my points. My brain kinda melted by the last day.

Season one Honestly not much to say that hasn’t already been said. This season is really awesome PWB is a genius.

Season two This season is also really amazing too. Though this season is definitely a bit more messy but they still did a really great job I think. I do want to note one important thing we see at the very end of this season: Konstantin’s betrayal: this is our first glimpse into who he really is, while part of him does love Villanelle that, however, does not mean he is loyal to her. (And I’m also convinced V’s use of the word gentleman was not accidental).

Season three This is where we get a lot more messy. I want to preface this with I love the writers, the show, and absolutely everyone involved. It wasn’t necessarily a bad season but a lot could be improved on and I just hope they learn from this season.

I have a few questions What was the point of Audrey? Kenny’s girlfriend(?), she shows up with somewhat of a presence in the beginning of the season but then kinda disappears? Not too sure what her point was. What happened to Villanelle’s wife? Did V just up and ditch her? What was up with the title cards this season? I think it was episode four and six (that’s just from memory I could be totally wrong) they completely changed up how they used the title cards. I did appreciate how they used them in episode six I think they were very fun and added to the episode (specifically “piss off forever” and “Cuba”). My problem with them is that they weren’t consistent, if you’re going to make a change like that run with it! Go 100% don’t just change it up randomly for two episodes. I personally can’t wait to see if they run with it next season I think it could be cool and really add to the show. God and then there’s Geraldine I just sigh I’m not even going to go there I’ll address all of that later. (Oh my gosh I totally forgot I’m adding this in after I finished) what happened to Irina? Is she just casually stuck in a mental facility now? Will Konstantin actually abandon his family too to save himself?

Season Three Episode Five I just really quickly wanted to highlight this scene since I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about it. When V and her family are playing mafia V is accused of being a killer (and of course she is) but in the game it turns out her mom is the killer. I think this scene specifically shows how V’s mom is a huge reason for why V is the way she is. We see her being extremely manipulative, abusive, and gaslights V in the end. Her mom almost makes us think that she was innocent and just trying to raise an innocent child and V is the “killer” when reality her mom is the “killer” the whole time. Further evidence is that the mom kills V’s brother which is a parallel to how her mom abuses him.

Season Three Episode Eight Let’s unpack all of this since it defines how we’re going into the next season (also because it’s on my brain since I just watched it).

The dance scene. WOW just wowww I could honestly go on forever with this scene so if you don’t want to hear my ramblings on this skip to the next section. Going into this these are almost two completely different characters from the last time they met in episode three. Eve isn’t as angry, she’s grown a lot and in a way has finally accepted that darkness inside of her. Villanelle has had huge character development this entire season. Episode three with see her talking about power with the perfume and fast forward to now that power is almost completely taken away. This season has completely broken V and leaves her with a lot of room to grow. They both avoid their question of “how are you” because this season has been huge for them you can see the pain especially in V’s eyes so much has happened how could they ever even begin to answer that question. When V talks about her first kill I’m pretty sure this is one of the first times V is willingly giving up information about herself and letting Eve in (this definitely comes to a surprise to Eve). V is being vulnerable and letting Eve see that, specifically about her past and who she was. I’ve seen a lot people talk about how V is either ignoring Eve or doesn’t hear her when Eve mentions Niko, I completely disagree with that. I think V addresses Eve’s comment when she talks about the past because Niko is the past for Eve this is her way of addressing that. It’s really sweet how Eve can tell something happened to V, Eve can see her pain. It’s also super sweet how Eve knows that V has a hard time opening up so she offers to dance and bring V the happiness and carefreeness that V talks about when referring to the dancing. V willingly lets Eve take the lead when dancing. Their dance is just a beautifully intimate scene (chef’s kiss). I loved how when V asks if Eve wants to be like the older people dancing Eve automatically assumes she’d be with V it’s a really sweet scene and really shows how she’s moved on from Niko. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS: (at least I think it is) is when V says she’s killed so many people and Eve acknowledges this and doesn’t get angry or call her a monster she knows and it’s okay. This is huge for V since she’s been rejected by her mother for being a monster this season, constantly being used by Konstantin and Dasha to kill others, and then there’s Helene who calls V a monster and also uses her to kill. I also love how Eve immediately trusts V when their party is crashed. We love character development! (Completely random but oh my god Jodie is so tall what the heck lol).

The subway(?) scene with Rhian I just wanted to highlight how Rhian refers to herself as a follower and a sheep because she claims it’s beter that way. This implies that V who acts out against the rules is the wolf in this situation. This comes to light when V kills her. I also wanted to point out Villanelle literally apologizes to Rhian before she kills her!!! Like what??? This is huge, I mean how many times in this series has V actually apologized for something, very very few. This just shows how V truly does not want to kill anymore. I’ve also seen a lot of people talk about V having a lot of plot armor in the fight scene. I honestly really disagree with this it’s mentioned numerous times throughout the series how V is one of the top assassins for the 12 and how “they just don’t make them how they used to” (episode two of season three with the new assassin even Dasha admits they’re pretty lackluster). Not to mention V gets in the first punch and doesn’t let up one bit while attacking her. You can see how much V has changed when she has an opportunity to strangle Rhian to death but instead pushes her down on the track so V doesn’t have to do it herself. This is a huge contrast to when V used to want to look into people’s eyes when she made her kills. I also think Rhian broke her back when V pushes her down on the tracks which explains why she doesn’t escape and get up for herself.

Bear and the video evidence I honestly struggled with this scene for a while. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact he didn’t check the tapes until the last episode. Then I realized they probably never thought Kenny’s killer came into the office and was there to meet him. They probably just assumed that Kenny was ambushed on the rooftop or something. I don’t know this just made me feel better about how that played out.

The downfall of Konstantin Watching back from season one it’s not a surprise what happens to Konstantin toward the end of the season three. Throughout all the seasons you can see how he used people for his own gain constantly. He lies and cheats consistently and constantly. This can really be seen at the end of season two where he completely abandons V. In season three he only ever uses V for his own gain and same with Geraldine (but we don’t care about her). When K does something for V you see him cash in that favor by asking V to kill someone for him. It really comes with no surprise that V chooses not to save K when she has the chance in the end and then chooses not to go with him. Like she says he’s not family meaning he’s not going to be loyal to her.

The last scene and moving into season four This last scene is HUGE. I’m completely in love with it. While I do wish we got a kiss I think it was right that they ended it there. These two women have made gigantic strides from the end of season two. V willingly lets Eve go trusting that she’ll come back; a huge contrast to her “you’re mine” line. This is them meeting in the middle, we’re finally at the point where they don’t completely implode when they’re together. They’ve reach an equilibrium Eve has made strides to come to terms with her darkness inside her and V is taking strides away from hers meaning she doesn’t want to kill anymore. Them turning around for each other just shows, like the promo posters, that they’re connected by the red string of fate there’s no way they would have ever not turned around for each other. I really hope they use this last scene to move them into season four. V and Eve are finally at a point where they can really figure out their relationship with each other. They’ve reached a balance where I think they won’t “consume” each other as Eve says earlier in the episode. I’ve see a lot people talk about how they think V may die while this really scares me and may happen I don’t think it will. Skip this next section if you don’t want spoilers for the book series.

Spoiler: >!I asked another reddit user to spoil the ending of the book series for me since I have yet to read them and they said they have a fan fiction type happy ending! This leads me to believe the show might follow the same path.!<

I also want to make note of what Carolyn says to Eve: “the hero only gets the girl in Hollywood” and here we are in Hollywood because this is a TV series. I think this might be subtle foreshadowing that they’ll get a happy ending. At least I hope I’m crossing all of my fingers. (This also may mean the total opposite but we’re going to ignore that).

My critique of season three and my recommendation for season four I say recommendation like anybody who’s apart of creating Killing Eve will ever see this much less read it, which without a doubt will probably never happen. Here we get into good ol’ Geraldine. I, like many other people in this fandom, find her incredibly annoying. I think her purpose in season three could have been accomplished with fewer scenes. I think one of the biggest problems and downfalls of this season was the fact that Carolyn and Konstantin had so many scenes of themselves without our main characters, Eve and V. While this did not take much focus away from Villanelle it really impacted Eve. I do believe V needed all the screen time she had, her character had an insane amount of development this season. Eve’s character also had a ton of development this season and we really did not get to see a lot of it because her character lacked a lot of screen time. My recommendation moving into season four would be to refocus the show, pull away from the side characters and refocus in on Eve specifically and keep focused on V. I really hope they choose to develop the relationship between V and Eve in this next season. I think we can all agree were tired of waiting for these characters to have screen time together. They have so much potential for an incredible relationship all three season have lead to this bubbling and exciting chemistry between these two characters. Not to mention Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh are absolutely incredible.

If by some miracle someone from Killing Eve is seeing this I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has put in work to this incredible series! You have done such a wonderful job and created such an amazing world with such lovable and incredible characters. I would like to also ask you to please not kill Villanelle this would do a huge disservice to LGBTQ+ community especially the wlw community who have to endure the stereotype of our characters dying. Please do not play into this stereotype it is heartbreaking and extremely discouraging. I know and realize V has done awful things but she is a hugely influential character for the LGBT+ community as we do not get a lot of representation! Especially representation as popular as Villanelle.

Now I want to say another huge thank you for those who got through this enormous post! Thank you to this community for being so loving and supporting here’s to the wrap up of another great season! Can’t wait for the next one. I think Sandra said it best when she said “KILLING EVE!!!!”