In my second (and final) year of college (I had a lot of transfer credits going in), I started Killing Eve. This was fall 2021, but I’d been aware of the show for years prior. I remember rewatching the initial trailer again and again in high school, rereading the synopsis and deeply hoping the show was sapphic.
In fall 2021-spring 2022, I watched the first three seasons of Killing Eve. I associate the show with alfredo pasta and subpar chicken from my dining hall, my laptop sitting open on my desk. The pasta had flavor, but the final bites never tasted as good as the first. And maybe that’s a metaphor for the show at the end of the day, no?
In the books
Running from 2018-2022, Killing Eve captivated viewers from its first episode. It starred Sandra Oh as Eve, a desk-bound spy, and Jodie Comer as Villanelle, a heartless assassin. When their paths cross, a mutual obsession leads the two women down a dark and twisted road, one that foreshadows no happy endings.
The series was based on the Killing Eve trilogy by Luke Jennings, released from 2017-2020. However, despite their concurrent existence, the two media followed drastically different routes as they progressed. The final book and the last season are surprisingly distinct, each delivering their own darkly passionate story.
Let’s take a look at the show first. Eve and Villanelle’s connection begins through a shared fascination with each other, but their dynamic quickly surpasses this. In their obsession, the two of them recognize parts of themselves in one another. Villanelle lets Eve explore her darker side, and Eve lets Villanelle indulge her lighter side. It’s how they come together time and time again.
While the core of this relationship endures in the books, Villanelle and Eve’s literary dynamic lacks the tenderness found in the show. The romance is there, but it’s a different flavor.
In the merging
In my review of Die For Me, I was very laudatory of the book. However, looking back, I can acknowledge that the inception of my Villaneve love came from Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Jennings’ Villanelle is a darker take on the iconic character, and their relationship buildup is solid in the books but sharper in the show.
This is how the books and the show are almost a perfect marriage. Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave us two flawless actresses and a killer slow burn, and Luke Jennings gave us the ending they deserved. In Die For Me, Eve and Villanelle chose one another time and time again, unlocking secret parts of themselves along the way. Eve became casually violent and ruthless, and Villanelle’s honest feelings for Eve slowly led her to become – in her way – caring enough for their relationship to survive.
But the point of KE was never for Eve to match Villanelle in darkness, the two of them becoming heartless assassins together. That wasn’t either of their lives. Die For Me gives them the perfect journey: they both fall to their dark sides, just enough to escape the world they’re trapped in. Then, they’re finally free to seek the safe, mundane, happy ending they’ve been fighting for all this time.
As for where the show led them… well, so much for all that build-up!
In the show
The first season of Killing Eve was deliciously compelling. The fomenting of Eve and Villanelle’s relationship, alongside the rich mystery of the Twelve, left its viewers desperate for more. This addicting atmosphere wafted into season 2, forcing our heroes into a tense and deadly climax.
If Killing Eve ended after season 2, it would be dark, reasonable, and a tad disappointing. Reaching the turning point of her relationship with Villanelle, Eve tells her this isn’t love between them and they aren’t so similar after all. Villanelle responds to this by killing Eve (ha) and walking away. As a series finale, it would’ve left viewers a little blue-balled (just let them kiss once), but the grittiness would’ve been fantastic. This is the end of Eve’s journey – she chased down a dangerous assassin and paid the price. Eve chooses her normal life, and Villanelle chooses her cold-heartedness. What an ending that would’ve been.
But, alas, we have two more seasons. I found season 3 just fine – didn’t wow me, didn’t bore me – but the unbalanced focus on Villanelle instead of Eve is still frustrating. How can we root for a character’s fall to the dark side if we don’t fully know who they were before?
Regardless, season 3 left its viewers with yet another tantalizing final scene, the mirror image of season 2’s finale. Season 3 ended with Eve and Villanelle deciding to separate and end the messy thing between them. However, they both don’t make it far before turning back to face each other. The episode closes on a gorgeous shot of that now-infamous bridge, our heroes having made their choice. In season 2, they both chose their previous lives. Now, they’ve chosen each other over all else. Where will their story take them?
This finale worked as a heart-rendering lead-in to the final season, but it also had the potential for a series-ender as well. Unlike season 2, this episode wouldn’t leave things quite so spelled out for Villanelle and Eve. But this potential open ending would leave viewers free to imagine the further adventures of the pair, guiding them into a mutual destruction or blissful domesticity. However their story ends, they’ll be together for it.
Again, this would be a bit disappointing for fans (we only got one kiss!), and season 3 ultimately wasn’t strong enough to stand as the final season of the show. Surely season 4 would fix things, right? Right?
*enter Laura Neal, the Imperial March playing overhead*
In the destruction
Oof.
First off, let’s say goodbye to that bridge scene! You know, the one every KE fan shed tears over, one of the most iconic shots of the show, the one strumming with poignancy and the impossibility of letting go? It means nothing now!
Hell, you can complain about Die For Me as much as you want, but at least they open that book together! Like, together-together! They’ve determined that much at least!
The implication of the bridge scene was clear: whether or not Eve and Villanelle know where they’re going, they’ve made their choice. They can’t leave the other behind, not now.
Except, looks like they can! Because every Villaneve fan definitely wanted to see Villanelle’s Jesus alter-ego and watch Eve hook up with her coworker! There were definitely some tumblr blogs about that, right?
Ugh, the first couple episodes of season 4 really made me wish they just nuked the show after season 3. It would’ve been something of a lackluster finale, but it certainly would’ve been better than what we got!
Season 4 plays a strange game with Villaneve, giving their dynamic an unnatural push and pull like the bridge scene never happened. The back-and-forth of their relationship is frustrating and unsatisfying – at least for the first 75%.
Look, as insulting as it was for Villanelle and Eve to have their first real kiss right after peeing at the side of the road… hey, at least they had it! And it was a good kiss: the initial casual peck from Villanelle, the pause and acknowledgment from Eve, the way they both fall into each other like this is what they’ve been waiting for all along… it got me, I won’t lie.
But the ending…
Okay, let’s backtrack real quick. The show’s plot really does a nosedive in this season (like everything else). While I did really like the Carolyn backstory, the Twelve became nothing more than faceless entities. They existed only to be killed by Villanelle, wiped out in mere seconds. And without Eve at her side, to boot! But hey, no one’s watching this show for the Twelve, we just want the Villaneve moments! And we get more of them, so close to a lackluster yet happy ending…
How fast did all that nonsense happen? Like, three minutes top, right?
Just as Eve and Villanelle are embracing, just as I’m wondering why it was everyone hated this season so much…
Boom boom boom, Villanelle is dead, Eve is distraught, THE END.
Am I high? Was this whole show a social experiment? What happened in the writer’s room??
In the finale
At the very least, if this show was to end with Villanelle’s death, it could’ve had the decency to let Eve join her! Turning Killing Eve into the dark, messy plunge of Villaneve’s relationship as they both sink to depths neither can return from, ending in a blood shootout a la Bonnie and Clyde… I mean, yeah, it’d be a very heavy-handed “bury your gays,” but at least they’d be buried side-by-side!
It’s ridiculous that either Eve or Villanelle dying would be satisfying to the audience. A main character’s death can absolutely be done well, but no one is thinking “man, I hope both Villanelle and Eve bite it, they deserve it.” NO. ONE.
And even despite the emotional devastation of the finale, it’s just bad. What kind of a show kills off one of its MCs in the last two minutes of the entire series?? It’s too sudden for the death to register, too out of left field to feel emotionally poignant.
What the hell is left for Eve now? That karaoke scene showed that she can’t go back to normal life! Laura Neal might as well have shipped Eve back to Niko with a bow on her head! Without Villanelle, Eve is (quite literally) set adrift. Shooting her would’ve hurt less!
A happy ending would’ve been so easy. Yes, season 4 was meh, but close out with that shot of the two of them on the boat, the bridge in the background, and it would be FINE. People would complain, the show would drift into mediocrity, but then at least KE wouldn’t have failed on its one requirement!
Well, we can try and end this on a somewhat positive note, can’t we?
In the positives
Season 4 brought us a newer cast, and I’m not complaining (that much). I really like all the sapphics. I’d watch more spy/action shows if they were like this!
*sobs in memory of Atomic Blonde*
And while season 4 was a mess, there was one bright spot: Pam! Oh, I liked her so much. The development of her character, the way she slowly comes out of her shell, the parallel she plays to Villanelle and her endgame decision – all amazing. I’m a little feral over the way she originally didn’t touch her ice cream cone with Helene and finished the show draining her iced coffee with Carolyn. So good.
I liked Gunn, too, and the second mirror she upheld. Pam is Villanelle before, and Gunn is Villanelle after. Konstantin’s attempts to save Villanelle by showing her both of them were moving, especially with that final hug! And oh, Pam, I adore her.
Did we really have to get her at the cost of Villanelle, though?
In the aftermath
For a show with such a stunning cast, strong start, and unique story, the lingering legacy of KE is one of vivid disappointment and heartbreak. It’s no longer a deliciously dark romance, a satisfying thriller, or a black comedy. All a viewer can do is turn off the TV and open ao3.
Rest in peace Killing Eve, we had such hopes for you. Villaneve fans, I’d recommend picking up Die For Me and projecting Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer onto their darker counterparts. It’ll make for a satisfying ending – something we just can’t seem to earn anywhere else.
