Killing Eve: Nice and Neat

April 14, 2019 7:15 PM - Season 2, Episode 2

Carolyn introduces Eve to her new team before Eve briefs them on the Villanelle case. Villanelle, needing to lie low while she recovers, finds a Good Samaritan to take her in and care for her. Eve finds out a secret that Carolyn has been hiding from her.

Den of Geek - The claustrophobic second episode of Killing Eve's new season is even better than the premiere

AV Club - Villanelle faces some competition for Eve's attention on Killing Eve

posted by oh yeah! (9 comments total)

Vulture Recap: This Is What You Get - "As a killer, Villanelle has always had camouflage as one of the most crucial tools in her arsenal. But unlike the more traditional male assassins who use ubiquity to get close to their victims without arousing fear or suspicion, she has disguises — elegant fashion plate, sultry seductress, wide-eyed waif — that succeed not because they make her unremarkable but because they do the opposite: They attract and disarm; they allow men to perceive her as enticing and innocuous, as a feminine object not to be feared but rather to be sought, conquered, protected, or some unsettling combination of the three."
posted by oh yeah! at 6:47 PM on April 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

GoT is sucking the air out of Fanfare but that's to be expected.

A riveting episode. We knew that Villanelle's rescuer was going to go wrong and the tension was excruciating. Julian totally deserved that toilet brush.

The scene where Eve sees the photograph of Gabriel and does the search for the apple/Eve is Hannibal level stuff.
posted by Ber at 12:10 PM on April 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

That reveal at the end ... I knew we would see that person again!
posted by matildaben at 8:50 PM on April 17, 2019

I thought this was a great episode. Even more engrossing than the first episode. I especially loved the slow motion horror of Villanelle and that creepy house and creepy Julian.

The only thing that kind of bugged me was Eve googling "apple, Eve". I mean, I guess they didn't trust the audience to put two and two together without that, but it seems like a really obvious connection. And by the time you're googling, "apple, eve" you must kind of know what you're going to get back.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:09 PM on April 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

I guess maybe the point was a specific painting that Eve was looking for? In which case, wow, we're really getting into some Hannibal level shit. I love it.

But also, maybe search for "Apple eve painting" or something, because when I google apple, eve, I just get some apple juice brand.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:18 PM on April 19, 2019

After this episode (which I did generally like), I'm kinda on the lookout for what I like to call the Breaking Bad Season Five effect. That's when you start to worry that your bad character is becoming TOO bad for the audience to find palatable, so you throw some EVEN WORSE bad guys at them so that the audience can blamelessly root for your bad character to kill them. (Since we're talking about it, Hannibal is an example of a show that managed to avoid this trope when it could have easily fallen prey to it.)

For me, the thing that's amazing about Villanelle as a character is her complete amorality. I don't want or need her to only kill Very Bad People - in fact I think such a Dexterization would severely weaken the character and the show. I'm not saying this is happening yet, but Creepy Doll Guy plus New Rival Female Killer has me slightly concerned about it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:44 AM on April 22, 2019

“Hmmm, an apple with a bite out of it. That sounds... familiar? Can’t quite place it. Something... someone bit an apple? Evelyn someone? Best google it.”
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:19 AM on May 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was hoping for a winking Howard Moon reference, like maybe the mysterious room was where he kept his jazz records and she would wake up in the night to find him scatting along with one of them... but instead they went for the Norman Bates reference--more predictable and less fun.
posted by nequalsone at 7:04 AM on May 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

The thing is, it really would be asking a lot of the audience to spot the apple and immediately make the biblical connection (as opposed to, say, poison, or dental evidence, or DNA).

Anyway, just here to observe that this is the series where Villanelle just cannot catch a break with outfits (crocs, ill-fitting hand-me-downs, weird quasi-victorian gowns) and quietly bet that dressing up again will be the beginning of the fightback.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 12:36 AM on August 6, 2019