‘Killing Eve’ Introduces a New Female Assassin for Eve to Obsess Over

Life can be so frustrating. We’ve all been there–you stow away in a random family’s car to cross country lines, and then you go to the grocery store to find someone to trick into helping you, and wouldn’t you know it—the person you choose turns out to be even crazier than you are! I mean, what are the odds?

If you’ve been waiting for Villanelle to experience at least a little bit of karmic retribution for her various crimes, “Nice and Neat” is a pretty satisfying hour of television. Watching Eve review the extensive victims for the Project Manderley team reminds us that, despite her innocent-looking exterior, her brilliant intellect, and her dry but charming sense of humor, Villanelle is a cold-blooded psychopath who poses a threat to just about everyone she comes in contact with. And now that she’s escaped Julian’s house and has been reunited with the Twelve, we’re sure to see the body count grow even higher before the season’s over.

But “Nice and Neat” is anything but satisfying for Villanelle. Her plan is sensible enough—find a single, middle-aged man who’ll take her in and get her the medicine she needs to stave off infection, and then she can kill him when she’s better, steal his car, and go find Eve. The only problem is the fact that Julian’s more interested in holding her hostage (and I don’t even want to think about what else he may have had in mind) than helping her get well. She should have known that any man willing to take in a young girl he’s just met is probably up to no good. That, the creepy doll collection, and the mother locked in the bedroom should also have been major red flags.

Once she finally kills Julian and is able to escape, she meets her new handler, Raymond, and everything can go back to normal. Well, except for the fact that Raymond doesn’t seem like the easiest boss to work for, and so things may get worse for Villanelle before they get better. Of course, Villanelle’s shot her last two handlers, so while I can’t defend choking or otherwise physically assaulting an employee in any way, you can’t blame Raymond for trying to establish his authority from the outset.

The big news this week is that Villanelle seems to have some new competition in the Most Effective Female Assassin category. Apparently she’s not responsible for Alister Peele’s murder after all; credit for that one belongs to The Ghost, a new killer on the scene who seems to be the exact opposite of Villanelle in so many ways. One is brash, flamboyant, creative, and attention-seeking, while the other just seems to do her job quietly, with no fanfare, and with minimal possibility of detection. Are they both working for the Twelve? If so, and if they find out about each other, Eve’s right—Villanelle’s gonna be pissed.

Speaking of Eve, she’s still a little on edge about the stabbing (and who wouldn’t be?), but getting back to work seems to be good for her. And now she has a second female assassin to obsess over, and a new team at MI6 to work with, and at least things with Niko seem to be getting back to normal (sort of). But no one on the team knows about the stabbing except Kenny. How long before Carol finds out? And what happens then?

Random thoughts:

• The toilet brush in Julian’s mouth when his body is found is a nice touch. We can only assume his poor mother put it there in one of her more lucid moments before she escaped the house he’d kept her trapped in. I can’t imagine what it’s like taking care of a parent with dementia, so Julian gets credit for that. But I get the feeling not all of his actions were for her benefit.
• Apparently Konstantin survived last season’s gunshot wound, and no one’s really shocked. I’m not sure anyone’s really happy about it, either (except maybe Carolyn), but he does make things more interesting.
• I assumed that the apple Villanelle found in Gabriel’s room last week after he died had something to do with Eve, and this week we see that it’s definitely a “look what I did” message to Eve based on the mythical story of the first woman being tempted by an apple. Villanelle just can’t help herself—she craves attention so much that she just has to let Eve know that she’s killed again.
• Who still has a rotary phone?