Killing Eve: The Transformation of Eve Polastri
This was originally published on August 31st, 2020.
Since the beginning, we’ve always wondered whether Killing Eve — the title — means that Villanelle (Jodie Comer) will eventually kill Eve (Sandra Oh) as part of their intoxicating game of cat and mouse. But what if the title isn’t literal and instead possesses a deeper meaning? At its core, Killing Eve is really about Eve and the changes she goes through when she becomes captivated by Villanelle — a psychopathic assassin who turns her whole life upside down. Working for MI5 as an expert on female assassins, Eve feels the desperate and dangerous need to explore her darker side and Villanelle provides a gateway into this exciting but unstable world.
Speaking about her character in the season two DVD extras, Oh says, “[Eve’s] pushed to the limit in all the ways — in her marriage, sexually, her personality, at work. I think she’s just touching the limits of it all and that’s put her in a fairly dark place.” Eve is right on the edge of becoming like those she is most fascinated with — of becoming someone like Villanelle. Eve and Villanelle’s obsession with one another will kill the old Eve and make way for a new version to emerge — one that is possibly more true to who Eve actually wants to be, but has never felt capable of becoming.
There’s always been something unusual about Eve. In season one, she asks her husband Niko (Owen McDonnell) how he would kill her. He’s taken aback by the question and says he doesn’t know, but Eve has already thought out a detailed plan of how she would kill and then dispose of Niko’s body. That’s just the type of person Eve is. These are the thoughts that occupy her mind, which are only encouraged by her job at MI5. In “Codename Villanelle”, the book from which the series is based, author Luke Jennings writes:
“[Eve] loves Niko and she’s hurting him deeply. […] She’s guarding him from the truth about herself. From the side of her that he knows exists, but that he chooses not to acknowledge. The side of her that is utterly absorbed by the woman she is hunting, and the dark, refracted world in which she exists.”
This is exactly what the series portrays so well in continuously showing Eve’s obsession with Villanelle, even during little bits of dialogue. For example, in season one, Eve asks Carolyn if she’s talking about Villanelle, but Carolyn says, “It’s not all about her.” But it is all about her for Eve. She is consumed by Villanelle.
Meeting Villanelle awakens something within Eve that’s been there all along — not just her darker tendencies, but her apparent bisexuality. Even her description of Villanelle for the sketch artists is filled with desire: “She had very delicate features. Her eyes are sort of cat-like; wide, but alert. Her lips are full. She has a long neck, high cheekbones. Her skin is smooth and bright. She had a lost look in her eye that was both direct and chilling. She was totally focused, yet almost entirely inaccessible.” Eve is definitely vigilant, which she has to be as part of her job, but the type of detail here doesn’t go unnoticed by her colleagues, who often tease her about it.
In season one, Villanelle breaks into Eve’s apartment. She has a gun but she only demands dinner. In the season finale, Eve breaks into Villanelle’s apartment and trashes the place. Their dynamic flips as Eve commands some control. This is also when Eve makes what is arguably a love confession: “I think about you all the time. I think about what you’re wearing, what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. I think about what friends you have. I think about what you eat before you work or what shampoo you like or what happened in your family. I think about your eyes, your mouth and what you feel when you kill someone. I think about what you have for breakfast. I just want to know everything.”
Eve is so captivated by Villanelle that she sees the layers beyond the façade that Villanelle has created to survive (the very thing that breaks down in season three). She knows that there is more to her than just being a cold, calculated killer. Eve thinks that Villanelle must have genuine likes and dislikes and she wants to know them. She wants to be as close to her as possible. She wants a peek into who she really is. She senses that Villanelle wants a normal life and Eve wants to give it to her. But Eve also wants to know if they have anything in common — if she is close to being like Villanelle, to being a killer. But Villanelle doesn’t satisfy Eve’s intrigue (or ours).
In book two, “Killing Eve: No Tomorrow”, Jennings writes:
“Who are [Villanelle’s] employers, what do they want and how have they achieved such terrifying power and reach? The mystery, and the woman at the heart of the mystery, speak to a part of Eve that she’s never really explored. Could she herself ever be transformed into someone who acts as her target does? Who kills without hesitation or pity? And if so, what would it take?”
Eve and Villanelle have many similarities and differences, but the biggest difference is how Eve is torn apart by her conscience and guilt — whereas Villanelle only does things that bring her joy and sees social constructs as things to play with (as season one showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge told TheWrap). The pair lay beside each other on the bed, sharing another nice moment before the power dynamic shifts again, and Eve finds herself on top of Villanelle, having stabbed her with a knife. “I really liked you,” Villanelle says. “It hurts.” Eve panics. She is inconsistent and instinctive, often not knowing what she’s done until she’s done it. She instantly regrets her actions and wants to help, but Villanelle begins shooting and escapes. For the first time, Eve had a glimpse into what it would be like to act like Villanelle, but her conscience and guilt took over. Is this what she wants?
In season two, Villanelle ditches the Twelve and her new handler Raymond and strikes up a partnership with MI6 and her former handler Konstantin. Raymond tracks Villanelle down to the hotel where they’re working and tries to kill her. Wanting to protect Villanelle, as always, Eve tries to help save her, but she’s unsure of what to do. Villanelle eggs Eve on, making her feel like there is no other option but for her to kill Raymond with an axe — and so, after some reluctance, she does. However, we soon find out that Villanelle could’ve killed Raymond herself, as she had a gun on her, but she wanted Eve to become a killer. Villanelle gets a kick out of this. Eve is the play thing that entertains her when the adrenaline from the same-old kills fall flat.
Eve is understandably hurt when she learns this: “You want me to be a mess. You want me to be scared. But I’m like you now. I’m not afraid of anything.” She asks Villanelle if this is what she wanted all along, but Villanelle says it’s what Eve wanted herself — she only helped her. Eve rejects Villanelle’s declaration of love (“You love me. I love you.”) saying she doesn’t even understand what love is because she can’t believe how Villanelle manipulated her into becoming someone she wasn’t sure she was ready to become. Upset by her deep cutting words, Villanelle shoots Eve — killing her girlfriends is how she always ends relationships and gets closure. Fortunately, Eve survives and she has, yet again, shed another layer of herself. She is like a new, but darker butterfly, emerging.
The character development for this kind of change has been amazing. Eve has always had a stoic quality about her, but by the time we reach season three, she’s at her messiest — trying to rebuild her life after Villanelle shot her and left her for dead in Rome. With Villanelle’s change of heart and vulnerability in season three, we have to question where this sits into the concept of “killing Eve.” Twitter user @darkevepolastri said, “I’d love to see a complete shift in the power dynamic between Eve and Villanelle.” There’s been a few times where the power dynamic has shifted to allow Eve to exercise some power over Villanelle, but what if it shifts entirely and Eve takes charge? In book two, Jennings wrote: “All [Eve’s] seen of [Villanelle] is her eyes, but her eyes are enough. I am death, that gaze seemed to say, and if you’re not intimate with death, can you ever truly feel alive?” Since losing friends, colleagues and being shot by Villanelle herself, Eve is more than acquainted with death and she is closer than ever to becoming Dark Eve and leading the way for a crumbling Villanelle.
