Killing Eve – Season 4 Episode 4 “It’s Agony and I’m Ravenous” Recap & Review

It’s Agony and I’m Ravenous

Episode 4 of Killing Eve Season 4 begins with Villanelle behind bars while Eve meets with Helene on the West End. They discuss the Twelve, as well as Lars Meier, with the pair deciding to race one another to his location.

Helene doesn’t actually know what he looks like but thanks to Eve’s connections to social media she now does. Eve and Yusuf work together and run this potential lead through a facial recognition system – and find a connection. This links back to Paris again, so off Eve goes to investigate.

Helene meets Villanelle in prison and allows her to leave. Just like that. There’s no proper investigation and it seems she’s quite literally getting away with murder. Anyway, Villanelle decides to work for Helene, under the guise that there’s no escaping from The Twelve. She’s also given her new assignment.

Over in Havana, Carolyn gets settled in at her new safe house. She shows up to meet Rustem, who’s still alive and very grumpy. Her questioning gets nowhere but while she’s out taking a break, Villanelle bags her and drags the woman down onto the beach.

With a wrench in hand, Carolyn scoffs at the unimaginative way Villanelle is intending to kill her and eventually succumbs to a stiff blow across the head. When Carolyn opens her eyes, she’s still alive but mostly because Villanelle has had a change of heart. She wants to know more about her past and Carolyn seems to be a key to this.

Carolyn believes they make a good team and soon learns that Helene is the one who sent Villanelle. Carolyn admits that she’s been tracking The Twelve and not getting anywhere beyond Rustem. Villanelle decides to take over on torturing duties, learning that the woman who came after him was “Tall, huge, evil.” and the meet place was located at El Hombre De Dos Caras. Upon learning this, she stabs him in the chest and kills the man.

In Margate, Konstantin flies over from Russia where he meets Pam. After holding up in a hotel, he hands over a phone and new keys, wanting to meet an hour from now at the pier. Pam isn’t ready, at least not to begin with anyway. Eventually she does get her mindset right, and pushes Konstantin in the water when he’s not expecting it. Chuckling delightfully, he’s happy with her progress.

Back with Eve, she touches down in Paris to meet a photographer who has snapped photos of Lars in the past. The thing is, this man is someone whom Carolyn knows personally and when he shows up at the hotel while Carolyn and Villanelle are playing truth or dare, he makes a break for it. He’s an old flame of Carolyn’s and he’s also one of The Twelve as well.

Meanwhile, Eve meets up with Helene again and the pair engage in some flirting. They eventually do kiss each other, although on can’t help but feel Helene’s larger involvement this season should be Villanelle instead. Anyway, everything is left open for the next step of taking out The Twelve.

The Episode Review

The fourth season of Killing Eve continues to stumble and fumble its way over the finish line, portraying its characters in a completely different light to how we’ve seen them in seasons past. Can someone explain to me how Villanelle was able to get out of prison after murdering two people and being arrested for it?

The biggest problem though comes from the fact she’s been sidelined in favour of other characters who, quite simply, aren’t all that interesting by comparison.

Villanelle’s internal conflict comes at the expense of screen-time, which is instead dominated by Eve on her quest to find The Twelve, while also engaging in some questionable behaviour with Helene. Maybe it’s just me but I just feel like this is a cheap way of trying to manufacture what Eve and Villanelle had all those seasons back and it just isn’t working.

The weak attempts at humour come off as shallow and forced, while the various subplots and character motivations lack much in the way of excitement. This one is slipping further and further into mediocrity.