Hello Losers
What happens with Gunn?
Episode 8 of Killing Eve Season 4 starts right where we left off, with Gunn pinning down Eve. “You can’t have her, she’s mine.” Gunn rasps. Only, Eve overpowers her, smacks the assassin upside the head with a rock and runs.
Eve scrambles up a tree, bides her time, and eventually pounces on the assassin, killing her with her bare hands. Villanelle watches on gleefully before the pair walk together. Well, I say kill. Despite gouging out Gunn’s eyes, the assassin is still alive and chases them down to the dock, where Eve and Villanelle snatch up a boat and leave for the mainland.
What do the tarot cards mean?
Eve encourages her lover/enemy to come and meet The Twelve with her. However, as rain lashes own, they’re forced to seek shelter with a couple of hikers for the night. It’s typical Killing Eve dark comedy, as Villanelle and Eve learn about how these hikers met in their sickly sweet romantic tale. Eve and Villanelle exchange glances.
Eventually they have their tarot cards read, with Villanelle receiving the Sun card, which is “one of the best cards you can get.” For Eve, she receives the Death card. Now, it’s worth pointing out here that this doesn’t mean a physical death, but in reality it represents “spiritual transformation.” I doubt that’s what the writers were going for here but it is worth mentioning.
A nice moment between the two ensues after this, as they both lie in bed and contemplate their next move. As a smile crosses both their faces, they decide to steal the couple’s camper van and take off, in a rare scene that doesn’t involve characters teleporting instantly to a different country.
Do Villanelle and Eve finally kiss?
Eve and Villanelle do get a ping on the new location, which happens to be a pub by M16. This explains the whole “barn swallow MI6 Pub” note Carolyn had earlier.
On their way though, the palpable sexual chemistry Eve and Villanelle share is finally given a chance to shine. Outside, they kiss passionately, which continues all the way back to their car as they head down to London.
Does Pam get a happy ending?
Speaking of Carolyn, she arrives at Heathrow Airport, traveling on to Hampstead Heath. There, she meets Pam who confirms that Konstantin is dead. Pam does pass along his message and note though, but as they’re about to leave, Carolyn encourages Pam to stick around, heading into the pub together.
Eve and Villanelle inevitably show up at the Barn Swallow pub not long after. While Eve talks to Carolyn, Villanelle finds out Konstantin is dead. Pam doesn’t reveal it was her who did it though, and eventually sits with Carolyn outside. Pam makes a big decision and chooses not to carry on with this assassin business and walks away scot-free, with no ramifications for her actions.
Where are The Twelve?
Meanwhile, Eve and Villanelle receive a new message on Gunn’s phone, confirming that the location for The Twelve’s meeting has been moved. That location is actually nearby on a barge celebrating a wedding.
Eve blags her way into the ceremony, pretending to be marriage officiant. She actually does pretty well here, using her own knowledge of her ties with Villanelle to talk about strengthening bonds and relationships. She eventually encourages the pair to kiss and pronounces them husband and husband. Only… not officially given she’s not qualified. Woops!
Are The Twelve stopped?
Villanelle descends into the depths of the ship, killing all of The Twelve herself, single-handedly.
As she hugs Eve outside, Villanelle lets her guard down and is shot in the back. As they both dive underwater, Villanelle is shot again and bleeds out. Eve tries to reach her but fails to do so, as she sinks to the depths of the river.
Who killed Villanelle?
It turns out Carolyn ordered the hit on Villanelle. The unnamed sniper atop tower bridge was following orders from Carolyn.
She brought Eve and Villanelle together and so she decides to tear them away.
As Eve pokes her head up above the water, screaming to the heavens, an ugly, disgusting ‘THE END’ scrawls across the screen as this show comes to an unceremonious car crash ending.
The Episode Review
Wow that was bad. I mean, really, really bad. For anyone interested to know. the series was written by a woman named Laura Neal this year.
Her writing credentials essentially span a few episodes here and there across different shows, totalling one episode credit every other year. The decision to bring her in to write a whole season – much less the final season of a show as prolific as Killing Eve – was always going to be a gamble. And it’s clear that gamble didn’t pay off.
The quintessential part of Killing Eve’s success has always been Villanelle and Eve’s relationship. These two are the Ying and Yang of the show – one good; one bad. I said before that the idea early on to make Villanelle tread down a path of redemption is a good one, and that could have worked really nicely against Eve descending into darkness and embracing a more ruthless persona.
Instead, what we get are 8 episodes of meandering around, a weak story involving The Twelve and then a rushed, non-ending that feels like a complete betrayal of everything this show has stood for. And no, I’m not talking about a happy ending for Eve and Villanelle, that was never going to happen. But the execution of this whole final 10 minutes is just… bad.
The fact that Laura Neal has defended her decision, claiming it “felt right”, speaks volumes too.
Why does Pam get to have a happy ending after killing Konstantin and her own brother? Would it not have more sense for Carolyn to have Pam killed when she rejected the offer of joining her? Does she not know way too much about this life to keep her alive?
Likewise, would it not have made sense for Eve to see Yusuf again and try to live a normal life, only to find herself constantly yearning for Villanelle? That could have easily been added with an extra 3 minutes at the end.
And also, if The Twelve are supposedly finished now, what’s going to happen with Gunn?
There are so many loose ends and the show as a whole has been an absolute train wreck this year, with conflicting tones and ideas that never really gel together.
It’s a shame but despite starting rather brightly back in season 1, Killing Eve bows out with a spectacularly bad finale. Thanks Laura Neal.
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Episode Rating
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I’m so glad that Eve is finally getting some closure on her past. I’m also glad that she’s finally able to confront her mother. I’m curious to see what happens next.
What was phone call to Konstantine from his daughter Irina about?
If they are smart and they want people to watch this spinoff which nobody will if Villanelle is dead. V goes back in the cabin to get her stuff..and grabs something black…maybe a bullet proof vest. She had something black on under her tank. She wouldn’t have went to the top of the boat right out in the open if it was not planned for her to be shot. She for blood in the water bit that could have been something she released…she didn’t sink she floated away…almost pulled away. What did the note to Carolyn say..maybe that he wanted Villanelle or Carolyn to look after his daughter. Carolyn owes a dare…the dare was she would help Villanelle and tell MI 6 that the 12 AND Villanelle were dead. The first show of the spinoff shows V and Eve together with the daughter and leave it at that. Do the Carolyn backstory and let Comer do other projects and see where it goes from there. Otherwise who wants to watch a show about someone who killed off one of the most amazing characters in a series. Jodie and Sandra deserve better for all of their work. They both were amazing.
I just feel the killing style of villianelle in Season 4 is rather too exposed and rather poor compared to season 1-3. Quite huge difference.
Lazy writing. A fan on Twitter created a more plausible ending in a day! Pam kills Carolyn protecting Villanelle and Eve. Far fetched? So is a sniper’s bullet only injuring Villanelle while embracing Eve. How different would it have been to have the shot kill both Villanelle and Eve? “Two birds, one stone “ referenced when Helene puts the hit on Villanelle for not killing Carolyn while punishing Eve for kidnapping Helene’s daughter? Keeps bird theme (swallow), references earlier by Pam, “or me arrow”. I’m a physics teacher with a background in physiology. There is no way in hell the one bullet didn’t enter Eve as well. So, if not, it was not s very high caliber round. That being said, if the bullet didn’t wound Eve, then the shots fired into the River would NEVER have pierced Villanelle as portrayed in that scene. Long story short: the drag caused by the high density of water would slow the bullets significantly. At 3’ to 5’ , bullets are not that deadly. I think we fans could accept both dying. They’d have died happy with one another, a la “ Thelma and Louise”. But Laura Neal and Sally Woodward Gentle saying Villanelle and Eve wouldn’t enjoy domestic life or that Villanelle would not sacrifice herself for Eve while then saying they were all about Villanelle dying saving Eve are proof they had no clue. The Kill the Gays trope is alive and well in Laura Neal’s world. PS Good luck with that spin off.
Cannot believe how bad this ending was. Faceless Twelve murdered by Nell. More loose ends than a bad macrame plant holder and why does Eve survive but not Nell? Both dying, yes! Both surviving, yes! Makes no sense no rhyme nor reason. A shame that PWBs original epic was treated so shabbily in the end.
Why do writers feel it’s so uncool to give characters that the audience have heavily invested in, a happy ending? Do they think a tragic one gives them more credibility, somehow? Does Laura Neal even realise that a gay death is a tiresome trope?
The really bold, brave, unexpected move would’ve been to give Eve and Villaneve their happy ending. But that would take a writer of a higher calibre Iike S1’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who obviously loved the characters, not a writer who only saw them as mere pawns to be shuffled around for shock value.