Killing Eve – S1E3 – Don’t I Know You?

Previously on Killing Eve, “I’ll Deal With Him Later”

Till now, Eve has treated the hunt for Villanelle like a game. Does she want her stopped? Yes, but she’s been enjoying the chase. Nico remarks that “she seems happy” in her new role, and there’s a bit of romantic awe in her voice as she gives a very detailed description of Villanelle to a sketch artist. After the events of “Don’t I Know You,” though, that will change.

Before Eve and her team can investigate Villanelle’s previous kill, they receive word of a Chinese government official killed in Berlin in a kink club fronting as a health clinic. The name Villanelle used when posing as a nurse was Eve Polastri. Now, it would have been perfectly understandable if this scared Eve off the case. At the very least, you’d expect Carolyn to disband the team and switch gears; how they can covertly track Villanelle if she knows not only that they’re doing, but she knows who’s doing it? For some reason, Carolyn leaves it up to Eve, and she decides to press on and fly to Berlin. All without telling Nico about the new element of danger.

Eve requests that Bill join her to utilize his contacts there. She brushes off his joke about dying as she points out that Villanelle is probably long gone. She’s not, of course, and watches Eve’s every move in Berlin – from arriving at the crime scene to shopping for a dress after Eve’s luggage is stolen. One guess who stole the luggage.

Villanelle continues to be just as obsessed with Eve. She didn’t just steal her clothes to sniff them; she makes a married woman dress up in them and calls her Eve when they have sex. When Constantin shows up wanting to know why Villanelle is still in Berlin, she claims she’s just taking a small vacation. He tasks her with watching Eve since he has no idea why anyone would connect the recent murder to Villanelle. Clearly, he doesn’t know Villanelle used Eve’s name to draw her there.

As Eve heads to dinner with a Chinese intelligence official, Bill observes Villanelle watching Eve. He stops her from following Eve onto the train by posing as a tourist and then follows her through the streets of Berlin. By the time Eve gets his voicemail, it’s too late. Villanelle knew he was following her the whole time and leads him inside a nightclub, and ultimately, to his death. Eve arrives in time to see her friend fall to floor with multiple stab wounds in his chest.

There were so many mistakes leading to this tragic moment. A few were mentioned above, but chief among them has to be Bill’s foolish decision to follow an international assassin who knows they’re on to her. Was he trying to recapture a bit of that excitement he told Eve he had in his younger years? Eve and the audience learned Bill was in a loving marriage of convenience, and seeing his infant daughter at the start of the episode made his death even more painful.

But as terrible as it was to watch Bill die, the scene was deliciously intense thanks to Jodie Comer’s performance. She turns to look Bill in his face from across the crowded club. She smiles and he realizes his mistake too late. As he tries to push his way to the exit, he’s jostled and trapped on the packed dance floor. Watching Villanelle advance on him was like watching a shark stalk prey that can’t swim away fast enough.

If there’s one good thing to come out of this, Villanelle using Eve’s name should force the team to consider there’s a mole.