Killing Eve 2×05 “Smell Ya Later” has our main characters team up, and has us all shouting “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, EVE?!” together.
In the fourth episode of season 2, Eve nearly destroyed her marriage and all her friendships, but finally caught the Ghost, and Villanelle had a proper meltdown after realizing there’s more to Eve’s life than just her.
In this episode, “Smell Ya Later,” Eve makes a series of irrational decisions that lead us… somewhere, Konstantin and Carolyn start revealing bits and pieces of their mysterious plan, and Villanelle ends up with the upper hand, again. Oh, and there’s a date night!
Let’s dive into this messy, epic episode.
The demon with no face
It turns out that Eve and Jess are becoming good friends during the Ghost investigation. They banter and snicker, kind of like Eve did with Elena. Can I repeat that I’m still annoyed that Elena was just entirely cut from the story, and that Jess, though different, still doesn’t feel like that much of a distinct not-Elena character?
Anyway, Eve tries to get information out of Ghost, but the woman is a closed book. Instead, she asks Eve if she would be a killer: “Do you want to do it yourself?”
I suspect this will come up again.
But Eve asks Ghost is she knows Villanelle, at which Ghost becomes visibly disturbed and only has one thing to say: “The demon with no face.” A little bit too mystic in my opinion. If this were any other show, I might be upset that we have a low-income immigrant person of color throwing around prophecy-like statements like she isn’t human… but Killing Eve is Killing Eve, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
But really, who’s the “demon with no face” here? Although presumably MI6 has investigated the Ghost with enough depth to track her to her children’s school, we still don’t know her name or her story — not even obviously available information, like what country she immigrated from, if she’s married, and who the heck is taking care of her kids now. I bristle at the idea of keeping the Ghost merely as a plot device to get Eve to Villanelle (or vice versa), when she’s a truly fascinating character in of herself.
But enough of the Ghost (because this show clearly doesn’t care that much about her). Eve has an absolutely insane idea to use Villanelle to interrogate the Ghost, which is so crazy that I really can’t believe she gets away with it.
How does this make things better?! Villanelle has never once done something predictable in this type of situation! Could Eve possibly just be blinded by the desire to get more involved with Villanelle?
The answer is yes, ladies and gentlemen. It’s always yes.
Kenny is 100% against it because he’s a SANE PERSON. Will anyone ever listen to this clever, kind boy? Hugo acts as a stand-in for every member of this fandom, and he just wants Eve and Villanelle to bone, damn the consequences.
But Jess makes a fascinating point: Is Eve even doing any paperwork? Because if she isn’t… maybe someone doesn’t want a paper trail on her. Maybe someone wants to make sure that once this is all over, Eve never existed.
This is all I ever want to talk about — WHAT IS CAROLYN UP TO?! HOW DOES IT RELATE TO KONSTANTIN?! WHY DOESN’T EVE QUESTION IT MORE?! (We all know why.) But we must move on because Eve’s an idiot (who I continue to love) and she’s about to go on a date.
Everything is A-okay
Eve was right: Villanelle is bored out of her mind. She’s screaming at living statues, killing people in carwashes, and lowkey harassing a hotel boy. Not exactly glamorous. But although she puts on a positive face for Konstantin, explaining that she has a new hobby, she’s not exactly fine.
Konstantin is all poker-face, but — I repeat — he’s clearly working with MI6. He goes off to get info on Villanelle’s new mark… and guess who it is? Eve!
Villanelle’s reaction is priceless, and perfectly in line with the emotional breakdown she had last episode. It’s fascinating to see her truly lose it in front of Konstantin, and be willing to show him how much she cares about Eve, beyond the sassy façade she usually keeps up for him.
But Konstantin is adamant, though gentle: Eve is making Villanelle weak, and the only way for her to overcome this is for Villanelle to kill her. Also, he’s kind of annoyed that Villanelle shot him so easily, but won’t hurt Eve.
Unwanted workplace psycho-analysis
Back at MI6, things are getting weird. Some guy called Martin shows up to give a bad PowerPoint speech on psychopaths, which helps no one but the woman behind the curtain: Carolyn. The bad PowerPoint is a sham, intended to induce “slightly soporific superiority” in the audience and instead watch for emotional reactions.
When Martin showed a picture of a graphic murder, everyone jumped and looked away… except for Eve. But when Martin showed a picture of Villanelle, Eve was the only one who couldn’t look at it. She also intensely disagreed with Martin when he said it was impossible to understand a psychopath.
This all comes to light in a conversation between Carolyn and Martin in a library. His professional recommendation? “Eve is too close, she’s a no-go.”
And yet, everything proceeds as planned.
Also, Carolyn is scared of bookshelves. Woman, I don’t know why I still love you.
Love overcomes all adversity
Remember my anger at how unfairly Eve has been treating Niko? Well, things don’t seem that bad, after all. Maybe they moved past their very unjust disagreement. The two of them share some cute domestic life moments, and Eve is… actually trying?
She asks how his day is, gives him a kiss, tells him she loves him, and they make plans to order food together. This is an effort, ladies and gentlemen — not stupid gaslighting breakfasts-in-bed-so-you-don’t-notice-I’m-going-out-with-a-murderer.
The famous EVE flower package arrives, which we saw in the trailers, and Eve’s reaction is to be turned on. She goes back inside and asks Niko if he wants to “go upstairs.” He’s rather taken aback (and so am I — is she going to pretend he’s Villanelle? Because that’s messed up) but goes for it. Yay, a physical relationship between these two at last! No more omelet masturbation! (Why does this show make me say things like that?)
Absolute madness
It’s almost date night, and gun stores always look cool outside of America, where they’re illegal for civilians. Eve gets all dolled up with a nice new bulletproof vest, Hugo somehow avoids molesting her even when they’re in a confined space (are we going to pretend that almost-kiss didn’t happen?!) and instead acts like Eve’s stylist. You can definitely see the vest under Eve’s shirt.
Carolyn figured out how to get rid of Niko, thanks to her connections in the spelling bee world, but refuses to give Eve on-the-record support, proving Jess’ point. Eve may be special, but she’s also disposable. This does not bode well.
And Kenny — my sweet, sweet Kenny — is the only person with any sense at this office. He points out a fact that we’ve all pretty much forgotten, but that Eve definitely shouldn’t have: Villanelle murdered Bill, Eve’s best friend. Eve is out of control and needs to stop this madness.
But Eve deflects, and fires Kenny… officially losing any pity I had for her whatsoever. Kenny, it’s time you move out of your mum’s house and go live in Paris or something.
Proving Kenny’s point to a degree even he wouldn’t imagine, Eve goes to a crowded subway station and waits for the train along with everyone else, still wearing her awkward vest. A man jostles her as he passes her, and this makes her upset. So upset, in fact, that she follows him… right up to the edge of the tracks, and reaches out to push him–
What the hell, Eve.
Something very bad is happening.
Date Night
At home, Eve doesn’t feel sexy enough with the vest, so she takes it off — which makes sense, honestly. If Villanelle were going to shoot her, she’d probably do it in the head (but we all know she won’t). I wonder how many outfits Villanelle tried on.
But in true over-the-top Villanelle fashion, she shows up in a mourning widow garb, complete with a bird nest black veil and a bottle of champagne. Finally face-to-face, they look each other in the eyes, and Villanelle says, “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
To which Eve, ever the gentlewoman, goes, “Can I take your veil?” and forces Villanelle to take her (presumably over-the-top) shoes off. It’s a no-shoe household. Haha.
This scene is absolutely incredible. The dynamic is so fascinating, and it parallels their dinner at Eve’s house from last season perfectly. Villanelle fries Eve’s phone (rude), and this time she brings something to share. Eve doesn’t waste her time with knives — you could cut the tension in the air with anything sharp — but is relatively calm. She knows exactly what she’s getting into.
They talk about the stabbing — “I think about that all the time” — mirroring their conversation at Villanelle’s apartment. Eve doesn’t apologize, and we all know Villanelle likes it better that way. Then Villanelle reminds Eve (and us) that she’s there to kill her, and Eve is completely transparent about her plan, taking Villanelle off guard.
Still, Villanelle serves the pills along with the champagne, and Eve takes them immediately. She starts crying, Villanelle starts crying, and we can check the “crying” box in the “things that always happen when these two sit down together” list. Villanelle freaks out and makes Eve try to throw up the poison… but it’s all a charade, as we should have expected. What a power play.
She’s down for a deal. “Will you give me everything I want?”
The date is over, and there was no kiss. Everyone involved is disappointed.
Everyone, that is, except Konstantin and Carolyn, who are sitting in the car outside like the matchmakers they are. These two are working together… but to what nefarious end?
Where is this forest?!
To execute the Ghost interrogation, they take her to the Forest of Dean, which I misread as the Forest of “Death” and thought they took the Ghost to frickin’ Japan for this. They didn’t. They took her to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows forest. It’s a little weird to go somewhere so far away, but maybe they don’t want Villanelle to see the MI6 headquarters.
The Ghost is put in a guarded storage container, and Eve leads Villanelle to her. Villanelle asks Eve, “Would you like to watch?”
Eve should have because we have no idea what Villanelle does to Ghost, and I think we should for the following reasons: a) if she uses violence, I don’t think MI6 would have had that much of an issue arranging it without Villanelle, b) if it’s information, I think Eve should try to learn as much as she can, and c) what if Villanelle is just making up the information she got from the interrogation? Why are we all suddenly trusting Villanelle this much?!
According to Villanelle, the Ghost’s employer is Alastair Peele’s son, and he’s not selling information: he’s selling a weapon. No further clarification.
Eve is stressed about what Villanelle did — but if so, why did she invite Villanelle into this in the first place? Villanelle walks off, angry, and inside the storage container the Ghost is even angrier.
When your main and your side chick meet
Niko is having the time of his life at a high school spelling bee, but someone is waiting for him in the streets. Villanelle has decided to raise the stakes in this love triangle: If Niko didn’t know what was really going on already, he’ll know now.
Niko earns my undying respect by proving to be way smarter than he lets on. He recognizes Villanelle pretty quickly, calmly walks away from his students, and violently pins Villanelle against a wall, earning her respect. She tells him, “You should try this with your wife.”
But Villanelle isn’t there to threaten him: She’s there to tell Niko that she’s forgiven Eve, and that she and Eve are “more than friends… we’re colleagues.” Except Niko doesn’t know about the stabbing (GREAT JOB, EVE), and this stirs up the pot in unexpected ways.
Will Niko confront Eve, or will he become involved in more interesting ways? Are Eve and Villanelle going to keep working together now, even though the Ghost has been caught? What’s Carolyn really up to? And what even is the endgame in this show?
Whatever it is, it’s become a lot more fun since I stopped having pity for Eve.
See you next week for episode 2×06, “I Hope You Like Missionary!” where the title is probably clickbait but we’re all clicking anyway.
Killing Eve airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. on BBC America. See trailers, clips, and the full episode guide here.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.