Killing Eve season 3, episode 1, packs a particularly painful punch. Why exactly did they do this to us?

Now that the first episode of this killer season is out, we can’t stop thinking about what Killing Eve did to us with that last scene… and what the show might do next.

Let’s break down where all the characters are at this point, and why that had to happen to set off the show’s events.

A chaotic wedding

We meet Villanelle for the first time in her element since the fateful shooting: the center of attention at a lavish, luxurious wedding reception.

She just married a very pretty, very rich bride — and she feels so comfortable in her new position that she doesn’t mind bragging to the entire room that her ex is dead and that she married her bride for her money.

Some fans thought that this scene was pointless, and while it seems a little strange that it wasn’t addressed again during the episode (Is Villanelle married now? Did she get an annulment? Or will she have to get a divorce?), it is a great way of showing us who Villanelle is now.

Without Eve, Villanelle is free to be as heartless and proud as she’s ever been. Her arrogance shines through, clear as day.

And maybe that’s why, when she sees Dasha at the reception, she responds in the least calculated or clever way: she pounces.

Meet Dasha

Dasha is a spectacular new character with killer skills both as a gymnast and as an assassin. After ambushing Villanelle at the wedding reception, she introduces herself as Villanelle’s old mentor — and her new handler.

She was a killer since she was a teenage gymnast, shortly after she escaped a “gutter” (as her trainer called it). Did she, like Villanelle, get recruited at a young age by The Twelve, or was she just killing on her own back then? Either way, she’s now both a handler and a teacher for little gymnastics students, and she’s ready for new business.

Dasha is very different from Konstantin. She’s harsh, violent, and downright enthusiastic about Villanelle’s career.

While Konstantin sought to cool Villanelle down from her extreme antics, Dasha’s goal is to help Villanelle achieve her highest potential, precisely because she’s so extreme.

She wants to empower her to reach a great destiny… and she’ll force Villanelle to hear her out.

In response, Villanelle executes her first kill of the season dressed as a courier. It’s a copycat of Dasha’s old gymnast murder, which could be either a tribute to Dasha’s work, or a mockery of it. It’s hard to know.

From season 1, we know that Villanelle has bad memories surrounding her mother, and ever since then, she’s always been under orders from older men. This time, though, Villanelle is getting orders from a woman — one she looks up to (and one that she’s not attracted to).

It makes for a great dynamic that may come to mirror the one between Eve and Carolyn. Since her past is the scene that sets off this whole season, it’s likely that she will become a major part of Eve and Villanelle’s story.

Eve’s new normal

On the other hand, there’s Eve. There’s a scar on her back from where the bullet must have gone through, but she’s otherwise fine. At the start of Killing Eve season 3, she’s trying to keep her head down, working at a Korean restaurant, saying nothing snarky to her gossipy colleagues even though you know she’s dying to, and refusing to rise in the ranks.

Maybe she sees this as penitence for throwing her life down the drain because of Villanelle — or maybe she’s just really, really scared of being found again.

We get to see more of Eve speaking Korean, shopping at a Korean supermarket, and get a glimpse of Korean cinema on a TV. I’m glad that we got to see a little more of Eve’s heritage… especially since we’ve already gotten to see some of Villanelle’s Russian heritage in the past.

At her new, kind-of-sad-looking apartment, Eve spots a roll of toilet paper and sends Kenny a message. Of course, Kenny can’t just respond in a chill way: He has to track her phone and show up in the middle of the night, almost giving Eve a heart attack. But despite the awkwardness of the situation, they settle down like old friends.

Kenny is worried about her and how she’s taking things. He wants her to come help him, as he’s uncovered some promising leads now that he’s not with MI6 anymore, but Eve refuses.

She’s still shaken by everything that happened, and she’s not going back to MI6 or to Kenny. Niko is still in the picture, although in a mental hospital, but while she’s trying to help him, it’s clear her heart isn’t in it, even if she wants it to be. Villanelle continues to be the only person on her mind.

Carolyn, Kenny and Konstantin

The usual gang of odd supporting characters is back!

In Killing Eve season 3, Carolyn is facing the backlash of her bad decisions in season 2, and she’s sucking it up like a professional — accepting responsibility, getting to know her new adversaries, and probably planning something cunning.

Now that her son is becoming more independent, working as a journalist instead of an MI6 agent, there’s a little more friction at home… but maybe that’s what’s best for both of them.

Konstantin isn’t Villanelle’s handler anymore, but he does have a mission, as delivered by a cryptic restaurant delivery bag “Time to go fishing.” Meanwhile, Irina calls, upset that he left her behind with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Konstantin doesn’t have time to hear her complaints — but he does go buy her a magnet.

Why Kenny?

Right at the end of the first episode of Killing Eve season 3, Eve goes to meet Kenny for lunch at his new office. And that’s when all hell breaks loose.

Kenny’s death feels like a pointless tragedy, after everything he went through to get here. We never got enough of him in season 1 and season 2, and now that we finally got a little more, it’s all over.

The one person left who genuinely knew Eve and cared about her is dead, and we probably won’t have a character like him again. That, and he was also undeniably adorable and deserved the world!

But at the end of the day, this is Eve and Villanelle’s story, and there was no better catalyst than the tragic death of a beloved character to push Eve and Carolyn to act in unexpected ways. No one else could have died and had that effect.

Susan Heathcote, the new showrunner for Killing Eve, said as much:

“It had to be something that meant a lot. It couldn’t just be professional—it would never be enough. It had to be something bigger than that. It had to be like a bomb going off in Eve’s life to wake her from this cocooned existence that she put herself in. They are always difficult, those decisions, but it’s on a show there has to be an element of danger. You have to really feel like anything can happen. And that is unfortunately that does mean that some beloved characters inevitably die. And so it’s a double-edged sword.”

But who killed him? Was it Villanelle sometime after her courier murder? Or was it Konstantin, who may have identified Kenny as the “fish” he was looking for?

If it’s Villanelle, Eve may never recover, and their relationship definitely won’t. And if it’s Konstantin, Carolyn may murder him herself.

Either way, the answer will break at least one of Eve and Carolyn’s hearts… and we may never recover.

Killing Eve season 3 airs at 9 p.m. EST on Sundays on AMC and BBC America.