There could only ever be one winner in Killing Eve, and as the BBC One thriller came to its watery end, it became clear that said winner was neither Villanelle, nor Eve Polastri – but Carolyn Martens, she of well-tailored linen, “thinking” bubble baths and no two f**ks given.
Played by Fiona Shaw, the steely and irreverent MI6 boss who once saw a rat drinking from a can of Coca-Cola, quickly became a fan favourite from season 1 onwards, precisely because she didn’t care what anyone thought.
But throughout season 4 it became clear that she didn’t care about anyone, period. “Loyalty is a dubious virtue,” she says. Feelings are weaknesses in her book.
Carolyn’s combination of stiff upper lip and stiff drinks provided a winning comedic formula, but it also spelled doom for our star-crossed lovers Eve and Villanelle in this final episode.
Mourning her old job at MI6, Carolyn explained to young assassin Pam (who killed Konstantin with a pizza cutter) that there are ways of returning to the British secret service, but she can’t come empty-handed. The throwaway comment foreshadows Carolyn’s ultimate betrayal, selling one of our protagonists down the River Thames.
“She’s a monster. She’s almost the devil. Carolyn is always several steps ahead of everybody,” executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle told Entertainment Weekly.
What happened in Killing Eve season 4 episode 8?
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Overall, the finale did a decent job of weaving together old plotlines and loose threads, even crowbarring in some references to half-forgotten characters like Bill, Eve’s old mentor who Villanelle stabbed to death in a Berlin nightclub in season 1.
We started the episode with Eve and Villanelle reuniting and escaping the possessive Gunn’s Scottish island (the series borrowed from the famous eye-gouging scene in Game of Thrones, with poor Gunn taking the place of Oberyn and Eve as The Mountain).
A smug couple in hiking boots picked them up, giving Eve and Villanelle something to bond over (namely their shared nausea watching “Bub” and “Bubba” rub noses like Lady and the Tramp).
At their rented cottage, the couple read Villanelle’s tarot cards, revealing that her future was blessed by ‘The Sun’, an omen of bliss. But when Eve took a turn, the card showed her future to be marked by ‘Death’.
The ill-fated pair repaid the couple’s kindness by stealing their campervan and listening to The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me.
On the road, they finally shared a long kiss, before heading to London. There, they bumped into Carolyn. Eve thanked her for first hiring her, but their relationship remained frosty – unlike Carolyn’s new friendship with Villanelle following their adventures in Cuba earlier this season.
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“I owe you a dare,” Carolyn said, as Villanelle played a few bars of air guitar.
Eve and Villanelle then headed to the secret meeting place of The Twelve: below decks on a riverboat, where a wedding was taking place.
As Villanelle slaughtered the (unseen) members of The Twelve, Eve officiated the ceremony, drawing on her own feelings for Villanelle: “Relationships are a lot of work… The beauty in your relationship will be found in the ways you reunite.”
Afterwards, the pair embraced on the boat deck, the mission complete – only for an unseen sniper to put a bullet in the couple, passing through Villanelle’s shoulder.
Bullets flying, they jumped into the Thames, only for Villanelle to succumb to her wounds, the two plumes of blood floating out behind her and looking almost like angel wings (perhaps a nod to her former spirituality).
Eve emerged, alive, and screamed, while somewhere on the banks of the river, Carolyn spoke into a walkie-talkie. “Jolly good,” she said.
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That it was Carolyn who tore apart Eve and Villanelle makes perfect sense, according to showrunner Laura Neal.
“I think it’s about ending the story that Carolyn began, and Carolyn wanting to have that power,” she told TV Line. “She was the one who brought Eve and Villanelle together, and now she’s going to be the one to tear them apart for good.”
In the end, Carolyn played the long-con on everyone around her – including the viewer. As for Villanelle and Eve, the show’s ending seems to suggest that we should pity survivor Eve more than stylish psychopath Villanelle.
As the tarot cards predicted, Villanelle went out in a blaze of glory and triumph after killing The Twelve and finally getting together with Eve – while it’s our titular heroine who is left behind, with a new (questionable) skill-set and confidence, but without her lover by her side.
Killing Eve is on BBC iPlayer. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or visit our Drama Hub for all the latest news.
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