*Warning: major spoilers ahead for Killing Eve season 4 episode 5*
Ominously titled Don’t Get Attached, Killing Eve season 4 episode 5 ends on a huge cliffhanger, with the (possible) death of a main character right in front of our eyes.
At the end of the episode, Villanelle (Jodie Comer in the Killing Eve cast) was shot in the back with an arrow on the orders of Helene (Camille Cottin), who sat in a parked car watching the scene – alongside a helpless Eve (Sandra Oh).
The shooting was Helene’s revenge after Eve kidnapped her young daughter (itself an act of revenge after Helene freed Villanelle from prison, potentially endangering Eve – keep up).
The rest of the episode was mainly focused on former MI6 boss Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw), with long overdue flashbacks to her spiky younger self in the 1970s.
Filmed in black-and-white, the flashbacks saw Carolyn undercover in Berlin and spying on Johan/Lars, the founder of a radical group in need of a name – that is, until Carolyn helpfully suggests a name based on their number of members (you might see where this is going): The Twelve.
We also see her meet a younger version of Konstantin, at that time a KGB agent masquerading as a young German radical, and who seduces Carolyn to get to her father.
He blackmails Carolyn’s father, also a member of MI6, with photographs of him and his gay lover, and later in the episode Carolyn discovers her father’s body in the family car, learning he has died by suicide after Konstantin showed him the photos.
However, Carolyn and Konstantin come to an uneasy understanding after Johan discovers the two of them together and the pair conspire to drown him – although we know from the present-day timeline that he survived, now going by the name of Lars.
Is Villanelle really dead?
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Killing Eve has long appeared more interested in Villanelle than in its titular character, with Villanelle consistently getting the flashy, more memorable scenes.
However, season 4 has certainly seen Eve obtain a newfound confidence and come into her own, with the first scene in episode 1 showing a motorcyclist who the viewer assumes to Villanelle – until it’s revealed to be Eve.
Villanelle’s apparent death scene was also preceded by a long-overdue hug between herself and former handler Konstantin, and even saw her spot a miniature statue of Jesus in a shop window (a nod to the start of the season, when Villanelle had rather unconventional visions of Jesus).
The manner of her supposed death is also suitably unconventional (what assassin uses a bow and arrow nowadays?) and appropriately, she seemingly dies in Eve’s arms, after Eve rushes from the car and cradles her.
The ‘Next Time’ segment teasing episode 6 didn’t include any footage of Villanelle either, which could suggest she truly has died (although of course, you never know with Killing Eve).
New episodes of Killing Eve arrives on BBC iPlayer on Mondays and airs on BBC One at 9pm on Saturdays.
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