Killing Eve season 3 episode 6, BBC review ★★★★★

Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is dangerous at the best of times, but when she’s tired and traumatised she leaps into the unpredictable. After blowing up her mother last week, cutting her main familial tie to her past, you see the impact. In episode six, she’s barely keeping it together, looking for escape in another parental figure: Konstantin (Kim Bodnia).

Killing Eve is an intriguingly objective series: you’re not permitted access to the character’s minds, there’s no therapy, and discussing feelings is anathema. Instead, their actions speak for themselves. This week, Villanelle goes to visit Konstantin, who confronts her about her mother. Her face creases, tears ready, before she shuts him down. She doesn’t want to talk about it.

Eve (Sandra Oh) attempts to shake a muffin loose in a vending machine at Bitter Pill, shortly after a striking realisation that opens the episode. The Tangfastic-loving Bear (Turlough Convery) comes over, delivers a useful piece of exposition about her journey so far this season, and says, ‘It’s okay if you’re not okay… sometimes you just need to let it win’. But, really, can you see Eve doing that?

Her resistance to buried feelings mirrors Villanelle’s, another reason why they’re an ideal couple. Instead of confronting her trauma, Eve opts to find those responsible for puncturing Niko in episode four, not believing Villanelle did it.



Enter Carolyn, the queen of buried feelings, hiding more uncomfortable truths from her persistent and emotionally available daughter Geraldine (Gemma Whelan). Fiona Shaw (once again) knocks you out with a heart-pinching speech – delivered to awkward, upsetting perfection.

In this episode, Carolyn actually makes progress with Kenny’s phone, which prompts the question: what’s the point of Bitter Pill? It seems to only function as an alternate MI6 office, with fewer resources, with staff occasionally hanging up photos and going over facts we already know. Carolyn’s the only one with results, though it’s unclear how safe her sources are. In episode six, she also uncovers a fair few shocking revelations: reaching closer to finding out who killed Kenny. The plot finally accelerates.

Villanelle and Irina (Yuli Lagodinsky), Konstantin’s daughter, enjoy each other’s company for the first time since season one. Their exchanges don’t quite match the quick and puerile dialogue penned by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but newbie writer Krissie Ducker finds the fun between them. You could even mistake them for sisters and, at the end of this episode, Konstantin realises his daughter has more in common with the assassin than he’d prefer.

Killing Eve season 3 continues on BBC iPlayer every Monday at 6am. Episodes also air on BBC One at 9:15pm on Sundays