After two long years, Killing Eve is back for its final season. Yep, the unparalleled sexual tension between Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh), is finally back on our screens! The first episode of season 4, titled “Just Dunk Me,” is ambiguously suspenseful: how long has it been since the end of the last season? So much has changed!
The end of season 3 left us lesbians with reason to believe that Eve and Villanelle would end up together, despite knowing this series never gives us exactly what we want. We knew there’d be some sort of catch: the final season was never going to be a blissful scene of marriage and a white picket fence. Killing Eve is a lot of things but conventional isn’t one of them.
At the end of season 3, Villanelle and Eve admitted they bring out the worst in each other, despite being drawn together, and parted ways–vowing to never to see each other again–only to look back at each other again. Looking back, straight after committing to never doing so again, symbolizes how their relationship operates: they know they’ll never function apart, even if they’re “together” in an abstract way.
We don’t know how long it’s been since the pair vowed to never see one another again but Eve seems to be doing better solo than Villanelle is. Eve is still adamantly hunting down the Twelve. She’s employed at a private security service and yet she’s always absent from the job: she spends her time in a van with a coworker, mapping out her next move. The pair sleep together after Eve shoots Konstantin’s hand, getting sexual gratification from it. Eve looks in control but she’s numbing herself with sex and violence, distracting herself from something. What is it? Villanelle?
Villanelle, on the other hand, isn’t pretending to cope. She sends Eve mail constantly, begging to be seen. Eve’s coworker is unfazed when Eve receives yet another invitation to see Villanelle, implying he knows about their situation. This time it’s an invitation to Villanelle’s baptism: because Eve won’t believe she’s changed, Villanelle has dedicated herself to the Church. Knowing Eve will need to see the rebirth to believe it, Villanelle reserves a seat for Eve in the “perfect” location. Eve doesn’t come.
There is a major hint to the possible outcome of season 4 in “Just Dunk Me.” Disappointed that Eve didn’t attend the baptism, Villanelle finds and approaches Eve. The pair gaze at each other through a fish tank, reminiscent of Romeo + Juliet (1996).
How could the scene not be a reference to Romeo + Juliet? Let’s consider, for a moment, the fact the fish tank scene is one of the most well known in film’s romantic history. It’s impossible to have two romantically entangled people looking at each other through a beautiful, large fish tank, without recognizing it exists to forebode… or is a very frustrating red herring. It’s too similar to be meaningless.
So, let’s say it is a reference to Romeo + Juliet. What does that mean for Eve and Villanelle? Well, firstly, despite Eve playing it cool–and not believing that Villanelle has changed–let’s take a look at her reaction, when she notices Villanelle on the other side of the fish tank.
We know they’ve had sexual chemistry for as long as they’ve known each other, but what if this is the first time they actually fall in love, considering it is the “Love at First Sight” scene in Romeo + Juliet? Could Villanelle have spared Eve, like she did, without loving her before, though?
The other (more obvious) hint, by including any scene reminiscent of one from Romeo + Juliet, is the lovers’ demise. The show’s called “Killing Eve”: will Eve fake her death only for Villanelle to take it seriously, killing herself? Will Eve then die, herself, knowing Villanelle “has really changed” by sacrificing herself to be with Eve in Heaven?
Stay tuned!
