So I caught up to the series finale of Killing Eve last week. I've known since season 1 that there would be no happy ending for Eve and/or Villanelle, that at least one if not both would end up dead when the series reached it's end.
So Killing Eve does end in death.
But still...
What the unholy fuck was that?
In the final episode, Eve and Villanelle wind up on road trip together as part of their quest to finally bring down the super secret criminal cabal known as The Twelve.
It is a trip where the ever building sexual tension of 4 seasons finally gets broken.
Could there be a more appropos song to accompany this trip that the Human League's "Don't You Want Me Baby?".
Villanelle is happy.
Eve is happy.
Of course they don't get to stay happy.
They do destroy the leadership of the Twelve who have gathered on a riverboat on the Thames in London.
On the deck of the riverboat in celebration of their victory over the hated criminal organization, Villanelle and Eve embrace.
Then a sniper opens fire.
Eve and Villanelle jump into the Thames to avoid the gun fire but it's too late. Villanelle is shot and as blood flows into the water around her like the wings of some crimson angel, the currents of the river pull Villanelle from Eve's grasp.
Eve bursts out of the water with a primal scream as a graphic in big bold letters informs us unequivocally that this is THE END.
So Killing Eve ends in death as we always knew it would.
But still...
What the unholy fuck was that?
Laura Neal who was the 4th season showrunner and writer of the final episode doesn't seem to under the show she was running.
In post finale interviews, she has described Eve's scream as she bursts out of the Thames as one of triumphant survival.
No the hell it wasn't.
It's the frustrated scream of a woman who has had one more damn thing taken from her.
Eve has lost so much, sacrificed so much, given up so much in her relentless quest to bring down the Twelve.
Granted so much that she lost was due to Villanelle working as a loose cannon assassin for the Twelve but somehow for all her misdeeds, Eve's long suppressed attraction to Villanelle is finally given expression. With some hope of Villanelle's redemption, there was some hope of Eve finally finding some peace and happiness and finding it with, of all people, Villanelle.
I suppose if Eve or Villanelle had died in the course of executing their final plan against the Twelve, that death would've meant something, paying the price both of them knew they might have to pay for daring to defy the Twelve.
The fact that Villanelle dies because Carolyn is suddenly back in the good graces of MI6 and has ordered a hit on Villanelle (and possibly also Eve) just seems so capricious. A plot twist for the sake of a plot twist.
Much of the online outrage among the Killing Eve fandom is that finale plays right into the "Bury Your Gays" trope.
And speaking of the Killing Eve fandom, they are hard at work on various fan fictions "correcting" the events of the finale.
And there are unfavorable comparisons to the season finale of Game of Thrones. Like the end of GofT, Killing Eve has boxes to be checked off and by god we're gonna check 'em off no matter what.
Eve and Villanelle get a moment together.
Eva and/or Villanelle will be dead by the end.
So Killing Eve checks off the boxes we knew would be checked off.
But still...
What the unholy fuck was that?
OK, let's be real. Eve and Villanelle were never destined for domestic bliss in a cottage somewhere.
The ending of Killing Eve was in many ways the right ending.
It just feels so wrong.
Or to put in another way....
What the unholy fuck was that?
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
And alas remembering Eve and Villanelle from happier times.
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Blog bidness:
Doctor Who Is NEW!: The Legend of the Sea Devils will post on Wednesday, April 20th.
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