smartgirl1693

[smartgirl1693]

My favourite genre of gay people is "They didn't have bdsm sex onscreen but, bdsm elements are always lurking in the corner and haunting the narrative through thinly veiled visual metaphorical implication."

[smartgirl1693]

Killing Eve: In Depth Analysis

*SPOILERS*

First Introduction to Eve

1x01 - Nice Face

After first being introduced to Villanelle pre title-card, we then immediately get our introduction to Eve, post the iconic title-card.

We first meet Eve in her bed and in the middle of a blood curdling scream. Given the scene we’ve just had with Villanelle, we assume that something terrible is happening to Eve - maybe she’s having a nightmare or is even being murdered herself? Again, however, our expectations as an audience are subverted and we instead find out that her screaming is a result of her falling asleep on both of her arms.

This gives us a great insight into Eve’s character as someone who’s life is completely ordinary, but similarly to Villanelle, she seeks an excitement outside the mundanities of everyday life. Eve is someone who, as she says in Episode 6 of Season 2, is just trying to be “nice and normal and decent” - she lives a life so boring that she considers that “it was scary” to fall asleep on her arms (which obviously isn’t scary at all).

Eve is also in a domestic setting, she is asleep and in her bed with her husband Niko. This is unlike how we saw Villanelle, who was completely alert, focused and observant. Instead, Eve is drowsy from just waking up and hungover from Bill’s birthday karaoke of the previous night.

The choice to use a cool colour palette for Villanelle’s first scene, but a warm one for Eve’s, also shows this juxtaposition of the lives that these two women live. Villanelle, who lives the lonely life of a cold assassin; and Eve, who lives a boring but warm and safe life with a loving husband.

Another direct contrast with the previous scene we just saw with Villanelle, is that Villanelle’s introduction began normally and escalates unexpectedly to the knocking over of the ice cream onto the little girl. Eve’s introduction, however, begins with the heightened ‘shock’ situation and quickly de-escalates as soon as we find out there is no threat to her.

We also see that contrary to Villanelle, who was isolated and alone when we first see her, Eve has someone who cares for her and immediately comes to help her when he thinks she might be in danger. This loving care that Niko has for Eve is something we later find out she finds annoying, overbearing and somewhat resents - rather harshly saying to Niko in Episode 4 of Season 1, “I know you care about me. We all know you care about me. Sometimes I think it’s all you have”. The state of Eve’s marriage is so evident to the people that know her, that Bill blatantly says to Eve later in the episode that he’s “sorry if your husband is boring you”, and in Episode 6 of Season 1 Carolyn similarly tells Eve “I’m sorry you don’t like your husband”.

The song that Niko says Eve and Bill sang at karaoke, ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin, alludes to Eve’s journey and desires she has throughout the series.

Some notable lyrics from the song includes:

“I can show you the world”

“I can open your eyes”

- Villanelle will show and open Eve’s eyes to her new and exciting world, a far cry from the boring one Eve currently lives.

“When did you last let your heart decide”

- When was the last time Eve let her heart decide? She lives her life normally and as she is expected to. Opposed to Villanelle who has freedom from the kinds of expectations Eve has in her home life and job.

“No one to tell us ‘no’”

- Eve often feels smothered by Niko and his love for her, as well as him wanting her to stop working at MI5 where she is in danger. But Niko is holding her back because it’s danger Eve is looking for, apparent when she tells Bill that “trouble’s not interested in me”.

- Carolyn and Konstantin have control over Eve and Villanelle.

- As the series progresses we find out that even Villanelle does not have as much freedom as she once thought she did. In season 3 we see she is controlled by Konstantin, Dasha and The Twelve and is manipulated into thinking she is moving up in the world with a job as a keeper that instead turns out to be the same job she has already been doing.

“I can’t go back to where I used to be”

- As soon as Villanelle and Eve become intertwined in each other’s lives they cannot free themselves from the obsession they have for each other.

- At the end of Season 2 and throughout Season 3, we see that once Villanelle and Eve become discontented with their lives they can’t go back to how they used to be.

“Let me share this whole new world with you”

- Villanelle and Eve both believe that they are the only ones in the world who know each other the best and they both have a strong desire to be in each other’s worlds.

Just as Eve is saying to Niko that “at least we have the whole weekend to rec- [recover from our hangovers]”, we get our very first taste of the signature Phoebe Waller-Bridge humour the show is known and loved for; as the scene, and Eve’s sentence, is abruptly ended with a hard cut - safe to say Eve did not get the luxury of the weekend to nurse her hangover.

——————————

I’m continuing onto Eve’s next scene, as although it’s not strictly her very first introduction scene, it’s still a continuation of it and important in establishing her character.

——————————

We proceed to see Eve arriving at MI5 for work and having an exchange with her assistant, Elena, on her way to a meeting. During the exchange we learn that Eve has a friendly, playful relationship with her co-worker. We also get the feeling that Eve has a higher position (before we actually find this out) than Elena, who only walks with Eve to the meeting room, but does not actually get to attend the meeting itself.

The ‘journey’ of the croissant in the scene also allows us to visually see the professional power dynamic between Elena, Eve and Bill, which is important as the three of them all get hired to work together in Carolyn’s team. Elena (Eve’s assistant) begins with the croissant, which Eve demanded and Elena teasingly finishes herself, but she then produces a fresh one for Eve (Eve momentarily has the most power); then Eve only manages to eat a little bit of her croissant before Bill demands Eve to give it to him, jokingly threatening to fire her if she doesn’t (Bill is Eve’s boss).

The dark meeting room and clothes of those attending shows how Eve’s professional life literally lacks any colour or excitement. Eve also appears unprofessional throughout the majority of this scene; she arrives late (something that Elena, Bill and Frank all comment on and Carolyn looks at her watch disapprovingly), she starts to rustle and eat her croissant, Frank makes a comment about Bill and Eve being hungover from Bill’s birthday the night before and she makes the bet with Bill that Kedrin’s killer is a woman. Interestingly in Episode 6 of Season 2, there is a humorous call back to Eve seemingly being unprofessional, when Villanelle says “Eve! Professional” as Eve is about to touch the grain of wheat microphone.

A hint towards the idea explored that Eve herself might sit somewhere on the psychopathy scale, is also revealed in some of the dialogue. After Elena explains to Eve what she’s gathered the meeting is about, Eve’s reply is blunt and shows no remorse that there’s been a man murdered but just says “Oh no. Why’re they crying about it here?”. After Carolyn explains how the man was murdered, Eve also says “Cool!”, the unexpected or inappropriateness of which raises Carolyn and Frank’s eyebrows.

Bill firmly telling Eve, “No. It’s not your job”, when Eve says she wants to speak to Kasia; as well as Bill’s unwillingness to look into the existence of the CCTV footage, shows how much more passionate and interested Eve is in killers and especially female killers - despite seeming unprofessional in some of her comments and actions. The perceptive and intuitive suggestion that Eve makes that the killer was a woman, which turns out to be correct, peaks Carolyn’s interest and is even the thing that sparks Carolyn to make Eve the job offer after being fired.

You can read my previous in depth scene analysis of the ‘First Introduction to Villanelle’ here:

[smartgirl1693]

Killing Eve: In Depth Analysis

*SPOILERS*

First Introduction to Villanelle

1x01 - Nice Face

The episode begins with a pre-title sequence in an ice cream shop in Vienna. This is our very first introduction to Villanelle and perfectly sets her character up, as well as the tone of the show.

The first shot we see of her is from behind. She has a brunette wig on that is hiding her natural honey blond hair and wearing clothes, which we soon find out is a disguise from a recent kill. The fact that we do not see her face immediately, but first meet her from the back and in disguise, already shows us her mystery and inaccessibility - something Eve later makes a remark on when describing Villanelle in Season 1 Episode 3. It is also interesting to note the choice to show us Villanelle in disguise as the first introduction to her character. We are being manipulated as an audience in the same way as Villanelle manipulates those around her.

As hair is a big theme in Killing Eve, and could even be seen as a character in its own right, something used to show us Villanelle and Eve’s emotional vulnerability amongst other things. Having Villanelle covering up her natural hair with the wig hints towards the emotional guardedness which we will see she has throughout the series.

In hindsight Villanelle’s casualness of going to have ice cream following what we later find out was completing a kill, illustrates her nonchalance and confidence in her ability as an assassin, as well as her remorselessness for what she does.

In this initial frame she is also shot central and alone, the rest of the characters in the scene aren’t revealed yet, from this we are shown her solitude and isolation from others - which we later see to be true as she has no friends or family. The closest person to her is Konstantin, who never stays to keep her company despite her asking him to before she goes to Tuscany.

The scene draws a number of similarities between Villanelle and the little girl:

- Both are eating bowls of ice cream.

- They are sitting directly opposite and facing each another. (as if mirroring one another)

- They are sat in the same position, their left arm resting on the table with their right hand holding the spoon.

- In the shot of Villanelle shown above, the little girl’s reflection in the dessert cabinet is shown in frame making it look like they’re next to each other.

The parallels of Villanelle to the little girl is an indication to Villanelle’s childish streak, which is a big part of her character and something we see continually throughout the series. It also ties into Villanelle’s journey to find belonging and her desire to find her family after she was left in an orphanage at a young age, which is explored later in Season 3. This is especially evident in Episode 5 of Season 3 where Villanelle’s mother, Tatiana, tells her to clean the tomato paste off her face and says to her “you’re not a child” to which Villanelle replies that she “want[s] to feel like one”.

As the scene continues we watch Villanelle observing the little girl sitting opposite her and she makes an attempt to smile at her. But her smile was not perceived as genuine or with emotion and so is not returned by the girl.

We then watch as the young man behind the counter of the ice cream parlour smiles at the little girl and she returns his smile. Villanelle sees their interaction and observing the young man’s expression mimics it; she smiles with her teeth and eyes this time and the girl connects with Villanelle’s new smile and smiles back.

This interaction, although small, shows us Villanelle’s inability to connect effectively with other people’s emotions. But it also shows her chameleon-like nature and ability to effectively apply the social queues and nuances she sees in her observations of other people’s interactions.

Villanelle then proceeds to clean a spot of blood from her watch, a small detail that indicates there might be something more sinister about her than it seems. She then gets up and leaves the ice cream parlour, knocking the little girl’s ice cream over and giving a smile on her way out.

Perhaps a stretch but the close up of the watch shows that it is an Omega ‘De Ville’. The model name both sounds similar to Villanelle and is reminiscent of Cruella di Vil - known for her cruelty, wealth and fashion - similar to how Villanelle is portrayed.

The knocking over of the ice cream comes as quite a shock for what was previously a fairly mundane scene and subsequently sets up the tone for Villanelle and the series itself, the audience might be expecting one thing but then they get something completely different and surprising. Villanelle’s smile after knocking over the ice cream also serves to show her contrasting personality and specifically the contrast between her seeming childish innocence and cruelty.

This idea of Villanelle’s contrasting personality and the theme of someone’s darkness, which is explored in Villanelle and Eve throughout the show, is also subtly shown through her wardrobe choice. Villanelle is wearing a black and white top, two colours which are complete opposites but are coexisting in this one garment, just as Villanelle’s darkness and light coexists within her (and Eve). However, the top is made from majority black (Villanelle’s darkness) but does have a small bit of white at the shoulders and the middle, indicating the existence of the light in Villanelle and the possibility for her to change, which is something that was explored in Season 3.

This introduction to Villanelle also relates well to the title of the episode, Nice Face. Although the title is taken from a comment Villanelle makes later in the episode when she sees a picture of her next kill, an Italian mafia boss called Cesare Greco, the title is also applicable for Villanelle herself. She is an attractive woman who seems normal and appears to have a ‘nice face’ at surface level, but there is something darker underneath the facade.

The song playing through this scene, ‘Xpectations’ by Unloved, is the perfect choice for our first meeting with Villanelle.

Some lyrics of the song:

“I’ll never live up to your expectations”

“You haven’t a clue who I am”

Both of these lyrics perfectly encapsulates what the whole scene is trying to tell us about Villanelle. She is surprising when you least expect her to be and doesn’t just “live up to” but most likely exceeds any “expectations” that you might have about her. Villanelle is also incredibly unassuming and you’re never quite sure if you’re seeing the real her or just what she wants you to see, a lot of the time we really “haven’t a clue” who she really is.

You can read my following in depth scene analysis of the ‘First Introduction to Eve’ here:

[smartgirl1693]

KILLING EVE

2x04 ● “Desperate Times”

[smartgirl1693]

The killing eve kiss on my crt tv

[smartgirl1693]

VILLANELLE Killing Eve / 4.08

[smartgirl1693]

Harriet Walter photographed in British Vogue by Lucian Bor.

[smartgirl1693]

How you people watch a show but are not in the fandom is wild to me, like wdym you can consume a piece of media without it consuming yourself? You guys don’t obsess to the point of madness over those fictional people? Just me?

[smartgirl1693]

"How would you describe most of your favorite shows/books?"

Like this:

[smartgirl1693]

Meditation by Yoong Bae

[smartgirl1693]

me consuming every piece of queer media instead of having a social life:

[smartgirl1693]

I love middle age gays

[smartgirl1693]

that ship is toxic to YOU. to me it's a complex, multi-layered, essay-worthy dynamic that'd take numerous hours to dissect (during which i'll spend crying screaming tearing my hair out)

[smartgirl1693]

[smartgirl1693]

It cracks me up thinking that David Tennant couldn’t see and just grabbed Michael Sheen by the collar and randomly aimed.

“Your mouth should be in this general area!”

[smartgirl1693]

There is nothing platonic about the way aziraphale says “very nice” after Crowleys dance

I mean, the angel practically said “that’s right, you’re my bitch” while checking him out

[smartgirl1693]

I love how, in this scene, when the International Express driver mentions his wife, Aziraphale immediately turns to look at Crowley.

Thanks to @springofviolets for the screenshot!