Killing Eve’s third season comes to a close with “Are You Leading or Am I?” and sees Eve and Villanelle work for the first time in the season.
Villanelle has fled to London and meets Carolyn to offer her defection. But Carolyn refuses because Villanelle is no longer able to kill. Her only opinion is to retrieve the money Konstantin stole from The Twelve and she enlists Eve for help. Konstantin also goes to London to get the money. Whilst Carolyn finally finds out who killed Kenny.
The big hook of the season was Kenny’s death: it spurred Eve, Carolyn, and the Bitter Pill team to work together and find out who killed him. The death was recorded as a suicide, even though everyone suspects it was murder. The reveal was Kenny’s death was an accident that was unintentionally caused by Konstantin, or at least that’s what he claims. It was a bitter blow for Carolyn, and she showed her dark side when facing both Konstantin and Paul. It ends the storyline about Kenny’s death and Paul’s involvement with The Twelve, in the less satisfying way possible.
“Are You Leading or Am I?” sees Eve and Villanelle meet for the first time since “Meetings Have Biscuits.” Throughout the series, there was an attraction to each other and a sexual undercurrent. The undercurrent has become overt in this season. In “Meeting Have Biscuits” Eve was able to escape Villanelle by kissing her and their first interactions in this episode was a dance together. The final scene in the episode had a beautiful quality as Eve and Villanelle have a heart-to-heart and decide on what to do next.
Whilst the episode aimed to end some storyline, others were deliberately left open. Season Four was already commissioned before Season Three was even broadcast. So the showrunners knew they had the freedom to leave some open ends, such as Carolyn and Geraldine’s relationship.
“Are You Leading or Am I?” keeps the excellent dialogue and humor that makes the show special. The episode starts off strongly when Carolyn and Villanelle and Carolyn points out that if Villanelle is an assassin who can’t kill then she’s useless. I personally loved Villanelle’s interactions with Rhian (Alexandra Roach) because Villanelle acted like a bored child and annoyed Rhian into striking her. Villanelle had to face an opponent who was could physically match. It’s just a shame that there won’t be any more of Roach in Killing Eve. Villanelle also met up with the Bitter Pill team and when they realized who she was they reacted likes you would expect.
Eve’s mission saw her go to Croydon with a ticket she didn’t know what it meant. It led to a comedic interaction at a bookmakers’ as Eve does a terrible attempt to bribe someone. Whilst Eve was a skill analysis and investigator, her field experience was lacking.
The relationship between Eve and Villanelle continues to compel, the characters were interesting, and the humor still delivers. But as a conclusion to the season “Are You Leading or Am I?” was lacking.
