After the detour to Russia, the third season of Killing Eve returns to its main plot with “End of Game.”
Niko had miraculously survived a pitchfork being shoved through his neck but left unable to speak and rejects Eve. Because of this Eve becomes demanded to bring down The Twelve and finds a potential lead to Dasha. Villanelle gets her first assignment as a Keeper but finds out she is still doing the same work. This time she must assassinate a Romanian politician. Konstantin prepares to escape The Twelve and go into hiding with his daughter. Whilst Carolyn finds out MI6 has withheld information from her.
I love Jodie Comer as a performer. As Villanelle she has shown an incredible range. In “End of Game” she was both hilarious and tragic. Comer had one of the funniest moments in the series so far when she attends a youth hockey match with an air horn and made a show of herself. She acted like a big child and I loved it.
The episode also saw Villanelle reunite with Irina. At the end of Season One they had a hilarious dynamic when Villanelle kidnapped the child and finds out that Irina’s was not easy to manage. Because of this Irina wasn’t keen on Villanelle coming back into Konstantin’s life, so Villanelle had to find a way to get into her good books. Because of Villanelle, Irina ends up exploring her own dark side.
Villanelle’s tragedy comes in two forms. Villanelle wants to run off with Konstantin and his family but Konstantin tells her she cannot. Konstantin’s rationale of not taking an unhinged psychopath with him was sound, but to Villanelle it hurts because Konstantin was the closest thing she has to a father. The other half of the tragedy was when Villanelle had to perform the assassination mission and it doesn’t go as plan, leading Villanelle to have a big realization.
The episode saw Eve and Dasha face off against each other for the first time. The attack on Niko ended up inspiring Eve and it surprisingly shook off her depression. She got her mojo back and was able to stand up against a ruthless assassin in an excellent scene at a bowling alley.
As well as the net tightening on Dasha, Konstantin feels the heat. His plans to go into hiding could suffer from two fronts. The first threat was Villanelle. The other threat was The Twelve who want to find out the $6 million from them, forcing the man to fast-forward his plans.
Fiona Shaw as Carolyn also had a chance to shine. In the past, Carolyn has been a tough stoic character with a sharp wit. Even after her son was killed, she maintained this image. But in “End of Game” this image finally broke and she revealed the grief she was feeling. Carolyn had to have a heart-to-heart about her feelings with her daughter.
“End of Game” worked as a character development episode and gave the main cast members a chance to shine.
