'Killing Eve' Season 2, Episode 2 Recap: "Nice & Neat"
With Eve back on the case, Killing Eve returns to the workplace, where things are hilarious as ever.
Carolyn: It's my moisturizer, it's made of pig's placenta. Costs a fortune, smell like arse, but it is exceedingly effective.
Villanelle is back in the U.K., having snuck home in the trunk of a family car. Eve, meanwhile, is still obsessing over her whereabouts, trying to find reports of a stabbing victim in Paris. She should be looking in the launderette, where Villanelle is getting herself some clothes. Not that Eve isn't immune to clothes shopping either, once Niko points out the cute dress she has up when she tries to cover her sleuthing.
Speaking of shopping, Villanelle's next stop is to the grocers, searching for a target to get herself a place to recuperate. The women aren't fooled, but the first man she hits up, Julian (Julian Barratt) falls for it immediately. Boom, a spare room and food are achieved. (Even some lemon drizzle cake!) Perhaps it's Villanelle who is in danger though, as Julian has a collection of the creepiest china dolls this side of a serial killer, and a habit of locking her in when he leaves.
Meanwhile, Eve is back in our second favorite place after Villanelle's amazingly chic flat, her workplace! Kenny Stowton (Sean Delaney), Carolyn's son, is still there, ready to get back to the hunt, but the rest of the team has either died or, in Elena's case, left because they like being alive. In quick succession, Eve is introduced to the new faces that fill the seats, Jess (Nina Sosanya) and Hugo (Edward Bluemel), the latter of which is bad at taking social cues (boarding school posh boy). Eve winds up telling him she and Kenny are having an affair so he'll leave the room, and she can spill everything that happened in Paris. Kenny immediately notes Eve not telling Carolyn about the stabbing means she's withholding critical information about the investigation. But, you know, hey, now he is too.
A powerpoint presentation covering everything that happened in Season 1 for the newbies ensues, useful for those who didn't bother with a rewatch before the new season. Points covered include Villanelle's real name (Oksana Astankova), and a roll call of her victims from Konstantine to Frank to Bill. Eve's also found Gabriel, Villanelle's victim from last week, and her spidey sense are tingling that she's figured out where our poor stabbing victim went for treatment, and the fun she had getting back out again. However, while Eve is adding Gabriel to the list, she's taking Peele off it. The murder is too discreet, to dull for our girl to have bothered with. There's no flash to it. A quick survey of Peele's kids confirms they saw said beautician, and when shown a picture of Astankova insist it was not her. It turns out the beautician who took him does wasn't our regularly scheduled serial killer, but a new one. Eve is practically giddy when she realizes how jealous Villanelle will be at this development.
Whoever the new killer is, she's the opposite of everything Eve's come to expect, earning her the nickname "The Ghost." Said Ghost is making short work of her next victim too, as the scene cuts to a high-end office, with our murderer entering and leaving with her trashcan but not before switching out coffee cups and leaving a poisoning victim behind.
While Eve is adding to her portfolio of the hunted, Villanelle is doing her best to wrap Julian around her little finger. It's not going so well. After searching the house in the middle of the night, she discovers at least one secret: His mother, a dementia patient, is also in the house, and after a near murdering of the helpless old lady, she has to play it off, insisting she just hates ghosts. She's having trouble disgusing the infection that's setting in though, and as much as she begs and pouts, Julian doesn't seem to think getting antibiotics is necessary. He'd rather brush her hair like a lifesized china doll. When his mum suddenly comes to, she mistakes Villanelle for someone else before floating off again, but not before telling the girl to be careful of her son. As if anyone needed the warning.
Villanelle, desperate to escape, attempts calling into her handlers, only to be rebuffed since she was fired at the end of last season. In a panic, she calls the operator demanding to be put through to MI-6, and asking for Eve by name. Unfortunately, the voice mail system isn't fast enough, and she can't get through before Julian returns, removing the telephone, so she can't try it again.
However, the message gets through, and Carolyn and Eve are on their way. Perhaps not a moment too soon either, because Julian snaps over the phone call screaming at Villanelle about how he never gets anything. Unsurprisingly, Villanelle snaps right back, promising he'll bleed out for this and, after a protracted struggle, stabbing him with a knitting needle. Size 8mm if I'm not mistaken, but it's hard to tell without a gauge swatch. While Villanelle escapes out the front door, Julian's mum goes out the back, free at last.
Thankfully, Villanelle doesn't have to go far, as her calls have had consequences. There's a car outside already waiting with her new handler, Raymond (Adrian Scarborough), inside. Much like Eve did last week, Villanelle insists she's been fired, only to be told, in an echo of Carolyn: "Circumstances have changed." He's even got her antibiotics. Not a moment too soon, they pull away as Eve and Carolyn pull up. Villanelle is back on the case.
Obviously, Eve is going to need some protection now. Carolyn's idea? Why, it's Konstantine (Kim Bodina), of course.
