'Killing Eve' Season 3, Episode 6 Recap: "End of Game"
Killing Eve returns to London this week with what I suppose is good news. Despite Dasha's derring-do, Niko is not dead. (Knowing Dasha, that was probably deliberate, but I don't have to like it.) Instead, not only have we added Niko back to the plot, but his crabby father Maciek (Oliver Cotton) as well, who blames Eve for all of this. He's not alone. Though Niko stops his father's rant to sit with Eve alone, he's not here for her protestations of seeking justice, telling her to piss off. Can we please get divorced now?
Irina: You're so old. No one waxes anymore. No one wants to look like a 12-year-old girl.
Villanelle: You are a 12-year-old girl
Irina: I'm FOURTEEN!
Villanelle has not left Russia. She's at Twelve headquarters, where her request to become a Keeper has been successful. Hélène raises a glass to Villanelle The Keeper, before handing over a postcard with the next job, a politician in Romania. Villanelle is shocked. A promotion was supposed to mean an end to the killing work. Hélène shrugs. She'll get all the material benefits, what more does she want?
Back at the Bitter Pill, Dasha's plan is working, as Jamie and Bear assume Villanelle is behind Niko's pitchforking. But something doesn't sit right with Eve. Villanelle's torture doesn't follow this pattern. Also, there's Bertha, killed right when Eve was gone. But before Eve can puzzle it out, Bear throws an extra spanner into the works. He shows Eve a photo of Dasha and says she's the KGB agent who Villanelle's season premiere kill was referencing. He also notes she lives in Barcelona, teaching gymnastics. Eve, reeling, and heads out.
She heads right to Carolyn's house, demanding to know everything there is on Dasha. Carolyn, naturally, has met Dasha, "right after she got kicked out of the KGB." Eve lays out her suspicions: Dasha is the one running Villanelle, a thrilling combination in Carolyn's book. Eve goes on to tell Carolyn she believes it was Dasha who pitchforked Niko, knowing Villanelle was out of town murdering Bertha. (She's half right, Konstantin assigned the Bertha kill, behind Dasha's back.) Eve is determined to go to Barcelona, and Carolyn can't talk her out of it. So instead, the MI-6 boss gives Eve a warning. Be very careful of Dasha. She was kicked out for killing a fellow agent, and she's dangerous.
Back in Russia, Villanelle still hasn't left. (Hey, it's a large country.) Instead, she's followed Konstantin to Irina's hockey practice. He's displeased to learn Villanelle failed to take the lesson her mother wasn't evil, just a sad woman who made ugly choices. But what rattles Konstantin is Villanelle is on to his plan to get out of the Twelve. Worse, she's decided she wants out too. When Irina gets off the ice, she's horrified to see Villanelle at all. The two fight like siblings in front of Konstantin. He promises to send for Villanelle once he and Irina are out, but until he does, she can't let the Twelve see anything is amiss.
Over in London, Carolyn meets her Scotland Yard contact, Mike (Vincent Ebrahim), on a park bench. (Spies: Social distancing before it was cool.) He has gotten the phone logs for the final 48 hours of Kenny's life. He's a little disturbed because there were several incoming and outgoing calls to a Russian number. But more importantly, he already emailed the desk these logs last week, which Paul never passed on. Carolyn heads to the office, but Paul is still insisting the email hasn't come. The two circle each other, each demanding to know if the other is a Twelve agent while deliberately avoiding answering themselves.
When Irina gets dropped off at school again by her mother's boyfriend (Ion Grosu), Villanelle is waiting for her. It's not long before they're on a race track, with Irina at the wheel. The kid tries to insist Villanelle's not coming with them, but she accidentally lets slip where Konstatin is heading: Cuba. Back in London, Konstantin is in a car as well: Carolyn's. She's taken his wallet and tossed it out the window, demanding to know why Kenny's phone is full of calls to and from Konstantin's number. Except she's phrasing it as "what did you want with my child," which pulls a different confession: Geraldine kissed him first.
Oh. (Ahem.) Well then.
Once Carolyn straightens Konstantin out that she meant Kenny, he comes back with another twist. Kenny called him the day before he died, but it wasn't about The Twelve. Kenny asked if Konstantin was his father. Carolyn throws Konstantin out of the car. At home, she and Geraldine have it out. Carolyn admits she's not been a great mum, because she cannot lie. But since Geraldine doesn't seem to have that problem, she can start talking. Poor Konstantin spends hours walking home. But when he arrives, someone is once again waiting. It's Paul. The Twelve are concerned. Charles' wife, Bertha, has wound up dead, but not by them. Whoever ordered the hit must be the person siphoning the funds. He asks Konstantin to solve this mystery.
Meanwhile, over in Barcelona, Dasha and Eve are bowling for answers. Dasha provides quite a few, including admitting she was Villanelle's trainer, and that Villanelle has been promoted upwards in the Twelve. She also all but admits she was the one who pitchforked Niko, for what that's worth, before telling Eve that despite her perfect bowling score, she will never win. But Villanelle isn't winning either. She's in Romania, working as the beautician for the politician in question (Calin Bleau), taking him out with a hairdryer. But it's not her usual clean job. He stabs her in the arm with scissors, and she leaves a trail of bloody footprints on the way out the door.
Back in London, Konstantin is packing, fast, and leaving messages for Irina that school's out early. In response, she waits in the car outside the house, and run's over mum's boyfriend on the way out. Back in Barcelona, Villanelle is bleeding in the bathroom when Dasha comes home from her bowling match. Villanelle's first words are that she's out. (So much for keeping things quiet?) It's not long before she's backtracking, trying to tell Dasha she got promoted and her mentor can go home to Russia now. But Dasha refuses to leave. Obviously, Villanelle needs her, and she stitches her girl back up. As she does, Villanelle cries that she doesn't want to do this anymore. Dasha sighs. She has work to do.
