'Killing Eve' Season 3, Episode 7 Recap: "Beautiful Monster"
This week's Killing Eve opens with Villanelle waiting to be admitted to see Hélène, and growing paranoid about the suits of armor around her. It's not clear why she's been summoned, other than to deal with her sudden aversion to the job she's loved for two seasons.
It's not exactly a professional meeting. Hélène cuddles Villanelle, rocking her back and forth like a distressed child, and offering a therapy session to help her reach her full monstrous potential. Villanelle refuses to talk, which is par for the course, but she does ask for another job to prove herself. At least Helena doesn't have to send her newest recruit and pet, Rhian (Camille Cottin), to do Villanelle's job. but since Villanelle is injured, she'll take Dasha as back up.
Helena: You know why I love you, Villanelle? You're an agent of chaos. And I love chaos.
(Side Note: This week, there's a full opening credit sequence, the first I can remember in quite some time, and the first time Season 3 has done one. How do we feel about that?)
Back in London, Carolyn has turned her attention fully on Paul as the possible Twelve mole in the agency. Mo insists what's she's found so far is "standard white person stuff," but Carolyn demands he dig deeper. Somehow she knows Paul is guilty, and it's up to Mo to find the evidence, and Carolyn's not allowing him an omelet until he does. Eve follows in on his heels but doesn't get the privilege of a good omelet either since her focus is on Villanelle's promotion, which, in Carolyn's view, is proof Eve's obsession is still getting in the way of a proper investigation. "The hero only gets the girl in Hollywood," Carolyn reminds Eve.
Over at the Bitter Pill, Eve hits the recycling dumpster, looking for the bakery box her cake came in. She's got a hunch this may be a lead. It's a good thing she finds it because it's all they've got now. Someone ordered a raid on the offices, and everything — the computers, the paperwork, all of it — is gone. Thankfully Bear still has his laptop, hacks in, and turns up the Barcelona number Villanelle's been using and the credit card she used to pay for the cake. The card is still active, too, used all of 20 minutes ago in Aberdeen.
Konstantin is still stuck in Moscow. Irina's little game running over her mom's boyfriend has gotten her locked up, and the psychiatrist is neither swayed by money nor massage gift certificates to let this budding psychopath out. So much for Cuba. Konstantin tells Irina he's heading back to London. Once again, his apartment has someone waiting in it, much to his screaming frustration. It's Geraldine, dressed up and waiting to have a romantic dinner. She nearly leaves after his freakout, remarking how her mum is close to discovering "something big," and suddenly, Konstantin is all over a nice steak dinner. But it was a test. Geraldine is horrified to realize Carolyn was right: Konstantin is just using her for information.
Dasha and Villanelle are in Scotland, but it's not going well. Dasha is horrified by Villanelle's kilt, and Villanelle is horrified that Dasha insists on talking over her and contracting everything she says. The two are already fighting like dogs, with Dasha sneering at Villanelle that she thinks she may have one, but it's Dasha, who will go home and die with her feet up and her son by her side a good future, while Villanelle has nothing. It is her final kill before going back to Russia too, so Dasha is also in nostalgia mode, going on about the "great greasy tapestry of dead Americans" one could make from her victims. Villanelle pushes Dasha to make the designated kill since this is her last time, but Dasha sneers; this is just proof Villanelle has become a dud.
But the moment our victim, a loud American jackass (Sam Douglas), gets out of his golf cart to help Villanelle find her missing ball, she decides she can take this guy. He proves a misogynistic twit too, but somehow, Villanelle can't bring herself to kill him. Instead, she knocks out Dasha with her golf club and tells the hapless idiot, with his too-loose pants falling down, to run. He races out of the woods, crashing out to the road, only to run into an Uber, which obediently stops to pick him up. Inside? Eve, on her way to the hotel. The moment she hears his story, she throws him out of the car and has the driver take her to the 16th hole.
Eve finds the abandoned golf club sets and Dasha, who is not dead yet. As Eve walks up, Dasha smiles and tells her Niko had a lovely mustache, like Stalin. Eve, in a rage, steps on Dasha, trying to break her sternum. But sirens are approaching, and she runs back to the car, leaving Dasha's body behind. She's too late to catch Villanelle. Konstantin beats her to picking Villanelle up by a matter of minutes. They get to the train station to head out of Scotland, but the stress is all too much, and Konstatin's heart gives out on the platform. Villanelle grabs his instructions to get the money from the Geneva account and boards the train. Eve runs up to find a dying Konstantin lying surrounded by a crowd. She looks up and sees Villanelle on the departing train rolling away.
Konstantin does not die. When he wakes up in the Scottish hospital where he's been taken, a doctor starts talking to him about lifestyle changes and a need for less stress in his life. Konstantin starts laughing hysterically. His mirth is infectious because whoever is behind the curtain in the next bed over starts laughing as well. Konstantin looks over, realizing he knows that laugh. A very battered and bruised Dasha is lying next to him, laughing at the irony. The NHS is a little too effective.
While all this is going on, Mo has managed to turn up the evidence Carolyn wanted. He's over the moon to be pleasing the boss, but the omelets and bath bombs will probably have to wait. The woman on the park bench he blows by as he leaves Carolyn a message is Hélène's newest recruit, Rhian. The celebration over taking out Paul will have to wait. It looks like Villanelle has a replacement.
