RECAPS

Killing Eve Season 3 Finale Fashion Recap: The Last Dance

Villanelle and Eve decide to never look back—but can they?

by Steph Eckardt

Eve and Villanelle in Killing Eve
Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

What does one wear to a job interview? It’s an age-old question, and one we see Villanelle answer at the start of the season 3 finale. Though before you go copying her floor-length sequined, feathered statement coat, note that it doesn’t do Villanelle any favors in convincing Carolyn to hire her for MI-6.

Still confident as ever, Villanelle invites Eve to a date at an opulent ballroom. She’s sitting there, watching the dance floor at a two-person table, when Eve arrives and takes the other empty seat. “How are you?,” she asks, perfectly normally. “I did my first-ever kill in this country here,” Villanelle says. “Imagine if I’d refused. What do you think I’d have become? Interior designer, maybe.”

Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens and Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

“If you had, it would have saved me a lot of heartache,” Eve says. For once, she’s being candid about her feelings for Villanelle. But Villanelle is clearly distracted, only voicing disjointed thoughts like how she wants to be happy and care-free. Eve asks what happened, and Villanelle starts tearing up. When she does join Eve on the dance floor, it’s as slowly and timidly as a scared deer.

The pair doesn’t so much dance as sway, holding each other close. It’s never been more apparent that they’re an odd couple; Eve is in her signature everyday fur-lined parka, and Villanelle is towering over her in an impeccable two-piece patterned suit. “Do you want to be like that?,” the latter asks, gesturing towards a beaming older couple. Once again, Eve is surprisingly direct: “Not anymore. We’d never make it that long. We’d consume each other before we got old.” Villanelle smiles: “That sounds kind of nice.”

Jodie Comer as Villanelle and Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

The closer they get, the riskier it seems for Eve. Especially the more Villanelle seems to get emotional. “I’ve killed so many people, Eve,” she says, tearing up and looking genuinely distraught. For once, she actually gives a reason for why she’s telling Eve to flee: “Our party’s getting crashed. Go, Eve, go,” Villanelle says, thrusting a receipt into Eve’s hand as Helène’s other lackey, Rhian [Yuli Lagodinsky], approaches, recruiting her to see their boss.

“Talk me through your outfit,” Villanelle says, balancing on her heels as she and Rhian wait for the train. “I want to be comfortable,” Rhian responds, baffling Villanelle, who says she was trying to look “devastating”: “Comfortable is what you make people with a terminal illness.” They continue to clash, until an inevitable physical confrontation. As a train draws closer to Rhian, who’s badly bruised and bleeding, Villanelle hesitates. For a few seconds, it seems like she’s really done with killing once and for all. But how can she not resist as the train approaches, when all it takes is a simple push?

Alexandra Roach as Rhian and Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

The piece of paper that Villanelle slipped Eve turns out to pertain to a security box—one belonging to “the Russian,” aka Konstantin. It takes a bit—including staring into the eyes of the betting establishment’s owner for seven long seconds, insisting she’s “not a very nice lady”—but Eve retrieves the package that Villanelle wants. The problem is, Konstantin wants it, too; in fact, he even escaped from the hospital in time to meet Eve just outside.

Meanwhile, Villanelle dares to go to Eve’s office. That’s not all; apart from wearing an unmissable mustard yellow Loewe cape-like coat and Ann Demeulemeester boots, she also wanders over to a bulletin board of gory photos and corrects what is and what isn’t her handiwork. Realization dawns upon the young woman at the front desk, who joins the rest in gawking at Villanelle behind the glass windows of a cubicle, as if they’re in a zoo.

Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

Realizing Eve isn’t coming back, Villanelle makes to leave—though not after answering the question she overheard about what happens to her victims’ dicks. But she doesn’t head to the train station; instead, she somehow ends up at the same place as Eve, Konstantin, and Carolyn—the home of the latter’s nemesis, Paul.

No one seems to know what’s going on—least of all Eve and Villanelle—except that a gun-wielding Carolyn is most definitely in charge. It’s hard not to think it’s cute when Villanelle and Eve heed her suggestion, and settle in a couch to watch Carolyn’s drama with Paul and Konstantin go down. Konstantin was clearly on the rooftop with Kenny when he died, but it’s Paul—the more master conspirator—whom Carolyn shoots, urging Konstantin to leave before she changes her mind.

Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri and Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

Even Villanelle looks shocked to see Paul’s dead body before her. But as Eve loses it, she and Carolyn confront her: The Twelve, they insist, cannot be destroyed. So, Eve makes a run for it. And Carolyn, mid-wiping off her gun, suggests Villanelle pursues her. She does—until they find themselves smack in the middle of the London Bridge, staring out over the Thames.

Last episode, it seemed guaranteed that Villanelle would have delighted in watching Eve step on Dasha’s chest until her ribs cracked. Upon learning of their joint murder, Villanelle declares it to be “romantic”—and Eve sentimentally responds that they’re the only people who would think as much. Villanelle, too, is getting sentimental. “I don’t want to do it anymore. Any of it,” she tells Eve.

As real as they get, they can’t help making each other laugh. “What, badly dressed?,” Villanelle says when Eve remarks that she used to be like any other person who’s peacefully walking over the bridge. She’s right; Eve isn’t—at the very least because she seems to think Villanelle is as much of a “monster” as anyone else.

Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri and Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve season 3 episode 8.

Laura Radford/BBCAmerica/Sid Gentle

Still, Eve pleads twice for help as they stare over the Thames, wondering what to do next. So, Villanelle proposes, they get back to back. They face the other way, they walk, and they never look back. And, for an agonizingly long time, they don’t. Until they do, at the same time—and the scene fades to black.

Related: Jodie Comer Muses on Villanelle’s Future in Killing Eve