Killing people is wrong. Everybody knows this. But on Killing Eve, Villanelle makes it look so… cool. She could totally have a side hustle as a guest speaker at high school Career Days and would likely recruit a cadre of teenage would-be assassins. Think of the perks. The job pays well enough to have a chic apartment in Paris with a wardrobe full of designer duds and a fridge full of champagne. Not to mention you get to travel the world on your boss’s dime. How else would most twenty-five-year-olds be able to afford trips to Vienna, Tuscany, Bulgaria, and Berlin in a matter of weeks?
Villanelle is certainly enthusiastic about her job. While this is ideal for her superiors, the spicy flair Villanelle adds to her kills is not. Her increasing need to show off and to attract the attention of MI6 agent Eve Polastri tends to get her into trouble. But hey, the viewers sure aren’t complaining. An unhinged, bloodthirsty hot mess makes for the best TV. So here is Killing Eve: Villanelle’s 10 Best Kills.
10 Diego
Villanelle’s grade school sandbox must have looked more like a bloodbath. The girl doesn’t play well with others. After she goes rogue one too many times, Konstantin forces her to work with a team. Diego is the team leader/glorified babysitter. By assigning him this post, Konstantin basically signed his death warrant.
Villanelle plays along with the new assignment for a bit, but has a miserable time. The whole experience confirms what she already knew: that teamwork is overrated. The easiest way to get Diego to stop bossing her around? Shoot him dead, of course. Which is exactly what Villanelle does.
9 Gabriel
In the age of the TV anti-hero, viewers are more or less cool with rooting for sociopathic killers. But when they kill a kid… that’s a different story. While recovering in the hospital, Villanelle is put in the same room as a young boy named Gabriel. The poor thing is burned almost to a crisp, the result of a brutal car crash that killed his parents.
Gabriel cries to Villanelle that he wants to be dead just like them. In one fell swoop, Villanelle grants Gabriel’s wish by snapping his neck. This lacks the usual panache of a Villanelle murder and in her defense, it’s more or less a mercy killing. That, or she just really wanted to steal Gabriel’s pajamas.
8 Zhang Wu
For an assassin who loves kinky power games, Villanelle sure hit the jackpot with her Berlin assignment. She infiltrated Hot Medica, a BDSM club posing as a doctor’s office, in which men pay attractive female nurses to “operate” on them. Villanelle is more than convincing as a dominatrix nurse and her client – or target – businessman Zhang Wu is none the wiser.
When Villanelle puts a gas mask on him, Zhang just thinks it’s part of the role-play… until he’s gassed to death. To add insult to injury, it was his birthday. This would have been a fairly clean kill, except Villanelle listed her dominatrix name as “Eve Polastri”. Like we said, Villanelle loves her power games.
7 Kasia Molkovska (among others)
Being an assassin is messy work and Villanelle sure doesn’t like to clean up her mess. Kasia Molkovska is witness to Villanelle’s stylish but sloppy hit on her boyfriend Victor Kedrin. Kasia is given protection from MI5, but no target of Villanelle’s is safe for very long. Villanelle’s assignment is a no muss-no fuss job: simply make Kasia’s death look like a suicide.
Yeah, about that. Villanelle tracks Kasia down at a hospital and stabs her in the throat, also slaughtering a nurse and two security guards for good measure. Villanelle manages to accomplish all this, complete with getaway, while Eve is in the bathroom. Maybe taking orders isn’t her thing, but Villanelle has efficiency in spades.
6 Julian
Villanelle would have made an excellent Clue character. Her ability to turn any household object into a stabbing device is spot-on. The Julian kill is also unique because it’s one of Villanelle’s only self-defense kills. He takes pity on an injured Villanelle and invites her to recuperate at his home. Little does she know, Julian is leading her into a V.C. Andrews novel. Note to viewers: if, for whatever reason, you decide to recover from a stab wound in a stranger’s home, and said home is full of dolls… run. It’s not long before Julian is forcing the weakened Villanelle to dress as a doll herself, for his own sick amusement.
Bad move, creepy Julian. Though it’s a struggle, Villanelle manages to stab him to death with a knitting needle. Then, just for laughs, she leaves him with a toilet brush in his mouth. After all, Villanelle is the one who pulls the strings and woe betide the person who tries to make her a puppet.
5 Carla de Mann
Villanelle enjoys symbolism as much as the next hitwoman. When her latest target is perfume mogul Carla de Mann, Villanelle whips up a little toxic eau de toilette of her own. She sneaks into a swanky function Carla is attending and follows her into the washroom, pretending to be a fan/budding perfumist and is able to convince Carla to smell her deadly concoction. One whiff and Carla’s life evaporates into thin air. Villanelle’s perfume proves to be so powerful, later it ends up killing her boytoy Sebastian as well. What Villanelle lacks in stability, she sure makes up for in chemistry skills.
4 Nadia Kadomsteya
Any ex-lover of Villanelle’s is on borrowed time. While Nadia’s colleague Diego had a quick and easy death, Villanelle tortured Nadia like a cat does a dying mouse. Upon their reunion, Villanelle promptly punches Nadia in the face and later runs her over with a car. Nadia ends up getting arrested, but being thrown into prison does have its advantages – like being safe from your deranged ex. Or so Nadia thinks.
Just when things are looking up for Nadia – early release from prison and safe passage to the UK in exchange for information – Villanelle gets herself thrown into prison so she can continue the job. The prolonged cat-and-mouse game continues, reaching its gory conclusion when Villanelle stabs Nadia to death in her cell.
3 Bill Pargrave
Bill was Eve’s colleague, dear friend, and a comic relief character for the show. It looked like he was going to be in it for the long haul. Instead, he lasts three episodes. After following Villanelle on the streets of Berlin, Bill thinks he has her cornered in a packed nightclub, but she turns the tables on him, trapping him in the crush of dancing bodies and stabbing him multiple times.
Watching this kill was like being punched in the gut and getting an electric shock at the same time. For Villanelle, it was a complete act of thrill-seeking spontaneity, like taking a last-minute vacation. She proved that her impish macabre pixie act isn’t an act at all; it’s just who she is. And you better watch out.
2 Frank Haleton
Frank was a turncoat who died in a dress. Like many great artists, Villanelle has to make a statement with her work. In the case of Frank’s murder, that statement is “twisted”. Though she honors his wish to be killed in the bedroom – even though she has a “thing about bathrooms” – that’s where the concessions end. Villanelle orders Frank to strip and that’s the last the viewer sees. Eve finds him dead, clad in her dress, with his “knob” chopped off. Painters have their paintbrushes; assassins have their knives. In Villanelle’s warped mind, this is considered a masterpiece. And no one would’ve been surprised if she signed her name in Frank’s blood.
1 Cesare Greco
This is Villanelle’s first kill the viewer gets to witness, start to finish. And what a depraved treat it is. Villanelle’s handiwork is more stylish than the September issue of Vogue. Leave it to Villanelle to pick the most glamorous time for a hit. In this instance, it’s during Cesare’s anniversary party in sun-soaked Tuscany. To lure Cesare away, Villanelle enlists the help of his innocent grandson – because bonus points if she can traumatize a kid in the process. Villanelle convinces the kid to hide while she presents herself to Cesare as an “anniversary present”. Then she stabs him in the eye with her poisoned hairpin. It is a party after all. Why not have a little fun? Villanelle always does.
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