‘Killing Eve’ Recap: ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

To me, one of the many marks of good storytelling, is when a particular tale is able to enthrall and excite you to the point where you’re hungry for more and well, that’s something that Killing Eve is able to accomplish with minimal effort. Because week in and week in out, this dynamic series figures out how to shock and stun the audience and for proof, look no further than last week’s episode, wherein we came to discover that Konstantin was alive and well, and that surprising revelation left me counting down the minutes to this week’s episode because I was simply desperate to know how the heck he survived his seemingly lethal encounter with Villanelle in the season one finale.

As it turns out, last night’s episode, ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’, revealed that his survival came about from a touch of blind luck since the bullet missed his heart and now that he was free from the Twelve’s clutches, he was a touch more honest with Eve during their first encounter in this tale since he let her know that Villanelle was poison for the mind and the only way to keep her twisted machinations at bay was to engender hate in her heart. It was a simple message to say the least and one that seemed grounded in regret and reflection, but little did we know that his speech would have a little gravity in this tale, and while Eve continued along with the case, Konstantin pined for his family, and understandably so, since he clearly misses them, and he pushed hard to see if Carolyn would be kind enough to reveal where they were located, which of course, she refused to do.

Now I made mention of the fact that Konstantin’s speech ended up being a touch important in the end and well, it didn’t take long to realize just how relevant his words turned out to be in this tale since Villanelle, took her obsession with Eve to a whole new level. Because behind the scenes, and in-between the copycat murders that the Twelve were asking her to accomplish in order to get her into trouble with MI6, she was working to shatter Eve’s marriage. For a few complaints from a ‘student’ kept rolling in regarding Niko, and when given the opportunity to sneak into a staff and family party at Niko’s school, she made a point to embolden another teacher that happens to have a crush on Niko to push for something more, all in the hopes of creating the divide she needed to sneak in, and she even went so far as to gently drop a clue into Eve’s bag when our favorite Agent evacuated the building in the hopes of catching the master assassin and this was just another lovely change-up when it comes to the traditional cat and mouse game normally found in this genre.

However, what Villanelle didn’t count on, or perhaps she did, because she’s awesome like that, was that her decision to drop that clue, motivated Eve like never before to hunt Villanelle down and she pulled out all the stops, including offering Konstantin the address where his family was staying in order to get what she wanted. But, her efforts backfired greatly, because once the former handler came to realize that MI6 would make him nothing more than a patsy and a pawn, he went to visit Villanelle himself in order to try and recruit her into a little freelance gig where they would split the funds while doing what they do best. And to properly motivate his favorite assassin, he gave her one hell of a choice; ether join his cause or be arrested in a matter of minutes when MI6 arrived and oddly enough, the obsession our spy and assassin have with one another almost paid off for Eve, since she was able to figure out where Villanelle was hiding after waltzing in with a tactical team, but alas, Villanelle and Konstantin were too quick and managed to escape.

Of course, all of this drew Carolyn’s ire and rightfully so since an important asset was lost and the target got away, but one cannot help but admire Eve’s boldness in this episode. Because she really did give it her all in her attempts to bring Villanelle in, and this simply demonstrates growth on her part and clearly, if you mess with her and she will hunt you down in impressive fashion. Yet, what made this episode so downright fascinating, at least for me, is that it shifted gears in tone and design, moving away from surprises to give us a semi-traditional cat and mouse game and more importantly, this episode was intense and riveting and while it didn’t drop any major revelations into our laps, it still did plenty plot wise to leave me hungry for more. Because I’m dying to know more about ‘The Ghost’ and the competing franchise she works for, and I’m curious to see how Konstantin and Villanelle will fare on their own and of course, I’m left to wonder, can Niko and Eve’s marriage survive? Either way, I’ll be counting down the minutes to next week since this series does a fine job of drawing me in. Until next time. 

---