Showrunners 005: Killing Eve S1 E3

In today’s episode, we’re talking about Killing Eve episode 3: Don’t I know You.

Recap Episode 2: I’ll Deal with him Later

• Eve is hired by Carolyn to lead a task force
• Villanelle kills some more people and is sidelined after a psych exam
• Eve and her team run into some dead ends, but then she realizes she might have seen Villanelle
• Villanelle is told that Eve Polastri is looking for her and Villanelle realizes she knows Eve

Intro to Episode 3: Don’t I know you?

• Villanelle makes another kill at a German sex fetish joint
• Eve erotically or flatteringly describes Villanelle to a sketch artist
• Eve and Bill go to Berlin to follow up on Villanelle’s latest kill
• Villanelle is on the prowl – she watching Eve from afar and steals her suitcase, and hacks into her phone call to her husband
• Eve gets information from a Chinese diplomat
• Bill follows Villanelle and is killed spectacularly and horrifically

Randall:

So, does Germany actually have these fetish shops?

Melanie:

I have no idea.  I’m so embarrassed this happened in Germany.  I’m from a small village and I have never heard of these places.

Inciting Incident

Melanie:

There is another murder, very out of the ordinary again. Villanelle killed a Chinese diplomat in Berlin. That’s a causal inciting incident. A new lead for Eve.

Now we’ve moved right in from the Beginning Hook to the Middle Build of the story

If you are familiar with Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, you might know that the transition from Beginning Hook to Middle Build is in most cases happening at the same time as the hero leaves the ordinary world and moves into the extraordinary world.

We see this in this episode – Eve moving into the extraordinary world.

Also, the episode has the purpose to highlight that no one is safe from Villanelle. 

Especially no one close to Eve. It’s like Villanelle was making a statement. And if we continue to track Eve’s journey or the hero’s journey, then Eve will soon find out how dangerous that extraordinary world really is. That’s basically, as mentioned before, what this episode is really about.

Turning Point

Melanie:

The Turning Point is when Eve is told that the nurse in the fetish shop used her name for the last assassination.  It’s a revelation for Eve, and now she knows that the assassin knows who she is. Eve is not a stranger investigating that case anymore, but her prey knows its hunter now and can turn the tables.

Parul:

I think the Turning Point comes later on, where Eve says to Carolyn “Please don’t fire me”.  So she doesn’t seem to be making any decision.

Randall:

I think it’s an internal crisis.

Parul:

What about this – Eve is in charge of a team, and when she is in Germany she doesn’t answer Bill’s call till the second time, and as a result, Bill dies, so she fails.  So I think the Turning Point is when Bill dies and how she progresses – does she stay on the mission or not. When I get stuck on a crisis, it is the most memorable moment and for me, that is when Bill dies.

Melanie:

But the Turning Point is when the tables are turned and that happens when she finds out her name was dropped by Villanelle.

Randall:

I don’t understand what the crisis question would be after Bill dies.

Parul:

I think it’s “What do I do?”

Randall:

I don’t think we’ll going to solve this, and we might both be right.  What do our listeners think? What’s the Turning Point? Let us hear from you!!

The Crisis

Melanie:

Does she continue to pursue Villanelle or not after she knows that Villanelle knows her name?

Parul: 

After failing as a leader when Bill is killed, does Eve continue to pursue Villanelle and be part of the team?

Climax

In both cases, Eve decides to continue to pursue Villanelle

Resolution

Melanie:

So, what happens when Eve makes the decision to go to Berlin.  People die. Her friend and former boss, Bill, dies. This is the second time that Eve has made a decision and afterward, people have died, the first being at the hospital in the first episode.  Death seems to follow Eve, and this can do two things: it can make her more determined or it can destroy her, and this is character building, it shows what kind of person Eve will be. Either way, it’s definitely personal now for sure.

Value Change

Randall:

Eve finds out Villanelle knows her name and now Bill is dead and the game is real

Polarity Shift: -/–

Parul:

I see a comparison with Bill getting killed and the Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones.  The night before, Eve and Bill are bonding and it’s too cute, like the party before the wedding, and the next scene everyone is getting killed in the Red Wedding and Bill is dead.  Whenever it gets calm, we should expect bad things.

Randall:

That’s good storytelling – surprising the readers and viewers.

Does this episode work?

Parul:

Yeah, of course, it’s dark.  I couldn’t believe they would add to the tension.

Melanie:

I just want to mention the scene when Villanelle hooks up with this older woman with similar hair to Eve and tells her “now I’m going to hide and you’re going to find me?”

And Bill tells his son that he’s going to die, a little foreshadowing there.  That was so sad.

Randall: 

• The middle build belongs to the antagonist, every good guy needs a worthy adversary
• In Killing Eve, that’s what the viewers get.
• Villanelle’s killings are unique, so she doesn’t bore herself or the viewers

Now if you look at Villanelle’s assassinations, they get more and more out of the ordinary. Vienna a surgical stab wound. Tuscany she injects poison in the eye. The massacre at the hospital. In Bulgaria, she is almost bored chasing that man in the office. Deadly perfume against the woman. And finally, a sex fetish killing in Berlin. 

Now, we have a personal reason for Eve to chase Villanelle as well as her professional reason.  And we want to see how Eve will get her revenge.

The audience is in it for the long haul now.

Worldview Perspective: 

Parul:

It’s kind of squishy.  Maybe Eve’s self-awareness is going up.

Question of the day

What other movies and TV shows can you think of that have prominent characters die?  Mentors?

Randy – Star Wars (Obi-Wan Kenobi);  Mistborn – Kelsier dies early on the book.

Mel – I love reading comics. So for example in Hellboy – Seed of Destruction Hellboy’s adoptive father dies. Or sir Reginald Hargreeves right in the beginning of the first volume of Umbrella Academy. Gandalf kinda dies in Lord of the Rings, but luckily he comes back as Gandalf the White. Antonius Proximo in “Gladiator”. Dumbledore in Harry Potter.

Parul – Game of Thrones, Red Wedding.

Did we miss any?  Write your favorite unique assassinations in our comment section on storygrid.com where you’ll also find links and additional material in our show notes.

References:

Vote for our next TV series at our website: www.sgshowrunners.com

Story Grid References:

• www.storygrid.com
• The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne
• Story Grid Podcast
• Story Grid Roundtable Podcast

Books, Movies, Television series:

• Killing Eve series on Amazon Prime
• Codename: Villanelle
• Killing Eve Episode Trailer
• Killing Eve Theme Song – Pshycotic Beats: Killer Shangri-lah
• Star Wars: A New Hope
• Mistborn Book Series
• Hellboy – Seed of Destruction
• Umbrella Academy
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• Gladiator
• Harry Potter
• Game of Thrones

The Story Grid

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Read these articles for more information about the 5 Commandments of Storytelling and the Editor’s 6 Core Questions from the book The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

For an example of how these techniques are used, read Jane Austin’s The Pride and the Prejudice with annotations by Shawn Coyne.

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