Showrunners E11: Killing Eve E8 and the Ending Payoff

This week we will discuss the 5 Commandments of Episode 8: God, I’m Tired and the Ending Payoff.

Recap of Episode 7: I Don’t Want to be Free

• Villanelle gets free during the prison transport
• Villanelle fails to kill Constantin and he escapes
• Carolyn orders Eve and Kenny back to London but they go to see Anna
• Eve and Kenny see Carolyn meeting with Villanelle in the prison

Review of Episode 8: God, I’m tired

• Kenny and Eve confront Carolyn, Constantin and Carolyn are there together in her room
• Carolyn tells Eve that Villanelle has escaped
• Villanelle has kidnapped Irina, Constantin’s daughter
• Villanelle visits Anna, Anna kills herself, and Villanelle sees that Eve stole her passport and money
• Villanelle confronts Constantin and Eve, shoots Constantin and runs away
• Carolyn fires Kenny and Eve
• Eve decides to follow up on Elena’s lead that there is a Paris apartment paid from the same funds as Frank’s bribe
• Eve breaks into Villanelle’s apartment and wrecks it
• Eve admits she thinks about Villanelle and Villanelle does the same
• Eve stabs Villanelle, and Villanelle escapes

Inciting Incident

Parul: 

Eve has discovered Constantin with Carolyn.  This is important because she can no longer trust Carolyn.

Melanie:

Eve has discovered that Villanelle is free and not in prison anymore.  This is upending her world. It also turns on life and death since Villanelle is free to kill more.

Melanie suggests that Parul’s Inciting Incident might be linked to the Worldview, but not the Thriller.

Turning Point:

Melanie:

The most important progressive complications of this episode are that Constantin dies and Carolyn fires Eve.

The Turning Point is when Eve gets the call from Elena that there is a Paris apartment paid from the same funds that were used to bribe Frank.

The Crisis

Randall:

Does Eve go to Paris and risk her life even though she is fired.  Or does she go back to her husband in London and hope that Villanelle doesn’t come after her.

Climax

Randall:

Eve goes to Paris, she wants to see this to the end.

Resolution

Parul:

Eve confronts Villanelle, they have a lovers’ confession, and it seems like the hero is at the mercy of the villain, and then stabs her.  Eve uses her gift of determination in the end.

Melanie:

Villanelle can’t get over Bill’s death.

Value Change

Eve goes from betrayed by Caroline and Villanelle has escaped prison to empowered by stabbing Villanelle

Polarity Shift: -/+

Ending Payoff

Randall:

The 5 commandments of the Ending Payoff are the same as from Episode 8 as this episode is basically the Ending Payoff of the series.

All – Does this episode work?

As a Thriller

Parul:

The protagonist’s initial strategy to outmaneuver the antagonist initially fails – Eve constantly trying to get closer to the source and fails numerous times.  Eve is constantly trying to figure out what Villanelle is all about, that’s why she goes and visits Anna.

Eve has become the victim, as seen every time Eve and Villanelle meet face to face.

Core event – Hero at the Mercy of the villain, when they are on the bed at the end of the episode.  This is softened somewhat by the love story.

This series totally works.

Melanie: 

I really liked the innovations of the Thriller Genre.  I really liked it when Villanelle kidnaps Irina because you rarely see a kidnapped person that doesn’t listen to their kidnapper and talk back to them.

Randall: 

They’re both like two kids.  Or when Eve puts her gun down.  I really enjoyed this series. There was a lot of action, a surprising but inevitable ending, and lots of surprises.

As a Love Story:

Randall:

We have an almost kiss scene as Parul mentioned at the beginning of our season, but instead, Eve decides to stab Villanelle.  This opened the next season to develop this love story. There was only a handful of occasions when Eve and Villanelle had screen time together, so there wasn’t much time to develop this love story during this first season.

I watched this series twice before we did this podcast, but I completely missed the hair connection between Anna, Eve, and the tourist.  Kudos on both of you for bringing it to my attention.

Melanie:

I enjoyed the moment when Eve is disappointed because Villanelle says she wants Constantin and not Eve.  And Eve tells Constantin and Eve not to break her heart.

As a Worldview:

Melanie:

I think this is a worldview maturation because she wants to stop Villanelle for her herself because of her obsession with female assassins.

You could argue a morality story as well.  But Eve can’t fall for Villanelle because of what she did to Bill.

Randall:

I agree because it isn’t until episode 7 that she realizes that everything isn’t black and white, that Carolyn is not completely on the up and up.

Question of the Week:

What other Stories/ Movies/ Series have the hero confronting the villain in the villain’s lair?

Melanie:

Resident Evil, Return of the King

Randall:

Conan (the original with Arnold), Iron Man 1

Parul:

Shrek

Can you think of any shows we missed?  

Did this episode and the whole Killing Eve series work for you as a viewer?

Leave your comments on our webpage at storygrid.com where you can also find links and additional material in the show notes.

Also, write and tell us what television series do you want us to review next season.

References:

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
• Sex Education TV Series
• Resident Evil Movie
• Conan the Barbarian Movie
• Iron Man Movie
• Shrek Forever After

More Story Analysis

If you want to see more applications of the Story Grid methodology, below are links to my analysis of various novels and television shows in blog posts and podcasts:

Story Grid Showrunners Podcast – Parul, Melanie, and I analyze hit TV series using the Story Grid methodology.

My blog posts analyzing other Television series – my person take using the Story grid 5 Commandments to look at my favorite TV series – Jack Ryan, Batgirl, For All Mankind, Hanna, and more.

Novel analysis – I analyze some of my favorite books using the Story Grid 5 Commandments and 6 core questions – First Blood, Old Man’s War, Waylander, and more to come!