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wearevillaneve · 1 year

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What we don't talk about in the KE fandom.

Easily one of the best deconstructions of the repulsive way Killing Eve destroyed the four seasons of goodwill it built up was written by Vulture essayist Angelica Jade-Bastien's "Killing Eve Chose Cruelty". In four words, Jade-Bastien captured why weeks after the last gruesome minutes of the show flickered away from the eyes of horrified viewers it continues to burn and sear into their minds.

The fourth installment to the series, but particularly its last two episodes, demonstrates how far the show has fallen from the dizzying heights of its premiere. Gone is the delicious fashion pivoting on moments of transformation in the manner of fairy tales. Gone is the supremely precise characterization, replaced with a confused internal logic that jockeys the characters according to the needs of its threadbare espionage plotting. Gone is the spry presentation, achieved through blocking, editing, and costume and production design. But most important, gone is the tense cat-and-mouse game between Villanelle (Comer) and Eve (Oh) that acted as the engine. Killing Eve is a study in how jumping from different showrunners each season can leave a series without a profound singular voice — and it is evidence that a shallow understanding of representation and the female gaze isn’t enough to create a memorably good, cohesive story that gives a damn about the women onscreen. It amounted to a finale that gave once perpetually ravenous viewers a paltry version of what they wanted before snatching even that away.

Read the entire essay and it makes you feel better about the nonsensical trash Laura Neal dreamed up one night over too much cheap beer. Jade-Bastien brings up the one problem that predates Neal and the KE fandom hasn't talked about nearly enough.

This is a topic that many in Killing Eve's non-White fandom are well aware of, yet many of their White peers are oblivious to. Racism? In my favorite show? How could that be? Real easy.

The obvious and overt racism of Donald Trump or Kanye West is in your face and it can't be easily ignored. The soft, but pernicious bigotry practiced by the KE writers' room was manifested by keeping Eve an enigma from beginning to end. She was never given a family or life outside of her job, marriage, and the obsession with Villanelle that cost her everything. It's an irritation to know less about Eve than we do about Gemma, Geraldine, or Pam, but that's where we are. Eve was an enigma because she was never written to be anything else. A decision was made by someone to ensure nothing more than the bare minimum would ever be known about Eve. She was given a name and the bare bones of a backstory, and that's all.

For many in the KE fandom the Villanelle solo episode is their absolute favorite. It's one of my least favorites because it made erasing Eve official as Villanelle forgets all about her and so much so in "End of Game" even her name isn't uttered.

KONSTANTIN: I don't think you really want this.

VILLANELLE: I want it!

KONSTANTIN: You know what it means? It means you have to leave everything, the clothes, apartment… and her.

VILLANELLE: I know.

"...and her." "Her" has a name and it is Eve, but to Heathcote that wasn't important. That was a disservice to Sandra Oh, the actress who brought Eve Polastri to life even though she was not allowed to be more than a one-dimensional cut-out of a character. Remember Oh was one of the two stars of the show. This was one of those rare occasions where the titular lead character gets less fleshed out than multiple supporting ones.

That's not accidental. It was deliberate and it robbed Eve of her agency and autonomy. She really was little more than "an Asian woman with amazing hair." Eve was the lone woman of color constantly reacting in a world of Whiteness. Phoebe Waller-Bridge boldly chose to be colorblind in casting Sandra Oh as the very British and very White Eve Polastri and deserves all the credit in the world for it. Unfortunately, when she left she didn't leave any instructions to her successors on what to do with Eve, so they all chose to do nothing. After the show ended some sought to scapegoat Sandra Oh for the lousy last season stating as an executive producer she must have approved the direction the show went when Suzanne Heathcote and Laura Neal became the lead writers. Nobody knows how much input Oh had into the writer's room, but if she did that means she went along with a noticeable drop in screen time and the complete absence of a backstory for Eve. It's hard to believe any actor would deliberately reduce their own role in just the third season of a show, but that's exactly what some KE fans believe Oh did. They're the same ones who say Villanelle needed a stand-alone episode to explore her history, but have no issue with Eve being devoid of a past. This isn't racism in the Killing Eve fandom. Most of the fans don't show up that way. What they do instead is fail to notice how little Eve there frequently is in Killing Eve. It's not necessarily racism, which is bad, but it is erasure, which isn't good.

#killing eve #eve polastri #killing eve analysis #where is eve?#yeah that happened #sandra oh #villanelle #phoebe waller bridge #suzanne heathcote #emerald fennell #laura neal #new york magazine #ke s4 #supporting characters #i don't want to call it racism #but it’s there #sandra oh is my eve polastri

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ziracona · 1 year

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The REALLY long hesitation on every player trying to decide if they’re really going to just let John shank Amanda Waller and coldcock a Fed as Bruce Wayne to keep him from being shot and the fact literally all of us go “…Yeah I am”

#the tension between a Telltale player and the ‘…IN FOR A PENNY IN FOR A POUND!’ ‘….fuck it. IM DOIN IT!’ moment in the Bridge Scene #batman the telltale series #one of the best moments of all time in gaming I stag #the solidarity between a Telltale player and ‘I’ll miss you’ ep5 twdg 🤝 Cold clocking a fed so John can shank Waller 🤝 ‘are you kidding? you #did amazing!’ twdg s4 ep 5 🤝 not really caring Narissa lied her ass off 🤝 stan Loader Bot 🤝 Plan B #batman the enemy within #telltale batman spoilers #telltale batman #auto is all about making any use of slang impossible for me today I see

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moonbeam134340 · 1 year

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My concept for killing eve season 4:

After the scene on the bridge villanelle and eve decide to track down the twelve (and kill them but that was kind of an unspoken agreement)

So villanelle and eve spend the season travelling the world, looking sexy and tracking down members of the twelve. Trying to uncover who the kingpin is and planning to take them down.

Meanwhile Konstantin and Carolyn are trying to track down Villanelle and Eve respectively. Worried that the pair might come after them as well. Carolyn is also trying to cover up her involvement with the twelve and trying to get revenge for her son.

The entire season Villanelle and Eve come to terms with their feelings for each-other and realise that their Bonnie and Clyde schtick can’t last forever and once they finish off the twelve they plan to fake villanelle’s death. (Maybe Eve is the one who *fake murders her)

And the season ends with the two of them in Alaska.

Debating if Carolyn and Konstantin should:

1. help Eve and Villanelle gain freedom

2. Get assassinated at the end by Villanelle and Eve (Sorry baby)

3. Have Carolyn and Konstantin kill each-other

#killing eve #villanelle #eve polastri #killing eve season 4 #killing eve s4 #villaneve #carolyn martens #pheobe waller bridge

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villlanesque · 1 year

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some quick canon divergences -

after konstantin informs them their family is still alive after they'd been lied to by the twelve, villanelle spends some time doing freelance mercenary work before their overall discontent with the work they're doing leads them back to russia to track their family down. they pointedly avoid anything about eve, writing eve off as dead, though the idea of what they've done makes them sick but refuse to process it and don't understand the emotions that come with the thought of anything having to do with eve. by visiting the only other person with power over them--their mother--they think it'll make things right, and reset things to the way they once were.

of course, it doesn't go well; their mother is the same as she was before--abusive, cold, and unkind, not only to villanelle but their two younger brothers as well. villanelle murders their mother and sets their childhood home ablaze and finds their way back in with the twelve. in their fragile emotional state, training to become a handler with dasha, their own handler, doesn't bode well; it worsens when they're assigned to a target in london, which is how they find out eve is still alive and decide to confront them. it ends in eve kissing villanelle after they fight on the bus villanelle confronts her on, and now with eve's presence also making itself known, they can't deny that they're no longer who they once were, that they're no longer empty. the darkness that once was their life is no longer, and eve had helped to turn on the light.

dasha becomes increasingly hostile to villanelle, and this escalates into villanelle leaving dasha for dead instead of killing a mark in scotland, fleeing with konstantin. everything rolls out in the same way as the rest of s3--konstantin has a heart attack at the train station that villanelle is trying to depart at, villanelle and eve find each other once more, and carolyn confronts konstantin with villanelle and eve at her side.

as for post-s3... well, the fact that villanelle starts off completely removed from eve is such bullshit, and i'm willing to write post-s3 content but there's no way that eve and villanelle walked away from each other after the scene on the bridge. so, any post-s3 content will assume eve and villanelle are together in some way, and are likely searching for the twelve on their own.

my default for interactions will typically be when villanelle is doing freelance work, or will be mid-s2 or pre-s1, when they're working for the twelve, though i'm extremely hesitant to do most interactions pre-eve because villanelle's entire characterization does hinge upon their love for eve and how that's made them grow as a person.

that being said, i am trying VERY hard to fit villanelle's church era into this as best as i can because i do actually appreciate it so i'm totally down to do that as an au. it would just not be post-s3.

#META.#i suppose! i just. ugh.#if only phoebe waller bridge stayed on for all 4 seasons :(#for real i just think... villanelle without eve is empty. and i like to think that maybe they could develop and grow without eve #but... i'm not sure about that at all.#just felt. weird to me that the writers of s3 and (more so) s4 tried so hard to divorce villanelle from eve when lmao.#w/o eve there'd be no villanelle as we know them

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smoothqueen · 2 years

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Harley Quinn S3 finale

I take back what I said about my faith being shaken in the showrunners it is fully healed and better than ever! I can’t tell you how relieved i am! This is why DC comics needs to stop putting Harlivy in the on n off category. Still, what does this mean for the crew? They got their own things going, maybe some small jobs from time to time idk, yeah that really needs to be discussed next season. Just kind of feels like they went their separate ways without a proper send off. Kind of sucks Frank lost his powers but he ain’t lost his humor which I love most about him.

“He’s also guilty of being a thief and a bitch!” -Frank the Plant

I’m proud of Bruce, Barbara, I think Gordon still has a bit of ways to go. Bane needs to shine next season. I’m especially proud of Harley although I expect some old habits to die hard. If Clayface wins an Oscar I am done. Ok I admit I’m proud of Joker too. I still think Ivy needs to open up a bit more. Who do u think will be the big bad next season?

Amanda Waller

Lex Luthor

Return of Darkseid

Enchantress

Brainiac

Ra’s Al Ghul

Talia Al Ghul

Jason Todd

Floronic Man

Oh god I’m just realizing season 3 has just ended and I got nothing else on my watch list except Rick and Morty.

Demon Slayer Swordsmith arc, AOT finale season part 3, Ice Adolescence if and when yeah I fell deep and now Harley Quinn S4 are on my waiting list! Curse my lack of patience!

#harley quinn the animated series #S3 finale #harlivy #harley quinn #poison ivy #batfam #hbo max

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mak996 · 2 years

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Guys guys just hear me out. Imagine IMAGINE Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh as the main characters on big swiss And Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the main and ONLY writer in the series! What can we do so we can get this? What petition there is to sign? This would be the only thing to mend my broken heart after the disaster of s4!

#killing eve #eve and villanelle #jodie comer #sandra oh #big swiss

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noahsartt · 2 years

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some thoughts i have on the killing eve finale because i can’t think about anything else:

i saw this post :

and i wanted to elaborate and share some messy thoughts.

every reference they had in the finale to ‘divine reunion’ & the kintsugi ‘taking your broken bits and making them stronger by coming together’

but once eve chose to go to villanelle they actually made it work. and that’s what makes me so sad because it wasn’t either of their faults that it ended tragically, they found each other finally. and there was STILL death.

dying in a way that matters is one thing, and it’s heroic which would have been a good callback to carolyn telling eve that ‘the hero only gets the girl in hollywood’. like eve thought she was the hero, but in the end it was villanelle who saved HER. it could have been good like that but instead they chose to murder villanelle for nothing.

it’s pretty cruel of the writers to reduce her life to nothing and make her die due to some plot convenient twist. right when happiness was in her reach and right when she knew for sure that she was capable of being loved, which everyone kept saying she wouldn’t be because she was ‘evil’ and ‘a monster’ etc etc. i’m so happy that she atleast got to feel love from the person she loved the most (even if laura ruined those moments when she talked about them in her interview )

in my own version of an ending for them, they wouldn’t die. as i said, there would be meaningful ways to kill them off but i don’t like to think of them as people who were ‘doomed from the start’. especially not after they have such a beautiful reunion. those romeo & juliet, thelma & louise, and scorpion and frog references were too much for me </3

in my own version of an ending there would still be a degree of ambiguity and open ended-ness, but it would end as them being the versions they were always meant to become, separately and together. i feel like their stories could have started out so differently, and they’d still find themselves together in the end.

let’s a raise a glass to the red string metaphor:

the set up for these characters was so perfect, and the ending felt cheap and rushed compared to the complex and beautiful nature of their story. after everything they’ve been through, they deserved to come out of it. it is not creative, entertaining storytelling to kill off a character last-minute, who’s life had changed because of another. and also in eve’s case, she lost her person right when she accepted her.

also this season in of itself was comprised of so much filler… for example, what was the point of pam and yusuf? hugo could have easily been yusuf. and pam’s character was useless after she ended up rejecting carolyn’s offer when her whole arc was built on learning to follow orders and kill when she’s told to without asking questions ( like she did with helenes ex gf & konstantin). how were the twelve and kenny such a big plot point but we never found out the truths about any of that either. not to mention how villanelle killed the supposed twelves in a 15 second montage while eve was dancing?? it feels like a very bad fanfiction.

they could have easily tied pam into the bigger picture if they followed something like this :

i think it would have payed off a bit better if v & e heard gunshots so they jumped into the water and we thought they got hit but then it cuts to carolyn dead on that bridge and then to pam lowering her gun and walking away. pam once again “choosing” the assassin lifestyle by killing carolyn since at the end of the day carolyn will always be loyal to MI6. then it would cut back to v & e and they’d floating in the water, not shot, and very much alive.

a greater plot twist than what we got.

what actually ended up happening seemed like a failed attempt to visually re create dani & jamie’s ending in ‘bly manor’. unlike with killing eve, dani died with purpose, and died a real hero; her death was a key plot point and it was not some half-assed last second attempt at shock.

it could have been so much better if laura gave a shit about these characters the way phoebe did.

also, the entire subplot of villanelle being obsessed with christianity out of the blue, wanting to “get better” and finally when she accepts herself and is loved for who she is, then she dies—and according to laura, eve has had a “rebirth” and is going to go on and live the life she “deserves”…. how homophobic does she want to be?? that was not a scream of relief from eve as laura is trying to make us believe it was, sandra oh screamed in pain and horror. eve was heartbroken. she was not relieved.

i also cannot believe that laura said eve was happier around “human beings”… basically saying villanelle isn’t one, and dehumanising her so bad. when the POINT of the show is for us to empathise with the villains as phoebe said, and villanelle’s own journey was realising she was more than just an assassin and that she was capable of a life that satisfied her, a life with love. but no, laura really just dehumanised the fuck out of her and said slay eve is better off without her.

why can't people see that eve doesn't want another ‘chance' to 'get it right.' she's not the same woman from s1 (maybe she never was). i think she surrounded herself with people who were forcibly doing ‘the right thing' so she could pretend she was happy that way. but she wasn't.

and it was so obvious with the way she was chasing after villanelle. because villanelle represented this part of her that she pretended wasn’t there and she didn’t realise how powerful that part was until she found someone else who embraced it. on a surface level it’s the killing and the murder, but the subtext screams with queer undertones and that’s why the story between them resonated a lot with the majority wlw audience.

i don’t think fictional stories are ever just stories, not when they impact people in real life to this capacity. the amount of people who were re-thinking if they deserved to be happy in their own lives because of the way killing eve ended really broke me. and it’s not this dramatic overreaction either because traumatic endings with queer couples is all we’ve ever known.

it was devastating that killing eve, a show that had subverted those stereotypes in the past, built its legacy around it, had followed through with the worst one of them all in the end. bury your gays is such lazy writing i’m so tired. with eve in the earlier seasons, even her husband couldn't see that side of her that villanelle had & it frustrated her because she was scared of it. but then villanelle made it make sense and it scared her more that someone lived so freely that way. that's why she was so hesitant & she walked away so many times. being confronted is scary. that was good storytelling.( i mean of course villanelle was in a cage of her own) but eve saw everything she could be in villanelle. through everything, all her hesitation and morality, she found her way to villanelle and the two of them finally made it work, they finally had it all. her happiness WAS villanelle. it’s sad to see how the s4 writers saw villanelle the same way her mother did , a one dimensional psychopath with an incurable darkness :(

it’s so clear too. when it comes to the tarot cards, villanelle got the sun card, and to her being loved back by eve = the sun, pure and true happiness (even if it was only a few hours). eve got the death card, having to live without villanelle especially after they came together is worse than a physical 'death' for her.

it's unfathomable to be that people can't see that. and furthermore, why would the writers write eve to have been happy to “escape villanelle” when they wrote her to say that she didn’t like it when villanelle got shot with the arrow, just 3 episodes earlier…nothing is adding up between what we see on screen and the narrative laura neal has in her head. if we aren’t interpreting it the way you wanted us to, laura, (which NOBODY is) than that’s on you , not us. especially, ESPECIALLY when you never seemed to know the souls of these characters to begin with.

killing eve is a love story at its core. their mutual understanding of each other was the only thing in both of their lives that made sense. there would be no point otherwise. phoebe literelly said that every scene in the show was for the purpose of getting v and e to be close, everything was supposed to lead up to it. being seen by someone beats everything else, that's real love. the implications of the finale felt very homophobic. i'm so tired.

what i used to love about killing eve was the complex nature of the femme fatale trope, and the way it was so effortlessly queer. it was powerful the way the queerness was never this massive talking point. it just was. villanelle’s female gaze for example>>>>. i have never seen anything depicted as well as it was depicted through her eyes. and the subtle emphasis of how femininity could be vile , scary and lethal. villanelle changed so many things just by existing in that show and that’s why it means so much , that’s why the fourth season feels like such a slap in the face because it didn’t feel like the others (s3 was questionable too ).

and more so the fact that straight viewers and professionals recognise how bad this ending was. it’s a huge backstab. eve’s speech at the end was completely about how beautiful reuniting with villanelle was, and they killed her after that for what? shock factor doesn’t work anymore :/ not even the actors were satisfied , but jodie and sandra did their best and really made the episode what it was. especially after reading laura’s interviews … yikes she really lost the plot and it infuriates me. it felt as though she hated these characters and never understood them at all. i could go on about this for ages but i don’t have to, just look at any news article on the finale or the 4x08 ratings…

i guess i’m just happy that villanelle got to experience that love from eve because that was what everything was ever for. for her story alone, i think killing eve will always be remembered despite the horrible ending. we have a right to be devastated.

there’s so much more i could and have said other times about this, but physically i am drained at the moment. and it’s been said and re-said all over twitter and in recent articles so i think you’re all aware.

rip villanelle you will always be famous to us.

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