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'Killing Eve' season 2 episode 3 shows Villanelle's elaborate schemes for both killing and Eve

Be it murder or ruining Eve's marriage — Villanelle is leaving no stone unturned to do a good job at both. With an added bonus of splurging on clothes, of course

This article contains spoilers for 'Killing Eve' season 2

Killing Eve's season 2 is not "all about sex" as Sandra Oh's titular MI6 agent Eve Polastri will have you believe, but not everybody else around her seems to agree in episode 3 'The Hungry Caterpillar'.

It starts off with a good old style murder that our fashionable serial assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) executes. She dresses up as an aspirant at the workplace of a highly established hedge fund owner and takes him out quite elaborately — true to her signature style — by holding on to his tie as he steps into an elevator, thus making it look like the tie got accidentally stuck. Villanelle is quite satisfied with herself as she checks into a shady hotel under the name of a random Miss Thompson, which probably The Twelve registered her under — but not everything goes smoothly after that.

This comes as quite the shock as the trailer for the episode had teased Villanelle staying awfully calm about Eve targetting the new serial killer. She didn't even flinch at the idea of being replaced, not initially that is. In fact, she insists, Eve would be able to figure out the murder was committed by her right away, but Raymon succeeds at raising enough doubt in her mind that she feels compelled to go sneak on Eve's husband without the detective having even the slightest clue that her target is in her vicinity.

If anything, this episode is a brilliant portrayal of how elaborate Villanelle's plans are when it comes to succeeding at doing her job well, and more importantly, at keeping Eve hooked on to her. She finds out a way to pin false sexual assault allegations on Eve's husband at the school where he teaches, and this proves to be a bigger hindrance in Eve's already strained marriage to Niko. Right at the beginning of the episode, we see Niko trying to rekindle the charm in their sex life, while Eve rushes out in haste for work. Later she forgets to come home on time for an event at Niko's school, and things only turn worse once she finds out that Niko has been hiding the false complaints from her.

All of that definitely doesn't bode well for the couple still trying to get back to their groove after what happened in season 1, but Villanelle has other plans. She goes to the extent of creating really out of fashion beaded and glitter junk jewelry made out of boiled penne pasta. And she wears that too, as she puts on a false appearance with tacky clothes and red hair — pairing it with huge seeing glasses — just to arrive at the venue of the event Eve and Niko are attending. Additionally, she doesn't stop at just staling. She finds Niko's coworker, who is evidently into the man, and initiates a conversation on the woman's love life, by referring to Niko as her boyfriend — all in a ploy to get her talking about how close the two are, only so she can use it to break Niko and Eve up.

That Villanelle is into Eve and won't let her move on from the impact created their encounter in season 1's finale is blatant throughout the episode. She gets paranoid, acts out, goes on a splurging spree, and even seems dejected — all in an attempt to acquire Eve's attention. As usual, she is ready to leave no stone unturned purely because she believed whatever Eve has done to her was out of love. And Even though Eve might be busy trying to make it work with Niko, Villanelle seems to be convinced it's only because Eve is in denial about her feelings for the assassin.

Which is probably not entirely wrong. Back at Eve's workplace, when everybody is trying to debate whether Villanelle is back to killing or not, Eve takes one look at the photos from the hedge fund owner's death scene and remarks this isn't Villanelle's style. In her own suppressed manner, Eve also spills how observant she has been when it comes to her target assassin. While she might not be ready yet to address and label her inexplicable obsession with Villanelle, she isn't afraid to voice out her intuitions about the killer even in front of people at her workplace. It earns her certain uncalled for, crude remarks, but she is fully capable of shutting them down in her own manner.

However, there's one big thing to look forward to in this episode, as Kim Bodnia finally makes a comeback as Konstantin — Villanelle's former handler. Eve comes face to face with the older man too, and like her boss, Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) begs her not to be "cross" and doesn't get angry. But later we see Carolyn and Konstantin having a private dinner while certain intense questions are being addressed to by the former lovers. In short, things get more twisted and crazier by the second, especially since Villanelle happens to be giving out love advice to Niko's coworker and even suggests she "Make him doubt his wife." The simple woman responds with how manipulative that sounds, but Villanelle insists that's exactly how it works.

It's official: never take love or relationship advice from a serial killer. 'Killing eve' returns with season 2 episode 3 on Sunday, April 21, only on BBC America.