'Killing Eve' Season 3 Ending Explained: Why Carolyn killed [spoiler] and what it means for Villanelle and Eve
Spoilers for 'Killing Eve' Season 3 Episode 8: 'Are You Leading or Am I?'
Finally, after eight long weeks, we find out the answers behind Carolyn Martens's (Fiona Shaw) son - Kenny Stowton's mysterious fall to death. In the latter half of Killing Eve's Season 3, Episode 8, we see Carolyn invited to Kenny's workplace, where his boss and coworker's show her video footage of Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) coming to meet him the day he died; presumably moments before his death. Later, in what looks like a roundtable confrontation, Carolyn sits down Konstantin and his entourage - Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) - along with Carolyn's coworker Paul Bradwell, who she learns is definitely working for The 12.
Yet after a heated interrogation and abysmal confession, Carolyn asks Konstatin to kneel down, as she points a gun at his head. Moments of deliberation later, she finally pulls the trigger but points the gun at Paul's last-minute, swiping his life with one fine bullet at the forehead, leaving Eve rattled and Villanelle impressed. Why did she kill Paul when she knew Konstantin let her son die? And what does a member of The 12 dying on Villanelle's watch mean for her future with Eve? Worry not, we have some theories explaining the teasing, titillating ending.
To start off, Carolyn kind of always knew Paul worked with The 12. She event sat him down in his very own office and had confronted him about his job description with the murderous organization around the globe not all that long ago. Konstantin confirming that he was indeed being bossed by her coworker added little fuel to the fire and as Eve outrages right after Carolyn killed Paul, he was their only source to the answers about The 12 that they had so painfully been digging for.
Meanwhile, Konstantin, might or might not have been Kenny's father and quite possibly even told him about the truth - making Kenny jump off the terrace on his own free will. Konstantin's version of the truth sees him trying to 'protect' Kenny from getting too close to The 12, and his fall just being an accident that Konstantin couldn't stop. So even with Carolyn having Konstantin at gunpoint, blatantly ready to shoot him, the only thing that could have possibly changed her mind last minute is the same thing Konstantin tries using as his main defense: love.
The two were a thing in the past and disturbing as it might be that Carolyn's own daughter was being coerced by this very man, Konstantin claims he loved the MI6 boss while she's asking him to get down on his knees. Almost as if praying to her for dear life, Konstantin continues pleading with Carolyn despite her stern demands to not utter the L-word. It's quite possible that Carolyn too feels the same for Konstantin because there is no other fathomable reason why she would let him go last minute. That, and of course, her burning, passionate hatred for Paul and his smug attitude.
But where one pair of former lovers find a way to bury the hatchet, the aftermath of their actions might prove to be quite worrying for our pair of lovers in focus: Villanelle and Eve. Villanelle, as we know, is on the run from The 12. Their new recruit and Villanelle's replacement crashes her and Eve's little tango-date to drag the professional assassin to her bosses, but on the way ends up getting murdered; inevitably. On the other hand, she already tried killing Dasha Duzran ( Dame Harriet Walter) with a golf club and Eve's subsequent crashing of the woman's rib cage causes her imminent death in a hospital bed. So with three killers' deaths on her watch, Villanelle couldn't possibly be in any more trouble with The 12.
She and Konstantin also have an escape plan drafted and sooner or later The 12 are going to catch up on that. But before any of that mayhem could ensue, we also got that teasing final scene between Villanelle and Eve, where the two once again almost let go of each other and walked their own opposite ways, but then paused and turned around. From what looked like one of those cliched we walk away and never look back again tropes, it became almost clear that there's no more denying that magnetic charm that keeps pulling them back to each other. Their smiles spoke it all and while Season 4 might begin with them caving into the chemistry they have given us for three years now, it will be fun to watch what hassles The 12 has planned for them.