'Killing Eve' Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Eve finally embraces her murderous rage and beats Carolyn's outburst
Spoilers for Season 3 Episode 7 'Beautiful Monster'
A mother's rage and a lover's scorn are both equally terrifying and unraveling. But even with Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) finally embracing her outrage at her murdered son's fate, it is somehow Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) caving into her inherent darkness and murderous instincts that lead her to a win, even in an episode that would make one believe the show is actually about Carolyn.
Where one killer rises, another subsides, as is evident from Villanelle's (Jodie Comer) new promotion. It's no secret that killing her mother messed up Villanelle, and no matter what she does with wit and bratty nonchalance, it's just not enough for The 12. The episode sees her first-ever unsuccessful murder. It is as Dasha opines: killing her mother has rendered her incapable to kill as cold-bloodedly as she could. So probably to make up for the slacking and convince the organization that she doesn't need to be replaced, Villanelle decides to attempt to murder Dasha instead. And this is where her and Eve's worlds collide again. Eve tries to finish what Villanelle started when she, on a hunt for Villanelle, lands in a golf ground where Dasha is battered and racing against time.
Eve thinks Dasha is going to give her the lead to find Villanelle, but instead, Dasha reminisces fondly about Niko, thus revealing it was her who pitchforked him and not Villanelle. But before Eve could finally track Villanelle down, she is already on the run with Konstantin — whose daughter is being detained for being an apathetic murderous psychopath. It's tragic and hilarious in equal parts how many people want to kill Konstantin, as he self-proclaimed outrages to Villanelle. And why shouldn't they? As Geraldine tells him off by making "as much noise as (she) likes", Konstantin is the most selfish person ever and won't even wait for his own teenage daughter to get incarcerated for killing her mother's new boyfriend.
But if you thought Konstantin's family was dysfunctional, Carolyn would have a bone or two to pick with you. Last episode we saw her very diplomatically and politely put her own daughter down for trying to hug her. Geraldine's lament continues in this episode, and after Konstantin admitting he was using her all along, she is met with another disappointing parent, who somehow refuses to grieve her own son's death. The most open Carolyn has been to her daughter is in this episode, telling her Kenny's death was a homicide, and later asking her to not "come at (Carolyn)" when Geraldine tried hugging her, once again.
The only thing that humanizes this 'emotional iceberg' (props to the writers for that) is Carolyn finally pushing herself over the brink of her own outburst. When asked to act upon her feelings, Carolyn goes on a destructive outrage, breaking and smashing almost every piece of China in their house. It's slightly cliche, one almost expects her to say the stereotypical "was that enough?" after her imminent breakdown, but there's a certain poise to the way Shaw plays rage in moments like these. Her Carolyn brakes and composes, maintaining a balance as she goes back to showing no emotions once again. Eve, on the other hand, is an explosion of emotions with Villanelle telling her where they should finally meet properly. And in that, both Oh and her character win compared to Carolyn who has been the focus of this ongoing season.
'Killing Eve' Season 3 airs on Sundays at 9pm only on BBC America.