‘Killing Eve’ Season 3 Premiere ‘Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey’ Recap: No Moving On

Season 3 has just begun on Killing Eve and somebody’s already dying on us. That only means we’re off to an absolutely great start! This madness has been sorely missed indeed.

After that sort of breakup between Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh), everyone’s trying to move on. But, really, I don’t think the concept of moving on exists in Killing Eve. Everyone’s going to be pulled back in one way or another. Sadly, the repercussions of the events of season 2 are now catching up with our favorite characters.

Eve is a tad bitter. She and Kenny (Sean Delaney) have successfully cut themselves from MI6 with the latter now a journalist for an online publication. Carolyn (Fiona Shaw), on the other hand, is being reprimanded. Meanwhile, Niko (Owen McDonnell) is traumatized. And, of course, Villanelle is still well, Villanelle, ever murderous and ever crazy. But, that’s not the worst for everybody yet. After all, they’ve effectively poked The 12. Now, they’re going to pay for it. With that, here’s what went down in the season 3 premiere of Killing Eve. 

‘Til Death Do Us Part

Believe it or not, Villanelle is getting freaking married! How’s that for moving on? At least up until her old trainer Dasha (Harriet Walter) shows up and crashes the party that is. After the two end up brawling on the floor and driving away on the car labeled “Just Married,” it’s safe to say Villanelle’s going to be receiving some divorce papers soon.

Laura Radford/BBCA

Of course, Dasha didn’t just come to spoil Villanelle’s happily ever after. She’s come to take Villanelle back into the fold in exchange for her going back home to Russia. Desperate to convince her once best pupil, Dasha offers everything from luxuries to riches just to get Villanelle back. But, the assassin only wants one thing: to become a keeper.

Unlike Villanelle, Eve is thriving on a more low-key life, working in the kitchen of a Korean restaurant by day and drinking her ass off at night. It’s a big step down from her action-packed life from MI6. But, without assassins chasing after you every minute, it’s as good as a rich man’s life. On the weekends, she’s off visiting Niko who is in rehab. He’s a little spiteful of her. But, honestly, you can’t blame the man. That about sums up Eve’s quaint life now.

Holding Onto Strings

On the other hand, Carolyn is stepping down from her pedestal at MI6. Her stints last season on Killing Eve has come to collect their dues. From once being one of the top brass of MI6, she’s now being overseen by an arse called Paul (Steve Pemberton). And from the look of things, it seems it’s going to take a miracle for her to earn the respect she once had. Not sure if it’s connected to her demotion, but Carolyn’s also moving house. After everything that she’s pulled last season, Carolyn somehow deserves all this.

Nick Wall/BBCA

Kenny, meanwhile, is faring much better than his mother. He finally grew the balls he needed to quit MI6 and step out from under his mother’s shadow to a job he actually liked. Carolyn, of course, still looks down on it. But, Kenny’s done taking crap from his mother. Despite their little tiff though, the mother and son are still mother and son in the end. More than that, even though Kenny’s moved onto a new job, he can’t resist continuing to poke around the strings they’ve left hanging of The 12. He could’ve been alone in it all. But, thankfully, Eve comes through with a simple drunk message that has Kenny checking on her.

Continuation

On Eve and Kenny’s reunion, Kenny wholeheartedly apologizes for how he left things. And more than the usual catch up chat, he reveals he’s still looking into The 12. But, Eve wouldn’t hear a lick of it. She’s done with that life. She tells him she’s never going back down that path seeing that it almost got her killed. Kenny lets it rest but, it’s obvious he’s not going to let it go. He leaves Eve with an invitation for beers after work if she’s up for it.

BBCA

Somewhere else in London, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) is also trying to live his life as he would have minus assassins and MI6 for now, of course. He’s now trying out normal work life and paying more attention to his daughter perhaps. But, it doesn’t take long before he’s drawn back to the game. Inside an anonymous food delivery, he finds a pamphlet. Inside, there is a message. “Time to go fishing.”

The Game Resumes

Back to Villanelle, the higher-ups won’t be granting her request just as easily. She needs to prove herself first. How? Going back on the job. Her first welcome back job is a Spanish shop keeper/ political agitator. Putting on her flawless disguise as a delivery girl, Villanelle swings into her target’s shop with so much ease. Then, she puts on this whole sob story display of her grandfather being sick. Taken with the story, the shopkeeper offers some of her herbs. But, just as she’s reaching up to get them, Villanelle mercilessly pulls the ladder from under her feet.

BBCA

The fall doesn’t immediately kill the shopkeeper. But, after a few bashes to the head with a jar of spices, she’s dead. Adding a little mocking touch, Villanelle showers a bag of spices on the body imitating Dasha’s kill style.

Back in London, after a particularly stressful day, Eve finally takes on Kenny’s after-work drinks offer. When she gets to his office though, she finds it empty. Kenny’s things remain untouched. And his phone remains on the desk. Suddenly, a body drops on the garbage bins a few floors down outside. Eve hears the thud and is unconcerned at first. But, when she takes a peek at what made the noise, her eyes start to grow wide with horror. When she gets down to the empty lot, she finds Kenny’s body.

‘Killing Eve’ Season 3 Premiere Overall Verdict

The season 3 premiere of Killing Eve spent a lot of time catching up on what happened with our beloved characters. But, one thing I entirely did not expect is to be saying goodbye to one of them so early! And it just had to be freaking Kenny. The poor boy did not deserve this early death! He was just starting to spread his own wings and he was there for Eve. Then, he’s on the ground. Dead.

As sad as it is though, I think it’s enough motivation for the old team to come back together even though Eve and Carolyn might not have left things off too well. With Kenny’s death, it just got personal. I think with this, the game is going to be a lot tighter than it ever was. What isn’t clear to me though is how Eve and Villanelle’s relationship will move forward from where they left off. And that’s one hell of an exciting thing to look forward to. The madness is back indeed!

Killing Eve continues next Sunday, April 20th at 9/8c on BBCA.