Killing Eve recap - what happened at the end of season two?

Villanelle murdered Aaron Peel

Killing Eve viewers will remember that during season two, Villanelle went undercover (as socialite 'Billie') for MI6 in order to befriend creepy tech billionaire Aaron Peel, who was attempting to sell a weapon that had piqued the interest of 'The Twelve' - a shadowy organisation that deploys assassins for their own means.

It turned out that there was far more to Peel than initially met the eye - namely that he was a fan and private producer of snuff films. Villanelle arrived in Rome for his conference, only to discover a computer file filled with videos of women like her who have been lured to Rome, dressed in the clothes Peel wants them to wear - and then murdered while he watched via hidden cameras.

Not that any of that scared Villanelle - nope, it was only when she learnt that Raymond, her dangerous former handler, would be attending a meeting with her and Peel that she accidentally uttered the code word "gentleman". A frantic Eve came to the rescue dressed as a maid, forcing Villanelle to break character.

An impressed (and potentially turned-on) Peel offered Villanelle a job, but after pretending to toy with the idea she brutally murdered him ("What a dick"), to Eve's horror.

It was all part of Carolyn's plan...

Just as Carolyn Marten's own son Kenny predicted, the ruthless head MI6's Russia division was working off an entirely different plan to the one that she had shared with the team - namely that when she hired assassin Villanelle to work as a undercover agent, she had been banking on her 'going rogue' and killing Peel.

It's probably why the code word "gentleman" was such a common word - she was hoping that Villanelle would accidentally use it and that things would go pear-shaped, providing her, Carolyn, with the perfect scapegoat.

Eve had been so desperate to 'save' Villanelle that she had even abandoned her colleague Hugo, who had been shot by a mystery intruder and was bleeding out in their empty hotel lobby.

However, when she returned to the hotel she found Hugo missing and their room cleared out - which is probably when the penny dropped that she had been played by Carolyn - and that she would be forced to choose between her and staying behind with Villanelle.

Villanelle tricked Eve into killing Raymond

Raymond, an associate of 'The Twelve' and Villanelle's violent former handler, turned up at the hotel - and attempted to finish what he'd started earlier in the season and murder Villanelle.

Mid-way through strangling Villanelle, Eve appeared behind him, and seeing that Villanelle appeared helpless, she planted an axe into his back.

But was Villanelle really so helpless after all? When Eve spotted a gun on her, it all fell into place - Villanelle wanted her to commit murder, under the apparent illusion that it was create a bond between them, or else that she would gain control over a frightened Eve.

Villanelle declared her love - but was rejected

Among some Roman ruins (very scenic), Villanelle said that she was "proud" of Eve, and that they could now run away together - but it was clear that Eve finally understood what the assassin really wanted from her.

"You want me to be a mess. You want me to be scared," she guessed. "But I'm like you now. I'm not afraid of anything."

"You love me! I love you!" Villanelle said, but Eve refused to play along with the "Bonnie and Clyde" narrative that she had imagined for them.

Is Eve alive?

"I thought you were special," Villanelle told Eve, who retorted that she was "sorry to disappoint".

But as Eve made to walk away, however, Villanelle pulled out a pistol and shot her in the back, before walking away and leaving her for dead - and ending the series on a major cliffhanger.

While it's now been confirmed that Eve survived the bullet wound, what does that mean for the two women? Can Eve forgive Villanelle, as the latter did following the end of season one (when Eve stabbed her in the stomach)? And when will Villanelle realise that Eve is still alive?

Killing Eve season three starts on BBC iPlayer on Monday, 13th April – the day after it launches in America. New episodes will be available to stream every Monday from 6am.

Killing Eve will start on BBC One Sunday 19th April at 9pm, just under a week later. New episodes will follow every Sunday at 9pm.

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