The morning after slapping Aaron Peele in the face with a philosophy book and calling him a bully, Villanelle receives an apology and an invitation to lunch; turns out Konstantin was right, and the consummate control freak is a bit of a switch, and likes a little domination himself now and then.

You’re Mine” begins as something of a funhouse mirror of this season’s second episode, “Nice and Neat.” Villanelle again finds herself in the home of a man who wants to control what she wears and where she goes, only one who’s dangerous on a far vaster scale than creepy Julian was. And it ends as a reversal of the Season One finale. Last year, the season closed with Eve stabbing Villanelle, where this one concludes with Villanelle shooting Eve.

The BBC America show “Killing Eve” offers a fresh take on female characterization with its innovatively multi-dimensional lead character, Villanelle. Though she is a sadistic sociopath, Villanelle is written as a complexly emotional character, something Hollywood is failing to prioritize.

Within the first few pages of Angela Carter’s decadent novella The Bloody Chamber, a feminist retelling of the Bluebeard myth, is a moment that stops me cold. It’s early in the heroine’s courtship, after she is swept up in a romance by a libertine with a dark reputation: “And everyone stared at me. And at his wedding gift.

As Villanelle explores Aaron’s sprawling Rome house, she happens upon his surveillance room, where he has numerous folders on his computer labeled with various women’s names. After viewing her own folder, she opens one called “Matilda,” which contains footage of Aaron killing a woman in bed. If Villanelle were anyone else, this might be where she’d panic, but being who she is, she goes to breakfast with Aaron — where she utters the designated safeword for the operation.

Listening through her earpiece, Eve rushes to help, but is thwarted by a man trying to break into her room. She hides under the bed (what kind of assassin doesn’t think to check under the bed, honestly), then once he’s gone, she ventures out into the hall, where Hugo’s been shot in the stomach. After leaving the concierge a note about Hugo — which seems like a good way to ensure Hugo bleeds out, but whatever — Eve disguises herself as a cleaner and goes to Peel’s house to save Villanelle, but Villanelle doesn’t need saving. She tells Eve about the murdered women, and Aaron in turn offers her a job, promising her that “neither of us will ever be bored again.” Her first assignment? Killing Eve.

Luke Jennings is the person who created the captivating, but equally terrifying, Villanelle.
Her adventures on paper turned into the hugely popular television show Killing Eve.
It's become one of the BBC iPlayer's most streamed shows of all time, and series three has been a huge hit on iPlayer during lockdown. But we don't often hear from the man who thought up Villanelle's world.

Luke Jennings is an author and the dance critic of The Observer. He trained at the Rambert School and was a dancer for ten years before turning to writing.

Killing Eve's first season not only shot Sandra Oh straight out of her Grey's Anatomy scrubs and onto the Emmys red carpet, but it also brought with it the name Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Waller-Bridge, who was the writer and executive producer of the British spy thriller (she stayed on as executive producer of season two, however, didn't write the script), was relatively unknown on an international scale before Killing Eve's release in May 2018, however, it was the show she created beforehand - in 2016 - that's now getting all the attention.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is one of the entertainment industry's hottest new names—although after nailing two Emmy Awards, she may be more of an established creator than a rising star.