‘Killing Eve’ Boss & Star on That Major Move Against Villanelle, Pam’s Violent Actions

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Killing Eve Season 4, Episode 3 “A Rainbow in Beige Boots.”]

Considering there are still five episodes left of Killing Eve, a lot happens in the latest one, for Eve (Sandra Oh), Villanelle (Jodie Comer), and a character new to the world of assassins.

After Villanelle turns to Martin (Adeel Akhtar) for a therapy session (by taking him hostage — yes, really), Eve has her arrested. Meanwhile, things take a violent turn between Pam (Anjana Vasan) and her brother Elliot (Manpreet Bachu), which then sets her on a new path, courtesy of Helene (Camille Cottin). Watch an exclusive sneak peek of that below.

Head writer and executive producer Laura Neal and Vasan break down the key moments from “A Rainbow in Beige Boots.”

Villanelle Behind Bars?!

Eve tracks Villanelle down at Martin’s, and the point of that session was to allow Villanelle to ask if she’s “truly a psychopath or has she been branded one and is acting accordingly … in a way we haven’t seen her do before,” according to Neal. Eve then brings up the fable of the scorpion and the frog: They both die because the scorpion can’t change its nature. And then after Eve lets her take her hand, Villanelle is shocked to be arrested. Last we see her is in a cell.

“It’s a huge moment for their relationship,” Neal says. “For Eve, it’s proof that in her mind, Villanelle hasn’t changed and resetting something. ‘I should have done this ages ago.’ For Villanelle, it’s a huge shock to her because it’s a moment where suddenly she’s like, ‘Does Eve need me anymore? Why is she putting me away?’ Not being needed by Eve is awful for Villanelle.”

Anika Molnar/BBCA

Now that the assassin is locked up, “Villanelle goes on a journey of, ‘Who am I really? Who am I inside and who do I want to be and is change the right thing for me? Is it actually what I want?'” Neal previews. “For Eve it’s about, ‘What now I’ve locked Villanelle up? I wanted to not have any distractions because I wanted get on with my mission, which is revenge on the Twelve, but now I’ve locked her away. What does that actually mean for me and what I want?'” Eve’s actions lead to “one big shift” in their relationship. Expect “other big shifts to come.”

Pam, the Next Villanelle?

To say that Pam and Elliot aren’t the closest of siblings would be an understatement, especially after this episode. He threatens her, and she fights back, killing him. That was “adrenaline-driven,” Vasan says. “It’s like pushing on someone’s open wound for a long time, and then someone just snaps. I’m sure she’s had ideas of killing him — she’s clearly capable of it — before, but what would be the reason, what would allow her to do that is her situation with Helene and what that means for her. She found herself in a desperate situation and felt like she had to prove herself.”

Helene hadn’t thought Pam was ready. But, as Vasan points out, “It’s the quiet ones that you have to look out for. There’s definitely an element of that with Pam. On the outside she looks like someone who isn’t a killer. In many ways, she’s quite sweet and polite, but she’s also weird and there’s definitely a dark edge to her.”

Anika Molnar/BBCA

As a result, Helene has brought Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) out of retirement to train her. Their dynamic “was really fun for everyone who wrote it, including me,” Neal says. “Konstantin’s tasted freedom, and then he’s pulled back into that world. What does him tasting that freedom do to him and his attitude towards the job and his attitude towards training someone? We’ve not really seen him train a new charge. The last person he was connected to was Villanelle, so what felt interesting to us was, what would he do differently now? Seeing how it turned out with Villanelle and also having undergone this journey himself and everything that happened with his daughter, does that make for a different Konstantin? Have his priorities changed and therefore has his training style changed?”

Konstantin is unlike anyone Pam has encountered, especially since her only point of contact so far in this world has been Helene. He’s “a force of nature. He’s someone to be reckoned with, and Pam is the complete opposite of someone like Villanelle,” Vasan says. “It’s two people coming in and forced together. That is not necessarily an ideal pairing.” But with that “odd pairing” comes “a bit of humor and tension. That’s what makes the chemistry really interesting because she has no idea what to expect when she meets Konstantin.” Get a look at that first interaction below.

Right now, all Pam wants is “to get out of this miserable, drab existence she’s in,” the actress explains. “What Helene has promised her is a glimmer of something more colorful and a bit more aspirational. You just look at Helene and she’s aspirational. Pam might not know what is being promised in front of her, but she takes her bet that it might be something more exciting and extraordinary than what she has, which is quite sort of ordinary.”

So far we’ve mostly seen Pam in the mortuary at the funeral home with her brother, and it’s a scene there that stands out to Vasan so far. “[There] was a little improvised moment where after Eve leaves the mortuary, I go back to the body and I sort of apologize and go, ‘Sorry about that.’ It’s a tiny little detail, but I like that they kept that in because it happened in the moment and I think it speaks a little bit about Pam’s relationship with the dead. She actually loves her job and is good at her job and respects the dead.”

So what does that mean for her as she sets out to become an assassin? Well, she has a pretty good skillset as a mortician. “She’s able to sew up people and make them look immaculate,” Vasan points out. “That is a skill that clearly will comes in very handy if you’re gonna want to be an assassin.”

Eve’s Tension-Filled Relationships

It’s not just Eve’s relationship with Villanelle that’s been through some changes. As we saw when Eve and Helene met in Episode 2, we (and they) never quite know who’s in control. With Eve setting up another meeting, “you can expect more of the flip-flopping power dynamic and that tension,” Neal confirms. “That tension only ramps up.”

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A dynamic that has very much changed since the beginning of the series is that between Eve and Carolyn (Fiona Shaw). “I love that they’re in this completely different place, but I think what’s interesting is that they are tied to each other. The reason that they are both existing in this world is because they collided in Season 1 Episode 1 and they have this whole history with each other that neither of them can deny,” Neal says. “Looking forward, it’s about recognizing their shared history whilst also understanding that at times they are on collision courses and that they’re each other’s worst enemies, but actually they have this shared history that binds them no matter what.”

But we have to admit that it’s the next time that Eve crosses paths with Konstantin, whom she shot in the hand in the Season 4 premiere, that we’re most looking forward to. “Konstantin is somebody who doesn’t forgive very easily. If someone shot him in the hand, he’s gonna remember it,” the head writer teases. “I love his and Eve’s dynamic, but it’s never been buddy-buddy, so you can expect a bit more tension.”

Killing Eve, Sundays, 8/7c, BBC America