Spoilers ahead for those not caught up Season 3 of Killing Eve.
This week’s episode was a change of pace for Killing Eve, which followed Jodie Comer’s Oksana on her journey home for a short-lived reunion with her family. Episode 5 provided some much-needed insight into Villanelle’s past, combined with shocking character development. But as we move forward wondering what to expect next week, there’s a massive cliffhanger dangling in front of us we need to see resolved: the murder of Eve’s husband Niko, as committed by Harriet Walter’s Dasha.
The jaw-dropping kill had Dasha luring Eve to Poland with the expectation of mending things with her hubby after the events in Season 2. As revealed in Episode 4, Dasha was the one pulling the strings on their communication the whole time. Once Eve made it to him in Poland, Dasha stabbed him right in the throat and secretly killed him right in front of Eve.
Eve has certainly seen more than her share of death recently, and fans are really concerned over how Sandra Oh’s character will be able to cope with another major loss. That said, it was an interesting development that it was Dasha pulling the strings here. The Twelve seem to be following through with their plan to take out everyone nearest and dearest to Eve, but what about Villanelle? Is Dasha a threat to her as well? CinemaBlend had the chance to speak with Harriet Walter about her character in Season 3, and here’s what she told me:
I think it should be kept very much in the balance that we don’t know who’s got the power. I think that’s what makes it interesting. I think as far as Dasha’s reputation, it was hard for me to bring that to the screen because it’s all in the history and it’s not in the present tense. But Dasha was a formidable KGB assassin and trained other KGB assassins and Villanelle noticed that about her. But [Villanelle] has gotten quite cocky; she’s quite sure she could get the better of this old woman. There is a degree of fear because she does have this authority as somebody Villanelle came to Dasha when she was a broken person when she was very, very young. So Dasha was really instrumental in creating Villanelle. But I think Villanelle has surpassed Dasha now.
It’s really tough to tell where things will go from here, isn’t it? That’s exactly why we love Killing Eve. As Harriet Walter told me, there’s certainly a give-and-take situation happening between Villanelle and Dasha here. The latter has an upper hand because she really doesn’t know what to expect, but Villanelle is really on the top of her kill game. Dasha’s been providing Oksana with a fancy place to stay, along with the opportunity to move up with the Twelve. But then again, Killing Eve is great at setting up trust issues.
When discussing Dasha’s specific role in Villanelle’s character arc this season, Harriet Walter said this:
I think [Dasha] is vital in taking Villanelle into a different direction. You know she’s been watching Villanelle through all these past episodes because she’s in connection with The Twelve – she’s not a hire, but she’s in connection. And she’s dependent on The Twelve. They kind of pull her strings and they can provide her with what she really wants, which is to go back to Russia. They are the only people that can do that for her. So she has to get Villanelle on board and she uses all sorts of insights into Villanelle she has from knowing her when she was young. And she knows what it takes to persuade Villanelle to do things.
It’s good to keep in mind that Dasha has known Villanelle for a long time, so she knows how the devious killer works. Maybe somewhat in the same way that Konstantine does? Harriet Walter continued:
Villanelle has perhaps stopped listening to Konstantine, she’s going her own way and becoming a bit of a wild card. She’s lost the plot in a funny way, and Dasha’s there to draw her back and give her a purpose, awaken her ambition and give her a direction to go in.
Now that we’re midway through Killing Eve Season 3, there’s definitely a lot of questions we have moving forward and Dasha is moving closer to the center of the web. How is the season already half over?!?
Watch Killing Eve Sunday nights on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on the BBC America/AMC series as they develop.
