Role Reversal
Let’s talk about the role reversal’s happening on Killing Eve at the moment. You might be thinking to yourself “what the hell is this chick talking about?” I’ll tell you. P.S. If you’re pissed at Eve or are doubting the show, this post is especially for you. Also, read this post I made last week if you’re wanting to understand why Eve is acting the way she has been.
Okay, the first and foremost thing we need to establish here is that Eve is still playing the part of the person she thinks she needs to be in order to survive, and they told us in a particularly clever way during Eve’s scene with Helene. The first rule of stage acting is that you never turn your back to the audience. When Eve was on that stage with Helene, Helene turned away from the audience implying that she is being her true self/not playing any part. But Eve never did. In fact, even when Helene was turned away from her, Eve seemed to be performing for the nonexistent audience.
Essentially, what’s happening on the show is that Eve is trying to “run” Helene using all the tactics that worked on Villanelle, hence these parallels:
Thanks to Sandra’s incredible acting, here we can clearly see the differences between what’s happening with Helene, and what happened with Villanelle. With Villanelle, Eve was trying to manipulate her (to a certain degree), but everything she did (as exampled above) was natural and instinctual, a result of her feelings toward Villanelle. But with Helene, it’s all copy and paste. Eve even goes as far as checking Helene’s reaction after she does each of these things, and once she sees they’re working, she continues.
With that said, I do think there are some deeper layers here with Eve that are going to complicate things. Two episodes in a row we’ve heard some variation of “Villanelle only liked the power she had over Eve”, and while we as an audience know that isn’t true in Villanelle’s case, I believe that it is true in the case of Eve and Helene.
With Villanelle and Eve, the playing field was never balanced. In fact, it was hard for Eve to get what she wanted from Villanelle. But with Helene, Eve has power over her, and has gotten everything she wants each step of the way thus far. So, I believe we’re getting a look at what the relationship between Eve and Villanelle would have looked like if Villanelle had truly only enjoyed the power and what she could get from Eve in these scenes of Eve and Helene. Yes, they can be painful to watch, especially because it’s clear that Eve is genuinely enjoying manipulating Helene. But at the end of the day, Eve will not hesitate to stab Helene in the back (maybe literally) to get what she wants.
It’s late, so I apologize if any of this isn’t clear. If you have any questions, or want me to elaborate any further on anything, please send me a message; my inbox is open.
