Recaps: Index | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Julian: Look at your hair. It's all messy. Silly. There, there. Nice and neat.
Villanelle finds a Good Samaritan to take her in, while Carolyn introduces Eve to her new team.
Tropes in this episode:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Villanelle gets one in Julian who takes a liking to her.
- All Take and No Give: Julian calls Villanelle out on this as he holds her hostage in his home.
- Badass in Distress: Villanelle, as she fights off Julian.
- Creepy Doll: Julian's house is full of them.
- Death Is Cheap: Konstantin—whose body we never saw, and who we only heard died via one side of a phone call—is back.
- Dies Wide Open: Julian dies this way.
- Entitled to Have You: Julian to Villanelle as he takes care of her. Even calling her "his girlfriend" when getting sanitary pads from the pharmacy and expecting something from her in return.
- Hollywood Healing: Subverted. In the last episode, Villanelle was patched up suspiciously well after being stabbed in the stomach. Now, her wound isn't doing so well.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Villanelle stabs Julian in the neck with a sewing needle.
- Meaningful Name: At one point Villanelle says, "I hate ghosts." Eve's MI6 group call the unknown female assassin "The Ghost".
- Missed Him by That Much: Villanelle escapes in a car just as Eve and Carolyn arrive to investigate the recent murder committed by Villanelle in Julian's house.Eve: She was just here!
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Julian was distraught over upsetting Villanelle that he appears to be remorseful and miserable over what Villanelle must be thinking about him, she answers by saying “I think you will bleed to death”, reverting to her Russian accent before kicking his head.
- Precision F-Strike: Villanelle in great distress and agitation which is uncharacteristic for her since she’s never been in the position where she had to fear for her life, had to call MI-6 and ask for Eve Polastri to get her out of Julian’s house. Since the automated operator doesn’t understand her well and kept on asking repeatedly for the person’s name, it caused her such frustration and rage that she yells:Villanelle: Eve Polastri, you piece of SHIT!!
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Exaggerated. Villanelle is literally a serial killer, who’s had a few unsettling attractions herself—and occasionally those even overlap, like when she killed and castrated Anna's husband. But there is never any implication that she would sexually assault anyone. And Julian is a Knight Templar with undertones of Entitled to Have You.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Julian calling Villanelle out on her lack of hospitality as he corners her.Julian: Who were you calling? Don't lie to me. You ungrateful...You think anyone else would pick up a girl like you, give her a roof over her head? You thought I'd be an easy target, didn't you? Thought you'd take advantage of the Good Samaritan. I see what you're doing. Don't think I haven't noticed. Playing the innocent, batting your eyelashes, getting me to wait on you hand and foot, feed you, look after you, give you everything you want. And what do I get, hmm? What do I get? Nothing! Nothing! Why don't I get anything?
- Rule of Symbolism: When Eve checks out the crime photos and notices the boy has an apple with a bite in it in his hand. Eve thinks the apple is a message for her and finds a painting of the biblical story of Adam and Eve depicting an apple with a similar bite.
- Sarcastic Confession: When Julian asks Villanelle what the kitchen knife is for, she replies "to stab you to death with".
- Shout-Out
- The name Villanelle uses as her interrogatory with her help hotline (Dozen Incorporated), "Cher Horowitz" is the character Cher's (played by Alicia Silverstone) full name from Clueless (1995). Her distress code was that she "failed her driving test"—which was an obstacle for Cher in the movie. This is a callback to how she repeatedly mentioned she liked watching movies in series one.
- When Villanelle is being shown around her 'good samaritan's home, full of dolls, he calls only one by name, 'Annabelle' a famous doll/horror reference to add to the creepiness.
- The scene of Villanelle walking barefoot out of the house in a nightgown is eerily reminiscent of Ivy Moxam (also played by Jodie Comer) walking out of the house in the opening scene of Thirteen (2016).
- Spotting the Thread: As Eve looks over all the previous murders committed by Villanelle in comparison to the recent murder, she notes that Aaron Peele's murder was discrete while Villanelle is an attention seeker. This makes Eve realize that their killer is a different woman called The Ghost.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: As Eve theorizes, a cleaning lady cleans up a businessman's desk, replacing his coffee, while he fetches papers from the printer. As she leaves, he takes a sip from his coffee and soon after collapses while clutching his chest.
- Wham Shot: Eve entering Carolyn's house to find Konstantin alive and sitting on the couch waiting to talk to her.
- Worst Aid: Villanelle applies a sanitary pad drenched in antiseptic to her wound.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Villanelle pulls this off to get aid from Julian. Julian calls her out on this in his speech towards her.
