Season one of Killing Eve follows MI5 officer Eve Polastri who begins investigating a highly
prolific assassin that had left a trail of murders across several countries.
Eve believes the assassin to be a woman, an idea that is mocked by her superiors.
When a witness to one of the assassinations is murdered,
Eve and her boss Bill are fired by their boss at MI5, Frank Haleton. The head of MI6,
Carolyn Martens, recruits Eve for an off-the-books mission to track down the mysterious assassin. Eve
is able to recruit her own team for the mission, and brings on board her old boss and friend Bill,
alongside her assistant Elena. Carolyn then places her hacker son Kenny on the team.
Eve becomes obsessed with catching the assassin,
which puts a strain on her relationship with her husband Niko.
The mysterious assassin is a young woman named Villanelle,
real name Oksana, who possesses both cold-blooded brutality and a child-like naivete. Her assassin
handler is Konstantin, who looks after her and relays to Villanelle her targets. As Eve’s team
closes in on catching Villanelle, the assassin lures Bill to a nightclub where she murders him.
Konstantin, angry at Villanelle for killing the agent, punishes her by sending her on her next
assignment with two other assassins, Nadia and Diego. Their target, MI5 agent Frank Haleton,
was actually a double agent for Villanelle and Konstantin’s mysterious employers.
Eve and Carolyn try to protect Frank from the assassination attempt, and he confesses to
them that he was being paid off by a mysterious group known as The Twelve who used Villanelle’s
assassinations to destabilize and cause chaos that could be used to their advantage.
Villanelle manages to sneak into Frank's safe house to kill him,
and even tricks Nadia into killing Diego before attempting to kill Nadia herself.
Unfortunately for Villanelle, Nadia survives the attempt and is sent to a Russian prison.
Eve and Carolyn arrive at the prison to question Nadia, which is allowed due to Carolyn’s history
with two Russian Intelligence Officers, one of which is revealed to be Konstantin. Before
Eve and Carolyn can secure a deal with Nadia to help them bring down Villanelle and the Twelve,
Villanelle kills Nadia, having been sent undercover into prison by Konstantin to tie up
loose ends. Konstantin then abandons Villanelle in prison to serve out her full sentence.
Eve grows suspicious of Carolyn’s connection to Konstantin and has Kenny help her uncover
the history between the two. First they discover security camera footage of Carolyn meeting with
Villanelle at the Russian prison before the Nadia assassination, and then Kenny
discovers and turns over to Eve a series of love letters written between Carolyn and Konstantin.
Villanelle is then broken out of prison by the Twelve and given her next target: Konstantin.
Konstantin turns to Eve and Carolyn for help, but Villanelle ends up shooting him in the stomach,
a wound Carolyn later confirms he died from. Carolyn then fires Eve from MI6,
but Eve independently tracks Villanelle to her apartment where the two finally
have a confrontation alone. The pair confess their obsession with each other,
which seems to go much further than a simple hunter and prey. Despite this strong connection
between the two, Eve stabs Villanelle in the stomach before the assassin flees.
In season two of Killing Eve, Eve Polastri goes back to working with Carolyn at MI6,
but she has serious suspicions about her boss’ loyalties. Her new team includes Kenny,
Jess, and Hugo and they are tasked with tracking a new female assassin known as
The Ghost. While leading the investigation on the new assassin, Eve is still obsessed
with finding Villanelle. This continues to drive a wedge in her relationship with Niko,
who eventually moves out of their home. Kenny, concerned for his friend and colleague,
also voices his thoughts on Eve’s obsession with Villanelle and is subsequently fired.
Villanelle, meanwhile, recovers from her knife wound and returns to work for the
Twelve under her new handler, Raymond, who she detests. Upon learning that the Twelve
are impressed with the Ghost’s assassin skills and that Eve is on the case, Villanelle begins
to feel jealous and replaceable and begins trying to reinsert herself into Eve’s life.
She even has several confrontations with Niko, eventually attacking him and killing his potential
new love interest Gemma. Villanelle eventually ditches Raymond to team up with the very much
alive and forgiving Konstantin as partners in a new independent contract killing business.
When Eve’s team catches the Ghost and needs help making the assassin give up information,
Eve decides the best person for the job was Villanelle. She places a hit on herself to draw
Villanelle out from hiding and the two finally reunite for another sexually charged meeting.
Villanelle and Konstantin are then brought in to assist MI6 in their case against the Ghost.
Villanelle is able to force the Ghost to give up information, revealing the assassin was hired by
tech CEO Aaron Peel who had developed some sort of secret weapon that the Twelve wanted
to get their hands on. And so, Villanelle and Konstantin are brought on board to help Eve
and MI6 uncover the truth of this weapon and prevent the Twelve from getting their hands on
it. Villanelle goes undercover and begins dating Aaron Peel, who invites her on a trip to Rome.
Eve and her team follow Villanelle and Aaron to Rome to continue their investigation. They
discover that Aaron’s weapon is actually a device that could tell you every little secret about
anyone. As the investigation continues and the team get closer to taking down Aaron Peel,
Eve and Villanelle’s relationship grows even more intimate, with Eve
having sex with Hugo while Villanelle talks to her through an earpiece.
But the mission goes completely awry the next morning. Villanelle discovers that
not only does Aaron have a history of murdering his female companions,
but his next potential buyer also happens to be Raymond. Meanwhile, Eve and Hugo are attacked,
with Hugo getting shot in the stomach. Eve leaves a bleeding Hugo behind in order to rush to
Villanelle’s aid, but the assassin seems to have everything under control, killing Aaron herself.
Angry, Eve returns to her hotel room to find Hugo missing and the entire place scrubbed clean.
Carolyn arrives to reveal to Eve that this was always the plan and that Eve and Villanelle
had been manipulated to ensure this result. Similarly, Villanelle is visited by Konstantin,
who was working with Carolyn for the same means. Both women turn away from
their bosses to be with each other, but there was one problem left to deal with:
Raymond. Raymond attacks Villanelle and Eve is forced to kill him with an
ax. As Eve and Villanelle begin to run away together, Eve realizes that Villanelle had a gun
and could have killed Raymond herself. Instead, Villanelle wanted Eve to kill Raymond to see
how it felt. And now, feeling in love, Villanelle wanted to run off to live happily ever after with
Eve. Eve, finally realizing how much of a dangerous wild card Villanelle was,
rejects the assassin. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Villanelle shoots Eve and leaves her for dead.
In season 3 of Killing Eve, Villanelle is trying to move on with her life and trying
to fill the void left by Eve. During her wedding to her replacement love interest,
Villanelle is paid a visit by her former assassin trainer Dasha, who wants to bring Villanelle
back into working for the Twelve. Villanelle’s only condition is that she be made a “Keeper”,
a position in the organization that outranked the “Handler” title of Dasha and Konstantin.
The Twelve agree to her terms, but Villanelle would have to prove herself back out in the field.
And so, Villanelle ditches her new bride and returns to work.
Meanwhile, Eve Polastri has survived being shot by Villanelle and was now working in a Korean
restaurant. Kenny had become disillusioned with MI6 after the debacle in Rome and quit
the organization, and he now acted as Eve’s only friend and confidante. Kenny was now working as a
journalist for a publication known as Bitter Pill. While working on an investigation, he invites Eve
out for a night of drinks to take their minds off their troubles. But when Eve shows up at
the Bitter Pill offices to meet Kenny, she finds that he’s been thrown off the building and was
killed. The official police investigation rules Kenny’s death a suicide, but Eve doesn’t buy this
and teams up with Kenny’s Bitter Pill colleagues to figure out who was really behind his death.
Carolyn, meanwhile, is struggling in her own way with her son Kenny’s death.
She’s emotionally detached from the situation, which frustrates her daughter, Geraldine,
who wants her mother to show emotions and grieve. Complicating Carolyn’s work life is the fact that
her superiors at MI6 are furious over her handling of the mission in Rome and appoint an agent named
Paul Bradwell to oversee Carolyn’s operations. Carolyn ends up working with Eve and Bitter
Pill to look into Kenny’s death, and the group discovers that he was close to uncovering secrets
about the Twelve and had even found that nefarious organization’s accountant, a man named Charles
Kruger. Before Eve and Carolyn can detain Kruger for questioning, Villanelle arrives and kills him.
Villanelle’s new handler, Dasha, grows concerned about the relationship and obsession between
Villanelle and Eve, and wants to drive a wedge between the two. So, she travels to Poland where
Eve’s estranged husband Niko was visiting his family. Dasha stabs Niko in the throat with a
pitchfork and leaves a message to Eve, framing Villanelle for the attack. Eve immediately sees
through this ruse, and now she and Villanelle both held their own resentments toward Dasha.
And speaking of Villanelle, high-ranking Twelve agent Helene approves Villanelle’s promotion to
Keeper status, but she’s disappointed to learn the job responsibilities are still the same
assassination missions. Disillusioned with her life working for the Twelve,
Villanelle makes plans with Konstantin to run away together and start a new life. Before they depart,
Villanelle beats Dasha over the head with a golf club and leaves her for dead. Eve,
tracking Villanelle, finds a semi-conscious Dasha, who admits to stabbing Niko. Eve steps on Dasha’s
chest and is on the verge of killing her before changing her mind. As Villanelle and Konstantin
prepare to board their train to freedom, Konstantin has a heart attack and is left behind.
Konstantin wakes up in the same hospital as Dasha, who dies from the wounds suffered from
both Villanelle and Eve. Konstantin is then called to the home of Paul Bradwell, where Carolyn,
alongside Eve and Villanelle, confront the two men. Konstantin confirms that Paul was
secretly a double agent working with the Twelve, then confesses to being at the scene when Kenny
died. Kenny had discovered that Konstantin might be his real father and was getting
too close to uncovering the Twelve’s secrets. Paul wanted Kenny dead, so Konstantin visited
Kenny on the roof of the Bitter Pills offices to recruit him to the Twelve to protect him. Kenny,
scared of Konstantin and the Twelve, backed away and inadvertently tripped off the roof,
resulting in his accidental death. Konstantin begs Carolyn for forgiveness as she holds him
at gunpoint before eventually turning the gun on Paul and shooting him in the head.
Konstantin flees and Eve confronts Carolyn for killing Paul, their only source of
information on the Twelve. Carolyn is resigned to defeat, thinking the Twelve were unstoppable.
Eve and Villanelle leave and finally have a conversation confronting their
true feelings for each other. Both women agree they bring out the worst in each
other and resolve to walk and never see each other again. But, as they’re walking away,
both Eve and Villanelle turn back to face each other, each giving the other a sly smile.