Killing Eve: It’s time to talk about that shocking twist

Killing Eve shocked us all at the end of season 2’s second episode with the revelation that a certain someone close to Villanelle is still alive.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Killing Eve‘s second season. 

Killing Eve pulled off a shock at the end of season 2’s second episode. It’s one that we didn’t see coming but now that we have, we’re certain will be a game-changer for the show moving forward.

At the end of season 1, Villanelle kills her handler Konstantin on orders (presumably) from the Twelve after an elaborate plot in which she kidnaps his daughter Irina. But the only proof we have that said shooting resulted in his death is Carolyn’s word. Which, well, isn’t exactly what you’d call trustworthy these days.

It turns out that Konstantin is still alive.

How? We have no idea.

On some level, the idea that Carolyn would lie about something like this doesn’t seem like that much of a shock in hindsight. Or, at least, it shouldn’t.

Plus, this is a spy show and we never actually saw Konstantin’s body. We probably should have known better than to just assume he was dead. After all, Killing Eve doesn’t exactly shy away from showing us particularly brutal or gruesome killings almost everywhere else. Why would they spare us Konstantin’s? Joke’s on me, I guess?

But, since we know he’s alive, the question now becomes, how did he stay that way.

Did Villanelle take pity on the handler she so obviously cared about? It’s certainly possible. After all, it’s not like her to miss, or to muff a kill shot. But, then again, she’s also not exactly acting like someone who thinks her former sort-of BFF is still alive.

(Though she is a bit distracted by Eve at the moment.)

The most obvious solution is also the answer to everything else weird or unexplainable on this show: Carolyn.

She has an (oddly complicated) romantic history with Konstantin, so the motive to save him is certainly there. But how did she pull it off? And is she the one who came up with the plan of faking his death? It is pretty well thought out, in hindsight.  (Assuming, of course, that it wasn’t all some lucky accident of bad aim.)

The Twelve want Konstantin dead. Villanelle won’t stop until she believes he’s dead. (We think, anyway.) Allowing him to “die,” so to speak makes everyone happy. Including Carolyn. But why tell Eve now? And what, exactly, is Konstantin’s new endgame?

Sure, he could just be happy to be alive, and living in secret at Carolyn’s spare flat or wherever they are. But it seems much more likely that he’s somehow involved with Carolyn’s larger, generally shady situation – the same one we’ve never really been able to pin down throughout this show.

Are they going after the Twelve? Chasing Villanelle? Working on establishing a whole new shady corporate bureaucracy with a different vague moniker?

And how will Villanelle react when she inevitably finds out that Konstatin is alive? Will she be angry that her mission is unfinished? Could she try to kill him again? Or will she simply be relieved to see that someone she cares about and thought was gone forever is okay?

We have been seeing a more vulnerable side to Villanelle this season. It’s possible.

Honestly, all of these things seem possible. But that’s kind of the beauty of this show, isn’t it?

We’ll have to wait and see how Eve and Konstantin’s reunion goes next week.

Killing Eve airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America.