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Showrunners 08: Shapeshifters – Killing Eve Ep6

By Melanie Naumann and Parul Bavishi and Randall Surles

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This week we will discuss the 5 Commandments of episode 6 of Killing Eve. “Take Me to the Hole!

Recap – Episode 5: I have a thing about bathrooms

  • Frank spills bean: Organization of the 12 mentioned, Oxana
  • Villanelle was at Eve’s house, dinner together
  • Villanelle gets the location of the safe house from Eve’s phone and kills Frank
  • One of the assassins, who wanted to kill Frank,  ist still unaccounted for
  • Villanelle is told by Constantin she has to go back to Russia

Summary of Episode 6: Take me to the Hole

  • Set in Russia
  • Villanelle goes to prison to kill Nadia
  • Eve and Carolyn travel to Moscow to interrogate Nadia
  • They meet Constantin and Vladimir – two Russian intelligence agents and former boyfriends of Carolyn
  • One interview with Nadia granted – but Constantin interrupts before Nadia tells Eve and Carolyn about Constantin. Nadia gives them information about Anna.
  • Villanelle kills Nadia and is thrown in the hole. No one comes to get her out.
  • Eve uses Carolyn’s information to trade with Vladimir for his help to get Nadia out of prison

Inciting Incident

Melanie: Team finds out Nadia is alive in a Russian prison and she might be a lead to information on the 12.  

Parul: Both Eve and Villanelle are protagonists.  That being said, Villanelle’s Inciting Incident might be that she is assigned to kill Nadia to prevent Eve from talking to her.  And we are in Villanelle’s corner for the first time, we don’t want her to die.

Melanie: What is really interesting is that Villanelle goes to a Russian prison, and we really want to see what a Russian prison looks like.  And Eve is really a kind of side story.

Parul: but it’s soft diplomacy, it leads to the exciting events and the intrigue.  Like when Constantin is first introduced, we are worried about Eve, we don’t really know what is going to happen or what Constantin is going to do.

Randall: Without introducing Constantin, I wouldn’t have been very interested in the Eve storyline, I would have only been looking forward to Villanelle’s scenes in the prison.

Progressive Complications/ Turning Point

Parul:

  • Eve fights with husband about continuing to work
  • Villanelle has conflicts with women in prison
  • Villanelle has difficulty making contact with the doctor
  • Nadia reveals Anna is linked to Villanelle
  • Carolyn has a past with both Constantin and Vlad
  • Carolyn tells Eve about her espionage relationship with Constantin and Vlad

Turning Point: Caroline tells Eve about her espionage relationship with Constantin and Vladimir, specifically she gives Eve information about how close she was to the pair of men.

The Crisis

Randall: Does Eve use this information to betray Carolyn to negotiate Nadia’s release or not when she realizes that Carolyn could not be fully invested in solving this problem

Melanie: Eve really wanted to interview Anna and Carolyn wouldn’t let her

Parul: I wanted to talk about the crisis and moral crisis.  I think it’s so clear that Eve would do anything to solve the question of Villanelle.

Climax

Eve uses the information, risking her relationship with Caroline

Resolution

Eve asks Kenny to find info about Carolyn and Constantin had a relationship and Kenny finds letters that Eve trades to Vlad for Nadia.

Value Change

Hope that Nadia can help find V to back to square one when Nadia is killed (only the viewers know this)

Polarity Shift: +/-

All – Does this episode work?

Randall: yes, of course.  Frank has just been killed, Eve now has a lead on Villanelle and knows her real name, the tension is racketing up to see who can get to Nadia first.  When Villanelle takes her out before the Task Force has a chance to get all of her information, it appears that they have lost this game of cat and mouse, but it may not matter because Villanelle appears to have been betrayed and may never leave the prison.

What could be more thrilling than all these nail-biting cliff-hangers?

We’ve had a scene with Eve at the mercy of Villanelle in the last episode, but as a viewer, I’m still expecting another big confrontation.

While this current situation could be considered an All is Lost moment, I would be disappointed if this was it with 2 more episodes left, so I’m expecting a big all is lost moment.

Melanie: Villanelle has given up her life of luxury in order to kill Nadia.  This is the first time that Villanelle does what Constantin tells her, she follows the rules, and she is trapped in the prison.

Parul: I’m thinking about the obligatory scenes of the Thriller and how this episode fulfills these.  Eve feels like a lone operator in a sea of enemies, there is a hero at the mercy of the villain if we look at the Russians as the villains.

A Love Story?

Melanie: Not as obvious. Eve’s marriage is falling apart, and we have a loose lover’s triangle with Anna.

Randall: We have a lot of different love shapes – Nadia, Villanelle, and Eve.  Carolyn and the Russians.

Melanie: Villanelle describes Eve in a different episode as an Asian woman with amazing hair – and this makes sense. She is always turned around for women with curly brown hair. And the faceless picture of Anna had hair like this too, back in episode 2. The only body feature there was. It’s interesting to see for Villanelle it’s not about the face, but the hair!!!

What’s the Worldview Perspective?

Parul: Internally, I find that Eve is finding her place in the world, she stands her ground a lot more.  She is now potentially betraying her boss.

Melanie: She has to restructure her mind to wrap around the idea that Carolyn might not be totally on the up and up.

Parul: And Villanelle is having trust issues and probably becoming disillusioned since she has apparently been betrayed by Constantin.

Randall: Question of the Day

After the success of Orange Is the New Black, viewers might not be all that surprised about what goes down in prisons.

So what other shows have crazy prison scenes?

Randall – Face Off, Guardians of the Galaxy, Chronicles of Riddick

Melanie: Prison Break, especially when they get to Panama. A German TV series called Frauenknast – all about a woman prison and those characters. Mini plot story. The Punisher TV series has orchestrated what has to be the most efficient prison riot, ever.

Parul: Shawshank Redemption, The Prisoner TV series

Can you think of any shows we missed?  

Did this episode work for you as a viewer?

Leave your comments on our webpage at storygrid.com where you can also find links and additional material in the show notes.

References:

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About Melanie Naumann


About Parul Bavishi

Parul Bavishi started her publishing career in the editorial teams at Quercus and Random House and was later a Literary Scout for Eccles Fisher. She now edits Thriller and Young Adult novels through Publishing Uncovered and co-hosts the London Writers’ Salon, a creative writing hub in London where she runs events such as the Pitch an Agent Masterclass. At the Salon, she has interviewed award-winning writers, including poet Amal El-Mohtar, and the journalist and writer Luke Jennings, creator of the Killing Eve series. She believes in the long-game approach to creating work that matters and taking time to hone your craft. She has helped many writers create their best work and would love to help you.

About Randall Surles