island-fangirl

[island-fangirl]

*snickers* yeah, I know my baby is being HELLA annoyed in those council meetings 😭

Sevika's first day as a counselor

My baby standing up to the snobs that treated her people horribly for years <3333

[island-fangirl]

😻😻😻

i stumbled and-

[island-fangirl]

cackling

What if you were a BRUBETTE and a WITCH with MOMMY ISSUES and TRAUMATIC LIFE and you name ENDS WITH A... also you're GAY

[island-fangirl]

Yeah it is 😂

[island-fangirl]

Lena + text posts

[island-fangirl]

Emotional Damage 😭

Kara: Has anyone ever told you they love you?

Lena: Do my parents count?

Kara: Yes.

Lena: Then no.

[island-fangirl]

Honestly? Just ask her Regina 😂

👀👀👀

[island-fangirl]

Emma: Violence isn’t the answer.

Regina: You’re right.

Emma: *sighs in relief*

Regina: Violence is the question.

Emma: What?

Regina, creating a fireball: And the answer is ‘yes’!

Emma, running after her: NO-

[island-fangirl]

[island-fangirl]

Why Villanelle Should Learn Korean: A Longer Opinion Piece Than Originally Planned

So recently I was struck with the thought that if Villanelle doesn’t learn Korean at some point in Killing Eve, it would be weird. Actually, it wouldn’t just be weird, I would go so far as to say that it would be completely out of character for Villanelle, and it would be a glaringly huge missed opportunity for the show as a whole. This isn’t my first Killing Eve opinion, but it is my first hot take that is hot enough to compel me to publicly write something, in the hopes of manifesting it into reality. So without further ado, here’s why I think Killing Eve season 4 should Let Villanelle Speak Korean 2k20.

First,

Love of language is a huge part of Villanelle’s character, and her choice of language is one of her most honest methods of self-expression

We learn very early on that Villanelle not only speaks many languages fluently, but that she actively loves to learn and practice them. Anna tells Eve as much in 1x07, and in 1x08, Villanelle mentions offhand to Irina that she’s learning Mandarin. We all know Villanelle isn’t one to do any homework that she doesn’t have to, so it’s more likely that she’s learning because she wants to than it is because anyone told her to. Then of course, in 2x06, we have that iconic “Billie” scene where she flips between British, Australian, and American accents flawlessly - no doubt this is above and beyond whatever the Twelve-mandated requirements are for English language proficiency, and something Villanelle practices out of sheer enjoyment.

This is an integral part of who Villanelle is, she is a linguistic virtuoso, who loves to learns and speak languages. Of course, expanding her collection of languages is useful for her job, and she uses it as array of weapons at her disposal, but when she’s not on the job, and she’s just Villanelle, or Oksana, her choice of language is personal and emotionally driven, more so than situational or based on convenience.

There are two main examples where her choice of language goes beyond the practical and becomes more so a mode of self-expression. 

The first is that she doesn’t like to speak Russian, and will avoid it whenever possible. Given that she’s Russian, it’s interesting that this is the case, and though the reason for this hasn’t been explored much, (and even if this was a character trait given to her out of convenience for the writers of the show) it is nonetheless there, and is a point of vulnerability. There are a few instances where Russian characters who know of this reluctance will use this face to try to off-balance her or assert their power over her, for instance the psychologist who switches to Russian to bring up Anna in 1x02 and the handler in 1x07 who tells Villanelle he will only speak to her in Russian after her first assignment (who she immediately kills). 

The other example of non-practical choice of language was that Villanelle used to write letters to Anna exclusively in French. Anna’s only explanation for this is that she loved her French lessons. Of course, given Anna is also Russian, this is also an interesting choice - we aren’t given a timeline as to when Villanelle stopped speaking Russian, so it may have also been the case that she spoke to Anna in Russian, and wrote to her in French, or that she chose to communicate with Anna in a mixture of both, or exclusively in French. Whatever the case, this too isn’t a logical or convenient choice of language, but is more so driven by emotion. Knowing that Anna was Villanelle’s first love, we could make the case that she used French as a literal love language.

This leads into the next point, the Eve factor;

Learning Korean would be a logical next step in Villanelle’s pursuit of extending her intimacy with Eve - aka the “Soulmate” angle

I probably don’t have to go into providing evidence for Villanelle desiring intimacy with Eve (this mutual pursuit is the whole dang show) - but I will point out that the way that Villanelle expresses her love for and seeks intimacy with Eve always implies in some manner, “I know you”, “I see you”, “We are the same” (If you listen close you can also hear the additional implication at the end of all three statements “-like nobody else”) Of course, there are all those times where she says as much using her words;

as in 2x06,

E:  You will never understand how much harder it is to be nice and normal and decent than it is to be like you.

V: Like us, you mean 

and in the Season 2 finale;

K: What is it about her? 

V: We are the same

But she also emphasizes this notion in so many ways which are more indirect, and notably, in ways that invite Eve’s participation.

When we examine the gifts that she gives Eve for example, there were the clothes in season one, all in her size - there’s nothing that says “I see you” or “I know you” quite like the gift of clothes, especially if clothes are the kind that the receiver never would have thought to get for themselves - we see Eve see herself in a whole new light when she puts the dress on, when she wears the perfume. There was the “Love in an Elevator” lipstick with the hidden blade, which Eve could have only found by applying the lipstick. Villanelle placed the blade in there knowing she would, and of course, Eve does, nicking her lip in the process, and most importantly - being charmed by this - it’s yet another message from Villanelle, “I know you”, and Eve cannot deny that this is true. And of course, the teddy bear, planted in her bed, with Villanelle’s voice in its heart, “Admit it Eve, you wish I was here”, which Eve listens to, over and over and over again. 

Speaking Korean would be yet another way for Villanelle to extend their intimacy, yet another way for her to say to Eve “I know you”, “I see you”, in a way that invites Eve’s participation. It would be especially intimate because Eve doesn’t often speak Korean - we have only seen her speak in Korean with her mother, and on occasion with other Koreans. It’s telling, too, that the place where Eve chose to recover after the events of Rome was New Malden, which is the home of the largest gathering of Koreans in the UK, that she was working at a Korean restaurant, and that she seemed to subsist mainly off of Korean junk food. It suggests being Korean is an aspect of Eve’s true self which she retreated into after being separated from Niko, which gives further intimate significance to speaking Korean. And speaking of Niko, in Season 1 we learn Eve knows some Polish phrases, but we are never shown whether he knew any Korean. This fits in with how Niko only really understands and supports the surface layer of Eve - Niko not speaking Korean is reflective of the fact that he doesn’t actually know Eve, and is scared of, and doesn’t want to explore the Eve that is kept under the surface, Eve’s true self (“Let’s just uh, get a curry. Forget that happened, and go home, and apologize with tea”, “I dread to think where you’ll be happy”). 

But who is deeply interested in Eve’s true self? Who is fully committed to exploring it, who knows Eve, and sees Eve, who feels at one with Eve? Who would learn Korean? Villanelle. 

Finally,

Multiculturalism is a personality trait of Killing Eve as a show

Eve wasn’t originally written to be Asian, but she was written to be American, not British - according to Sandra Oh in her THR podcast interview, this was part of a conscious decision to inject an American flavor to the show. And even though the first season didn’t explore Eve’s Korean roots at all, the next seasons (thanks to Sandra Oh and all her efforts to make this happen) did explicitly integrate Eve’s Korean-ness into the show. Killing Eve is a show where the intersection of different cultures isn’t used for comedic effect as just a fun punchline or as a dash of spice with the addition of a single ‘foreign’ character to a largely homogenous cast - it’s intentionally been written into the tapestry of the show. 

It would be strange if this fundamentally multicultural show, doesn’t address or capitalize on the fact that its leading ladies (one of whom is a polyglot) make a multicultural, multilingual couple.

There was that moment in 2x06 where Aaron Peel and this sister Amber spoke in Greek to each other to talk about “Billie” in front of her - It would be really great to see Villanelle and Eve speaking in Korean to each other amongst non-Korean speakers in this way. There’s something simultaneously intimate and cheeky about sharing a language with a partner in the company of people who don’t speak it - thrilling in the manner of sharing a secret in plain sight. And isn’t this the very essence of the entire show? That thrill of intimacy, the audacity of a secret in plain sight, that rudeness, a shared wavelength that excludes everyone else, the two of them against the world?

What even is the point of having a multinational, multilingual power couple if we don’t get kooky hijinks where they use a shared language to communicate under the radar, or emotionally charged moments where they switch between languages in conversation, adding yet another layer of communication for us to parse the meaning of? And these are just two generic ideas I’m throwing out offhand, but there’s a whole goldmine of untapped opportunities from so many different angles that that could be explored, and just hasn’t been yet.

So far, the lack of Villanelle learning Korean is excusable because we don’t know if Villanelle even knows what kind of Asian Eve is - and even if she knew, she might not know whether Eve is one of those second-generation Korean-Americans who only speak English. But once she finds out that she does speak Korean? 

Villanelle is a linguistic virtuoso, Villanelle places emotional significance choosing to speak a language, Villanelle seeks intimacy with Eve in an obsessive way, Villanelle sees Eve as a reflection of herself, Eve is Korean-American and speaks Korean - Villanelle would learn Korean.

[island-fangirl]

I just want to know why everyone keeps betraying Katie McGrath

[island-fangirl]

Villanelle and that “Crazy Eyes” thing she does, season 1, part 1.

[island-fangirl]

villanelle looking shocked and upset that a woman she shot and left for dead is attacking her

[island-fangirl]

#a gifset dedicated to science [1/?]

[island-fangirl]

If it's possible, can you do a drawing of Bill reacting to Villanelle and Eve's romantic relationship? (I've always wondered what that would look like)

[island-fangirl]

X

[island-fangirl]

We are forced to live in a system that steals from us daily, Kill snitch culture.