#so why is what villanelle does so much better than what eve does somehow?

[villanelleskiss]

full offense but if you watch killing eve and actually hate eve but love villanelle, you should’ve never turned the show on

[uservillanelle]

Killing Eve ― 3x01 (Review)

I didn’t rush to write this review right after the episode, as I sometimes need to rewatch the episode several times to actually appreciate it and spot a thing or two. I know, everybody’s writing these, their thoughts, so I’m sorry if some of them will be repetitive, but I do want to get my thoughts out! Soo shall we get to it?

Dasha

What is interesting to me is that they chose this flashback of Dasha being a gymnast in her early age as the very first scene of the episode. And let’s not forget, it is the first scene of the entire season, meaning it has to be very important one. I don’t think they brought her in just to play Villanelle’s next handler. She was her mentor before, which makes it a lot more personal to both of them. There’s more to her, I’m sure. So far I’m loving the dynamic between her and Villanelle. There’s this... old-friends reunited kind of vibe, but then again, they can be laughing one moment and trying to choke each other to death the next. In this aspect they are very similar. 

That brings me to Dasha’s killing style. It is unique, something we haven’t seen in the show before. It can only mean competition to Villanelle. And she’s so confident that her work is better than Dasha’s. Not only does she say it to Dasha, but later on copy her style during the spice kill ― which, by the way, I think is very underrated. 

Villanelle had to ask Dasha about her part of the deal, twice. Then she brought up the possibility of going back home ― back to Russia. It might be true, but I don’t think that’s everything she was promised. And it’s one more reason for us to keep watching to find out, hm?

The Wedding

All I can say about the wedding is ― WOW. I was looking forward to it and it didn’t disappoint. Actually, it’s the best part of the episode for me. Many people have said that it was ‘waste of potential’; ‘they only did it to set up a meeting with Dasha’; but really. I don’t think we would’ve gotten the Villanelle wedding in any other circumstance. Like, think about it. A wedding is not something Villanelle would normally do, right? She doesn’t care about such things, yet in this case she does it. Yes, she LOVES a good show and attention as well as being rich and have everything she ever wanted including having the power and control of it all. And since she’s getting over Eve, why not find another woman and marry her to prove to everyone and to herself, that she is totally over the Asian woman with amazing hair? She’s extra like that and I love it. And don’t get me started on the tuxedo blazer AND black tulle ruffle top. She wore THAT for her own wedding. Just thinking about it makes me want to go feral. 

Mooving on, the irony of Villanelle not only bringing up Eve during her wedding speech, but saying she is ‘so much happier now she’s dead’ while immedially afterwards glancing around the place almost as if she’s expecting to see Eve. She hopes she’s there... and it makes me wonder, what if Eve actually was there? What if she somehow made it to Villanelle’s wedding and just... can you imagine? What their interaction would look like? Plus having MARIA there the entire time and the guests? Damn. 

Then there’s casual Villanelle simply enjoying her wedding cake, because why the hell not? And on top of that ignoring her new wife during the dance. I mean... this is SUCH Villanelle thing to do. She couldn’t care any less. Then again we are reminded of how awkward/uncomfortable she could get around people when she’s being.. more or less herself. I haven’t seen her like that for a hot minute. She has always been brilliant in slipping into other groups of people, pretending to be a part of a conversation, it never really was an issue for her. Yet this time she’s not really pretending to be someone else. She is Villanelle and yes, she is awkward. I love that we got to see that bit. 

And of course... it wouldn’t be Villanelle’s wedding if there wasn’t a fight involved. Why not start a fight herself? It’s exactly what she did and having Dasha show up only highlighted the wedding scene even more. It wasn’t all about Dasha being there, it was about Villanelle trying to prove to herself that she’s finally moving on and I, personaly, needed that. It’s a shame the wedding scene ended so quickly, I mean we could’ve gotten a kiss or two, since it’s a damn wedding! Though I’m still really glad we got to see it. We actually got to steal a glance at Villanelle’s wedding. That sounds so surreal on itself. Are we sure they didn’t take this from any of the fanfics? 

Carolyn

(warning: possible spoilers/predictions ahead)

She’s still a very shady lady. Carolyn must be the most mysterious character on the show, based on how little we know about her, her work and her family. I’m glad that someone is finally confronting her about the previous operation in Rome. What’s even better ― Hugo sued MI6 and he has EVERY right to do so. The entire mission was a blood bath and someone has to answer for it. Yet, despite given circumstances, Carolyn remains completely still during all the accusations she has received and even refuses to apologize during her conversation with Kenny. None of the previous events that took place seem to be valuable and important enough for her. And that makes me wonder.. that maybe the Twelve ordered Kenny’s death to stop any further unofficial investigations AND to punish Carolyn, because Kenny’s all she has, right?

Well, now they will be bringing up Carolyns daughter ― Geraldine. Up to this point we knew that Kenny was Carolyn’s only child, but since he’s gone now, there has to be someone else related to Carolyn and we got Geraldine. From what we know now, they do not have a great relationship which makes me even more excited to see them interacting. 

Since the Twelve put a hit on Kenny... I’m starting to think that maybe Carolyn is next on their list, and possibly Konstantin. In S3 trailer we got a quick shot of Carolyn in a car with a driver. And there’s Villanelle, pretending to be a police officer, chasing someone down. If I’m correct, Villanelle will come after Carolyn and will try to assassinate her. Now why would Villanelle try to kill Carolyn? Either she will find out something related to Eve and Carolyn being involved, maybe wanting to take revenge? It’s not very likely is it? But the Twelve deiciding to take out Carolyn, and Villanelle doing the job sounds more like it. At least to me.

Eve

First off... the scene in the store is not only the first scene of Eve we see in this episode, but it shows exactly where she is right now. Where her mind is, how she’s dealing with everything around her. Cearly, she’s done with everything, running on auto-pilot for the most part of it. She’s one huge mood. Eve really must be the most relatable character for us as viewers. If something like this happened to us... we would basically be Eve. 

It’s been 6 months and that’s the Eve we see. She’s struggling. And she should be. She almost died and now everything seems to be reminding her of Villanelle. The song in the store, the cashier’s talking about spaghtetti and Rome?! Then the other cooks at the restaurant talking about one of their’s crush and how it started with infatuation and now it’s love. Everything about it screams Villanelle. We know it. Eve knows it. And most importantly... the SCAR itself. No matter where she goes, what she does... she won’t be able to erase Villanelle. She has been scarred for life and so was Villanelle and guys... that is just so brilliant. They are meant for one another and that’s a fact. Either they will end up together (hopefully) and somehow manage to create some kind of future together or they will die together. Either way.. they can’t hide from one another and that makes their next meeting so... so special and important and intense and all of the other things. I simply cannot wait.

Knowing how the episode ended, I didn’t think I’d appreciate Eve and Kenny’s scene together so much. It’s so deep and sincere and reveals a lot about what happened and where they are separately and together. I’m glad their first and last interaction this season was a light, positive one. They even talked about getting beers at the office during weekends. And knowing that.. Kenny was basically the only person who understood Eve and where she’s coming from, his death is exactly what can and WILL push Eve forward in investigating the Twelve and eventually reuniting with Villanelle. Back to S1, when Bill was killed, Eve was so determined to catch Villanelle and ‘kill her with her bare hands’ that no one seemed to be able to stop her. So this time... will be similar to it, if not even greater. 

Villanelle

Soo... Oksana wants to be a Keeper. Oksana the Keeper! It actually makes sense to some extent, that she will eventually want to get a ‘higher’ position in the industry and why not be the Keeper then. She has always wanted power and control and Keepers have that. They hold valuable information about the organisation that no one else knows. It’s a very important and dangerous position too. I can see why she’d want to be a Keeper, and not only that... she is still curious about who is in charge. How the whole system works. Though, at the same time.. knowing Villanelle, this might get tricky. She’s still very childish and impulsive and all other things.. she still needs to be handled by someone. That’s why I’m a bit concerned that if she ends up becoming a Keeper or having to handle other assassins (which she will, in next episode), things will go terribly wrong. I hope I’m wrong about this, because god, do I want to see Villanelle as a Keeper and continue being the top boss bitch in the industry.

Her confidence continues to fascinate me. Especially her confidence around Dasha. She knows she’s better than her and that’s all there is to it. Not only she says it but she proves that by her first kill this season. I honestly can’t wait to see her future kills, because so far it looks very promising.

Konstantin

Only a couple of scenes of the show’s dad this episode. Apparently he has several phones which he is struggling to deal with. He’s living several lives and that shows. In S2 he was all determined to get back to his family. But what we see in this episode is that he’s not with his family anymore. He’s working again. And based on Irina’s voice mail, he and his wife are separated. His wife has a boyfriend now and Irina is there with them. (I hope they will bring her back, what an iconic, hilarious yet annoying child) 

Konstantin receives several shady messages, one of which reads “time to go fishing”. It can mean literally anything. But for some reason I’m feeling that they want us to think he had something to do with Kenny’s death. It could be him, it could be an assassin Konstantin is handling right now. Or it’s not him at all, but we believe it’s him based of what we saw so far. Too many questions and not enough answers so far. 

He was the Twelve’s target back in S1 and had to stay low during S2 as a “dead man” so now.. I’m not really sure what his status is. Some of us saw the leaked photos of S3 finale and what might possibly happen... and that just brings me back to my previous point of Carolyn and Konstantin being the Twelve’s targets this season. Will they survive? And if they do... how? If they don’t... does that mean Villanelle and Eve will now be completely by their own and possibly on a run from the Twelve?!

Kenny

There’s not really much to say here. We ALL loved our dear Kenny. He’s probably the most innocent character on the show and he had to go. Now, I don’t believe his death was done for shock value. Not his character. A huge, meaningful character had to die in order for the rest of characters to get moving. For the entire story to move forward. They are setting up a serious plot here and I am excited, despite being really upset about Kenny’s death. 

I think Eve will be the mostly affected character in the show by his death. Carolyn doesn’t seem to be very affectonate towards her son, but hopefully it will make her realize just how big of a trouble she in. Eve, however, will be forced to get back to investigate the Twelve and she will not stop until she does so. She’s all by herself now. The determination, the anger as well as other feelings will drive her this season to get the much needed answers and get to the bottom of the whole thing. Meanwhile... Villanelle seeks information and control as well. She is trying to investigate the Twelve in her own way. So why not pair them up?

Overall thoughts

As many have said it, the episode felt different to me as well. I think that’s mostly because we have set our standards so high, that we immediately become disappointed if the episode doesn’t deliver as much murder, Eve/Villanelle scenes or something else we might be expecting in particular. 

I found myself wanting to compare the episode with other seasons and that is a mistake. We shouldn’t be comparing it because previous season had different plot, the overall feeling was different and the characters weren’t as developed as they are now. Furthermore, the show runner changes each season and that is what we need to look at. Phoebe and Emerald have done incedible job during those first two seasons but now it’s Suzanne’s time to shine. All three of them are different people and have different ideas and views as to how they see the characters and where they want to take them. So I think we might need to “forget” the previous two seasons and be way more open minded when it comes to third season. After all it’s the most personal one and it has a different feel to it. It’s more serious, and it is setting up an actual plot for the series. It’s a good thing. And as much as we hate changes like these... I think we should embrace them this time and let the show go in the direction it is going without the need to criticize it or control it. 

I’m beyond excited to see how everything will unfold and where this season will take us. Based on all the trailers and interviews I’ve seen so far... this will be a one helld of a ride and I am NOT prepared for it!

If any of you reached this point, you seriously deserve an applause! Hopeuflly you enjoyed reading my nonsense lol! Let me know if you’d like me to write a review for the next episode, because I do have plans for writing for the entire season, but it’s always better when I have an audience to write for! 

Now if you have any theories or thoughts don’t be shy to comment or message me so we could chat about it! I’d love nothing more than a good conversation about the show we have a common obsession for! 

[idrewbedraggledbreaths]

Sorting Eve Polastri and Villanelle using the Sortinghatchats system

So, I had been thinking that I for once didn’t have a hyperfixation but nope, I do. It’s the personality system developed by @sortinghatchats, which is based on the 4 Harry Potter houses, but instead of simplistic, reductionist stereotypes, this system goes deep into you and sorts you in two houses: primary and secondary. Your primary is your WHY, your reason to view the world or life your life and your secondary is your HOW, how you approach life’s problems and issues. I will be using @wisteria-lodge’s terminology because it’s pretty neat, but you don’t need much to connect the names to the houses.

Here’s a tl;dr of what each of the primaries and secondaries are: 

Lion primaries are intuitive and guided by their moral compass, which is very strong (doesn’t mean what they believe in is in fact good or correct) and Lion secondaries are the people who charge straight at something, regardless of whether they will come out of it unscathed or not. 

Snake (hey look, that’s me!) primaries value people. Not any person, their people. They will go to hell and earth for their people to be safe and happy, which can get kind of self destructive. Snake secondaries improvise much like Lion secondaries, but they tend to adapt to situation and shapeshift their way out of problems. 

Bird (also me!) primaries also value right and wrong like Lion primaries, but they build their systems with external information and observation, not from their gut feelings. That means Bird primaries change a lot with time, because their ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ change. Bird secondaries collect. Skills, tools, random knowledge, they delve deep and acquire as much of them as they can, not because things are useful, but because it’s fun. 

Finally, Badger primaries are also people-persons, but their communities are much broader than a Snake primary’s. They value people, tradition, cultures and so (but not every Badger sees everyone as people, so there’s that). Badger secondaries are the hardworking types in the sense that they cultivate things, they invest in them and even become them.

You can develop models of each house according to what you find useful or what society has instilled in you, but when push come to shove, the models aren’t the real you. All of these houses can burn, meaning their essence is somehow scared away from them due to trauma, depression, societal pressures, etc. That means a Lion stops trusting their instincts, a Snake no longer feels like they’re able to protect their people or their people are better off without them (been there done that don’t recommend), a Bird loses faith in their systems and a Badger closes themselves off from their communities and adopts a smaller circle of people. Burnt houses can look a lot like each other, but I can’t really explain. i suggest you go to @paint-the-ravenclaw or @wisteria-lodge for more info. 

Ok, here we go: 

Villanelle

Oh boy, V is one hell of a Bird secondary. It’s just so loud. Her Snake primary is pretty obvious to me as well, but her Bird stands out because it’s odd. She is a great planner ad really thrives off of planning. Her spectacular kills in s1-s2 are almost always planned inch by inch. She has collected a wide and very impressive variety of skills she uses to complete her missions, from disguising herself to faking accents to disembowelling men. You could argue that she has some Snake model built into her because she does adapt to some degree, but whenever she cannot plan at all and has to improvise, her mask ends up slipping. Think ‘the hole’, the doll guy, killing the Romanian guy in s3. When she and her recruit are assigned the mission to kill the guy at the birthday party, she loses her shit when he doesn’t follow plans. Homegirl is a planner all the way, but at the same time it feels like she doesn’t give two fucks about the consequences of her plans, as long as she gets the job done. Sometimes she is a bird of prey, all precision and carefulness, and sometimes she is a...birb. happy go lucky birb with her clothes and her shoes and her Eve and the things she likes (mainly Eve, though). To me, that’s because of her Snake primary. 

Villanelle values herself more than whatever Konstantin is trying to do, so she is self indulgent. You can clearly see that alongside that, she is desperately trying to belong somewhere, to choose someone who also chooses her. That’s where most of her conflict with Konstantin comes from: she has chosen him but he hasn’t chosen her. Same thing for her family: she is deeply wounded by the fact that the people she initially chose haven’t chosen her, but that’s why she kills her mother and the husband and not her younger brothers: they are her people still. You could say her primary is somewhat burned with the way she had to protect herself from choosing people due to how they have treated her, but it then unburns when she meets her one true person, Eve. She will do anything to get Eve’s attention, including, uh... murdering her best friend. She chooses to go back to Eve in Rome and shoots Eve because her reaction to V sort of revealing she forced Eve to kill Raymond reads as ‘I chose you and tried to show you my way but you denied me so now I’m MAD *angry emoji*’ but she’s not really mad. She’s still thinking about Eve, she’s still hurting because of Eve. To me, she is in a constant state of burning and unburning and I really want to see where s4 leads her.

Eve

Eve is a bit harder or me, mostly because her character was relegated to a supporting role even though she is the title character and should get more development but I think I got a decent shot at her. If Villanelle is a planner who can improvise, Eve is an improviser who can plan (if not plan, at least collect diverse information and skillsets). To me, she is a very loud Lion secondary who throws herself at things and challenges. Think about how she reacts in the bus scene, how she takes that axe and murders Raymond, how she follows V and Bill into the club almost madly. She isn’t really planning anything, she’s just charging. Niko wants plans and stability and a future, but Eve doesn’t, she likes the unknown, the thrill of the chase, the ‘headbutting a wall until you either break it or break you skull.’ I think she has a Bird secondary model, though. She is very knowledgeable (a little too knowledgeable) when it comes to serial killers, she can pick up on patterns and clues very quickly and she can eventually prepare herself before charging, namely in the flat scene in s1. Eve thrashes V’s flat in impulsive Lion fashion, but she remembers to take the gun and the knife in case things turn sour, which means she had planed ahead. The plan turns out to be... a complete failure. If Eve was a true Bird, she would not stab Villanelle the way she did, she would have waited and evaluated. Her reaction is to immediately regret what she’s done because she knows she’s fucked up massively, and that reaction is something I’ve seen on some Lion friends, bless their hearts. She is blunt, earnest and often says the hilarious but slightly inappropriate thing and that’s very Lion to me.

As for Eve’s primary, from the very beginning it seemed to me like she was trying very hard to be a double Lion but... she’s not. She’s a Snake like V, with a Lion model she is definitely not comfortable with. It does look like she sometimes is acting on something because it is the right thing, but the way she obsesses over V makes her shed her previous morals away. She gets distressed when her team focuses on the Ghost more than Villanelle, she gets jealous of V, she leaves Hugo to die so that she can get to Villanelle. It’s clear she tries to hold on to her normal life with a husband, a job and a chicken but in the end she kind of accepts she was never meant to ave any of those things, and that’s why she turns at the bridge. Because Villanelle is Eve’s person, and Eve’s person comes first.

So, for me Villaneve are a couple of Snake primaries, with Eve trying to hide hers with a ‘society-approved’ Lion model that slips away under V’s strong Snake primary. So gay.

 I could go into more detail on my sortings, but i’s late as hell and I’m tired. I might try to sort other characters later, specially Carolyn. I’m struggling with her right now. Anyway,this is just my take on these characters using a system I love.

[villainever]

Touch Them, Talk to Them: Villaneve & Nuance in Villanelle's Psychopathy (2x07)

okay there is SO much to say about 2x07, but none of you want to read 10k words of analysis, so im going to pick one topic and stick to it (for now). in this post, im going to talk about how this episode is – I believe – a response to: a) villanelle’s season 1 claim that what she wants is, among other things, “someone to watch movies with”, b) eve’s question, “you really don’t feel anything?”, and c) martin’s assertion that to psychopaths, there are only “i / it” relationships. i think aaron is a fantastic opposite/parallel to villanelle, because i believe that a great antagonist doesn’t just provide practical obstacles in the plot-path of the protagonist, but removes obstacles in their character-path. an example of what i meant by this is that in season 1, villanelle killed bill, killed frank, ruined evidence, impeded the investigation, and messed eve around (obstructing her plot-path). but she also drove eve to confront the (sociopathic) personality traits that she’d been repressing, and helped eve find her sense of purpose, confidence and power (smoothing her character-path). in season 2, however, villanelle has been shifted from an ~antagonist~ (ostensibly, as she doesn’t fully conform to this reductive role) to a protagonist, and aaron replaces her as the mysterious Other. just as we had with eve/villanelle, he is both Like and Not-Like villanelle. it’s the likeness that makes him an interesting (and dangerous) opponent for her, but it’s the not-likeness that’s so significant.

in 2x06, villanelle has her iconic “boredom” speech, and monologues about how nothing makes her feel anything. so at the start of 2x07, eve asks her if that’s all true – although it seemed authentic, it’s fair enough of eve to ask, considering how often and easily villanelle lies while playing her characters, and that villanelle prompts her (“you’ll feel better if you talk about it”). villanelle’s reply is that she doesn’t actually KNOW if she’s telling the truth or not. i don’t think she’s deflecting here; she appears subtly, but genuinely, torn. she DOESN’T know. 

she wants to give eve a real answer, but she can’t. this is probably the result of a whole lot of mixed information: she’s obviously been told she’s a psychopath (by lawyers and therapists and fellow prisoners and konstantin, then eve), and she knows she enjoys killing people, controlling them, and she is often bored, too, like she said, but none of those things feels like enough. so she offers eve the most she can give: “i feel things when i’m with you.” and while she definitely means this – we could’ve guessed it, considering the lengths she’ll go to to even end up in the same country as eve – she’s still conflicted.

so then, in the last quarter of 2x07, we get this scene between villanelle and aaron:

he describes them as “voids”, and villanelle doesn’t hesitate before agreeing. she’s a psychopath, right? she must be a void. she’s not “nice and normal”. she doesn’t mind stabbing or suffocating or toying with other people. between her and aaron, there’s this heartbeat of dissonant kinship. she’s already joked that they might be “soulmates”, so here, she’s just chatting with him. she’s certain they’re fundamentally the same, and there’s not much to be learned from this, so she’s mostly humouring him. so she asks something out of mild interest, but she thinks she already knows the answer.

“do you ever get lonely?” villanelle does. she finds being cooped up by herself to be tedious, and uses the time to prepare her next interactions – elaborately faking her death for konstantin; planning new presents or tricks or reminders for eve. importantly, in defiance of the “incapable of ‘i / you’ relationships” idea, she is able to apply this notion of isolation to eve. in 2x06, she tells konstantin she’s texting eve “because [eve] might be lonely”. sure, villanelle primarily wants to know how much of an impact she had by killing someone right in front of eve, but she’s not really lying; she can follow and understand the emotional process of “niko left - today’s been a high-stakes day - eve is alone - eve might want somebody to decompress with”. and she feels compelled to offer eve that, to make things better for her. but:

like i said, villanelle has been trying to reach out on the common ground she percieves them as having. she expects to relate to aaron in every way, because he’s a psychopath, too. except aaron goes on about how he knows so much about people, how he observes them. villanelle often does this as well – stalking eve in clothing stores back in season 1, googling her, watching through her windows, etc. but that’s not even near to enough of eve for villanelle, so her reaction is one of confusion. “you don’t want to talk to them? touch them? sleep with them?" 

"god, no.” aaron’s inflection is almost one of disgust, and definitely one of superiority. it’s like she’s asked him if he’s interested in hanging out with rocks. he can’t imagine having any involvement behind mild amusement at the opportunity to manipulate people, like toys. “do you?” he asks.

“yeah! i do. all the time.” it’s an immediate knee-jerk response, and though it’s soft, it’s emphatic. villanelle doesn’t doubt her answer. as the shot pans out, she gives a slight gasp, and almost smiles (mirroring that slight smile through her sobs in amsterdam). aaron remains impassive.

i believe that this exchange is maybe the MOST important of the episode, second only to eve/villanelle’s semi-sex scene. i also believe that it’s this conversation with aaron that leads villanelle to breaching that last unspoken barrier between her and eve. to be clear, i’m not trying to say villanelle isn’t a psychopath. one revelation does not fifty people un-kill. just a handful of hours before this moment, she murdered gemma with a plastic bag. so i’m not suggesting villanelle is just like any of us. she’s not, eve’s not, and we don’t want them to be. my point is that this moment clarifies a lot for villanelle. she’s been trying to figure out her own capacity for emotion and connection. one thing that she’s considered a fact about herself since before the pilot is that she “wants someone to watch movies with”. she expresses this desire to eve and konstantin with no hesitation; she’s sure, and this becomes a tacit premise in a lot of her reasoning over the whole show. i suspect villanelle doesn’t have any long-term understanding of what that really means, but she wants it anyway. she also plans most of her life around being able to get closer to eve, whether by teasing her or helping her or steering those in eve’s life to create the required conditions for a confrontation.

which is why aaron telling her he has NO need for human contact is such a big deal. because villanelle obviously DOES. she needs it, she wants it, she always has. anna, eve; villanelle develops romances that run deep – even though she’s no longer obsessed with anna by season 1, she still clearly feels a connection to her, and i don’t think she’d have killed her if anna hadn’t killed herself. then there’s konstantin, and she’s a little shit to him, but she definitely missed him, if the way she ran into his arms in 2x03 after being forced to put up with raymond for ten minutes is any indication. villanelle and konstantin have a rapport, and they trust each other (in that they both know each other well enough to guess when they might betray each other, and can account for it accordingly). essentially, until now, villanelle has been running with the equation “aaron = psychopath; me = psychopath; thus, aaron = me”. she’d assumed that part of psychopathy was just the level of human interest she has – which is why she doesn’t have an issue telling eve “like us, you mean”, even though eve has a long-term relationship and friends: that amount of involvement is still realistic for them, right? but aaron doesn’t have this need for people. so now, “aaron =/= me” for villanelle.

crucially, this interaction gives villanelle CONTEXT. rather than dealing in absolutes, she now has a spectrum of psychopathy: “aaron –> me –> eve –> carolyn –> konstantin –> etc.” aaron has inadvertently told her that what she feels is real. maybe she’d almost believed that, seeing as psychopaths can’t feel anything, can only have the “i / it”, that what she experienced was an infatuation or illusion (although this was shaken by eve stabbing her and by crying in amsterdam); but here’s aaron confirming that the idea of fascination with/caring for people has never even occurred to him. and it does NOTHING BUT occur to villanelle. eve runs circles around her head.

let’s look at that in practice. aaron’s most significant relationship is with his sister, who he treats like crap. he’s got her babysat, won’t listen to her opinions (“the grownups are talking, amber”), disrespects a friend she likes, calls her a “thickie”. then villanelle, the closest thing he has to a friend – he watches her without her consent, plays dress-up and stay-still like she’s a doll, tells her what she’s going to do (“spit it out”) and instructs her on how she should feel (“you’ll be bored”). but villanelle? her most important relationship is with eve. and sure, she makes really fucked up choices, but she also makes an effort to consider how eve might feel, what eve might want, what might appeal to her. AND, she’s IMPROVED at that. for example, in 1x03, she kills bill to get eve’s attention, but it’s at the price of hurting her. by 2x07, though, villanelle won’t kill niko. it’s mostly selfish – she doesn’t want eve to be mad at her – but if it were aaron, he’d try and force eve to be un-mad somehow, with money or threats, etc. (not that aaron would bother; he wouldn’t mind if she hated him) villanelle, though, she wants eve to ACTUALLY love her, not to HAVE to love her. villanelle is manipulative, obviously (e.g. telling niko that eve stabbed her to cause a rift between them), but she sees these indirect manipulations as a way to arrange things how she wants (it doesn’t really occur that there might be an alternative), and attempts to course-correct when eve sometimes gets upset. this is huge for villanelle. aaron gives her something NOBODY else can, by being like her, but less like her than she’d believed. the distinction between them might seem minute to viewers who have the full range of emotions/empathy, but for villanelle, that small difference means the world. it means her and eve are REAL, or real enough. martin said, “don’t add, take away”. but aaron proves that that can be true by degrees; villanelle is dotted with minuses, but fewer minuses than aaron. this is set up throughout the episode, kicked off thematically by eve’s question, but compounded by aaron’s consistent use of villanelle like a thing. THIS is an “i / it” dynamic. “stay there, exactly like that”. “wear this”. “these are your clothes now”. “we’re leaving”. “you’ll get ice-cream, and i’ll watch you eat it”. to him, villanelle is a totally disposable puppet. but over and over and over we’ve been shown that this ISN’T how villanelle perceives eve, and that’s definitely cemented in amsterdam, when villanelle breaks down over eve “forgetting” her. 

aaron, like villanelle, has up until this point mistaken them for exactly alike, but they’ve been miscommunicating all along. at lunch, villanelle said, “i dont like rich men” – meaning, i like women, specifically eve, and i have my own resources. aaron counters, “but you like money”. he’s misinterpreted, and thinks villanelle means, like him, that she never wants to have sex or talk with other humans. instead, he concludes that she likes the material object of money, and the subsequent ability to aquire items which might spark some kind of response – and this lines up with villanelle’s later remark about liking to buy and own things, which aaron recognises in himself. they’re replying to each other, but really, they’re having slightly different conversations. so what does this mean, overall? we’ve known forever that villanelle wants eve to be the person she “watches movies with”, but this conversation tells villanelle she could maybe be that person to eve, too. villanelle can “love” in her own unique way, can be present. and because eve’s stepping off the ledge and meeting her in the middle, neither of them will have to be anything other than who they actually are. and they can be who they actually are, together. this analysis got a lot more muddled than i wanted it to, because im a lil wine drunk after haning out with some friends, but i had Thoughts. i have many more Thoughts about the villaneve hookup, hugo, gemma’s death, why aaron is such a creepy villain, carolyn’s plans, etc. but i’ll leave it here for now. i hope this made some sense lmfao.

[hsiao-kang]

Fiona Shaw by David Yeo for The Telegraph, ‘Killing Eve's secret weapon Fiona Shaw on finding new fame, and falling in love at almost 60’ by Jessamy Calkin (full article under the cut)

Fiona Shaw has found a new audience thanks to her scene-stealing turns in Killing Eve  and Fleabag. The Shakespearean actor turned small-screen sensation talks spies, celebrity, tragedy, and getting married later in life.

You look great, I tell Fiona Shaw. Must be the pig’s placenta. Shaw, 60, pretty and angular in a soft grey shirt, smiles enigmatically from the sofa of her north London home. Pig’s placenta is her MI6 officer Carolyn Martens’ beauty secret in the second series of Killing Eve, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s dark, wildly successful thriller about a psychopathic female assassin called Villanelle and Eve Polastri, the agent hunting her down.

But pig’s placenta aside, Shaw puts her youthful appearance down to ‘not being in the theatre every single night’. Which is where she’s been for pretty much the past 30 years. Formerly known for a huge body of iconic stage roles, including Hedda Gabler, Medea, Electra and Richard II, as well as for playing Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films, Shaw’s fame is now more attributable to her transition to television.

In Killing Eve, Waller-Bridge has taken a genre that’s a little worn out – the international-assassin thriller – and given it a completely different slant. The show won five awards at the Baftas earlier this month – including Outstanding Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress for Shaw, who in her acceptance speech referred to the ‘glass-shattering genius’ of Waller-Bridge.

Carolyn Martens, head of Russia at MI6, is a perfect example of Waller-Bridge’s wayward approach. Carolyn is very still. Arch, deadpan, erudite, severe. But she has a tipsy flirtatious side, and a hidden messy streak. She’s oblique – and the viewer doesn’t know how much she knows, or whether or not to trust her. Nor does Eve (played superbly by Sandra Oh). ‘I once saw a rat drink from a can of Coke there,’ Carolyn says earnestly to a bemused Eve when they’re in a rubbish-strewn alley. ‘Both hands. Extraordinary…’

‘Carolyn’s a joy to write,’ says Emerald Fennell – best known as an actor for Call the Midwife, and The Crown’s new Camilla – who took over from Waller-Bridge as lead writer on the second series (Waller-Bridge remains an executive producer). ‘Her blood runs very cool. She’s like a freediver who has trained herself to hold her breath and slow down her heartbeat – she’s done it for so long it’s now a permanent state. Her ability to steer an awkward conversation into blithely surreal territory is unparalleled and somehow seems very British.’

The character is entirely dependent on Shaw, adds Fennell. ‘She is unbelievably brilliant, funny, and scarily clever. In one of the episodes, another character mentions [11th-century saint] Anselm’s ontological argument [for the existence of God], and during the read-through it transpired that Fiona had written a literal thesis on it. Quite embarrassing for those of us who only had the most passing Wikipedia acquaintance with Anselm (me). Fiona’s cleverness and wit are built into the fabric of who Carolyn is.’

Shaw compares playing the part to keeping a secret at the same time as delivering a line. ‘It’s not easy to do. I have to say I do lose sleep over it – I’m playing somebody very different to what I normally play. Normally I have to expose the truth. When I’m in the theatre, where I would be swimming with the tide, it’s my job to lasso the audience and to make sure they understand the moral dilemma of the piece – that’s what leading players do. You are sort of the MC for the night…

In Killing Eve, most of my work is about knowing more than everybody else in the scene and hiding it. And it’s a terribly lonely thing to do. It feels all wrong – like rubbing my tummy and patting my head at the same time. I want to smile, I want to make jokes – but you are left with an ambiguity. You don’t know whether I know I’ve made a joke or not. It’s very good exercise for me.’

Even though they are friends, stepping into Waller-Bridge’s shoes must have been tricky for Fennell. ‘I think of Killing Eve as a beautiful, haunted doll’s house that Phoebe built,’ she says. ‘She’s already made this incredible world full of insanely compelling people, so the pleasure of writing it is to get to play in there, to put in a few of your own trapdoors and secret passageways, to move those characters around and occasionally push some of them down the stairs.’

Earlier this year, Shaw appeared in the second series of Waller-Bridge’s other seminal television show, Fleabag. Initially she had to turn it down because she was directing Cendrillon at Glyndebourne (directing opera is another of her talents). Then Fleabag overran, and she was able to join in after all.

Waller-Bridge is the definitive young auteur of our times, and it seems she can do no wrong. The stage production of Fleabag – coming to the West End in August – sold out in an hour. ‘I feel she’s nearest to Oscar Wilde,’ says Shaw now, ‘which is to say she’s greater than the sum of her parts.’ Comedy, in some ways, is quite a conservative thing, Shaw thinks, although it may not seem that way. ‘But it always has a frame; it stays within that frame but it kicks against it, like a child in a playpen.

‘Phoebe develops people so they turn into bigger people, and bigger people, and I think that’s 
a confidence that’s come with her previous work. She’s mastered one form, and she’s been able to take the gate off and let the characters run out into the field – and yet they’re still intact, and the audience follow them. It’s superb.’

For actors, she says, that approach couldn’t be better, which is why so many of them, including herself, Andrew Scott and Kristin Scott Thomas, are desperate to work with Waller-Bridge.

‘I could have played the boss of MI6 and pretty well come up with the same “ker-chings” every week,’ says Shaw, who also played an MI6 officer in BBC One’s recent Mrs Wilson, ‘but that isn’t what happens in Killing Eve.’

Waller-Bridge was always on set during the making of the first series, constructing and reconstructing her work like a Rubik’s Cube. When Sandra Oh pointed out that the actor Sean Delaney, who plays Kenny Stowton (a young ex-hacker recruited by MI6), looked like Shaw, Waller-Bridge decided to make his character her son in the story, and wrote it in, just like that.

Killing Eve, though it seems so British, is a BBC America production, having been initially overlooked here, according to executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle (this was before Fleabag became a TV hit). Woodward Gentle had read the Codename Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings, on which Killing Eve is based, and approached Waller-Bridge. She had seen her one-woman play in Edinburgh, and thought she would bring a different energy to the show.

Shaw is taken aback by its popularity, and 
particularly by the wide demographic to which 
it appeals. ‘Fathers and sons watch it, mothers 
 and daughters, husbands and wives. I don’t think it bears much analysis. I suppose it has no politics, it’s fantasy really and that’s why I think the violence is nearly allowable – it’s cartoonish.’

It’s also stylish – the music is great; the costumes are superb; the graphics are slick – and clearly a high-budget project, shot in London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam. Shaw is often recognised for playing Carolyn. She was amazed when, on a New York street recently, someone reacted so wildly on seeing her that she appeared to be having a fit.

Fiona Shaw grew up in Montenotte, Cork, with three brothers. Her father was an ophthalmic surgeon and her mother was a physicist. She always wanted to be a tennis player, she says, but instead studied philosophy at University College Cork and then went to Rada in London. She still remembers the audition: the teacher told her later that she smelled of libraries.

That’s because it was as if she was born into the 19th century, she says now, compared to the other applicants. She was not cool. Everyone was instructed to wear a black dress. Shaw had made her own and it was a bit wonky. She was terrified. ‘I remember some American guys at the audition were doing press-ups, and people were talking about the Royal Shakespeare Company – and I thought, I haven’t a hope in hell.’

Hearing she’d got in was, she says, ‘one of the nicest moments in my life’. She is still an advisor at Rada. She worked hard and went straight into the cast of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals at the National Theatre, alongside Michael Hordern and Tim Curry (‘I couldn’t have been in better company’). Her father had his reservations, ‘but I think he thought I would come to my senses’. A year later she joined the RSC. Her parents would come and watch her, and her obvious success calmed her father’s fears. ‘He got much more interested when he could read about me in the paper – in the end he was incredibly supportive but I had to go through the firewall of his disapproval for a while.’

Then her brother Peter was killed in a car crash. Shaw was 28 at the time. ‘That was such a blow to my family. Neither of my parents could really function for about a year after that. It was very hard for them.’

Two years after her brother died, she was offered the role of Electra (for which she won the first of two Olivier Awards), and in some strange way found herself channelling her grief. ‘I loved comedy – but then I was asked to do Electra. Deborah Warner was directing and I thought, oh well, I’ll give it a go. But I didn’t see the point of a tragedy and I couldn’t do it at all. And slowly I realised that it’s much more about yourself. And I discovered a new world through tragedy.

‘Electra has a brother who she thinks is dead – and I knew something about having a brother who was dead. I wouldn’t say in any way that I was mainlining my brother, but I suddenly realised that plays are about life, and domestic tragedies are heightened in the theatre – but they are the same as all our tragedies – and that is what the theatre is for. I don’t know why I hadn’t worked that out before.’

It was the first of many collaborations with Warner (with whom Shaw also had a relationship), which went on to include Hedda Gabler, a controversial Richard II at the National in 1995, and Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children.

Shaw’s first major film role was in My Left Foot with Daniel Day-Lewis (1989). Soon after came Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and later the Harry Potter series. It is the former, she says, for which she is most recognised by the public. She has just finished filming Ammonite, an historical drama directed by Francis Lee, in which she plays Elizabeth Philpot, a palaeontologist, opposite Saoirse Ronan, and Kate Winslet as fossil hunter Mary Anning.

Was there a moment when she felt she had made it on her own terms? ‘I think I was very lucky. I didn’t do film on my own terms – you’re either a film star or you are not – because I was so obsessed with the theatre when I was young. Probably I would have had to go and sit in Hollywood – but I wouldn’t do that.

‘But I have done a lot of things on my terms, just being allowed to do those shows: Electra, Hedda Gabler – and Richard II, which seemed quite nerve-racking at the time, but that was part of the thrill of it. So I’ve always tried to do things which are hard to do – maybe even to a fault.’ She has never, she says, been trapped in a long run of a West End show she didn’t want to do. ‘There always had to be an element of experiment.’

And she loves taking theatrical risks. Like her rendition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which premiered at Epidaurus in Greece in 2012, then went to the Old Vic Tunnels in London in 2013, and on to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Or (with Warner) the dramatisation of TS Eliot’s The Waste Land she performed in locations including an old disco in Brussels and a former munitions factory in Dublin. Last month she revisited it in New York, reciting it against the backdrop of a sculpture exhibition in Madison Square Park – it wasn’t advertised but word spread and people came in their hundreds. ‘It was a huge pleasure, it happened almost by accident – “Will you turn this water into wine?” And I did. It was lovely.’

Shaw’s father, Denis, died in 2011, but her mother, Mary, is 93 and still lives in the house that Shaw grew up in. She drives, plays tennis. When Shaw goes back home she sleeps in her old bedroom. ‘Well, I try not to – it’s awful to sleep in the bedroom you had when you were 14. Some things are still exactly the same, the wardrobe and the poster of Narcissus – do you remember those terrible posters?’

Shaw lives between the house in north London and New York, where her wife Sonali Deraniyagala, a Sri Lankan economist, teaches at Columbia University. In 2004, Deraniyagala was on holiday in Sri Lanka with her family when they were caught in the tsunami. Her husband, parents and two young sons died. For years, Deraniyagala lived in a haze of madness and grief. In 2013, she wrote an extraordinary memoir, Wave, which won several awards and had some remarkable reviews.

Shaw was in New York performing in Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary when somebody gave her Deraniyagala’s book. She read it in her dressing room. ‘I thought it was the best thing I’d read for a long time, on any level.’ She mentioned this in an interview. Then things came together in a felicitous way: Shaw was supposed to return home straight after the play closed, but she had a serious ear infection (due to having to disappear for several minutes in a plunge pool every night on stage), and was unable to fly. She stayed in New York and went to a Laurie Anderson concert, where she was invited to Anderson’s book club – they were reading Wave – to meet the writer.

‘I was so surprised that she was that person – not the person in the book. We spent half an hour chatting. When I left I thought, I have just met life.’

She pauses. ‘The play had been exhausting and so much about death, and I was feeling so miserable, and I thought, that person is life – even though she has had more death than you would wish on your worst enemy, there’s a force in her that is just life.’

When Deraniyagala came to London they met up again. ‘Very quickly I thought, I just want to live with this person, and it’s been one of the most marvellous things to happen – but it was also highly unlikely. But in my profound self, at my core, I thought, I want to live with this person. It was deeper than anything. And thankfully, she thought the same – it’s been a beautiful thing to happen at this stage of my life.’

They got married in Islington town hall in January of last year, and then had their wedding party on the day of the royal wedding. ‘It was fantastic. Half of Sri Lanka came and it was a very beautiful wedding – everyone was wearing saris and looking gorgeous. My mother played the piano and sang, which was quite hilarious, and we had a band and dancing, a very late party.’

Her mother sounds very enlightened, being 93 and coming from a small town in Ireland. Were there no raised eyebrows at the fact that Shaw was marrying a woman? (As well as Warner, she previously had a relationship with the actor Saffron Burrows.)

‘More than raised. But it’s fine – the world is changing fast. My mother was very good about it and also very impressed by who Sonali is.’

So she’s not religious? ‘Oh she is, but she’s also terribly funny about it. And she’s a sort of nouveau old person. I think being old is quite a shock for her – and a lot of friends are dead, and some of them have lost their minds. But she’s very well – and very happy for me.’

Deraniyagala and Shaw have been to Sri Lanka several times to visit Deraniyagala’s aunt, and love it there. Given what happened to Deraniyagala, recent events – the bombings at Easter – must have been completely destabilising. ‘Sri Lanka has been very much at peace for the last 10 years since the war, but the scale of what happened with those 250 people dead – it’s as big as 9/11 for them, because it’s such a small island. They were innocent people, and it’s the most depressing thing – and terribly hard for Sonali – because the mass funerals are very near to the mass funerals of her family; it’s terribly hard for her to revisit that time. It feels a bit like a natural disaster because it has no rhyme or reason. It’s a black hole of destruction.’

Shaw is about to start work on a film called Corvidae, a thriller co-written and directed by young film-maker Joe Marcantonio. Then Killing Eve series three is on the cards for next year. If she had to choose only one discipline to work in for the rest of her life – theatre, film, opera or television – which would she choose?

‘That’s a cruel question. I would find it very difficult, but I would probably say television because I’ve done 30 years of the theatre. I’ve worked morning, noon and night, sometimes rehearsing all day and performing every night for decades. That’s a lot. I don’t have any great need to do that again.

‘And I’m very interested in television now because one of the new pleasures it’s given me is the scope of the audience. We used to be thrilled when we had 500 people, or 1,000. Now we have millions and you think, oh God, this is so obvious. Especially when the material is of such great quality and so uncynical. A few years ago they were just churning television out, but they aren’t now – it has some of the best minds working in it. So I feel in a way like I’m in the same profession, it’s just the shape of the stage which has changed.’

In the end, she says, in any medium, it all comes down to the same things she has always aspired to, and which she is so excited about – that sense of infinite possibility in a role, and the thrill of making the heartbeat of the audience quicken.

Killing Eve returns to BBC One and iPlayer in June

[sunflowerbi]

I can send them all if you want ajdjdkf also 8! 🥺🥺

The idea that you like them enough to send more than one is absolutely wild to me djfjkdhfk Thank you!! I also posted it on ao3 again! ☺ (also if there’s mistakes or just if it’s not good i apologize i didn’t read this over much after because I’m Tired and i’ve been staring at it for awhile. ✨)

“Can we at least still sleep in the same bed?” (Sleepy/cozy prompts)

Eve was drunk. She was drunker than she had been in quite a while, in fact. The world was spinning around her, or she was spinning around the world, she honestly couldn't be sure. All she knew was she was drunk, and she missed Villanelle.

Which was stupid, Villanelle had shot her, had tried to kill her. Not to mention all the other people she’d killed. Eve shouldn’t miss her, but the world was spinning, and her head felt fuzzy, and she just wanted to see Villanelle’s face. Did she even know Eve was alive? Probably not. Eve wanted her to know that she was alive, that she hadn’t won. Reaching for her phone, Eve tried to think of reasons not to click on the contact, the ‘V’ mocking her. It probably wasn’t even her number anymore, she was probably in some far-off country, she’d probably forgotten about Eve, she’d tried to kill Eve.

           None of these thoughts seemed to take hold, though, and she found herself pressing the button anyway, bringing the phone to her ear as it began to ring. Eve found her mug as it did, taking another swig of whatever alcohol she’d poured into it last. She thought about just hanging up, she should just hang up. Go to bed, pretend this never happened. Before that could happen, someone picked up.

           “Hello? Who are you? Why do you have Eve’s phone?” As soon as Eve heard Villanelle’s Russian accent, fused with concern and a hint of protective anger, she realized she was far too drunk to be having this conversation. It had to be the alcohol’s fault that when Villanelle spoke Eve felt more at home than she had in months. “This is not funny, I can find you, and you do not wan-”

           “I have Eve’s phone because it’s my phone, so Eve is allowed to have I phone. Wait no, I am allowed to have Eve’s phone. It’s mine.” Eve finally got out, barely biting back an angry I do want you to find me.

           Eve was almost certain Villanelle had hung up. It was perfectly silent on the other end of the line for what felt like hours, although Eve had a feeling it was closer to seconds, before a gentle, shaky voice responded, “I shot you, so it does not make sense that you have your phone.” It was a statement of fact, as if Villanelle was trying to convince that it had taken place, that she’d actually shot Eve.

           “Well you didn’t do a very good job, so much for amazing international assassin. I’m alive, somebody heard the shot, they found me. Now I’m alive, and I’m very drunk.”

           “Yes, I can hear that. Why did you call me, Eve?”

           “I didn’t think you would answer, and I’m drunk, and I wanted to see you. I want to see you all the time. You shot me and I still want to see you! I did stab you though, so I don’t know if I’m allowed to be mad about it. I think about you constantly, even though I’m supposed to hate you, I want to hate you. We tried to kill each other, which means we should hate each other. Instead I just want to kiss you, actually, I don’t just want to kiss you. I want to sleep with you. I want to kiss you and I want to strip you down and fuck you unti-”

           “Okay! Eve. There is a lot for us to discuss, I think. Preferably when you are not quite so drunk. Where are you? You do not sound like you should be by yourself.” Villanelle sounded worried, like she’d seen a ghost and realized it wasn’t dead at all, but if she wasn’t very careful it would be, like she found a necklace she was certain she’d lost, but it would fall into a storm drain if she touched it wrong.

           “I’m in my apartment, in London, where you probably aren’t. I knew you wouldn’t be able to get to me, that’s why I called you.” Eve had thrown herself onto her couch, face nearly landing in a pillow.

           “I am in London, actually. What is your address, Eve? If you do not tell me I will figure it out a different way, which will probably require me to kill someone, so I would recommend you just tell me.” Her accent grew thicker, somehow, not quite angry but certainly determined.

           “I would have told you anyway, I’m not making good choices tonight, I don’t think.” Eve mumbled her address, tripping over the numbers a couple times, hearing an engine turn on and the click of Villanelle hanging up.

           -

           Villanelle didn’t bother knocking, her head still spinning, Eve was alive. She had shot her, and Eve was alive. She was also drunk. She called Villanelle because she was drunk, and she didn’t hate her. She tried the doorknob once, finding it unlocked, making a mental note to tell Eve she really needed to lock her door. First, though, she would need to actually find her. She stepped through the apartment, looking over cluttered counters and towards the living room. Eve was there, laying facedown on the couch, messy hair flung about wildly. “Are you awake, Eve?” she stepped closer, cautious.

           Eve rolled over, groaning as she narrowly avoided falling to the floor, “Yes. You weren’t supposed to be here. I told you I wanted to kiss you. Which I would not have said if I thought you would be here. I still do though, want to kiss you.”

           “Well you are very drunk, and I will not kiss you when you are very drunk, because I think you would pretend to regret it later. Also, you smell drunk.” Villanelle smiled softly, Eve was a mess, and she looked tired. “We should get you a drink of water, some pain medication, and into your bed.” She brushed a few locks of hair behind Eve’s ear, helping her sit up. “Please warn me if you are going to throw up. I do not want you to throw up on me.”

           Villanelle grabbed water, bringing it over to Eve, encouraging her to drink before heading to the bathroom to search out something to help prevent the headache Eve would certainly feel in the morning. She brought them to Eve, wordlessly instructing her to take them, a bit surprised when she didn’t hesitate. Still, after all that had happened, she took the pills Villanelle handed to her, swallowed them without even a moment’s thought.

           “I am going to feel like shit in the morning.” Eve mumbled, allowing Villanelle to help her stand. They walked, Eve pointing in the direction of her bedroom, suddenly excited to sleep in her bed.

           “Do you have any pajamas in here? You should not sleep in that.” Villanelle asked, beginning to hunt through drawers in search of something softer than the jeans Eve was wearing.

Eventually, Eve changed into soft shorts, nearly falling over several times in the process. She crawled into her bed, curling around herself before looking up at Villanelle, “Can we at least still sleep in the same bed? Even if you won’t kiss me. I won’t regret it, promise.”

           Villanelle hesitated, she wanted to, of course she did. Every inch of her pulled her towards the bed, towards Eve. She never could stand sleeping on couches, and in the end she couldn’t bring herself to be the better person, not now.

           “You are too trusting, Eve.”

           “Only with you.”

           So, they slept.

[sobi-fans]

Thoughts on TROS

So I’ve received a few asks asking about my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker, and I haven’t replied because I have many thoughts and I’m still processing stuff. But yesterday @riselioness messaged me to ask the same, so I thought it was time to try and organise them on a page.Yes, I am very, very late to this party. 

Obviously spoilers, so I’ll put it under a cut. Also, I’ve only seen the movie once, and that was back in December, so my memory might be a little hazy. I probably need to see it again.

For the sake of context, I have no OTP for the sequel trilogy, but I have been known to read Reylo and Damerey on occasion. (And randomly Gingerflower – aka Hux/Rose – purely because of that TLJ deleted scene where she bites him!) Let me tell you, being on the outside of the shipping wars has been very interesting, and it seems abundantly clear to me that your enjoyment of TROS depends greatly on who you ship, or whether you ship at all. I would have been happy if Finnrose endured or Stormpilot became a thing, but ah well. Onwards!

I’ll try and keep this somewhat cohesive, but I feel like it’s going to be all over the place. Apologies.

Let’s start simple. Stuff I liked that doesn’t have a ‘but’ attached:

- Lando (where’s he been all this time?)

- Wedge (where’s he been all this time?)

- Finn being able to show his individuality with clothing and hair that’s his choice

- Purely for shallow reasons, Poe’s outfit

- Poe and Rey channelling Han and Leia with their bickering at the start

- The Force bond stuff was visually stunning with the dual locations

- Luke’s expression after he raises the X-wing, like ‘Yeah, finally nailed it!’

- Ben Solo channelling his father – also Adam Driver in general for making Ben so very different from Kylo with just body language and facial expressions alone. He literally moved like a huge weight had been lifted from him, and it was pretty amazing to watch

- The fact that Rey’s mother is Villanelle from Killing Eve

- Kaydel looking like Endor Leia at the end

- LGBTQ representation!

- Seeing young Luke and Leia

The stuff with Leia was very poignant and emotional, but I can’t exactly say it was good. It’s tricky. I don’t feel like I’ve separated Leia from Carrie in my mind, so it’s really hard to look at it objectively. I do know that when Chewie howled after Leia’s death, I teared up pretty much immediately!

I have mixed feelings about the trio interaction. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see them together, and I love their banter, BUT it felt incredibly forced. Shoving them together for the sake of them being together does a disservice to all three characters. This was the last movie. They should all have been developing their individual stories at that point. Rey with her Jedi stuff, (which she does get to go off and do, but not without Finn traipsing after her like a lost puppy), Poe finding his feet as a leader of the Resistance, and Finn doing literally anything else other than running after Rey yelling her name all the time.

There was a lot of stuff that I wanted to like, but mostly it came across as missed opportunities. Such as:

- Jannah and the other former stormtroopers – this would have been such an interesting idea to develop, and would have given Finn a cool storyline of his own that didn’t involve Rey. I would have liked to see Finn reaching out to current stormtroopers, persuading them that they had other options. That would have been cool. A stormtrooper revolution turning the tide of the final battle!

- Finn’s Force sensitivity – where did this come from? Okay, so maybe it was hinted at in TFA, but it wasn’t carried over to TLJ, and JJ should have respected that in the interest of cohesive storytelling. And as interesting as it could have been to see, it doesn’t take any strength away from Finn to have him not be Force sensitive.

- Hux being the spy – this is such an interesting idea, and it’s hilarious to me that he would go to such lengths to be petty towards Kylo, but it was executed in a rush, much like a lot of other stuff in this movie. They could have made Rose his handler, which would have been a nice change in their dynamic after TLJ.

Stuff I did not like: (warning, rants ahead)

- Completely unnecessary new characters – elaborated below

- Pryde – what was the point of him? Hux could have easily fulfilled that role if they didn’t want to develop his spy storyline.

- Zorri – could have been cool, but seemed shoehorned in to remind us that Poe Dameron is straight, thank you very much!

- Poe being a former spice runner – just why? Poe already had a perfectly good back story.

- Palpatine being back – I know opinions vary on this, but I’m not a fan. Doesn’t it just cheapen Anakin’s entire story arc? (This is not to take anything away from Ian McDiarmid’s performance, which was amazing as always.) Also the complete lack of a reasonable explanation for how he returned. In fact, doesn’t someone even use the word ‘somehow’ at some point?

- Rey Palpatine – again, I know opinions vary, but I hated this so much. I’ve been team Rey No One since the beginning! This is our first female protagonist, and in my opinion the thought that she came from completely humble beginnings was fascinating. To link her to a powerful name – a powerful male name, at that – and for it to be literally stated that her power comes from him was just kind of deflating, to be honest. Also, it makes no sense. Are we expected to believe that Luke there-is-good-in-Vader Skywalker writes off his own nephew because of his potential darkness but is A-OK being a mentor to Rey Palpatine?

- Leia knowing that Rey is a Palpatine – this makes no sense either to me. Leia accepts and nurtures Rey despite her bloodline, sensing that there is good in her, yet thinks that her own son is irredeemable? The sense of ‘we had a bad child, but we found a better one’ is just…ugh. And this happens throughout the ST, even with all the Jedi standing behind Rey having abandoned Ben for years. Even if you believe that Rey is more deserving of that attention, the callousness just doesn’t seem very Jedi-like to me.

- Leia’s reasons for giving up her Jedi training made no sense.

- The sidelining of Rose – it seems painfully clear that JJ had no idea what to do with her character, so she’s just kind of…there. I refuse to believe that they couldn’t have come up with something, even if it was just her accompanying Finn or Poe on their storylines. That wouldn’t have given her a whole lot of agency, but it would have been something.

- Rey ending up alone on a desert planet, exactly where she started. Yes, I know she’s likely not going to live there, but visually the movie is showing us that nothing has really changed. We know Rey wants a family, and the hug with Finn and Poe was lovely to see, but to have the last image of her be her alone on a desert planet is actually kind of depressing.

- Rey calling herself a Skywalker – like the Palpatine thing, it’s linking her to someone else’s legacy. I think it would have been more powerful for her to declare herself ‘Just Rey’. No one’s on at Finn to declare his surname, are they?

Now on to the big one. Bendemption and Reylo.

I have been hoping for Bendemption from the beginning, because redemption, compassion and forgiveness were key themes of the OT for me. But I had a feeling that if Kylo did get redeemed, he’d be doomed to die, because as we know, JJ likes to follow the exact same patterns that we’ve already seen before. I have issues with Vader’s ‘redemption’ on the grounds of it being a ridiculously quick turnaround, (quicker than Kylo’s, even), plus he gets an easy way out just returning to the Light and then dying straight after. Lo and behold, the exact same thing happens here. What would have been really interesting to see, in my opinion, is Ben living to atone for what he’s done. That would have been true redemption, and I think the same is true for Anakin too.

Now, as we know, Kylo is much worse than Vader, even though Vader spent literally half his life on the Dark Side, murdered thousands of people, including children, chopped off his son’s hand, tortured his daughter and her future husband. We know this because Kylo killed Han Solo, the fanboys’ favourite. Therefore, he is much worse, despite only having been on the Dark Side for about six years after being mentally manipulated from birth by the most evil man in existence. Don’t get me wrong, I am not apologising for Kylo. I’m aware he did terrible things, hence why Ben should have lived to atone, but I do believe that he gets an unfair level of hatred, largely stemming from killing Han.

As mentioned above, I have occasionally delved into Reylo fics to see what was out there. I’ve always been a supporter of watching their story play out, because enemies to lovers was something new for a Star Wars movie, and it’s a cool idea to explore. We’d previously seen it with Luke and Mara in Legends. (Mara, incidentally, being someone who was redeemed and lived to make up for her bad deeds.) I loved Ben Solo for the short amount of time we got to see him. The interactions between him and Rey over the bond were so cool to watch. Ultimately, though, I don’t feel like their story was particularly well handled in this movie. I buy it because Adam and Daisy were so brilliant, but I can’t help but feel that Ben’s death was a giant cop-out.

I have mixed feelings about Rey facing Palpatine alone. I can see that there’s some kind of strength to her battling alone there. (Except she wasn’t, because she had every Jedi standing metaphorically behind her.) That said, to have Ben out of the fight felt…weird. Since TFA certain people have said that Rey and Ben/Kylo were two halves of one protagonist, which makes me think that he should have been present there instead of tossed into a pit. Also, after the mental mind games that Palpatine has been playing for his entire life, he pretty much deserved to be. But I don’t know. I think I need to watch it again and see how I feel.

This ended up being super long and ranty, sorry. I’ve probably missed a lot. Maybe I’ll change my mind on a few things when I see it again. I thought writing this out might help to organise my thoughts, but I’m not sure it has!

[haught-n-cold-gay]

Reactions to the “Killing Eve” season 2 finale:

So, here’s the thing. I finally was able to finish up the second season last night and I just have so many feelings about this ending because w h a t ? I heard from reviews that season 2 was better than season 1, and while I don’t know if that’s true, I do understand why people are saying it. Hell, we get more Villaneve interactions, which is arguably the best part of the show. There are some really great things about this season. Like...

Carolyn being an unapologetic BAMF who very much believes in ‘the end justifies the means.’ Sorta the opposite of Kenny (my son who I love dearly)

Jess and Hugo were cool additions that I just wanted more of. Just so much more

Every single interaction between Villanelle and Niko and that perfect, so Villanelle, line: ‘smell you later’ 

Niko ending things with Eve

Villanelle with an American accent and that long hair 

Eve fucking Villanelle (even if it was through Hugo) and Hugo saying how it was a threesome lol

Villanelle and her clothes

Villanelle’s speech during the AA meeting

Aaron Peel was perfectly creepy and the acting was spot on 

Villanelle choosing Eve over Aaron and killing him

As disturbing as it was, Villanelle pushing that person in front of the bus, which mirrors Eve’s desire to push that dude in front of the train 

Just Eve’s slow anger and homicidal urge festering 

Villanelle working with Konstantin again because damn they just play off of each other so well

Eve finally killing Raymond who was also a really good bad guy

All the conversations where people are either like to Eve ‘Villanelle thinks of you like a toy she can’t love’ or to Villanelle ‘Eve isn’t into you anymore she’s onto the next killer’ and both gals being jealous AF

See, there was just so much to love. But, there were a few things that I think they should have included or done differently.

KENNY. MY POOR SWEET CHILD WHO JUST WANTS TO DO GOOD. HE DESERVES BETTER. 

As I said before, love Jess and Hugo, but who the fuck are they? 

I know Aaron Peel was the big bad, but like The Ghost? They did so much lead up with this character but like? Who was she? How did she become this killer for hire? Sure, she isn’t as interesting of a killer, but does she like killing? Most of her kills were painless, so was it just for the money?

 Okay, here’s my biggest complaint. And some may argue with me, which is totally fine. But here’s the thing. The last scene between Villanelle and Eve bothers me. I don’t think it makes sense or is really true to their characters. Here’s why: 

Yes, Villanelle coerced Eve into killing Raymond when she could have easily killed him with the gun BUT why was Eve so surprised? Villanelle is fucking Villanelle for fucks sake who has been saying since day one that she and Eve are similar. It doesn’t make sense to me why Eve was so angry with Villanelle for getting her to kill, because honestly, with or without Villanelle, Eve was ready to kill someone. Yes, Villanelle played her, but why is Eve surprised?   

Eve seemed ready to run away with Villanelle before she found out about the gun, but is the audience supposed to believe that after this season, no matter what Villanelle did, Eve wouldn’t have run off with Villanelle? This whole season was about Eve recognizing and becoming in touch with the darkness inside, but the gun somehow changed everything? 

Eve would be an idiot to not have wanted to run away with Villanelle, whether she had feelings for her or not, the twelve are definitely going to be after her. There was no way she could just go home. Eve might have been in shock, but she isn’t stupid. That didn’t make sense to me.

Eve is not a saint. I’m not calling her a sadistic psychopath, but she’s intrigued by death and murder. The show allows her to be curious, but the last scene sort of contradicts that. Sure, she didn’t say ‘wow I hated killing’ but I am surprised that she didn’t admit to Villanelle that it probably felt powerful and satisfying based on her wanting to do it for so long. Because I feel like for her, that’s a more realistic reaction. 

Okay, so, I truly believe that Eve wants Villanelle, and arguably, more than anything else (like Niko or Hugo or even the job). She can be herself when she’s around Villanelle, she’s not expected to ‘be more normal’ or ‘find her humanity.’ She’s sexually attracted to Villanelle and is obsessed with her. Is she in love with Villanelle? Maybe. Probably parts of her love her. But that desire is so strong that I don’t see how she could have walked away. 

I can’t at this point answer whether Villanelle is a psychopath or not. Most of the time, she feels nothing and doesn’t show an ounce of humanity, but is it possible that she feels something for Eve? I think so. Her killing Aaron Peel and continuously choosing Eve over her own safety and chance to be wealthy shows that there is something there. And Eve should know that by now. 

Look, I won’t lie. I am a Villaneve shipper, but Villanelle shooting Eve at the end isn’t something I have a problem with. It’s the same thing Eve did to Villanelle at the end of season one. But it’s the last scene in general that just doesn’t sit right with me. I understand the choice to mirror the end of season one, but how they got there just isn’t right. 

Am I the only one that feels this way? Let me know if I’m just over thinking things. 

[vvacodraws]

Killing Eve Season 3 Asks: 2, 20, 22, 32, 35 and 42.

Yay thanks for asking!

2. What is your favorite Villaneve scene?

Ohhh so hard to choose! Probably the kitchen one and the bus fight, tho I really like their encounter in the bathroom, the first meeting ever haha!

20. How does S3 rank in comparison to S1 and S2 for you?

Hmm hmm. I think I like them all differently? I don't think either was better that other (okay, maybe S1 haha), but I feel like for me, S3 felt very, VERY personal. Mostly because this season I could really relate to Villanelle and her struggle with her mother and it was something different than previous seasons. So this was more of a personal season for me and that's why I rank it high.

22. What song have you been listening to that is not necessary from the show, but has big Villaneve energy or always makes you think of them?

OMG this one is Villanelle song FOR SURE, I always think of her when listening to it:

But I don't have a song just for Villaneve or Eve...I guess it's time to look for it!

32. What is your biggest criticism of S3?

Kenny. I feel like they killed him and then totally forgot about it. I thought his death was going to reunite Eve and Carolyn and look for options to take The Twelve together so I was dissapointed in it not being as important to the plot as I thought.

35. Describe the expectations you had before the finale.

OH GOD. I was soooo excited for Eve and Villanelle to even be in a ROOM together I didn't think of it much...but I guess my expectations were for it to end with something as brutal as a Rome kill and them running away together...I did not expect at all CAROLYN to kill someone! I thought it's going to be Eve and Villanelle murder Dasha together (which they kind of it did haha).

42. How do you think we'll find Villanelle and Eve at the beginning of S4? Have they started a quiet life? Has there been a time jump? Are they still hunting The Twelve?

I am afraid I expect a time jump. As much as I'd HATE IT because I want as much Villaneve content as I can get, I think they'll make a time jump and then The Twelve will somehow treathen their existence. But I don't believe it will start with Eve and Villanelle separately - I believe they chose to be together now.

[sobertildawn]

Nobody asked for this but...

Plot holes that I actually don’t care that much about for the main story, but that are annoying me, because I feel like the writing this season is so rushed and forced:

1. How did Eve know V and K were at the train station, on that platform? Villanelle was already in Konstantin’s car by the time she even found Dasha. How did she know where she went? She has no way of tracking her besides the credit card and it seems highly improbable that V would use her business credit card to buy her train ticket to escape from the business.

2. How did Eve get to the train station literal minutes after V and K? She was on foot and they were already in the car when she was with Dasha. Yet somehow she got the info, ordered an Uber, and got to them within minutes? Cool, cool.

3. How did Villanelle get Eve’s number? We might say the same way she got Eve’s address to plant the bear. Maybe. We don’t know how that happened. There is no reason to believe that Villanelle has any contacts outside of her immediate handlers in The 12. We never see her talking to literally anyone else + she kills everyone when she’s bored or done with them. In Season 1 she had to break into Eve’s house and in Season 2 go see Anna to get access to Eve’s phones. Now she can find her number within minutes while on a moving train and on the run. Ok. Sure.

4. Why didn’t Villanelle kill Dasha? What’s the point to Villanelle of bringing her along and knocking her out if you’re not going to finish the job? Her character is more disciplined and intelligent than that — I would say even during an emotional crisis. We know Villanelle is too good at her job to think she would have killed her with one good blow, so she obviously didn’t want her dead. The only value I can see that that serves as a plot device was to get K and D in the same hospital bed and to give Eve the chance to see/talk to both of them like bread crumbs...? Idk. And to give us a chance to witness Dark Eve. But there are better ways. This seems out of character for Villanelle. What’s the point?

5. Eve hasn’t mentioned Kenny seriously (except as she needed to to hit back at Carolyn) in the last two or three episodes. We know Eve is not known for her loyalty to her dead/dying colleagues when V is near, but this singular focus on Villanelle is TOO obsessive, almost a caricature. She literally comes into her meeting with Carolyn and says V has been promoted, we should make that our sole focus. With absolutely no rationale or connection to Kenny’s case, which is what brought her back to detective work and is presumably the topic of their meeting. Eve is an incredibly intelligent woman. In Seasons 1 and 2, she found ways to include V in the work that she was actually doing, even when it wasn’t directly connected. To reduce her now to a Villanelle-obsessed maniac with no other pretenses, especially so abruptly, is such a disservice to her character. This one I do care about.

In seasons 1 and 2, you literally see all of the pieces come together. You know who Oksana is because first you get a name thrown out in the heat of the moment during an argument, then Kenny does a search through complex databases, then we get a profile. We get an address for V after 7 episodes of looking for connections. We only know how to find V because she sends literal calling cards. We only run into her in the countryside that day because after hunting through bank records that someone gifted after a very uncomfortable “date,” we find Frank and she happens to be there.

In Season 3, we randomly find Dasha in Barcelona through some “rumors” on the internet conveniently at the exact moment that we need her. We don’t know how Eve finds her at the bowling alley. Never answered or addressed. Bear can find information in minutes that it would take Kenny, the best hacker using the best equipment, a whole episode to find. We find Villanelle really easily at the golf course because after two seasons of paying for everything in cash or having The 12 pay for it upfront, somehow Villanelle now has a company credit card that she happens to use for business and personal expenses. AND at the exact moment that Eve is looking for her, the man V was going to kill stumbles right up to Eve’s car and gives her a vague description and a random location that the Uber driver somehow knows exactly how to find, which, wouldn’t ya know, also happens to be accessible through the main road. Eve is hot on Villanelle’s trail at the train station because... instinct? Idk.

SH shines more to me as a character writer (except with Eve, she is turning Eve’s character into a caricature of herself who has no identity of her own but to chase after Villanelle, then Niko, then Villanelle again), but idk what to make of what she’s doing with the plot. I get it, there are bigger priorities now than the slow burn of yearning that were Seasons 1 and 2. In order to move the plot along, there have to be some leaps, some shortcuts that don’t get explained. I get it — but it feels like they are overcompensating to the point that some of this lacks intrigue. Too many things that fall together because we want them to and not because they’ve been set up well to. It’s witty in its use of parallels and symbolism, but the humor and the plot seem really forced to me. The dialogue lacks the bite it had in the first two seasons and the development of the story seems so... clumsy? Idk the word I want for it. It’s not enough to take me from the show, but I can’t say I will be sad when SH goes.

[imageoftumult]

Villaneve MBTI Personality Types

Let’s start with Villanelle. She was kind of difficult because she also has the psychopath thing going for her but I think she’s ISTP, the Virtuoso. I don’t want to make this post too long so I’m just going to pull some quotes from various sites and let you guys infer for yourselves.

“I wanted to live the life, a different life. I didn’t want to go to the same place every day and see the same people and do the same job. I wanted interesting challenges.” - Harrison Ford (a fellow ISTP)

“ISTPs are mysterious people who are usually very rational and logical, but also quite spontaneous and enthusiastic. They are often capable of humorously insightful observations about the world around them.”

“ISTPs are attentive to details and responsive to the demands of the world around them. Because of their astute sense of their environment, they are good at moving quickly and responding to emergencies. ISTPs are reserved, but not withdrawn: the ISTP enjoys taking action, and approaches the world with a keen appreciation for the physical and sensory experiences it has to offer.”

“ISTP traits include a penchant for problem-solving, cool pragmatism, and eager curiosity.”

“ISTPs are adventurous and independent. They are fearless and thrive on challenging situations. They are gifted problem solvers. Their mechanical and technical nature enables them to operate many kinds of tools and instruments. They are proud of their relatively effortless ability to acquire many skills. They seek freedom and are typically unemotional.”

“Easily bored, they’re always looking for something new and exciting to do. Sometimes this means they’re drawn to high-risk situations that give them a thrill. Because they react quickly and are tuned into their surroundings, they likely have a better chance than some others of beating the odds.”

“They enjoy when someone takes an interest in their projects, because it creates a shared experience.”

“At times, they’re steady and consistent, plodding along the path they’ve laid out for themselves. But other times, they’re completely spontaneous, making them a bit unpredictable. It’s like an energy builds up within them, and when it hits its tipping point, it explodes without warning — often launching them fearlessly in new directions.”

“An adventurous romantic partner, they’ll never “grow stale” — they’re always surprising their beloved with new experiences, especially sensual ones that invite fun and pleasure.”

“When it comes to relationships, they may be a bit hard to nail down, alternating between detachment and passion.”

“ISTPs enjoy working with their hands and having a day that’s full of variety and action.”

“ ISTPs are very direct and say what they mean. They sometimes have difficulty with emotionally charged situations or conversations. They do not read between the lines and do not understand why others do.”

“They enjoy having other people take an interest in their projects and sometimes don’t even mind them getting into their space. Of course, that’s on the condition that those people don’t interfere with their principles and freedom, and they’ll need to be open to the ISTP returning the interest in kind.”

“Friendly but very private, calm but suddenly spontaneous, extremely curious but unable to stay focused on formal studies, ISTP personalities can be a challenge to predict, even by their friends and loved ones. They can seem very loyal and steady for a while, but they tend to build up a store of impulsive energy that explodes without warning, taking their interests in bold new directions.”

“Their decisions stem from a sense of practical realism, and at their heart is a strong sense of direct fairness, a “do unto others” attitude, which really helps to explain many of their puzzling traits. Instead of being overly cautious though, avoiding stepping on toes in order to avoid having their toes stepped on, they are likely to go too far, accepting likewise retaliation, good or bad, as fair play.”

“The biggest issue ISTPs are likely to face is that they often act too soon, taking for granted their permissive nature and assuming that others are the same. They’ll be the first to tell an insensitive joke, get overly involved in someone else’s project, roughhouse and play around, or suddenly change their plans because something more interesting came up.”

“Combining spontaneity with logic, they can switch mindsets to fit new situations with little effort, making them flexible and versatile individuals.”

“This flexibility comes with some unpredictability, but ISTP personalities are able to store their spontaneity for a rainy day, releasing their energy just when it’s needed most.”

“With all this hands-on creativity and spontaneity, it’s no wonder that they are naturals in crisis situations. People with this personality type usually enjoy a little physical risk, and they aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty when the situation calls for it.”

“Through all this, they are able to stay quite relaxed. They live in the moment and go with the flow, refusing to worry too much about the future.”

“As easily as they go with the flow, they can also ignore it entirely, and usually move in another direction with little apology or sensitivity. If someone tries to change their habits, lifestyle or ideas through criticism, they can become quite blunt in their irritation.”

“They use logic, and even when they try to meet others halfway with empathy and emotional sensitivity, it rarely seems to quite come out right, if anything is even said at all.”

“This stubbornness, difficulty with others’ emotions, focus on the moment, and easy boredom can lead to unnecessary and unhelpful boundary-pushing, just for fun. ISTPs have been known to escalate conflict and danger just to see where it goes, something that can have disastrous consequences for everyone around if they lose control of the situation.”

Characteristic of an ISTP

Adaptable

Logical

Independent

Active

Adventurous

Problem solver

Self-reliant

Analytical

Technical

Practical

Unemotional

Flexible

Impersonal

Logical

Concrete

Realistic

Direct

Fearless

Positive

Handy

Objective

Hands-on

Damn, that’s long. Oh well, to Eve. Eve is an INTJ, or The Mastermind.

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”– Friedrich Nietzsche (a fellow INTJ)

“The INTJ is logic-driven personality type with a talent for solving problems and a focus on accomplishing goals. INTJs are capable of forecasting far out into the future with an astonishing level of accuracy. Perhaps the only area where an INTJ doesn’t seem to be able to predict the future is in their own personal lives; INTJs rarely factor their emotions or happiness into a plan, and can find themselves locked into careers, relationships, or patterns that they no longer enjoy.”

“INTJs tend to be critical-minded, blunt, and focused on getting results.”

“You’ve always known you’re meant for something bigger than punching in at a 9-to-5 job to pay the bills. You want to use your capabilities to do something that matters—and to have real accomplishments.”

“You’re a completely different person when you’re with close friends than you are with everyone else. You can be goofy, charismatic and outrageously funny, but remain very reserved with people who aren’t in your “inner circle.””

“When you’re feeling down, and a loved one tries to soothe you with comforting words, you pull away like they’re offering you a poisonous snake.”

“When someone asks which is more important to you, having an interesting job or having a meaningful job, you’re like, wait, I thought those were the same thing.”

“ You’re great at making life plans, but somehow you always manage to overlook how your emotional state will affect those life plans—or why that’s even important. Getting even a kindergarten-level education in your own emotions feels like you discovered profound truths about the world.”

“No matter what you do, you never feel like you’ve accomplished enough. This is what propels you toward great things, but it also leaves you feeling perpetually critical of yourself and your achievements. There’s always something bigger you feel like you should be on top of.”

“Few things will make an INTJ angrier than a boss or authority figure that seems undeserving of their position. If they see a person in charge that does not appear to think through their actions, avoids making decisions, or only seems to have gotten where they are through blatant self-promotion, it will be very difficult for an INTJ to keep their mouth shut. Above all else, these thinkers value brilliance, self-confidence, and the ability to make firm, effective decisions.”

“It’s not that INTJs don’t care. If you’re in their life, they definitely care about what you’re going through. Feelings just make them nervous, and the more they try to take emotions into account, usually the worse they do at pleasing other people. INTJs do feel, but they tend to take a pragmatic approach to their emotions, trying to optimize their lives and relationships based on what they can immediately control. They also expect the people in their lives to try to behave rationally.”

“Playing by the rules is not very important to INTJs. Give them a list of rules and they may endlessly question you, bend the rules, and even break them if they see a better way. INTJs are always innovating and tweaking. If they don’t have the opportunity to do that, they’ll be very, very, unhappy — and you’ll probably hear about it.”

“Obviously, routine tasks are not looking good for this personality type. INTJs are easily bored with process work and are not good at paper-pushing. They might, say, go to the gym, but only after they’ve created the best, most research-backed and efficient way of working out. Groceries, clothing, cooking, anything routine, will never be done the same way every day — if at all. Or they’ll delegate these tasks.”

“INTJs are private, independent and self-confident. They strive for perfection and achievement. They are gifted strategists with analytical, conceptual and objective minds. They are flexible and like to formulate contingency plans. Strategists are able to see the reasons behind things.”

“The INTJ personality type’s signature strength is deep perception. Otherwise known as “the mastermind,” the INTJ is naturally attuned to “the big picture” and cannot help but see how everything is interconnected. Their ability to perceive deep patterns and causal relationships has helped many achieve eminence.”

“They are typically independent and selective about their relationships, preferring to associate with people who they find intellectually stimulating.”

“People with this personality type are imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, amazingly curious, but they do not squander their energy.”

“A paradox to most observers, INTJs are able to live by glaring contradictions that nonetheless make perfect sense – at least from a purely rational perspective. For example, they are simultaneously the most starry-eyed idealists and the bitterest of cynics, a seemingly impossible conflict. But this is because INTJ personalities tend to believe that with effort, intelligence and consideration, nothing is impossible, while at the same time they believe that people are too lazy, short-sighted or self-serving to actually achieve those fantastic results. Yet that cynical view of reality is unlikely to stop an interested INTJ from achieving a result they believe to be relevant.”

“INTJs radiate self-confidence and an aura of mystery, and their insightful observations, original ideas and formidable logic enable them to push change through with sheer willpower and force of personality.”

“Rules, limitations and traditions are anathema to the INTJ personality type – everything should be open to questioning and reevaluation, and if they see a way, they will often act unilaterally to enact their technically superior, sometimes insensitive, and almost always unorthodox methods and ideas.”

“They are brilliant and confident in bodies of knowledge they have taken the time to understand, but unfortunately the social contract is unlikely to be one of those subjects.”

“They are defined by their tendency to move through life as though it were a giant chess board, pieces constantly shifting with consideration and intelligence, always assessing new tactics, strategies and contingency plans, constantly outmaneuvering their peers in order to maintain control of a situation while maximizing their freedom to move about.”

“If something piques their interest, INTJ personalities can be astonishingly dedicated to their work, putting in long hours and intense effort to see an idea through.”

“INTJ personalities are perfectly capable of carrying their confidence too far, falsely believing that they’ve resolved all the pertinent issues of a matter and closing themselves off to the opinions of those they believe to be intellectually inferior. Combined with their irreverence for social conventions, they can be brutally insensitive in making their opinions of others all too clear.”

“They tend to have complete confidence in their thought process, because rational arguments are almost by definition correct – at least in theory. In practice, emotional considerations and history are hugely influential, and a weak point for people with the INTJ personality type is that they brand these factors and those who embrace them as illogical, dismissing them and considering their proponents to be stuck in some baser mode of thought, making it all but impossible to be heard.”

“Above all else, INTJs want to be able to tackle intellectually interesting work with minimal outside interference, no more, no less.”

Characteristic of an INTJ

Analytical

Structured

Objective

Introspective

Perfectionist

Attentive

Controlled

Private

Responsible

Self-confident

Thick-skinned

Quiet

Determined

Independent

Impersonal

Theoretical

Intense

Strategic

Adaptable

Complex

Conceptual

Disciplined

Deliberate

Abstract

What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Praise me or fight me, idc. Just join the conversation. 

Cheers,

An INTP. Part 2 & Part 3

[rorykillmore]

what would u wanna do with everyones most favorite trashsassin on denny

it depends on who hires her!,

really, villanelle is, you know.  she’s a bit of an oddball, to put it lightly. she doesn’t like, aimlessly go around killing people for no reason, but she does want to work, and she doesn’t know how to live her life when she’s not working. so she’s gonna wanna find people who could use an assassin in their pocket! 

i’m not sure whether she’d settle for working someone permanently or consistently like she does in canon or if she’d be kind of more freelance. the latter would probably lend itself better to rp. and gives me more opportunities to do different kinds of things, like... she could fall in easily with an outright villain like handsome jack or tomy (i literally hate the idea of villanelle interacting with either of them already, which means i HAVE to do it,). or someone more morally grey who just wants their dirty work done for them, like you mentioned that will wouldn’t be beyond hiring her if hannibal showed up, less as an end-all attempt on hannibal’s life and more as a kind of power move. which, i somehow feel like villanelle is the ultimate weapon against hannibal just because he’d probably be so frustrated by her, so good choice will!,

but yeah anyway. she doesn’t really care who she works for or question why they want her to off someone so she could pretty much end up. anywhere. but it does mean that i could do all sorts of fun dynamics and situations for her

it also means she’s always an option for anyone looking to kill their characters off for some reason or another... although villanelle is a bit more specific an option than most; like either your character would have to be prominent enough that someone would want to PAY for them to be killed or. they’d have to get in her way in some prominent fashion. 

i was tossing around the idea actually that if we do a murder mystery plot, maybe that could be an opportunity for her to go after someone and then pass the blame off on the Serial Killer At Large but... we’ll have to see how that plays out!

i also thought it would be fun to plot out her doing... like a longer term assignment?? like something where she has to get close to someone over an extended period of time before killing them. because that could have all kinds of disastrous fallout even if we’d probably need to come up with a reason that it wouldn’t like, WORK, in the end,

once she builds up a reputation, maybe some plots with some more law-aligned types trying to catch her, or like.... i don’t think she’d find anyone on denny who she’d be as completely enamored with as she is with eve (actually how many people on denny are even like, specifically her Type [thinking emoji) but it might be fun to have her play with a milder fascination with someone or... some kind of temporary relationship that’s bound to end messily. who wants to date an assassin!,

but yeah at the end of the day villanelle’s pretty simple for a character who’s, you know, incredibly not simple.  she just wants to live it up and do her job and live a nice, straightforward, assassin life! so she thinks, anyway. there are shades of her like... loneliness and frustration with the disconnect she feels from other people and Normal Emotions that i could do things with but that’s for more down the line plotting and dynamics i think

and god there are just, so many fun people i could throw her at along the way, like we’ve talked about her and will but imagine?? how disastrous her and freddie would be?? or i wonder what she’d make of someone like nyssa, who has very Complicated feelings about the league and how it used and shaped her whereas villanelle has also been kind of. used and shaped, but doesn’t question it very much because she likes what she does! or having her team up with someone like rocket for some kind of bounty hunting thing would be a fucking blast, or... idk man there are a lot of potentially great options that i already love

finally, if i do end up apping her sooner rather than later, i might figure out some kind of re-app plot for when season 2 comes out. but We’ll See