Nice Face

first episode of the first season and thereby series premiere of *Killing Eve*.

## Summary

A bored MI5 security officer yearns for more excitement. When a Russian politician is murdered, she is tasked with protecting the only witness and soon finds herself on a collision course with a violent and extraordinary assassin.

## Plot

In Vienna, a brunette woman (Villanelle) sits in a cafe eating ice cream as a young girl seated at another table watches. The waiter and the girl exchange smiles. After some rather intense eye contact, the woman sees how the girl and the waiter exchange smiles. The woman imitates the waiter's smile at the girl, who smiles back. The woman then checks the time (7:05) and gets up to leave. She tips the waiter before knocking over the girl's ice cream bowl into her lap on her way out the door.

In London, Eve Polastri screams in her sleep. Her husband, Niko Polastri, wakes her up and Eve tells him it was because she fell asleep on both arms. She has a headache from staying out late the night before and singing karaoke with her co-workers for her boss Bill's, birthday.

Even though it is Saturday, she has to go into work at MI5. At the office, her assistant Elena Felton explains to Eve on the way to the meeting that a Russian sex-trafficking politician was murdered in Vienna. Eve wonders why it's MI5's business. Elena got her a croissant. They peek inside and see that Carolyn Martens from the MI6 Russia desk is attending, too.

Eve enters the meeting late and sits down next to Bill. Frank Haleton introduces everyone to Carolyn. Carolyn informs them of the assassination of Victor Kedrin, a high-profile Russian politician. He was leaving a sushi restaurant near Stephansplatz with his girlfriend, Kasia Molkovska, when his femoral artery was sliced open without him or his girlfriend noticing. He was bleeding for about a minute before he collapsed. The girlfriend fled the scene and was picked up in Hammersmith. Eve and Bill are to provide diplomatic protection for Kasia. Betting with Bill that the killer is a woman, Eve checks if there is CCTV footage available, but there is not. With Carolyn about to walk out, Eve tells Carolyn that it was a woman who assassinated Kedrin. As a known misogynist and sex trafficker, he may not have considered a passing woman a threat. Carolyn thanks her and leaves. Eve wants to meet the witness but Bill cuts her off, saying it's not her job.

In Paris, Villanelle rides the subway, her hair now blonde. She exits the subway and walks to her apartment. She encounters her neighbor, Madame Tattevin, taking out her trash. They exchange some heated words.

In her apartment, she puts away a wig and toiletries and takes off the camisole that she had worn to make herself appear flat-chested. After putting on some classical music, she admires herself in a mirror and powders her face white. She pours some pills onto her coffee table and lays supine on her couch with a bottle of alcohol, playing dead. A man (Konstantin Vasiliev) enters the apartment and tells Villanelle that he can see her breathing. Nevertheless, she manages to scare him by suddenly screaming. She asks if he'd be sad if she were dead and he says, "Of course." She tells him Vienna was quick. For the millionth time, he turns down her offer to watch a movie. He is there to deliver her a bonus and give her information on her next job tomorrow in Tuscany. He leaves and Villanelle sits down at her laptop to decrypt the information off the Tuscan postcard she received.

At MI5, Elena has given Eve coal, which is her hangover cure. After going over the security details, Eve finds out from Elena that Kasia is still at Hammersmith station. She decides to go visit her. Bill catches her leaving and tells her that CCTV revealed it was a man who assassinated Kadrin but he hasn't actually seen the tape. Eve gives him half the money, promising him the rest after having seen the CCTV footage herself. Eve leaves the room.

At Hammersmith station, Eve has trouble interviewing Kasia, who is high on drugs and mainly swearing and singing in Polish. Kasia has only told the interpreter that the assassin was "a plank." Eve has her ask if the assassin was male or female but she gets no clear answer. Eve leaves the room after uttering a Polish phrase that she's picked up from her husband.

Eve visits Niko at his bridge club and recruits him and a Polish teenager, Dom, to listen to her recording of Kasia's babbling about the assassination. They decipher that Kasia is using slang and the assassin was tall, dark, and flat-chested, a "small-breasted psycho." Eve kisses Niko and rushes off.

Outside, Eve calls Elena at the office and requests information on Margit Polsen and any other active female assassins under the age of 45. Eve asks about Margit's breasts. They are too big for her to have been the killer. The other two female assassins on record, Katrina Voltrinski and Wendi Helmsen, are dead. There are no alerts up for new assassins. Eve requests Elena keep this off the record.

Villanelle rides a motorcycle through Tuscany and arrives at an estate. She pins her hair back into a bun and sets off across the vineyards to the main house. She climbs up a drainpipe and sneaks inside. There is an anniversary celebration going on outside and she spots Cesare Greco hugging his grandson. She starts looking for proper party attire in one of the rooms until she hears a guard coming upstairs. She hides in a suitcase.

Shortly after, she joins the party, wearing a dress she stole from Greco's wife. She follows Davide, Greco's grandson, back into the house after Greco pulled a prank on him. She convinces him to play a trick on his grandfather.

She has Davide call his grandfather up to bedroom and locks him in the bathroom. Greco walks in. He appears pleased to see a woman as beautiful as her. Villanelle asks him about the bedspread and he says that it is made by Liliana Rizzari, a designer who only works with silk. After closing the door, she tells him her name is Sylviana Morel and she has been sent to him for his birthday. He compliments her beauty. She pulls out the hairpin and stabs him in the eye before depressing the plunger to inject him with poison. He collapses as the crowd cheers for a performer outside. She gets a pen from the desk and writes down Liliana Rizzari onto her palm before taking pleasure in watching Greco die. She leaves just as Davide comes out of his hiding place to find his grandfather dead.

Eve is impressed with the murder of Kedrin from a tiny puncture wound. She makes a small cut on her own thigh and watches the blood with a certain fascination. She wipes it off as Nico comes in with wine. She asks Niko how he might kill her. Niko says he might push her down the stairs or flatter her to death. She tells Niko she would paralyze him with saxitoxin and suffocate him in his sleep, chop him up, boil him down, put him in a blender, take him to work in a flask and then flush him down a restaurant toilet. He tells her dinner is ready.

Later, as they're going to bed, Eve starts initiating sex but she stops and says someone is lying about the CCTV. She hasn't told Bill about the recording because it's illegal and she needs more to bring him. Niko tells her she should have been a spy. She agrees. They are both too tired for sex. Eve asks for Dom's number.

Konstantin wakes Villanelle up in her apartment where she is sleeping with a man and a woman. After her guests have left, he goes over her Kedrin's murder and the fact that she let Kasia go. She will be interviewed tomorrow as a witness to Kedrin's murder. Villanelle's train leaves in an hour. He warns her to keep her work tidy. Her hairpin is all over the press. She is certain they won't catch her. He stresses that she is meant to make Kasia's death look like a suicide.

Eve and Bill share lunch while Bill tells her to spit out whatever she's been wanting to say all morning. Eve tries to convince Bill that Kedrin's assassin was a woman and there was no CCTV until after she suggested it was a woman, which tells her someone is trying to cover things up. Eve has been compiling cases for months, including Greco's murder, that were done by a new and prolific female assassin. By tomorrow, their only lead will be someone else's witness. Bill says those people will interview her and work it out themselves. Bill knows the job is boring and he guesses she's bored at home, too, but that doesn't excuse her going rogue at work. He tells her to go to the hospital to make sure Kasia is secure and then go home.

Eve takes Dom with her to the hospital and has him pretend to be Kasia's relative. They go up to her room, where the nurse tells her she's not fit for interviewing. Eve says she just brought a relative to say hi. The nurse asks them to wait for a bit. Dom thinks they should have brought chocolate or something.

Eve goes to the restroom where the one stall is in use. While she is waiting, she fixes her hair. Villanelle exits the stall dressed as a nurse and stares at Eve, prompting Eve to ask if she is all right. Villanelle stops on her way out of the bathroom and tells Eve to wear her hair down. While Eve is using the toilet, Bill calls to tell her that there was no CCTV. Eve was right. She needs to keep Kasia safe.

It's eerily quiet as Eve exits the restroom. She returns to the hospital room to find the nurse and the security detail have been viciously murdered. She calls for help as she tries to stop the bleeding from Kasia's throat. Kasia tries to tell her something but she can't get it out before passing away. She dies as Dom returns with snacks.

Back at work, as they await a meeting with Frank and Carolyn, Bill sits with Eve and tells her she did the right thing. Eve might be fired over what happened and Bill's hoping to go down with her so he can finally call Frank a dick-swab. Frank and Carolyn enter after having left Dom with his parents, who thought he was playing bridge. Frank tells Eve she only had one job. She tells him to piss off. Frank blames Eve for conducting an illegal investigation, manipulating a witness, putting a minor in danger, and failing to protect Kasia, all because she was too busy with her pretend job to do her actual job. Eve tells Frank she was right but he tells her four people are dead because of her. Carolyn asks her what she was right about. Eve says Kasia described the killer as flat-chested, admitting to how she got that information. Frank promptly fires her. Eve and Bill both call Frank a "dick-swab", leading Frank to fire them both.

Eve is at home watching television with Niko when her doorbell rings. It's Carolyn, who invites her to walk to the corner shop. As they walk, Carolyn checks if she's married. Carolyn has been married a few times. Eve has no clue what's going on. In the shop, Carolyn reveals that they think the assassin has been active for two years across ten countries. As of yet, she is untraceable but she's starting to show off. She offers to buy Eve breakfast on Thursday at 9 AM at the Purple Penguin by Charing Cross. She'll wait for ten minutes. She then has Eve buy some milk so her husband won't think that she's having an affair. Eve says Niko would never think that. Carolyn leaves.

Villanelle unpacks her new bedspread from Liliana Rizzari and lays down on it as she reviews a postcard for Bulgaria.

## Cast

### Starring

* Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri
* Jodie Comer as Villanelle
* Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens
* Darren Boyd as Frank Haleton
* Remo Girone as Cesare Greco
* Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Elena Felton
* Owen McDonnell as Niko Polastri
* David Haig as Bill Pargrave
* Kim Bodnia as Konstantin Vasiliev

### Guest Starring

* Giula Patrignani as Girl in Ice Cream Parlour
* Paolo Roca Rey as Ice Cream Vendor
* Sonia Elliman as Madame Tattevin
* Edyta Budnik ass Kasia Molkovska
* Ania Marson as Ethal Rubynovitch
* Ken Nwosu as Max Sanford
* Billy Matthews as Dominik Wolanski
* Nicoló Ambrosio as Davide
* Paol D Bovani as Leoluca
* Nadia Mayer as Cesare Greco's Wife
* Charlyne Francis as Reception Nurse
* Sally Reeve as Nurse Watkins

## Murders and Investigations

* Victor Kedrin
* Cesare Greco
* Kasia Molkovska
* A nurse
* Two security officers

## Music

Xpectations by Unloved

Il voyage by Françoise Hardy

Roller Girl by Anna Karina

Gnossienne: No. 3 by Erk Satie

Alone Tonight by Andrea Litkei and Ervin Litkei

When a Woman is Around by Unloved

Killer Shangri-Lah By Pshycotic Beats and Pati Amor

Devils Angel By Unloved

## Notes and Trivia

* The title originates from Villanelle's comment on seeing her next victim, Cesaro Greco, for the first time.
* The Viennese "Eis Cafe Schlekaria" in the opening scene was actually shot at Bar Caffe Garibaldi in the Piazza Arnolfo in Colle di Val d'Elsa, Italy.
* Eve and Bill sang "A Whole New World" at Bill's karaoke birthday party.
* During the interview with Kasia, the translator says that girl described assassin as "tall, dark". Later when Niko is listening to the tapes he agreed that she said that, however those words were never said by Kasia while Eve was recording interview.

## Quotes

**Carolyn:** Buy some milk. Or he'll think you're having an affair.
**Eve:** Oh, no, I don't think he'd ever think that.
**Carolyn:** They all think we're having affairs before they think we're secret agents.
**Eve:** Oh, no, I think Niko would assume I was an agent before ever thinking that I was having an affair.
**Carolyn:** You might want to make him think you're having an affair, then. Hope to see you Thursday.
## See Also

 **#02** | "I'll Deal with Him Later"
 **#03** | "Don't I Know You?"
 **#04** | "Sorry Baby"

## References

1. ↑ https://www.valdelsa.net/notizia/piazza-arnolfo-diventa-vienna-nel-nuovo-show-della-bbc-america--killing-eve-