Nice and Neat

**"Nice and Neat"** is the second episode of the second season and 10th overall episode of *Killing Eve*.

## Summary

Carolyn introduces Eve to her new team before Eve briefs them on the Villanelle case. Villanelle, needing to lie low while she recovers, finds a Good Samaritan to take her in. However, she should know better than anyone that appearances are not always what they seem. Eve finds out a secret that Carolyn has been hiding from her.

## Plot

The British family arrive at their home in Basildon, England. As the parents take their children inside, Villanelle slips out of the trunk. The youngest daughter sees her and Villanelle gestures to stay quiet. She does and Villanelle walks down the street smiling.

Eve is awake with Niko sleeping next to her. She quietly grabs her laptop from the nightstand and searches for reports on stab wounds in Paris. Niko wakes up and she quickly opens a shopping site through an ad. He recommends the blue dress. She purchases it.

Villanelle is woken up by a woman in a laundromat. Villanelle finds that her medication has been stolen. The woman points her to a warning sign about thieves. Villanelle fills up the briefcase with clothes from her laundry basket and flees.

Niko and Eve discuss Alister's murder and the autopsy. She thinks she just has to brief the Peel operation on Villanelle today. She dreamt about Bill. She misses him. Niko is glad that she's talking to him. As he gets ready to leave, she warns him to be careful.

Villanelle, now dressed in the woman's clothes, is shopping in a local supermarket. She approaches a man until she notices he's with his wife. She spots her face in the mirror and applies some quick make-up.

She approaches a woman in vegetable aisle but the woman tells her she doesn't have any change and rushes off. She tries again with a man getting things from the refrigerators. She scares him away by obsessively smiling at him but later approaches him at the cash desk claiming that a man outside - whom she says is her stepfather - hurt her. She asks the man for some help getting out without the man noticing her. She stays behind him as they leave, leaving behind his groceries, and make their way to his car. They get in and he hands her a handkerchief. She tells him she has nowhere to go. He refuses to leave her so he invites her to stay in his spare room for a night or two. He assures her she'd be safe. She accepts the offer, secretly disgusted over having to play nice.

Eve arrives at a building for her meeting. Carolyn meets her outside. They walk in together and Carolyn tells her she's here as an outside expert on female assassins. She introduces Eve to the team, which includes Kenny, who attempts to hug her. Elena was scared for her life and declined the offer. Jess and Hugo are also part of Operation Manderley.

Villanelle and Julian arrive at his house, which is filled with dolls. His mother collected them. She claims they're lovely. He straightens a doll. He shows her to the couch. She asks if he has any cake. He leaves to go buy one, locking the door behind him. Once alone, Villanelle checks her wound, which looks infected. She then hears a noise upstairs.

Kenny finds Eve and asks about Paris. As Hugo walks in to get water, she holds off on replying. Hugo thinks they are having an affair. Once he's gone, Eve tells Kenny she found Villanelle and stabbed her. Kenny says this is really bad. He thinks she should not tell Carolyn. She points out he's now withholding information from his own investigation, too. Hugo comes to get her for the briefing.

Eve struggles with the remote. Hugo gives her some pointers. Eve talks about the murders that led them to Oksana Astankova, or Villanelle. She talks about her handler, Konstantin, and her shooting him in a tearoom. Eve says Villanelle is flamboyant, instinctive, spoilt, and easily bored. She finishes with Villanelle's killing Frank and Bill.

In the bathroom, Villanelle takes some pills from Julian's cabinet. He checks if she needs anything. She doesn't.

While looking for reports on stab wounds, Eve finds an article about a murdered 12-year-old, which mentions the prime suspects is a young woman with stab wounds. Eve makes a call to HQ to ask for the crime scene photos.

Meanwhile, Villanelle relaxes in the bath, caressing her wound.

Eve checks out the photos and notices the boy has an apple with a bite in it in his hand. Eve thinks the apple is a message for her and finds a painting of the biblical story depicting an apple with a similar bite.

Dressed in a traditional nightgown, Villanelle asks Julian for antibiotics, claiming she has tonsillitis. He checks out her mouth and tells her there's nothing to worry about. He offers her a "hottie bottie", which she declines, and then urges her to get some rest. The dolls in the room freak her out.

Villanelle is woken up by the same noises she heard in the afternoon. She grabs a statue and heads out to investigate. Julian is asleep in his room. She unlocks another door and is confronted with an elderly woman, who starts screaming. Villanelle is about to knock her over the head with the statue but Julian catches her wrist in time. It's his mother. She has dementia. Julian puts his mother back to bed.

As they leave the room, Julian explains he locks her in because she used to leave the house at night and get lost. He tells her to go back to bed.

The next morning, Villanelle wakes up with Julian staring at her. She asks him to call the doctor and asks him to get some things from the pharmacy. She made a list. He agrees to go after she casually mentions she should leave. He reads she needs sanitary pads, meaning he'll have to tell people at the pharmacy that he has a girlfriend. The thought makes him smile. She pretends to be asleep again to avoid having to deal with him. He covers her up with a blanket and kisses her forehead.

At the office, Eve asks Hugo about his knowledge on psychopaths and what he thinks of Alister's murder. He thinks the murder was subtle. Eve thinks it's too boring for Villanelle. She likes her murders to be fun and have people notice the murders. Eve thinks it wasn't Villanelle.

Julian brings his two girls tea in the living room. He turns off the television. Villanelle is running a fever. She begs him to go to the pharmacy. He says her hair is all messy and goes to brush it. Once he's left, Julian's mother confuses Villanelle with someone and warns her to be careful with Julian.

Carolyn and Eve arrive at Aaron Peel's house, which is smaller than Eve expected. Aaron tells them his father bought the house with his first million.

He introduces them to his sister Amber, who's having a smoke. Carolyn tells them their father was murdered. Eve mentions the beautician. Eve shows them a picture of Villanelle, whom they don't recognize.

As they leave the house, Carolyn warns Eve to hide her excitement. Eve is glad that she was right. There's a new assassin, which means Villanelle will be furious.

As Julian drives off, Villanelle tries to open the front door and all the windows in the house, which have been locked.

Eve has told Jess that the Peels don't remember anything about the beautician. Eve believes them and wonders what kind of person the Peels would not pay attention. It must be someone who can go about their business unnoticed because what they do is seemingly uninteresting. It's the kind of woman people look at every day but never see.

As Eve theorizes, a cleaning lady cleans up a businessman's desk, replacing his coffee, while he fetches papers from the printer. As she leaves, he takes a sip from his coffee and soon after collapses while clutching his chest.

Villanelle applies a sanitary pad drenched in antiseptic to her wound.

She's looking through the drawers in the kitchen as Julian comes home. He asks what she's doing. She tells him she's looking for a kitchen knife to stab him with. He chuckles and says there is nothing sharp in the house to protect his mother. She asks about the doctor and he frustratedly tells her to stop badgering him. He'll bring back some flu tablets and leaves again. She dials a number, which connects her to Dozen Incorporeated. "It's Cher Horowitz. I've failed my driving test," she says. She is told there is no one available to help her and the call ends. She then calls 999 and tries to be connected to MI6. The operator says they can't disclose that number. Villanelle is connected to an automated call system, which asks her who she wants to be connected to. It doesn't understand her saying Eve's name. She's forced to hang up when Julian comes in again, leaving the phone off the hook. She plunges back onto the couch. Julian forgot something. He notices the phone and removes it from the wall.

Eve has dubbed the new assassin "The Ghost" because her discreteness makes her the opposite of Villanelle. They have no idea for how long she has been operating. Eve thinks they are looking for a middle-aged, non-white woman. Jess says they can rule out Villanelle and thus drop her from the investigation but Eve disagrees. Kenny jumps in and says Villanelle might know about The Ghost. Carolyn comes to get Eve for an urgent matter.

Carolyn lets Eve hear the audio recording of Villanelle screaming Eve's name to the automated system.

Julian asks Villanelle who she was calling. He thinks she's ungrateful. He knows she's taking advantage of her playing the innocent girl. He takes care of her while he gets nothing from her. She claims she was on the phone with a bakery to order him a cake to thank him for being her knight in shining armor. He falls for her ruse. He gets on his knees and apologizes. She tells him he's going to bleed to death and kicks him in the face. She tries to run off but he grabs her foot. She then goes to strangle him but he punches her in the abdomen, right on her wound, allowing him the chance to overpower her. As he goes to strangle her, she manages to grab a statue and beat him over the head. She breaks free from his grip and flees to the hallway, though the front door is still locked. He chases her and puts her in a headlock. She manages to break free and stabs him in the neck with a knitting needle. As he slowly bleeds to death, she tells him this is what he gets.

While walking to the car, Carolyn tells Eve that they only have the area code of the location Villanelle called from. The police have been informed, so she won't get far.

Villanelle has managed to open the front door and walks to the street. Julian's mother has followed her and Villanelle watches her walk off. Villanelle sees a car down the street making a signal. She gets in. A named named Raymond introduces himself as her new handler. Circumstances have changed so she is no longer fired. She passes. He points out she called them, from an unprotected line no less. She's had a shitty couple of days so she can't take this. He keeps locking and unlocking the doors to taunt her. She attacks him but he easily overpowers her. He chokes her and tells her she's on a very tight leash right now. He lets go and tells her there are antibiotics in the glove compartment. As he drives off, sirens blare in the distance. They drive past Carolyn and Eve, who doesn't notice her. They are called over to Julian's house.

Inside, they find a bloody Julian with a toilet brush in his mouth. They're told he's still warm. Eve runs outside to find a trace of Villanelle but she realizes Villanelle is gone. Carolyn thinks it's time to get Eve some protection. She has someone they need to talk to.

They arrive at Carolyn's house. Kenny goes upstairs ignoring them. They walk into the living room, where Carolyn makes Eve promise not to be cross. They go on and Eve sees Konstantin sitting on the couch. He greets her while she is left speechless.

## Cast

### Starring

* Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri
* Jodie Comer as Villanelle
* Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens
* Nina Sosanya as Jess
* Edward Bluemel as Hugo Turner
* Sean Delaney as Kenny Stowton
* Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Aaron Peel
* Owen McDonnell as Niko Polastri
* Adrian Scarborough as Raymond Algaron
* Shannon Tarbet as Amber Peel
* Julian Barratt as Julian
* Kim Bodnia as Konstantin Vasiliev

### Guest Starring

* Luke De Woolfson as British Dad
* Victoria Howell as Launderette Owner
* Claire Vousden as Supermarket Woman
* Michael Hanratty as Supermarket Casier
* Diana Payan as Julian's Mother
* Jung Sun Den Hollander as Jin

## Notes and Trivia

* Villanelle calls for an extraction, using the code name "Cher Horowitz" and stating that she failed her driving test.

## Gallery

### Video

Promise You Won't Be Cross - Killing Eve Sunday at 8pm - BBC AmericaThis Is What You Get Julian - Killing Eve - BBC AmericaNice and Neat - Killing Eve Sunday at 8pm - BBC America

## See Also

 **#02** | "**Nice and Neat**"
 **#03** | "The Hungry Caterpillar"
 **#04** | "Desperate Times"