The show Killing Eve‘s Villanelle is the villain we mostly love and then occasionally catch ourselves realizing we probably shouldn’t–but the show makes it easy to overlook this. It’s common for villains to have stylish flair and enticing charisma, but there is something about Villanelle that makes us want to sympathize with her.
Time and time again it seems possible that Villanelle is on the verge of turning over a new leaf–“she hasn’t killed in a while!”, we may figure. Maybe we can like her in good conscience! But it’s not just the killing that makes us hesitate about Villanelle. She is a robust character, offering many flaws and strengths. What is it that we really like and don’t like about Villanelle?
Love Her: Self Confidence
Villanelle is very much herself, and whether or not you agree with who she is, she will not apologize for it. This obviously becomes problematic when considering her career choice, but if one carries her general attitude into other real-life contexts it becomes obvious why we find it so easy to admire her.
Few people walk into a room so self-assured, and there’s something delightfully scandalous about it.
Can’t Stand Her: Coyness
She definitely has her moments where she is cute and charming, but there comes a point when intentionally making use of this becomes annoying. Villanelle is convinced that she is irresistible, and she uses this to get her way in various scenarios.
While most of the time she is right, the fact remains that assuming everyone finds you cute gets old pretty fast, and her pouty faces on screen become repetitive.
Love Her: Flair
Everything she does Villanelle does with personal flair. Nothing is ever boring with her, the main reason why she’s enthralling to watch and why we can understand Eve’s obsession.
Villanelle finds most of the average life to be unbearably boring, hence why she works such a high-stakes job. However, she can’t be killing all the time, and her need for excitement and stimulation carries into other aspects of her life, like her sense of fashion.
Can’t Stand Her: Childishness
Villanelle considers herself above the pettiness of average civilian life–until suddenly she very much doesn’t. When something strikes Villanelle as personal, she throws a tantrum about it–the only difference between her and a small child stamping their feet is that she’s a grown woman with guns and psychotic genius.
It’s difficult to watch Villanelle when she is in states like this because it reveals how self-centered she is.
Love Her: Radically Honest
Villanelle says exactly what she wants to say when she wants to say it. She doesn’t care how it affects those around her and doesn’t fret over how it will be interpreted.
If people don’t understand her, it’s their problem. While most mature adults can recognize that some consideration for others is necessary for life, Villanelle demonstrates a complete surrender of responsibility for others’ feelings which is rare, and refreshing.
Can’t Stand Her: Guiltlessness
Villanelle does a lot of really messed up things. It seems obvious that she should, considering that she is straightforwardly offered as the show’s villain from the start, yet somehow it’s difficult to stomach that she really does what she does.
In cases where she hurts people who care for her or are actively involved with people she personally knows. And after all this, she shows no remorse.
Love Her: Sense Of Humor
Villanelle has a great sense of humor. Granted, the show is full of great humor from near every character, but something about Villanelle’s humor endears her to us and makes her feel more human.
There’s a youthfulness to her, a playfulness. Even when her jokes involve something absurd and upsetting, in her psychopathic way we can see that it’s her way of trying to have fun.
Can’t Stand Her: Ego
Villanelle’s ego gets a little old-hat after a while. When we first meet her the flashiness of her style and sharpness of her wit was matched by the cleverness of her kills.
Eventually, her kills get sloppier and sloppier, making her braggy attitude make less sense, and the longer we know her the more bodies she racks up and the more people she snubs, causing her pomposity to become more aggravating than dazzling.
Love Her: Secretly Vulnerable
It seems like Villanelle might be joking when she repeatedly asks Konstantin to stay and watch a movie with her, but as the show unravels we realize the reality of Villanelle’s loneliness.
Being a psychopath means that she doesn’t feel empathy and love the same way that other people do, but this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t need them or wish she had them–she simply doesn’t know-how.
Can’t Stand Her: Zero Empathy
Villanelle acts as if she genuinely cares for Eve–or, rather, her behavior suggests that she thinks the feelings she has for Eve are ones of affection and care. But any time something doesn’t go her way, Villanelle reacts in a completely immature, over-the-top manner that has everything to do with her and nothing to do with Eve’s needs or interests.
Villanelle manipulates Eve and hurts people close to her, and then slants the story as a tragedy where she is the one being hurt.
