king alphonso

FROM ROOF TO TABLE - ROB STEPHENSON

field of caraway and lupines in full bloom.

may, 2015

“Long Train Journeys” by Jordan Bolton

Part of Scenes from Imagined Films Issue #1, available on Etsy

Pipiris Fries

The ending of season three was the perfect springboard for a genuinely satisfying final season, with Villanelle and Eve taking down the 12 together and finding their feet in acting on their romance. However, because for some inane reason V & Es love was thrown under the bus for the entirety of season 4 (how many “break up” scenes did we get??), this final episode felt so fast and rushed and forced. We didn’t even get to enjoy the sweet moments, because we knew each one of them was tinged and tarnished with a hack-handedly foreshadowed death. We didn’t even get to enjoy the sweet moments, because the writers made it obvious that to them, queer love could only be fleeting, momentary, and ultimately “cleansed” away.

Their affection and tender moments contrasted so much with the rest of the season- full of harsh words and painful moments. If they had been allowed the tenderness seen in the final episode throughout all of season 4 instead, the pay off would actually have been so much greater. Hell, we waited three seasons! I think the “cat and mouse” thing had been done enough by this point.

What would have been honestly groundbreaking would have been allowing an entire season of positive WLW relationship representation on screen. Yes, I know it’s Killing Eve- it’s gory, it’s brutal. But the actual source material allowed for a happy ending- it’s ridiculous to tout it as impossible when the original text so blatantly is here in the world, existing. We could have had eyes being gouged out, toes up noses, and machete attacks to bring the gruesome aspects of the show, and still showed two women caring for each other.

We could have seen gentle moments which made sense in each episode, a build up of trust with both physical and emotional intimacy. An upwards arc with the crescendo being their escape together- rest assured, this would have been a much more monumental, high drama ending than what we got. They really could have made history here- they could have done something so rare and precious and beautiful. Instead they made one of the worst rated final episodes of a TV show ever.

It’s just a shame. Three seasons of waiting for Villanelle and Eve to get scenes together as a couple, only to have the pacing, timing, and rhythm be so completely off that their romantic moments were like watching sand tumble away in a sand timer. The couple-y nature of their interactions in the finale would have felt so much more real if they had given us a season of them.

They jumped from what was essentially a series of break ups throughout all of season 4 straight into what felt like a fully discussed relationship- it was disconcerting, jarring, off beat. The conclusion that they need each other could have happened in the first episode of season 4, and then the girlfriend x girlfriend relationship could have developed over the course of the series, offering a much more naturalistic progression in which the sub-plot of The 12 could still have developed alongside them.

This take is purely one from an analytical standpoint on the writing. Seeing the writers all celebrate and take shots with every angry fan reaction has just made me!!!! Embody the emotion of an exclamation point. It’s just wild. Aside from the writers not understanding the characters at all, or having any sense of responsibility for the impact of their decisions with the show, there are just SO many technical problems with the script. It’s shocking that they can’t see that, even with reviews coming in, IMDB ratings, and so forth. 

I am just so tired of knowing that the moment they get happy that means a death sentence for them.

I cried during all the soft moments of Villaneve because I just knew what will be the cost of them, we have been here so many times.

I am tired of TV writers using queer storylines as something disposable, I am tired of them acting like if they did us a favor by giving them moments just for one of them to be killed in the most stupid way ever, that served of no point to the plot.