Killing Eve has always been about the complicated sexual/murderous relationship between two women; Eve Polastri and Villanelle, and in episode 5 of each season so far the two have had memorable meetings.
However, in a smart decision to freshen things up, episode 5 of season 3 is the shows first episode not to feature both leads, and in fact the only cast member it features is Jodie Comer, as Villanelle gets a stand alone episode to focus on her backstory.
While I thought many of the plot points were slightly disappointing, as the family itself and the reason Villanelle is like she is was never properly delved into, and the mother’s ‘decision’ at the end felt very rushed, the episode works on the basis that Villanelle leaves it massively changed for the rest of the show, and this will likely effect her decisions going forward.
One thing I do find amusing is how the show seems to present many Eastern European countries (Russia, Poland etc) as stuck in the olden days wildernesses (although there is nothing wrong with that), instead of modern cities, but I understand that may just be a coincidence and I love the show too much to make much of an issue out of it.
As for Jodie Comer, I believe this is arguably the finest episode of acting anyone has done in the show yet. She is vulnerable, playful, angry, and shows new sides to her character (we really see Oksana here instead of the Villanelle persona) but she also stays true to who the character is. She already won an Emmy and BAFTA for season 2, and she surely must be a huge contender again this year.
There are now only three episodes left of the season, and episode 6 seems to be a good one. Villanelle is reunited with Irina (one of the stand out relationships of season one) and Konstantin, as well as meeting the mysterious new figure from the twelve played by Camille Cottin, and even more interestingly, Eve doesn’t seem to have fallen for Dasha’s framing of Villanelle, and a bowling alley confrontation may be in order between Eve and Dasha…
Howe's World of Film and TV 