Villanelle (Jodie Comer) walks into a home and looks at the pictures on the wall when a little boy sees her, followed by the rest of the family, and asks who she is. Pyotr (Rob Feldman) recognises Villanelle as his sister! Oksana is home! Villanelle talks to her young half brother, Bo’rka (Temirlan Blaev) and they talk about Elton John.
Villanelle attempts to leave when she realises her mother is coming home. Her mother (Evgenia Dodina) hugs her, but Villanelle is not impressed. They look at baby photos and Villanelle asks about her father, but her mother does not want to talk about it.
The whole family sits around the table. Her step brother, Fyodor (Dimitrij Schaad) accuses Villanelle of being a killer, but we realise that they are playing a game. They all dance to Crocodile Rock by Elton John and Villanelle joins in after a while. Pyotr is beating a couch to pieces, he has anger issues and beats wooden objects instead of people, but Villanelle tells him he should just hit people. Villanelle complains about her mother to her brother and they share a moment.
Villanelle is watching TV with Fyodor and his girlfriend, Yula (Natallia Bulynia). They fill Villanelle in on the idea that they believe the moon landing was faked and that there is a huge organisation behind everything. Villanelle finds this very amusing.
Villanelle talks to her stepdad (Predrag Bjelac) about his past marriages. She also asks him about what her mother has told him about her. He says her mother was upset about her ‘death’ and that she always thought Villanelle was a difficult child. Villanelle becomes angry and complains about her mother leaving her at the orphanage. We see Bo’rka banging his head against the wall looking upset and Villanelle’s mother gives her an outfit that she used to wear.
Harvest Festival
Yula is shooting at a target and is pretty good, Villanelle does a dung throw and wins. Bo’rka entered a cooking competition to win money to go to an Elton John concert, but doesn’t win. Yula performs a dance with her friends and Villanelle talks to Bo’rka. He tells her that their mother told him that he embarrassed the family and starts hitting his head with his hand. Villanelle tells him to stop.
Back at home, Villanelle is cutting tomatoes and when her mother turns around, Villanelle has red tears running down her cheeks. Her mother does not find this funny.
Villanelle and her mother talk after she asks her face to be cleaned because she wants to feel like a child again. Her mother asks Villanelle to leave as she does not want her darkness around anymore, but Villanelle believes her mother is. She’s not upset about being abandoned, but is upset about the fact that her mother can not admit that Villanelle is “her mother’s daughter” and that they are alike. So, with that, Villanelle says she needs to kill her and begins pouring oil on the floor. Bo’rkas’ alarm goes off and a note is lying on his bedside table, it tells him to go to the barn. He finds money and a note telling him to see Elton John and Fyodor is also sleeping in the barn. The house blows up and we see Villanelle walking away looking annoyed.
The final scene shows Villanelle sitting on the train wearing the outfit her mother gave to her.
Overall Thoughts?
This episode was very different to previous episodes, but the dark undertones of Villanelle figuring out what her family means to her was incredibly enjoyable. This episode had some very clever lines and shots and I thought the family dynamic was really well portrayed. It was great to get Villanelle’s backstory and understand why she is the way she is. I am very interested to see how this storyline will link into future episodes and whether we will see any of these characters again.
