Killing Eve Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: The Safe Word Is "Gentlemen"

With the season finale just around the corner, let's do a quick debrief of where we are now on Killing Eve: Not only have Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) reunited since their little stabby encounter in Paris, they've now fully joined forces for an MI6 mission. Their target? A Mark Zuckerberg-esque man named Aaron Peel (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) who gave the orders for an assassin called the "ghost" to take out a bunch of hits, including one on his own father. This is likely all to do with some mysterious "weapon" Aaron is building, and as the owner of pretty much everyone's data, it can't be good. Villanelle, disguised as a pink-haired American named Billy, has been sent to win Aaron's affection and hopefully score a ticket to one of his meetings in Rome that should unlock this whole mystery.

However, in last week's episode, their first meeting ending with Villanelle taking a sturdy book to Aaron's face after he belittled her and storming out. The last we saw her, she was wandering off into the night with two women she saw at a kebab shop. Ahead is what happened next on the most recent episode of Killing Eve.

Outside her front door, one of Aaron Peel's minions has left Villanelle an apology of sorts — a book of philosophy and a request for her to join him at lunch. As Villanelle explains to a world-weary Eve that she's scored the date with Aaron, her two dates from the night before leave in succession, which does not improve Eve's mood.

Nonetheless, things are progressing. Aaron booked an entire restaurant for his meeting with "Billy," where he does nothing but watch her eat pasta and interrogate her about why she befriended his sister. He thinks it has something to do with his money, and in a bizarre turn from paranoid to sexual, he asks Billy to tell him just how much she likes money and what she spends it on. Her compliance wins her a ticket to the Rome conference...and a bunch of worried voicemails from Eve wondering how the lunch want.

Eve has reason to be nervous. Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) gives her very strict orders to keep Villanelle, an actual psychopath, under control. The mission is simple: find out what Aaron is selling, and to who. Hugo will accompany Eve to Rome to help surveil, they'll smuggle a microphone in fake contraceptive pills for Villanelle, and remember — the safe word is "gentlemen."

Everything seems set until Kenny (Sean Delaney) grabs Eve on her way out to issue a warning: Don't go to Rome. This advice comes after something he learned on his new assignment, but he's cut off by Carolyn before he can explain more.

However, keeping Villanelle under control is already proving difficult. As Niko (Owen McDonnell) and Gemma (Emma Pierson) move his things into a storage unit, the assassin pops up with an urgent question: What is his Shepherd's pie recipe? Niko shakingly gives the ingredients while Villanelle's knife is pressed to his throat, and even though she's pleased to know the missing ingredient has been "Worcester sauce," she's not done with the pair. She sits them down on the couch and asks Niko if he loves Gemma, which he denies. He loves Eve, he says. However, that was the wrong answer.

Eve is also looking for answers — namely, how do you control a psychopath? However, in a meeting with the psychiatrist from the earlier episode, it becomes clear Villanelle isn't the one who needs help. The psychiatrist repeats that Eve is too close to the investigation. It's not emotionally safe.

Villanelle arrives in Rome, but her packing was for nothing. Aaron has not just given her her own room, but also her own clothes — oh, and that luggage she bought? She can't use it. Not only does she not have access to her microphone which allows Eve to listen in on the mission, she's being watched from every angle through cameras set up by Aaron.

Luckily, Villanelle's silence alerts Eve that something is up. She finds Villanelle and Aaron in a restaurant and slips her a backup mic in a bread roll while Aaron takes a call. It's clever, but later Aaron still is able to see that Villanelle was up to something when her back was turned to his cameras. The important thing is, however, the mic is now on and the mission is in full swing.

The only problem? Villanelle is wearing a belt over her dress, and Aaron doesn't approve. He demands she take off the accessory, because why do anything if it isn't perfect. He then informs her that she'll be sitting in on dinner, and demands her to be bored during the entirety of the conversation. That's difficult, however, because it's the conversation MI6 has been waiting for.

Even the buyers themselves don't know what the weapon is, but that didn't stop them from showing up the meeting. Aaron refuses to reveal specifics without purchase, but he aggressively makes his point by giving each buyer a full rundown of their personal lives, including things they didn't even know. He learned it all through data, and if they buy the weapon, they'll be able to type in anyone's name — be it a wife, a minister, a prime minister — and know exactly as much information.

This is good news for the MI6, but they might have another problem: Villanelle and Aaron seem to be connecting a little too well. Later that night, he approaches "Billy" about her lack of digital footprint, calling her a "void" — just like him. She's the only person in the world he knows nothing about, which must be what makes her so interesting.

If Eve was getting jealous, Villanelle certainly made it up to her. In bed, she talks directly to Eve, knowing the agent is listening to everything she says on the mic. It become sexual, prompting Eve to approach Hugo in bed for sex — with Villanelle in her ear the entire time.

That would be a sexy end to the episode if it weren't for Niko and Gemma. In the final shot, Niko wakes up in the storage unit to the horrific site of Gemma bound and suffocated in front of him.