4 'Killing Eve' Theories About Carolyn That Hold More Weight Than You Realize
When Killing Eve began, it was presented as the story of Eve and Villanelle. Eve is the woman bored to tears by her job, who stumbles into a job searching for female serial killers in MI-6. Villanelle is the anti-heroine, a killer who loves her job, her life, and has fun with every assassination assignment. But since then, the show has changed. A new, more shadowy organization has taken hold of the narrative: The Twelve, and Eve's boss Carolyn may be a member. These Killing Eve theories about Carolyn suggest the character may not be who she seems. Warning: Spoilers for Killing Eve Season 3 follow.
Here's what fans know about Carolyn. When Eve first meets her, she's a ruthless bureaucrat struggling to find whoever assassinated a high-profile politician. When Eve puts the clues together and points out how wrong Carolyn's team is, she's offered a job to find and take down Villanelle, who viewers learn works for the Russian gang of assassins called "The Twelve."
But things have never been quite right with Carolyn. On the face of it, she's an M-like figure to Eve's James Bond. But her ties to the Twelve are murky, and her friendship with Villanelle's handler, Konstantin, suggests she's got deeper connections to the Russian organization that anyone realizes.
01Carolyn Is A Twelve Assassin
The going theory is that Carolyn either once was, or still is a Twelve assassin, and her fixation on taking down Villanelle is not on the side of the good guys, but because she's attracting attention. Now, the actor who until recently played Kenny Stowman, Carolyn's son, says there's a real possibility it might be true.
According to Sean Delaney, the way Carolyn's part is written on the page, there's never any confirmation one way or the other. And the secretive nature of her relationship with Villanelle's handler Konstantin suggests the two could have once been very close.
02Carolyn & Konstantin Are Working Together
Fans have known since Season 2 that Carolyn and Konstantin had a long-standing relationship. He was living in her house! But even so, no one was ready for Carolyn's adult daughter, Geraldine, to recognize Konstantin from her childhood days, when he was a frequent guest at her mother's dinner parties.
Geraldine regards Konstantin as an avuncular figure. One has to wonder, how far back, and how close were these two? The way Konstantin comforts Carolyn at the funeral suggests they may still be close as well.
03Carolyn's Using Eve
In Season 2, Eve's colleague, Jess, pointed out in detail how much Carolyn was abusing Eve's inexperience with the MI-6 proper protocols. Eve kept making excuses she needed to work outside the system until it all blew up in her face. When the mission went sideways, Carolyn stepped in, shocking Eve into realizing how badly she'd been duped.
Eve is reluctant to trust Carolyn again, even though she wants to find Kenny's murderer. Considering Carolyn came to Eve armed with proof that Villanelle was up to her old tricks, it seems she's ready to use and manipulate Eve all over again.
04Carolyn Knows Who Killed Kenny
It's almost guaranteed a member of the Twelve killed Kenny. (Though not Dasha or Villanelle.) If Carolyn is mixed up in the Twelve, either as an ex-assassin, a double agent, or otherwise, she probably knows who did it. That would explain part of her frustration with being unable to investigate.
The question is not if Eve will find who did it. Carolyn knows she can, that's why she wants her. The question is, will Eve discover that Kenny was killed despite his mother's ties to the organization? Or will it turn out he was killed because of them?
