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| “ | I want to tell you about you for a second, okay? I am so proud of you. I love you. Yeah. I love you more than this house. I love you more than my family. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, to the organization and to the future. You know I tried to be angry at you, I tried to discipline you. I tried to trick you into doing whatever I wanted and I failed. And I failed because I love you. You are more powerful than any other person because of what you have in here. You're so different. You have something stronger. You should be proud. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin's emotional monologue to Villanelle. |
| “ | Language is information and information is everything. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin's motto regarding the importance of knowing different languages. |
Konstantin Vasiliev (Russian: Константин Васильев) is the secondary antagonist of the TV series Killing Eve.
He is a former member of Russian Intelligence and employee of the Twelve who worked as Villanelle's handler. While it is currently unknown what his true agenda is, he is seen working with either MI6 and the Twelve whenever it suits him, such as betraying Villanelle so he could reunite with his family.
He is portrayed by Kim Bodnia. In a flashback sequence, he was portrayed by Louis Bodnia Andersen.
Overview[]
During the days of the Soviet Union, Konstantin was a F.S.B. operative and a former lover of MI6's Head of the Russian Desk Carolyn Martens, before secretly defecting and becoming an agent of a private assassin organization called the Twelve. Over the years, he carried out their orders and handled some of their assassins, making sure that he gained their trust enough to not have him killed. Eventually, he became the recruiter and handler of Villanelle, breaking her out of prison and having her trained to being arguably their best assassin. In 2018, he started worrying about her state of mind after she encountered MI5 officer Eve Polastri and became obsessed with her. After she became unfocused and knowing that the Twelve would have her disposed of, Konstantin worked with MI6 to secure her safety. However, it didn't go to plan when the Twelve uncovered his betrayal and sent her to kill him, kidnapping his daughter to lure him and shoot him.
Konstantin survived his gunshot wound and was protected by Carolyn in her home so he could help MI6 out the Twelve. However, after learning that the Twelve ordered for Villanelle's death, he betrayed her and Eve to save her and go solo as contract killers. Later on, Konstantin and Villanelle were hired by the two of them to help uncover the plot of tech mogul Aaron Peel. During a mission in Rome, Konstantin agreed to Carolyn's plan to out Villanelle to the Twelve should she kill Peel so he could see his family again. Months later, Konstantin then stole a mass amount of money from the Twelve to get away from those he's double-crossed and covering up his actions, while also under their orders to identify the one responsible. He was also accidentally responsible for the death of Carolyn's son Kenny and although she wanted revenge, she let him go to Cuba but to never see him again.
Personality[]
Although he displays himself as the protective father-figure to Villanelle and is still overall a slightly mysterious man, Konstantin is deep down a cowardly opportunist who will make deals with friend or foe just to survive, always willing to betray those close to him so he can live for another day. He normally tells Villanelle that he is devoted to the people who order the kills, but he doesn't actually care and is only devoted to two things: money and insurance that a roof is over his head. To such ends, he is more than being comfortable with recruiting and handling assassins, including Villanelle, and carrying out the Twelve's orders.
While Konstantin is not a psychopath or in fact sadistic (not like Villanelle), he's more pragmatic and gives off an impression of being a little weary and emotionally fragile. He often doesn't get into fights and seeks to not get involved with conflicts as he knows it won't end well for him. However, whenever it comes to getting shoved, he fights back harder than anyone but mainly for his life if it need be. That said, he also has an aversion to violence, specifically to getting his hands dirty, and would always use persuasion to avoid getting killed or captured by anyone, as displayed when he told Villanelle that he loved her more than he loved his family and home in a successful bid to trick and escape her.
Despite his deep cowardice, he is not without being intelligent. He understands the dangers that Villanelle possesses and that her ego is a beast, constantly walking on a tightrope of being able to manage it. While he is impressed with Villanelle's display of violence and hobbies, he's still clever enough to be frightened of her and knows her well enough to not be powerless to her charms. However, despite his intelligence, he is also quite arrogant and sometimes thinks that he can use his charms to win over certain people that he's betrayed in the past before, including both Villanelle and Eve who both no longer trusted him after what happened in Rome. His arrogance does to a deeper level as whether or not he can see it, his continuance of manipulations and betrayals for his own survival may result with his fitting end.
However, even though Konstantin is an arrogant opportunist, he is not completely selfish as he does display compassion for certain people, including his family. While he does call his daughter Irina irritating and loud, he loves her more than almost anything and was willing to risk his own life to save her from Villanelle after she kidnapped the girl to assassinate him for the Twelve. But, it is arguable that he cares more about Villanelle's well-being than his own family's, as he argued with the Twelve several times to get her a second chance and saved her from being killed by Raymond and MI6. He also displayed remorse for his past actions, including betraying her in Rome, claiming that it wasn't his idea and tried to convince her to leave Eve behind. After Irina was incarcerated for killing her mother's boyfriend, Konstantin started becoming paranoid and stressed as everyone in his life wanted to kill him for his constant treachery and he even considered letting them, admitting to Villanelle that he was a prick.
Quotes[]
| “ | You like Paris, uh? You like new life. It's good to have someone worried about you, uh? | „ |
| ~ Konstantin after getting Villanelle assessed, worried about her state of mind. |
| “ | A woman in London is leaving her department just to find you. No. It's not a good thing. It's a closed operation, and we don't know what they know but we are working on it. We just need to be subtle at the moment. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin warning Villanelle about Eve Polastri's hunt for her. |
| “ | If you can't play alone, you'll have to play with your little brothers and sisters. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin losing trust in Villanelle after her actions in Berlin. |
| “ | They wanted me to leave you in prison. I was trying to help the British get you out and they found out. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin revealing to Villanelle that the Twelve learned of his betrayal. |
| “ | Konstantin: She's a parasite, Eve. She gets into your brain, she eats you up to make space for herself. Like that book with the hungry worm and all that food. Pickles, tomatoes... Eve: "The Hungry Caterpillar"? Konstantin: Yes, that's her. Burrowing in and creeping around. |
„ |
| ~ Konstantin trying to convince Eve to stop pursuing Eve. |
| “ | If you start killing people for free, we are both in trouble. And broke. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin to Villanelle. |
| “ | It was not my idea. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin to Villanelle after she realizes he betrayed her. |
| “ | The F.S.B. wants to kill me. The Twelve want to kill me. Carolyn's daughter wants to kill me. My ex-wife wants to kill me. My daughter wants to kill me. My ex-wife's new boyfriend would want to kill me if he wasn't already dead. (runs into a random person) That random guy now wants to kill me. | „ |
| ~ Konstantin having a nervous breakdown as his history of betraying people is starting to catch up to him. |
Trivia[]
- He is the television series' adaptation of Konstantin Orlov, who recruited and trained Villanelle before becoming her handler.
- There is a popular fan theory that Konstantin is secretly Villanelle's biological father, especially since it is never explained what happened to her father after her abusive mother Tatiana abandoned her at an orphanage when she was young.
- In 2019, the actor Kim Bodnia was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Konstantin.
- It is revealed that Konstantin is scared of heights, judging by his behavior during his cable-car ride with Villanelle.
- Konstantin arguably shares the role of main antagonist with Paul Bradwell. While Paul ordered the hit on Kenny, gave Konstantin orders to find the missing millions, acted as a primary nemesis to Carolyn and worked with Hélène as a fellow high-ranking agent, Konstantin was the one who stole from the account, framed the accountant, orchestrated the hit on his widow and accidentally got Kenny killed.
- Konstantin's actor in the flashbacks of episode "Don't Get Attached", Louis Bodnia Andersen, is Kim Bodnia's son.
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 Villains
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The Twelve Other | ||