killing eve s3 & the third man:
the parallels and implications

#killingeve

another very, VERY long and detailed thread.

i dedicate this thread to the brilliant women killing eve s3 writers: suzanne heathcote, laura neal, anna jordan, elinor cook, and krissie ducker
and also to the phenomenal directors, producers, and cinematographers!

i always pull this quote out as a good reminder just in case:

thread contents:

- synopsis
- characterization
- cinematic & plot parallels
- plot implications

this thread will not be complete upon posting & i will be continually adding to it periodically.

also, i will be referencing my other s3 analysis thread often (see below). https://twitter.com/tihphi/status/1265089448179621888

briefing:

in 3x04, one of the most formative eps of s3, jamie & eve talk at the former’s house. on the wall directly behind jamie, he has a poster hung up of the noir tragicomic thriller and film classic “the third man”.

below, i briefly layout the film’s plot for context.

here’s a required synopsis: ***

american holly martins is offered a job by his friend harry lime in vienna. upon arriving, lime’s building porter tells martins that lime died. he attends lime’s funeral & meets the man’s former gf & officer calloway and begins to be suspicious.

lime’s death was reportedly an accident - hit by a truck based on testimonies from the supposedly 2 men who carried him to the side. martins has a hunch it’s false and hunts for truth himself. martins meets baron, lime’s friend (1 of “the 2”) whose story doesn’t match the one he

told police - the porter then gave away that there was a third man involved. martins visited dr. winkle who reportedly arrived too late to save lime. the dr. shares a dog w lime’s friend baron leaving martins suspicious. he then talks to lime’s former gf anna and they team up.

porter told martins when asked again for info that he had more evidence and is subsequently murdered before martins could obtain it. popescu, the second man, denies martins’ question of a third man - we see him organize a 4 man meeting on a bridge. martins & officer calloway then

make headway on who lime truly was - a racketeer who sold diluted penicillin to poor hospitals. they find that hospital worker joseph harbin illegally sold it to lime. unexpectedly in a dark doorway, martins sees lime briefly before he disappears. martins checks city sewer routes

before updating calloway. they check lime’s grave only to find harbin’s body instead. martins argues w baron & dr. winkle to organize a meeting on the ferris wheel between lime and martins. they have a heated, dangerous exhange where lime considers killing martins before finding

out harbin’s body had been found. martins and anna dispute over lime’s untrustworthiness leaving martins close to giving up until calloway shows him the effects of lime’s cruelties at the hospital. he agrees to act as bait on a stakeout to catch lime which works & they pursue him

in the sewers known as easy escape routes. after minutes of pursuit, lime is injured and confronted by martins with a gun. after a moment of hesitation, martins finished lime. at his real funeral, martins newfound love interest in anna rejects him leaving the ending bittersweet.

characterization:

it’s probably becoming apparent how striking the similarities are btwn s3 & the third man already. subverting expectations throughout, many of the ke characters aren’t static parallels but instead reflect different characters depending on context of the scene.

holly martins: carolyn, eve, v
harry lime: (start) kenny, (revealed as) konstantin, v (big pic)
building porter: kenny, mo, bear
dr. winkle: helene
baron: paul, jamie
dog: rhian
anna: audrey, eve, v, carolyn
harbin: kenny, charles & bertha kruger
popescu: jamie, geraldine

this is best exemplified with harry lime who = kenny as impetus for investigation until 3rd act when lime is found alive. lime then parallels konstantin who’s guilty & faces consequences.

the overarching character of lime also reflects v while the same goes for martins w/ eve.

the third man is known for it’s homosexual themes. two side characters are in a gay relationship.

there is obvious homoerotic undertones and tension between holly martins & harry lime.

a producer said this about the two lead characters:

sound familiar?

lime greets martins alone for their reunion w/ “good to see ya holly” while v, in 40’s pinstripe suit greets eve for the reunion w “hi eve” - both have the same gaze & confidence disregarding circumstances. v/lime even grabs eve/martins jacket during their respective encounters.

leaving the rest of villaneve for later, let’s get into the plot details. lead writer suzanne heathcote said the viewer should not trust konstantin in interviews. knowing this, let’s dive into some the third man/killing eve s3 parallels chronologically (abbreviated TTM below).

plot parallels w photos:

when martins first arrives in vienna he enters the building outside of which lime was killed w striking similarity to the scene sequence of eve entering bitter pill where kenny dies (more on this much later).

the funeral scenes in both TTM & ke s3 were seminal moments for both. the bathroom scene where carolyn and eve witness audrey crying directly reflect their joint embodiment of TTM’s martins when he meets lime’s former gf anna crying at the funeral.

when the pair exit, eve embodies martins & carolyn parallels officer calloway who tried to catch martins when leaving, & albeit a cop, was against questioning the case which made a drunken martins angry. eve was in the same state lashing out against carolyn for the same reason.

eve asks bear what it was like to work w kenny at bitter pill but before he could respond jamie cuts him off. the same situation happens when martins asks the building porter where lime lived who used to visit lime, and baron conveiniently interrupts just like jamie.

in my initial s3 theory/critical analysis thread, i talk in-depth about the funeral scene above out-of-context from TTM. the s1 bathroom parallels are a useful read that establish the weight placed on that scene for the future plot (starting from this tweet): https://twitter.com/tihphi/status/1265667660387319809

continue thread: https://twitter.com/tihphi/status/1274796417765314560?s=21 https://twitter.com/tihphi/status/1274796417765314560