Boogie Nights, The Master, and The Talented Mr. Ripley would still be great movies without Philip Seymour Hoffman. Maybe not as great, but still great. The same cannot be said for Along Came Polly, a bad movie that I love and have watched approximately 26 times for the scene where PSH yells “let it rain!” while playing basketball. That’s cinema, folks.

Seymour Hoffman belongs on any list of the greatest actors ever (he’s even great when relegated to the background), so if he gave advice, other actors listened. When asked in a recent interview with Canoe to share the “best advice” he’s ever received, Ethan Hawke (a pretty good actor himself!) shared something Seymour Hoffman told him:

“Philip Seymour Hoffman used to say that you have to do this job and maintain a sense of humor, that we’re just a bunch of kids putting on a play. It’s all a goof. But, also, treat it like life and death and a game that matters. If you can hold both those truths at the same time then you can really have an interesting career.”

Seymour Hoffman followed his own advice because he had an interesting career, going from Oscar fare like Capote and Doubt to big-budget franchises (Mission: Impossible III and The Hunger Games) to… that scene from Happiness. You know the one.

Good advice from a great actor.

(Via Canoe)

This past weekend was the one-year anniversary of Avengers: Endgame.

We’ve heard from the writers and directors of the highest-grossing movie ever, when not adjusted for inflation, but what about the cast? How have they, especially Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans (who have both bid farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe), been doing, post-Endgame? Below, I ranked the careers of the six original Avengers — RDJ (Iron Man), Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) — in the 12 months since Endgame hit theaters. I kept it to the 2012 sextet and not everyone in the MCU because, well, otherwise there would be an obvious winner. It’s Paul Rudd. It’s always Paul Rudd. But as for the non-Paul Rudd superheroes…

6. Jeremy Renner

I mean…

But hey, at least Arctic Dogs, where Renner voices a fox (which is not a dog) named Swifty, had “one of the worst opening weekends” at the box office ever. Congrats?

5. Robert Downey Jr.

There’s good and bad news for RDJ’s post-Endgame career. The bad news: Dolittle was 2020’s “first mega-flop,” with a projected $100 million loss for Universal Pictures on the $175 million-budgeted feature, and it inspired scathing reviews like, “[It’s] one of the worst cinematic fiascos I’ve seen in years” and, “This nothingness doesn’t even have the good grace to be a bad movie. The low-point of every single career involved.” The good news: Dolittle is the year’s third highest-grossing movie. And all it took was a global pandemic! (At least Perry Mason, which Downey, Jr. produced with his wife, looks great.)

4. Mark Ruffalo

Ruffalo was the toughest Avenger to rank, as he’s only had one project since Endgame came out: Dark Waters, Todd Haynes’ warmly-reviewed legal thriller that received light Oscar buzz but failed to pick up any nominations. Ruffalo excels in thrillers, like Zodiac and Shutter Island, but he’s pretty good in most genres, including swoon-worthy romantic comedies (13 Going on 30) and indie-dramas (The Kids Are All Right). I think he’s the best actor of the six, and I’m excited to watch his HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True where he plays identical twin brothers. But if we’re only counting everything that’s come between Endgame and now, it’s tough to elevate Ruffalo over…

3. Chris Hemsworth

Hemsworth might be your favorite Chris, but he’s not the highest Chris on this list. It’s not his fault that Men in Black: International was one of last year’s forgettable movies, but let’s just say that he and Tessa Thompson weren’t able to capture the same crackling connection they had in Thor: Ragnarok. He also had a brief cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, after the actor’s agent told Kevin Smith that “they got into the movie business because of Clerks, and a starring role in Extraction. Netflix hasn’t released the viewership numbers for the action-thriller yet, but if Spenser Confidential is up to 85 million households, I’d expect nothing less than Extraction becoming the most popular movie of all-time. Move over, Avengers: Endgame! So why is Hemsworth below Evans?

2. Chris Evans

Sweater!

OK, it’s not just the sweater — his smug performance in Knives Out stood out among a crowded ensemble, and Defending Jacob is one of Apple TV+’s most anticipated series to date — but it doesn’t hurt. If Evans plays the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, as rumored, he’ll shoot to the top of the ranking. But for now, it’s hard to say no to ScarJo.

1. Scarlett Johansson

Johansson is now one of only 12 actors to receive double nominations in the same year in Oscar history: Best Actress for Marriage Story, and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit. She lost both, but it was still a historic flex. Honestly, Johansson was an easy choice for number one, even with Black Widow, her solo Marvel movie, pushed back to later this year. You know why? Her smartest career choice of all: not appearing on Colin Jost’s couch next to his guitar. That would have put her in Renner territory.

Musicians are unable to perform live and earn a living that way right now, so understandably, these are trying times for some in the music community. So, a group of Philadelphia musicians stepped up to help with Love From Philly Live, a charity livestream that took place over the weekend. The event benefited 30 Amp Circuit, a non-profit that was “created specifically to promote health and wellness for musicians and those that work for them.” One of the highlights was a quick set from The War On Drugs, who performed (remotely, of course) a pair of favorites from recent albums, “Pain” and “Under The Pressure.”

Ahead of the performance, the band wrote on Instagram, “We’re so psyched and honored to be featured on the @lovefromphillylive #lovefromphilly virtual fundraiser for the Philadelphia entertainment community. ALL proceeds will benefit @30ampcircuit . So many of our friends and neighbors from the Philly music community are gonna be there so make sure to grab yourself a Philly special and tune in. Plus you’ll get to catch a glimpse of our life at home these days. Did I wear the same clothes for three days just to get a halfway decent version of ‘under the pressure?’ If DI guitars sound this good then why do I have all these stupid amps? Or is Anthony in a ‘tchotchke-off’ with lee Sklar? Are midi cables the only thing buried in robbie’s basement? The answers to these questions and more…this SUNDAY NIGHT MAY 3.”

Watch The War On Drugs perform “Pain” and “Under The Pressure” above.

Travis Scott blew minds last month when he became one of the first rappers to perform a virtual concert in a video game — a move that may open the door for future opportunities for other entertainers. His innovative “live” appearance in the popular online multiplayer game Fortnite is paying off on the back end, boosting his best-selling 2018 album Astroworld back into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.

While the album has barely fallen off since its No. 1 debut in August 2018, hanging around at No. 30 last week, in the wake of Travis’ Fortnite concert, the album picked up 28,000 units and jumped over 20 spots to land back at No. 9 in its 91st week on the chart.

Rumors of the event began circulating when Travis in-game avatar leaked online a few weeks ahead of the concert. While some fans speculated that it meant Travis’ avatar would become a playable character, anticipation soared when Epic Games announced that Travis would “perform” a concert in a one-of-a-kind live event, debuting a new song during the concert to sweeten the deal. The developer also made the Travis Scott avatar available to players along with emotes based on some of Travis’ notable performance moments, including the meme of him holding a mic stand over his head with pyrotechnics in the background.

The livestream broke Fortnite‘s online engagement record, which helps explain why Astroworld received a boost: Travis likely made a lot of new fans that night — fans who would have wanted to get caught up on his back catalog.

Listen to Travis’ new track which debuted during the stream, the Kid Cudi collaboration “The Scotts,” above.

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Chris Hemsworth’s success outside of the MCU has, to be fair, hit some bumps along the road. That’s translated into less-than-impressive box-office showings for Men In Black: International, Bad Times at the El Royale, and the Ghostbusters reboot. To be fair, the MIB sequel is the only one of these films with Hemsworth in a lead role, but it still left a mark, one that’s probably been erased by Netflix’s Extraction, which sees him re-team with the Russo Brothers in what’s essentially 2020’s only blockbuster so far. The movie stars Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, an ass-kicking mercenary who throws down within a smorgasbord of ass-kicking while evoking another ass-kicker, Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon. And the (professed) viewing numbers are looking enormous, although (as always) Netflix is the one making the declarations with a specific metric that doesn’t require viewers to watch an entire movie.

One can’t deny, though, that Netflix’s professed audience numbers for event movies are only growing bigger, and with Extraction landing during quarantine, those numbers are poised to break records. The film might not have been Netflix’s most popular movie this past weekend, but cumulatively speaking, the movie (according to Chris Hemsworth) is set to be Netflix’s largest feature film release ever. Bigger than Bright, Bird Box, and Michael Bay and Ryan Reynolds’ 6 Underground? Yes, and an excited Hemsworth took to Instagram to thank fans while claiming some #1 statuses:

“Hey, what’s up guys, I hope you’re doing well. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who checked out Extraction — you’ve made it the number one film on the planet right now, and it looks like it’s going to be Netflix’s biggest feature film of all time, which is absolutely mind-blowing. We are blown away by the response and the support.”

So, how massive of an audience will Extraction eventually reap? Well, if it beats previous record-holder 6 Underground, which (reportedly) scored 83 million clicks, it’s a success by any standard. Yet given that Netflix’s adjusted metric counts a “watch” whenever an account streams two minutes or more of a title, all numbers should be viewed with a dash of perspective. With that said, another post on Hemsworth’s Instagram account is claiming that 90 million viewers is the projection.

Watch Hemsworth’s effusive message of gratitude below.

Of all the “celebrities virtually coming together” videos to come out since the country has been in quarantine, my personal favorite might be the “Boss B*tch Fight Challenge.” What’s not to like? There’s Margot Robbie (with her Harley Quinn bat), Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson, Rosie Perez, Thandie Newton, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood scene-stealer Julia Butters, and Florence Pugh being, well, “boss b*tches,” as organizer Zoë Bell would put it. It’s well-edited and fun (especially Daryl Hannah channeling her Kill Bill character), and it’s also Cameron Diaz’s first “performance” in years.

Diaz is technically playing a grocery bag-throwing version of herself, but it’s still the first time the actress has been on-screen in years, even if it’s just an iPhone. The There’s Something About Mary star, who hasn’t appeared in a TV show or movie since 2014’s one-two shot of Sex Tape and Annie, announced in 2018 that she had “retired” from acting. “I started [experiencing fame] when I was 22, so 25 years ago — that’s a long time. The way I look at it is that I’ve given more than half of my life to the public,” she said. “I feel it’s OK for me to take time for myself now to reorganize and choose how I want to come [back] into the world… I don’t miss performing… But whatever I do, it has to be something I’m passionate about, something that just feels effortless.”

I guess kicking ass feels effortless to Diaz. Makes sense.

The ‘Billions’ Stock Watch is a weekly accounting of the action on the Showtime drama. Decisions will be made based on speculation and occasional misinformation and mysterious whims that are never fully explained to the general public. Kind of like the real stock market.

STOCK DOWN — Double crosses

Welcome back, you beautiful, duplicitous television program. Only one episode into the season and we’ve already moved from double-crosses to triple crosses. And Chuck Rhoades is marching into a dimly lit bar, flopping into a booth, and just straight-up saying “It’s a triple cross” before he even says hello. I’m so happy I might explode.

Let’s backtrack a little, though, just so we’re all on the same page. At the end of last season, Chuck and Axe worked together to trap Taylor in a murky situation that resulted in Taylor’s personal fund folding into Axe’s. But, unbeknownst to Axe, Taylor agreed to work with Chuck to ruin Axe from the inside, largely because Chuck was deeply jealous of and angry at Axe for being Wendy’s savior in her fight to save her medical license, and also because that’s just what Chuck does. And unbeknownst to both Chuck and Axe, Taylor had a plan to play matador and let the two bulls charge wildly gore each other in the ring. It was a lot. Billions rules.

And now it’s even more, somehow. Taylor gave Chuck info about a Bitcoin farm Axe is helping to bankroll, Chuck busted the farm and pressed Taylor for even more info, Taylor spilled the beans to Axe, Axe attempted to play nice with Chuck by returning the first-edition Churchill works that Chuck sold last season, Chuck immediately saw through this and diagnosed the aforementioned triple cross, and here we are.

On another show, a lesser one, this could be enough plot for most of a season. On Billions, it took up about 25 minutes, total, leaving plenty of time for hallucinogenic hijinks and cameos by WWE superstars and a full-on wedding. Billions moves very fast, always, heaving people and debris out of its way as it speeds by, kind of like a runaway locomotive barreling through Mardi Gras. To be clear, this is the highest compliment I know how to give.

Also, to continue being clear, just once in my entire stupid life I’d like to storm into a dimly lit bar, belly up to a table where my co-conspirator is waiting, and announce “It’s a triple cross.” The rush you must feel as the words leave your lips… my God. More powerful than any drug you can buy.

STOCK UP — Bizarro Axe

Well, hello there, Mike Prince, as portrayed by television’s Corey Stoll. Pleasure to meet you. I feel like I’m going to like you. I’m almost sure of it. Yes, there’s the thing where you’re like the flipside of the Axelrod coin, a conscientious investor who claims to be attempting to do good as he’s doing well, a money man who is human first, someone who cares about the means and the ends. All of that.

But mostly I think I’m going to like you because you seem like a worthy adversary who gets under Axe’s skin. We haven’t seen many of those lately, at least on the money side of the show. It’s not that you’re even a threat, really, except to Axe’s pride, as we saw when you snaked him at the Vanity Fair cover shoot for the new crew of Decas (people with a net worth of over $10 billion) (and seriously, read the room here, fictional Vanity Fair), which Axe claimed not to care about and then promptly began plotting to ruin you over. Also, I think you’re probably full of hooey and I can’t wait for that reveal in a few weeks.

STOCK DOWN — Ayahuasca, generally

If there are two things in this world that are very much not for me, they would be, one, the great outdoors, and two, vomiting my brains out, so ayahuasca is not something that has ever really intrigued me, alleged universal clarity be damned. But good for Axe and Wags, though. Kind of. It is a little funny that the whole office is tearing itself apart in the wake of a hastily constructed revenge merger and Axe and Wags just decided to hop on motorcycles to screw off and do psychedelics to celebrate Axe’s net worth hitting 10 figures, but whatever. Again, I am not intrigued by the allure of puke-inducing braindrugs and I have barely half as many figures to my name as Axe, so maybe I just don’t get it.

Axe did not appear to be having fun, though. Wags was all Mother Earth and hooting owls and Axe was going on maniacal rants about kings and power, and I’m pretty sure he was stalking around the fire on all fours like a prowling jungle cat, if anyone needed another “Bobby Axelrod is an apex predator” metaphor. Axe does not seem like a dude who is wired at all for a mind-enhancing superdrug. I think he’d benefit more from, like, a weed brownie and some herbal tea. Man needs to wind down, is what I’m saying.

STOCK UP — Beards, though

All that said, big fan of the self-discovery beard. And the wild mane of hair. Axe looks like a straight-up Game of Thrones character here, like Damian Lewis is still annoyed that he’s the one working British actor in the world who wasn’t brought in for an audition on that show, like he’s cosplaying as Biker Tormund to exorcise those demons. I love it. Or rather, I loved it, past tense. I was devastated to see him clean-shaven and tightened-up at that Vanity Fair shoot. I was hoping he’d come back to the office holding a sword and the detached head of one of his many mortal enemies. Set the tone. Show everyone who’s boss. Make Brian happy.

That’s what I’m really getting at here. My enjoyment. Grow the beard back. Come on.

STOCK DOWN — Chuck Rhoades, personally if not professionally

In addition to being on the receiving end of this absolutely crushing exchange, one that made me physically wince and realize how much I never want to get into a heated argument with a trained psychologist, this was Chuck’s week:

• Had to give a speech at his father’s wedding to a woman half his age, possibly less
• Got roasted by his friends
• Had such a bad night at the wedding, generally and also in his specific conversation with his soon-to-be ex-wife, that he ran off for an emergency midnight session with his dominatrix, which required him to turn off his phone, which resulted in him missing many texts and calls from Wendy about their son having a medical emergency resulting from chugging whiskey at the wedding like Wild West outlaw, which is what led to the painful exchange above
• Read about his divorce in the New York gossip rags, in a statement Wendy crafted with Lauren, Taylor’s PR whiz, and zero input from him
• And Wendy is living in the spare, masterpiece-covered penthouse apartment owned by the hated adversary he has been hellbent on ruining for something like half of his adult life

But at least he has those books, I guess.

STOCK UP — Bonnie, God bless her

This is where I should probably discuss the cameo by WWE superstar Becky Lynch, who is apparently friends with Wendy, in what is possibly the wildest cameo this show has seen since Axe greased the wheels of a deal by having Kevin Durant record a Bar Mitzvah greeting on a cell phone. I’m not going to do that, though. Instead, I’m going to highlight the fact that Bonnie responded to a very reasonable HR-related complaint by lifting both of her palms to her face and ripping off an extended fake fart that someone in the captions department had to — got to? — transcribe. I’m so happy for everyone involved here.

STOCK DOWN — Kate Sacker

Kate Sacker is the best. She’s the most competent and confident person in the room in most of the rooms she’s in, she gets stuff done and takes zero of Chuck’s crap, and she has everything lined up for a nice springboard into Congress. From there, presumably the Senate and/or the Oval Office. She’s an impressive lady who I would never cross in a million years and when she stares at people it looks like she is trying to turn them into dust right there on the floor. One day she’ll probably succeed.

But this is not good. We’re a single episode into this season and she’s already at least two strikes into Billions Characters Headed For Personal And/Or Professional Ruin situation. The first was articulating her plans for the future, the thing about Congress. No one on Billions ever gets to see their dreams through. Every dreamer gets crushed and swept up and tossed into a trash can. Remember Rebecca Cantu and her short-lived plan to run a department store? Remember Lara Axelrod’s hangover recovery business? Remember Ice Juice? Saying your dreams out loud on Billions is like having two weeks until retirement in a buddy cop movie. Things are about to go sideways for you. Quickly.

Which brings us to strike two: Working with Chuck to go after Axe. If there’s one thing we’ve learned for certain about Billions over its four-plus seasons, it’s that Axe and Chuck are two cockroaches who will still be left standing after the apocalypse — which they probably caused — while everyone else around them gets vaporized. Sacker is about to get Connerty’d. I feel it coming and I hate it.

STOCK UP — Calling in the brain trust

I loved everything about the scene where Axe’s diabolical henchmen — Wags, Dollar Bill, and Victor — gave him an update on the Bitcoin prosecution. I love that all three of them came to deliver a brief message any one of them could have easily delivered solo. I love that they came in strutting in a wide line like a teenage street gang from West Side Story. I love that Axe, who presumably knew they were coming, was waiting for them while sitting in a chair facing the opposite direction and staring out his penthouse window at the city skyline around him like a total supervillain.

I missed you so much, Billions. Never leave me again.

For years now, Taylor Swift has been one of the most fan-friendly pop stars, often going out of her way to help them out and/or show appreciation. Last year, she sent flowers to a fan in the hospital, and in 2016, she gave money to a fan’s family following a fatal car accident. Now Swift is at is again: She sent a bunch of merch and a letter to a fan who is working as a nurse in New York City.

Whitney Hilton, who posts on Twitter as @TaNnEytWiT, shared photos of the letter and big box of merch that Swift sent for her 30th birthday. The letter reads, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I wanted to send you some presents and to let you know I am so grateful for you,” Swift wrote in her note. “I can’t thank you enough for risking your life to help people and for spreading the message loudly that people need to hear, about taking this seriously. Also, I saw the photo of you from my show! Thank you for coming!! I would love to give you a hug next time and thank you in person. With love and admiration, Taylor.”

Hilton wrote in her post, “I need to PUBLICLY THANK TAYLOR SWIFT […] for sending me a box full of Merch & a PERSONALIZED LETTER from Taylor herself for my 30th birthday/for going to NYC to help as a nurse. This was quite literally the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.”

Swift spoke in a recent interview about how she’s been spending her quarantine, saying, “Mostly I’ve been online trying to figure out how to help others, and just constantly in awe of our first responders and our emergency workers and our healthcare professionals who are putting themselves in danger every single day that they go to work. So shout out to everyone who works in a medical profession, everybody who’s out there helping.”

BBC America’s ‘Killing Eve’ first framed itself as procedural: a show about assassins and the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service that attempts to take them down. More than that, though, the show tangoed through an elaborate cat-and-mouse game between Jodie Comer’s assassin and Sandra Oh’s MI6 agent. This season, that game evolves for the better, and our weekly coverage will keep an eye on how this show’s transforming, and it (along with those kills) is only growing bolder with the passage of time.

Killing Eve follows up on last week’s smell of power with an episode called “Still Got It,” which takes its name from a note that’s on the pitchfork used by Dasha (disguised as “Magda”) to stab Niko. Fatally? We don’t know yet, but it’s not looking good for the long-suffering husband of Eve. This scene culminated in what was possibly the worst birthday imaginable for Eve, who’d already received an ominous “present” from Villanelle (who, meanwhile, is being wooed by two warring handlers). And Eve threw that cake off the roof — reminding everyone what happened to Kenny not too long ago. So, a lot of balls are up in the air this season, but let’s try and unravel whatever it is that Dasha meant to do by attacking Niko. This guy just can’t get a break.

Poor Niko, man. He had apparently made some progress following his PTSD — he suffered a heavy dose after being terrorized by Villanelle and seeing what happened to Gemma in that storage unit. He hightailed it out of his treatment facility and headed not to Eve but to Poland, where he seemed awfully happy to enjoy some freedom. Yet Eve, full of delusion, has still somehow kept hope alive that he’d want to reconcile, despite her cheating on him and generally making him feel like hot garbage in their marriage. Niko seemed to be open to talking but nothing else, and then Dasha-Magda swiped Niko’s phone and gave Eve the go-ahead to come on down to Poland. So, what was Dasha’s motive, and what does the “still got it” note mean?

Obviously, Dasha’s panicking over her visit from a higher up in The Twelve. She wants to return to Russia in glory, but she can’t do that with Villanelle behaving so erratically (and being “skittish”) while she’s obsessed with Eve. It sure seems that she lied to Villanelle about the promotion business going well, and she’s probably trying to frame Villanelle for this pitchfork stuff while believing that Eve (and everyone else) will suspect Villanelle of being the attacker. The “still got it” note is a nice touch, and a message from Dasha (to Villanelle) that she’s still the superior assassin (while maybe making it look like Villanelle’s saying that she and Eve have “still got it”). One certainty: Dasha’s also capable of doing laps in an Olympic-sized pool while pausing for cigarette breaks.

What a nutso character. However, we can’t yet predict the ultimate effect of this attack on Eve. Will she finally crumble under the weight of mounting trauma, or will she be spurred to further action against The Twelve? Dasha clearly wanted Eve to witness this brutality while aiming to drive a wedge in between Eve and Villanelle, though it’s unclear whether that will work in Dasha’s favor. Clearly, Eve’s still just as drawn to Villanelle as she’s always been, even while fruitlessly refusing to give up on Niko. So, Dasha doesn’t really understand the Villanelle-Eve dynamic. In fact, Dasha doesn’t really get relationships at all — she’s only feeling desperate about her own legacy. She definitely would have taken out Eve if a higher-ranking The Twelve member hasn’t told her that’d be too messy. And Eve should eventually realize that Villanelle isn’t Niko’s attacker.

In the meantime, whatever Dasha’s doing to keep Villanelle working is being screwed up by Konstantin, who pays Villanelle back (for scaring him in bed) in his own way.

That wasn’t what gave Villanelle a bizarrely persistent case of the hiccups, though. That affliction began high up in the sky when Konstantin revealed that he had knowledge of her birth family, but yeah, he needed a little favor first. And that favor involved dispensing with the wife of Charles Kruger (The Twelve’s accountant), who knew far too much about that Geneva bank account. The garden scene was pure madness and really makes one wonder who’s the biggest loose cannon here.

Also, what do those hiccups mean? They could be a callback to a second season scene, in which Villanelle slaps a resistant Eve and smirks, “You needed a surprise… like hiccups.” They also suggest/signify a dent in Villanelle’s generally impenetrable armor after she learns about Niko leaving London and the possibility of learning more about her family. In the end, Villanelle presumably receives the knowledge that she desired from Konstantin, and she disembarks after a train reaches her “Home” with the strong suggestion that we’ll learn more next week (probably in Russia).

Some loose ends:

– Is Paul going to be alright by season’s end? He’s not only a super-cool boss but seems like a decent guy, even though he pees in the shower (don’t judge, I’m sure this is a lot more common than some would like to admit) and claims to self-loathe to a greater degree than Eve. Watching the two of them try to one-up each other with their misdeeds was more delightful than it should have been, given Paul’s bleak past. And the writers have endeared Paul toward the audience so much that I fear for his safety.

– The Konstantin stuff is pretty sticky, but we got more of a followup regarding his daughter, at least, far beyond him calling her “a little sh*t taking a sh*t on a big sh*t and three sh*ts combined into one enormous sh*t.” I enjoyed hearing Konstantin’s daughter calling him out, for sure. She knows that he’s in some dangerous business, and she’s not gonna let this keep happening without a fight.

– Speaking of fed-up daughters, will Geraldine get a better story soon? I’m down to see Gemma Whelan kick some ass like she did on Game of Thrones, but it doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards here. It’d be nice to see her move beyond falling into Konstantin’s jester trap and being upset with Carolyn. Perhaps we’ll hear more about the roots of their conflict soon. That’d be a swell compromise!

– Really though, is Niko alive or dead? I can’t even begin to guess, but we’ll likely find out soon enough.

BBC America’s ‘Killing Eve’ airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM EST with simulcasting on AMC.