'Killing Eve' finale: Did Season 2 seriously just end like that?

Note: This contains many spoilers about the "Killing Eve" Season 2 finale.

---

How did the second season of "Killing Eve" end? Well, pretty much like the first.

That's right: Last season, British intelligence officer Eve (Sandra Oh) plunged a knife into assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) as the two shared a rather intimate moment discussing their complicated relationship. This time around, the tables turned, as Villanelle shot Eve, apparently leaving her for dead amid the Roman ruins.

As the hit BBC America drama comes to an end for the year (it was recently renewed for a third season), we have several questions about Sunday's extremely violent episode:

1) So is Hugo ... dead?

Poor Hugo! The admittedly obnoxious MI6 agent (Edward Bluemel) just wanted to do his job and have a fling with a co-worker on a business trip to Rome - even though he knew that Eve was simply using him as a placeholder for the true object of her affection. While Hugo didn't mind at the time, he seemed wounded the next morning as he snapped at Eve about her "girlfriend," Villanelle.

As he and Eve continued surveilling tech genius Aaron Peel in the mansion where Villanelle had been tasked to seduce him, Hugo stepped away to make a phone call. Suddenly, Eve heard Villanelle use their agreed-upon safe word - and gunshots in the hall. Eve found Hugo bleeding on the ground. He begged her to get help, but she rushed to save Villanelle from danger. RIP Hugo?

2) Did Peel really have no idea that Eve and Villanelle were working together?

This season's story line was propelled by billionaire Peel (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), on a quest to kill off his enemies after creating a hugely destructive weapon - a sort of nightmare search engine that allows you to basically Google everyone's deepest, darkest secrets. MI6 recruited the lethal yet irresistible Villanelle to get close to Peel - which she did successfully. But because he is a control-freak creep, he naturally maintained constant surveillance on Villanelle, as well.

So it was a bit unbelievable that when Eve stormed into Peel's Italian residence to rescue Villanelle, Peel seemed stunned to discover that she and Eve were working together. And he was shockingly unprepared for the obvious next step of the plot, which was Villanelle slitting his throat.

3) Why did Villanelle trust Konstantin?

Villanelle is a psychopath with trust issues and no real emotions. Yet somehow, she truly believed that her former handler, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia), would protect her because they were friends. As Konstantin replied in so many words: LOL. He told Villanelle the best he could do was give her a car and the advice to escape ASAP, since both MI6 and shadow organization the Twelve wanted her dead, now that she fulfilled her purpose and killed Peel.

"I will find you and your family," a disappointed Villanelle warned him.

"I don't think so," Konstantin taunted, which will likely just fuel Villanelle's desire for revenge.

4) Was it Eve's destiny all along to become a killer herself?

The show may have hinted at this, including in a scene when a psychologist informed MI6 boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) that Eve was the only person in a seminar to not look away in disgust from a picture of a dead body. Plus, even before she developed feelings for Villanelle, she was clearly fascinated by the serial killer in a way that an intelligence officer ... probably shouldn't be?

So perhaps it was a foregone conclusion that, when she found another former handler, Raymond (Adrian Scarborough), attempting to kill Villanelle at the behest of the Twelve, Eve hacked him to death with an ax. Eve was shocked by her own actions, but Villanelle could not have looked more proud. "It's OK if you feel weird," she assured Eve. "You just killed someone for the first time. With an ax."

5) Seriously, did the season really end like that?

The final scene showed a new side of Villanelle: Giddy and optimistic about the future, as she and Eve (still stunned from her recent, you know, MURDER) walked through gorgeous Italian ruins. Villanelle chattered happily away as Eve was mostly silent. "I was thinking we should go to Alaska. Have you seen pictures? It's so amazing. We could get a cabin, nobody would bother us there," she gushed.

When Villanelle thought she heard someone approaching (it was just a flock of birds) and whipped out a gun, Eve snapped out of her daze. "You have a gun?" she asked incredulously, realizing that Villanelle could have just killed Raymond herself.

"I wanted you to know how it feels. How did it feel?" Villanelle asked earnestly.

"Wet," Eve said flatly.

Villanelle laughed. "I'm proud of you."

Eve started to walk away. "You're ruining the moment," Villanelle complained.

"What do you think is happening here?" snapped Eve. "You think we'd be what? Bonnie and Clyde? Just go on a killing spree, cut a few throats? You want me to be a mess. You want me to be scared. But I'm like you now. I'm not afraid of anything. This is what you wanted."

"This is what you wanted," Villanelle replied, leaning in to try to kiss Eve, who backed away. "Eve, why are you being like this? You love me, I love you."

"You don't know what that is," Eve retorted, turning away.

So of course, Villanelle fired her gun at Eve. As the show closed, viewers saw a distant shot of Eve lying on the ground. And Villanelle walked away.

So again: Seriously?!? This is feeling a little familiar. Will it now be Eve's turn to recover and search for Villanelle? Why didn't the camera show a close-up of Eve? Is there some trickery going on? And the million-dollar question for any popular show: How long can this cat-and-mouse game continue? If the series keeps getting renewed, the stakes have to get higher - yet producers can't actually kill off either main character?