During “bad breakup” with Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) in season 3, after she shot Eve and left her for dead within a deserted ruin in Rome. Within the premiere of Killing Eve season 3, Villanelle rebounds from her breakup with Eve by marrying a rich woman in Spain, but the wedding is cut short when Dasha (Harriet Walter) appears to recruit her once more to work for The Twelve, an international organization of assassins.
As Dasha butters her up with compliments and offers her more perks such as travel and money, Villanelle requests something else just as valuable: to be a Keeper. While not much has been revealed about the inner workings of The Twelve organization, Dasha states that, “A Keeper is big. Higher than Konstantin, higher than me,” meaning that a Keeper is most likely a senior level position within The Twelve organization with more perks and more power. While that sounds like something that would appeal to Villanelle, there is something else the promotion could give her that is more up Villanelle’s alley: revenge against The Twelve.
As someone who both equally loves killing and praise, Villanelle wouldn’t exactly thrive as a Keeper since the job requires delegating the kills to the assassins and covertly working from the shadows. However, Villanelle’s motives become more clear when considering her recent history with The Twelve. Throughout Killing Eve season 2, Villanelle was in the process of being pushed out by The Twelve, who didn’t appreciate her eccentric method of killing because it brought some unwanted attention to herself and, by extension the organization, from Eve and her team at MI6. Preferring a more covert assassin such as The Ghost, The Twelve assigned Raymond (Adrian Scarborough) as her new handler, someone Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) states “terminates the contracts” when an assassin is on their last legs within their organization. Most likely under the orders of The Twelve, Raymond does just that when he tries to kill Villanelle at the end of season 2.
After being disparaged, demoted, and almost murdered by The Twelve, Villanelle most likely only wants to be a Keeper to gain more information about the higher-ups within the organization, especially the names of the people who ordered to have her killed. Back in the episode “I Want To Be Free” from Killing Eve season 1, Villanelle asks Konstantin the names of The Twelve when she’s sent to kill him. “I’m not a Keeper,” says Konstantin. “There are few people that are trusted with the names and I’m not one of them.” After Villanelle asks for the name of a Keeper, Konstantin states he doesn’t know them either. If Villanelle were to become a Keeper herself, she’d be entrusted with the names of The Twelve and get close enough to kill the secret herself, a plan she seems to have been developing since season 1.
Not only does revenge seem like Villanelle’s most apparent motive for becoming a Keeper, but it also explains some of her uncharacteristic actions within the premiere. Dasha reports back that The Twelve are open to her proposal as long she can show them she’s “up to the job.” When Villanelle goes on her assignment to kill a political agitator, Villanelle pushes her off of a ladder within her own store, almost as if she were initially trying to make it look like an accident. Since Villanelle has previously acted out when she's been given assignments she perceives to be boring, it seemed a bit odd when Villanelle choose to kill in such an inconspicuous and mundane way, almost as if she were trying to prove she could be cooperative to The Twelve.
While only time will tell what Villanelle’s true motives are throughout Killing Eve season 3, Dasha's comment, “Power is there for the taking, Oksana. You just have to be smart about how. Slowly, Slowly catchy monkey,” seems to foreshadow Villanelle's long-con to take down The Twelve.