Ah, can’t really think about it in any context outside of that ending, right? It was so sobering and a reminder that this isn’t our friendly neighborhood assassin who actually likes Eve.
Given how other media usually handles this kind of relationship and my own wish to see something not awful in Villanelle (and all characters), I was lulled into thinking the show would be Villanelle’s fixation bringing Eve and Eve’s feelings under her protection. And this was something she knew would hurt Eve, it wasn’t needed, especially at this point, when he was no danger (and only three eps in). Not even Konstantin asked her to get rid of them!
Despite it being such a downer and coloring the whole ep and reframing the character dynamics for me, I don’t think it’s hurting my enjoyment of the show and I wouldn’t label it bad writing or a bad move (yet). All her previous kills, even of seemingly nice people like the feminist political donor in Paris or Sebastian, were people we didn’t care about. I did care about Bill and Villanelle killing him makes me like her less. But that’s on me, she was always that person, it was just me trying to make her something she wasn’t.