- Villanelle visits her family in Russia, and while the quirky reunion starts as an opportunity to reconnect and answer unknowns about her childhood, a profound moment of clarity sends her on a disturbing and downward spiral.
- Villanelle is walking down a gravel road, wearing a backpack and listening to music through headphones. She doesn't hear a lumber truck honking at her but steps out of the way just as it roars past her. She passes a sign in Russian.
Mother Russia: Villanelle approaches a farm house with cows and a barking dog outside. The door is wide open. She walks into the house and looks at many photos on the wall. She looks puzzled. She walks slowly around, exploring the kitchen, sees a boy in the living room. He comes in and asks her who she is. She almost never answers any questions. He says he lives there. When she says to speak English, he says he's a big Elton John fan. A girl wearing headphones walks in and goes straight to the refrigerator, ignoring them. She's the girlfriend of the boy's half-brother, Fyodor, who comes in and asks her who she is, as does his Dad. All Villanelle says is to ask Pyotr, who comes in and is stunned to recognize Oksana, his sister, who he thought was dead.
Villanelle is chatting about the world with the boy, Bor'ka. She is wearing a short blond wig and red heart-shaped glasses. The adults are in another room, saying Villanelle must want money or something. The boy hears his mother's car. Villanelle whips off the wig and glasses and tries to leave, but the others won't let her. Her mother comes in, recognizes Oksana, bursts into tears, and gives her a big hug. Villanelle does not react.
Her mother says the orphanage told her she had burned the place down and died. Her brother brings out a photo album which they look through. There are no photos of her father, but they change the subject.
They're all playing cards, trying to find the "killer" (it's the mother). Her brother likes to sleep in the barn some nights and look at the stars through a hole in the roof. Villanelle does not go along with any of the camaraderie and looks appalled when they sing and dance to Crocodile Rock.
In the barn, Villanelle comes upon Pyotr beating a sofa with a bat. He says it's so he doesn't beat people. She says just beat people; it will make you feel better. He saws wood all day, just like Dad. She remembers that Pyotr wanted to be a firefighter, but he was scared of heights. He asks her whether she became a pilot so she could travel. She hesitates, then says, "Sure." He doesn't remember Dad, who she says was funny, strong, and taught her to fight. She says her mother was mean. He asks her how the orphanage told her they had died. She hesitates, then says, "Car crash."
Pyotr and Villanelle are eating lunch in a hall where there will be a harvest festival tomorrow. She encourages him to get out. He says he stays to take care of Mum. He asks her why she came. She says, "Because I had the hiccups."
Fyodor and his girlfriend are watching TV. They tell Villanelle the moon landing was faked, and organizations like the FSB are riddled with members of a secret organization that will cause the planet's downfall.
Bor'ka is frustrated because he doesn't have enough money to go see Elton John. Pyotr, a terrible cook, is going to help him with his piroshkis for the contest at the festival.
Villanelle approaches the dad, who is working outside. They talk about the past. He says her mother, Tatiana, cries at night. Villanelle says maybe she feels like dirt for letting her family down.
Tatiana gives Villanelle an old outfit of hers that she has adjusted for Villanelle's size. Villanelle says she loves it and almost smiles.
Harvest festival: Fyodor's girlfriend at a shooting booth shoots three bullseyes. At a booth for guessing which cup has a ball underneath, Villanelle wins twice in a row, annoying the vendor. The piroshki prize goes to the woman who has won 19 years in a row. Villanelle does well at the dung-throwing contest. Villanelle is awarded first place in something and gets a prize, which she seems to enjoy.
Night. Fyodor's girlfriend's dance troupe of three performs. Villanelle sits at a distance, watching with Bor'ka. She says Pyotr was right; this is fun. Bor'ka hits himself in the face and says he shouldn't have entered. Villanelle says don't do that; you can watch Elton John on Youtube. He says after he lost, Mum said he was stupid and had embarrassed the family. He hits himself again and she stops him.
Ominous music. Villanelle is chopping tomatoes in the kitchen with a big knife. Tatiana comes downstairs. Villanelle faces her, holding the knife, with red streaks running down from her eyes. She says, "Come on, that used to make you laugh." There is much nasty talk back and forth. Tatiana says you are wasting our food, tomato paste. Villanelle says she wants to feel like a child and gets Tatiana to clean her face. Tatiana says Villanelle is not part of this family, and she wants her to leave the house tomorrow. Villanelle says she has killed a lot of people. Tatiana says Villanelle took everything from her, and could control her husband because she had a darkness, and he was afraid Villanelle would harm her. Villanelle says she doesn't mind having been taken to and left at the orphanage; what she minds is that Tatiana would not admit she is her mother's daughter. Villanelle seems teary. She says, "I think I need to kill you, Mama," and Tatiana just looks at her, expressionless.
Villanelle turns on the gas on the stove, spills a liquid on the floor, lights a cigarette lighter, and closes the door to the room where Fyodor and his girlfriend are sleeping. Bor'ka's alarm wakes him up in the night. He sees a handwritten note, "If you like surprises, go to the barn." He runs out, not noticing his mother lying dead on the living room floor. In the barn, he finds an envelope with a lot of money and a note that says, "Go see Elton." Pyotr wakes up where he has been sleeping in the barn. The house explodes in flames (the barn is untouched). Villanelle, wearing her backpack, walks quickly away from the house and screams once.
Villanelle is listening to music on her headphones in a moving train, moving to the unheard music. She smiles a little, briefly, but looks a little teary.
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