Through the weekend I started to pick up a few recent TV series I wanted to watch and just go to the end of Netflix series Black Doves, and it’s a pretty good spy thriller that kept my attention for its six episodes, for sure I would recommend it but the story in my opinion was a bit messy. Keira Knightley makes a come back playing the role of Helen Webb; I just love her from movies like King Arthur and the Pirates of The Caribbean saga, this time around she is living a double life as a politician's wife and a secret agent for a shadowy organization known only as the Black Doves and the show is set against a chilly London Christmas, things kick start with Helen's lover Jason gets assassinated, set the start for serious and immediate danger, and conspiracies start to draw Helen in.
This series does a fantastic job of blending different genres, taking action, romance, a bit dark humor. Knightley really shines as the conflicted steely determination of this woman, who is also vulnerable for all the pressure she is under, not only she lost her lover but also the fact that she can't trust anyone with her true identity and who she works for, the spy life. She’s not your standard action hero but she can fight like any other guy she confronts, most impressive action scene of her is when she takes on an assassin in her garden shed, this is not a recap but a review so there might be a few spoilers although mostly my opinion and impression of the series. Second actor/character that stick with me is Sam, played by Ben Whishaw, Helen's old friend and Sam is also one of the highlights of the show, there is this back and forth, that feels natural even when they're in the middle of crazy situations.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27995113/
- Platform: NETFLIX
One thing that might be annoying but fascinating to others; like me, is how the show does backstories through flashback, giving us a bit of insight into how Helen became involved with the Black Doves in the first place, and this aspect of the series because even though it might be messy at times how they provide context through this flashbacks it does provide all the information necessary to build up the thread. The world of international espionage is also well built up on the show, with the UK, China and US, the appropriate backdrop of global intrigue, with sort of a whole subplot about the death of the Chinese ambassador that ties in with the main story in some pretty unexpected ways, even a bit childish.
The action scenes in Black Doves are well choreographed and intense, but what I liked even more was the quiet moments, the intimate moments between the characters. People focus a lot on the personal lives of these spies since the action and danger we already know it, its how work gets reflected in their relationships and in how they think, the constant internal battle of how far they can go with their personal relationships and decisions, in particular its the case of Sam’s story line with his ex boy friend Michael is pretty heartbreaking and makes the series pretty emotional, who would have tough but it is, fascinating how same sex romantic relationships can be moving now days, 30 years ago would be a total different reaction.
I’ll admit now, the show isn’t perfect, it sometimes feels like it has too many plot threads juggling, and not all of them are resolved satisfactorily, and not all of the them are so much interesting although they do connect with each other. Personally I like the personal story of Helen and Sam and find the political drama parts to be a bit under than developed but I have come to the conclusion that this might be in purpose if there is a second season, after all that is what Helen is initially working on as a Black Dove when she marry Wallace Web who is the Secretary of Defence who was on track to be the next Prime Minister, Helen was basically trying to get as much information out of Wallace that can work in favor of the organization she was working for. Politics and politicians were always the mission so getting everything sort out kind of puts a stop to the story. The show attempts to put up some humor to tone down the seriousness and there are a couple of times where this shifts feel a little out of place but none the less funny enough to crack a few laughs.
There performances are strong all round the series, some of them to mention, Sarah Lancashire as the puzzling Reed and Kathryn Hunter as the tough Lenny some of the ones that stand out. The Christmas setting looks great too, specially been a series happening around the same time close to the end of the year, gives a nice contrast to that dark side of been a spy, watching spies and assassins doing their business against the background of twinkling lights and holiday cheer is somehow satisfyingly odd.
Something that personally throw me off is how much of the show is obsessed with the romantic relationships of the characters, there are a lot of the character’s motivations tied up in the fact that a lot of the characters have complicated love stories, for example there is Helen’s affair with Jason is a major plot point, this was something I thought was interesting personally, even for hardened spies it can make you susceptible to the heart because she does eventually break down and reveal her true self out of love, her job, her feelings, but I can see why some people might have a different opinion to this and be more attracted to the drama rather than the action and some will get distracted by it, but I don’t think it’s distracting from the main espionage plot but does take out of it, do you see why I have mix opinion about it? sorry but not sorry jajaja.
Black Doves ends with some good cliffhangers, while still leaving the door open for a possible second season, we also learn that Jason was actually an MI5 agent and that his relationship to Helen is something else aside from been the spy he is. Learning that Trent Clark was responsible for both Jason's death and killing the Chinese ambassador with an accidental bullet from recoil of the tiger puts up together a good chunk of plot threads. I think one of the final prove of Sam trust and friendship for Helen is when he comes in to take out the Clark family so Helen didn’t have to do it herself, it gave a lot away about their relationship, and Sam’s protective nature, all this while Helen was pregnant so he probably felt she had to be protected and only he could at the moment. There is a lot from the main characters that makes you wonder why they do things and how they think about their action and consequences.
We don't know who called Sam after he killed the Clarks and told him to kill himself, big wtf situation. Finally there is Helen’s babysitter in the final scene with Reed at her house, makes me interested to know if Helen’s work with The Black Doves will change at all once Wallace becomes a potential Prime Minister, politics keep pushing forward this story, reason why its not resolved.
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