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In the almost criminally enjoyable new Netflix series Black Doves, Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw play a chic housewife and her gay best friend who just happen to be covert operatives. They straddle dual identities, as does the show, which can often juggle tones with the deftness of a circus performer. Black Doves is at once a complex espionage thriller, a cheekily humorous dark comedy, and when it needs to be, a dreary domestic drama. It soars on the strength of its two central performances, and writing that is both self-aware and endearingly sincere.
Knightley plays Helen Webb, who lives happily with her husband Wallace — the British defence secretary — and their two children in London. When the man that Helen had secretly been seeing on the side — “it was love,” she says — is murdered on the banks of the Thames one evening, she finds herself embroiled in a plot that involves international spy agencies and a global criminal syndicate. Helen isn’t exactly a stay-at-home mom; a decade ago, she was installed in the life of Wallace (Andrew Buchan) — then an up-and-coming politician — by a secret agency of mercenaries known as the Black Doves.
Also read – Citadel review: Generic and uninspired, Priyanka Chopra’s Prime Video spy show is an epic mess
Sensing (correctly) that Wallace might rise up the ranks of British government and perhaps become Prime Minister one day, Helen’s icy handler, Mrs Reed (Sarah Lancashire), identified her as the perfect candidate to be the Doves’ mole at the very centre of power. “We’re a capitalist organisation, not an ideological one,” Mrs Reed tells Helen as she recruits her. But like any job, spying for a secret organisation can become monotonous after a decade. Helen found herself straying from her marriage, risking her very existence by initiating an affair with a man named Jason (Andrew Koji). His murder paints a large target on Helen’s back, prompting Mrs Reed to send in backup in the form of Sam (Whishaw), a ‘triggerman’ with a conscience.
Sam and Helen parted ways under tragic circumstances seven years ago, after which he went into self-imposed exile. He returns to protect Helen as she cleans up her mess. Along the way, Sam and Helen bump into a host of characters both colourful and conniving. There are the bantering assassins Williams and Eleanor; the gravelly gangsteress Lilly; a young CIA field operative; and the junkie daughter of the Chinese ambassador. A subplot involving the ambassador’s murder, and the international incident that it sparks, collides with Helen’s personal quest for vengeance. It’s intriguing stuff.
Series creator Joe Barton, along with directors Alex Gabassi and Lisa Gunning, keep the action moving at a fair clip. The drama is punctuated by bursts of exciting violence, which is filmed with precisely the amount of eye-winking awareness that will make it palatable to the casual viewer. There are, of course, more than a few moments in which you might question the credulity of what is unfolding on screen. For instance, not a single gunfight — and there are several scattered throughout the show’s six episodes — attracts the attention of either casual bystanders or the cops. Fires break out inside large residential complexes, men are shot in broad daylight, the American embassy is infiltrated.
But these are minor quibbles; because Black Doves is so self-assured in its structure and tone, any and all complaints about logic seem unwarranted. Plus, the show regularly grounds itself by returning to Sam and Helen’s domestic lives. She must reconcile her grief for Jason’s death with her guilt about cheating on Wallace. Sam, on the other hand, is still mourning the failure of the only real romantic relationship that he has ever had in his life. Most spy stories try to balance the high-stakes action with basic human drama, but few succeed as confidently as Black Doves.
It’s the best show of its kind since Prime Video’s Mr and Mrs Smith from earlier this year; and at just six episodes long, a less demanding experience than most other options on streamers these days. God knows audiences have wasted enough time and energy on the Citadel universe. In the fine tradition of British television, Black Doves values quality over quantity, and more importantly, respects the audience’s intelligence. It isn’t without it’s flaws, but it’s the kind of show that you could imagine returning to every year during Christmastime.
Black Doves
Creator – Joe Barton
Cast – Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Sarah Lancashire, Andrew Buchan, Andrew Koji
Rating – 4/5
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