Black Doves Season 1 review: Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw make predictable spy thriller immensely watchable

3/5

Black Doves Season 1 story: Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is the happy homemaker wife of the British Defence Secretary Wallace (Andrew Buchan) and mother to their twins. Or so it seems. Helen is actually a name she was given when she joined a shadow organization called the Black Doves, for whom she has been gathering government intel. All was well until she has an affair, and the man she’s having this dalliance with is shot dead.

His death comes at a time when Wallace and the British government are on the backfoot after the Chinese ambassador to the country ends up dead, from a drug overdose no less. The Chinese suspect there’s been foul play. As Helen begins digging into the circumstances behind her lover’s murder, with a little help from fellow spy and assassin Sam (Ben Whishaw), she finds a connection between these deaths.

Black Doves Season 1 review: When several people end up dead and a conspiracy is unearthed in a spy thriller, the narrative, one would assume, will revolve around this and nothing more. Black Doves, though, gives it a more humane touch with the two people at the centre of it all. Keira Knightley’s Helen has given 10 years to a relationship that began as a job, but became more personal once she had kids, while Ben Whishaw’s Sam struggles with the fact that he may never have a shot at real love because of the line of work he’s in.

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As deadly a force Helen can be with guns, knives or hand-to-hand combat, she’s also a doting mother, who’d drop anything to be by her kids’ side. Sam’s her former mentor and closest friend, and, as it stands, the only person she can trust, what with her boss, Reed (Sarah Lancashire), ready to sell any information to the highest bidder.

From Helen’s induction into the Black Doves, to her early days of training under Sam, and the realization both have that when push comes to shove, only they will have each other’s back – these are all vital elements of the series’ narrative. And they never take away from the central conspiracy, which, for Helen is to find who killed her lover, while her agency wants the truth about the Chinese ambassador’s death.

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Although Season 1 is all of 6 episodes, the showrunners ensure that it is not all action and bloodshed. There are heartwarming moments between key characters and humour too. There’s even the teensiest bit of gay sex and Whishaw’s bare bottom. And what all of this does is that even though the plot is not new and even predictable at times, it still remains engaging. It’s also been given a second season already with the action likely to shift to No. 10 Downing Street next, so you might as well acquaint yourself with this motley bunch.

Black Doves biggest success, of course, is the casting of Knightley and Whishaw. But let’s not forget that Lancashire is also in the mix. She’s not got much to do, but seeing her as the head of the Black Doves, with the steely Ice Queen gaze and never giving away the slightest hint of emotion is enough for any fan of the British actress.

Black Doves Season 1 verdict: A great cast, decent-yet-predictable conspiracy story, with two spies trying to get to the bottom of it makes for an entertaining bingeable watch.