BLACK DOVES (2024)
Season One.
Aired On: Netflix.
Release Date: 12/05/24.
Action. Drama. Mystery. Thriller.
"Helen embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen's employers call in Sam to protect her."
OUR REVIEW:
Netflix’s Black Doves is a Christmas special that lacks any real link to the Christmas season. For a show that opens in a bar lit with Christmas lights, centered on Santa Claus as he makes his way into snowy London, Black Doves has little to say about the Christmas season.
What frustrates me endlessly about Black Doves is in its execution. There are multiple ideas, scenes, themes, and aesthetics that are seemingly an homage to other great spy-thrillers. The Christmas buddy-cop procedural that subverts the classic themes of family is a running theme of writer-director Shane Black’s filmography (The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Lethal Weapon). The post-Santa part of the opening scene centers on 3 individuals all talking over a phone, stressing out over some mission gone wrong… and slowly, we watch as some mysterious force kills them, one at a time. It’s reminiscent of the phenomenal inciting incident from Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible. Halfway through the episode, there is a scene of our protagonist reverse engineering the opening murders to find a bullet casing left by an assassin - an homage to another Tom Cruise production - Jack Reacher. These homages, on their own, are not a problem with Black Doves - but they do illuminate the many other points of failure present in the show. As Black Doves struggles to keep audience interest through it’s vaporous characters and one-dimensional writing, the show reminds you of another programme you could be watching. It’s fascinating and frustrating.
Black Doves as a show is broken into two distinct components - a conspiracy thriller and a relational melodrama. These two components struggle to coalesce, and instead leaves the pilot feeling underwhelming. Our two protagonist characters - Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) and Sam Young (Ben Whishaw) both have their own reasons for getting involved with the case, but these are kept hidden from the audience in frustrating ways. Sam is a reclusive individual - as a hired gun for the Black Dove organization, the introverted, constantly on guard persona plays well. Ben Whishaw’s performance elevates Sam by leaning into the typical portrayal of the brooding Hit Man - Whishaw is brooding, calculated, and reserved above all else. The moments of levity that come out of Whishaw’s performance are often darkly humorous - and it works very well to establish this character. This all works until we get stuck at an uncomfortable dinner with Sam’s friends from a past life. The dinner melodrama attempts to enrich Sam as a character - we see more from his backstory and previous relationships - but it feels far more out of place as it doesn’t move the central plot forward. In attempting to add layers and depth to the stereotypical character, Black Doves hits the brakes on its central story - and loses all storytelling momentum.
Contrasting this is the writing of Helen, a once small-time spy whose husband's political career has taken off, leaving her unable to leave quietly as she once intended. Helen’s personal connection to the murders is established quickly as the prime suspect and Helen were in the midst of a 3 month affair. Tragically, Helen isn’t given much more depth than being a grieving lover. There are multiple scenes in which “It was LOVE” is stressed on end. It’s the type of writing that drowns out these characters - slowing the momentum of the story, and lacking specificity in it’s story to be truly fascinating. Keira Knightly tries her hardest to elevate this material - and when she isn’t skewered with the ineffective dialogue, Knightley is able to create a character I believe in. There is a moment later in the pilot where Knightley has to balance being a spy with a video call from her daughter and son - and it’s one of my favourite moments of character in the pilot. Knightley is stern, forceful, showing Helen to be far more capable and competent than what has been spoken through the dialogue. It’s a pleasant surprise.
After 55 minutes, Black Doves shows itself to be a yearly dose of (in)competency porn. I love the competency porn sub-genre - watching fictional characters solve mysteries through cold logic and deduction is a euphoric high like no other. Few genres lend themselves to these tropes as well as the conspiracy thriller - and while my initial hopes where that Black Doves would entrench itself as an enjoyable, albeit disposable streaming special that satiated me until David Fincher’s next film, Black Doves has instead been a frustrating reminder that the aesthetics and ideas alone don’t make for satisfying stories.

OUR VERDICT:


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