REVIEW: ‘Black Doves’ Is A Strong Return For Keira Knightley

Since King Arthur, I have been longing for Keira Knightley to get more chances in action. While that came briefly with her stint as Elizabeth Swan in The Pirates of the Caribbean films, it ended there. Netflix’s new original series, Black Doves, has come in to fill that void left this past decade.

From showrunner and creator Joe Barton, Knightly stars in the vaguely Christmas-themed spy thriller that covers her in blood and gives her a chance to showcase her physicality as much as her ability to connect effortlessly to her co-stars. Set against the backdrop of a London Christmas, Black Doves is an action-filled story with a sharp atmosphere that keeps tensions dialed in at every step.

The six-episode series follows Helen Webb (Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth wife and mother of two. Then, of course, she’s also a professional spy. Embedded into politics, Helen has been passing back her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization that took her in over a decade ago, the titular Black Doves. For the most part, Helen’s life is as ordinary as it should be.

She has played her role as a wife and mother without missing or even taking calls from her daughter when assassins are stalking her. But underneath the facade of a happy marriage, Helen has grown restless and, in the process, endangered her organization. While Helen’s husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan) is enamored with her and clouded by his job, Helen decides to have a love for herself. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster handler, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe.

Black Doves offers up action that isn’t afraid to get mean.

Black Doves is action-packed and not afraid to get dirty. Both Helen and Sam get the opportunity to let bullets fly and suffer the bloody consequences. Knightley gets a number of hand-to-hand combat moments, and yet, even with all the action, the series doesn’t lose its characters like other TV shows.

Instead, relationships are central to Black Doves’ success, whether it’s the longing and grief we see Helen go through as she paces through Jason’s apartment or the loneliness she feels being surrounded by others. For Sam, having his work follow him home one day has ruined his chances at real love, and now that he’s back in London, his life is filled with old memories and regret.

Black Doves is as much about the two leads navigating the stress that being in the organization has caused them as it is about the larger conspiracy they have landed in the middle of. Sam and Helen are two sad people who have each other to confide in. Helen lost her lover, and Sam has to live knowing his life is what drove his boyfriend (Omari Douglas) away (which is better than seeing him get harmed.)

Utilizing flashbacks, Black Doves crafts compelling backstories for the audience to latch on to. The series isn’t only about the present but rather the ripples that the past has caused and how they have forever changed Helen and Sam. Seeing the duo young and then processing into the present and the experiences that occur in between creates a map of who they are that pays off in spades.

Sam and Helen are the real story, and that’s what makes this Netflix series excel.

Sam and Helen are also tethered to each other as mentors and mentees, a relationship dynamic that binds them even more deeply than just being friends. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why.

They look out for each other and are ultimately the only ones they can trust. Sam has raised Helen from Little Black Dove into a competent spy and killer, but the way they connect to one another is more important than the fights they get into as their investigation leads them to the center of a conspiracy.

Connecting this very personal lens to a story tied directly to traditional spycraft and a larger mystery around the conspiracy brewing in the murkiness of London’s underworld makes the potential geopolitical crisis take a back seat in an interesting way. Don’t get me wrong; Black Doves is an action-spy thriller that embodies the best elements of the genre, but the character work is the real reason you’ll be yearning for a second season.

Grounded by Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw, Black Doves is a holiday-adjacent action series well worth binging. The story is engrossing, the characters are compelling, and the action is well executed, standing out in a TV season filled with action (Lioness, The Agency, The Day of the Jackal).

Black Doves (2024) is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.