Will ‘Black Doves’ Return for Season 2? 7 Questions We Need Answered
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Black Doves Season 1.]
It was anything but a silent night at the end of Netflix’s pulse-pounding new spy thriller Black Doves, as Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw deck the halls with bullets and blood on their path to vengeance.
In the end, Helen, our assassin, operative, and wife to Britain’s defense secretary, got the answers she wanted in the death of her lover, Jason (Andrew Koji): He was an MI5 agent working to uncover leaks in the British government. She was his mark, but when she finally revealed she wasn’t who she said she was, he didn’t turn her in. He said she was clean, meaning their feelings for each other were real, even if neither was who they said they were.
As for Helen’s partner in her crime spree, Sam (Whishaw) ended his relationship with Michael (Omari Douglas) when it was clear he couldn’t make a clean break from his old life as a triggerman. That was apparent when Hector (Luther Ford) showed up at Michael’s house with a job offer/threat for Sam to consider (more on that later). And then there’s Helen and Sam’s handler, Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), who managed to get everything she wanted by keeping the United Kingdom, America, and China out of a nuclear-powered war. But what will she do next?
Netflix already renewed Black Doves for a second season, and we have questions that we need answers STAT!
Black Doves, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix
1. Is Helen ready to play the part of the prime minister’s wife?
Wallace (Andrew Buchan) seems poised to be elevated to the role of prime minister now that the current one faces inquiries about why he was so involved with the Clarks and the death of the Chinese ambassador. But what would that mean for Helen and her family if they move into 10 Downing Street? Reed makes a good point that it comes with excellent security, though we doubt that would stop any of the assassins we met this season. More importantly, it would make Helen an even more valuable asset to the Black Doves operation, potentially giving her more leverage to decide what she is or is not willing to do. She was already pretty careless with how exposed she was while hunting down justice. She didn’t even pretend to hide what she looked like while shooting people in the streets. So is she ready to be the most recognized woman in Britain outside of the royal family? That might complicate any attempt to stay anonymous if she goes back out in the field.
2. Are Sam and Michael really over?
We just aren’t ready to let go of these two finding some semblance of a happy ending in a world of assassins and geopolitical spy games. They parted on good terms in the finale, or at least better than the shootout in 2017 that abruptly ripped them apart originally. But their conversation about Sam seeing Michael’s eyes when he closes his was just too bloody romantic for us to not root for them to stay together and keep up the tradition of watching The Holiday at Christmastime. Can they actually work? That’s a question for another time. For now, we are more concerned with them just finding their way back to each other if and when Sam decides what his future employment looks like. Speaking of…
3. Will Sam take the offer to be Hector's triggerman?
What better way to figure out if someone is your guardian angel or your worst nightmare than hire them to be your sworn protector? At least, that is Hector’s (Luther Ford) logic when he offers Sam the job of triggerman and bodyguard as a means of keeping his enemies closer. Sam seemed to want out of the game, but the loose end of Hector continues to pose a real threat to any sense of normalcy he might hope to find with Michael or otherwise. The offer is better than death, but would Sam be signing a deal with the devil? Almost certainly. But Hector is right about one thing: There is good in Sam, and that might be just the thing that keeps them both alive — or gets them killed.
4. What happens now that Alex Clark is dead?
Well, first of all, we gasped when Tracey Ullman strutted into the showdown with Helen and Sam as the mysterious Alex Clark. A ruthless crime matriarch, Ullman was perfectly balanced between diabolical and endearing in her one major scene. In fact, we would argue she should have stuck around longer, and not just because we want as much Ullman as we can get. Rather, what we can’t stop thinking about is how Alex walked into the meeting armed with a threat of “bubonic” consequences and “total f***king carnage” if she were to die. Then Helen and Sam killed her, her son, and her main muscle! Before they can even leave the scene of the crime, Alex’s phone rings and a voice tells Sam that they have been watched and will be held accountable. So, who was it that called them? And what might be the accountability for their murders look like? Again, that’s why we need Season 2 now!
5. Would Helen have really run away with Jason?
Helen’s entire vengeance spree was to avenge Jason (Andrew Koji) and their love, which she said more than once was real enough that she wanted to run away with him. But Sam asks an important question she doesn’t have an answer to: Was it the opportunity to merely escape her life, or was it the opportunity to escape with Jason that she craved? We may never know the answer to this, but the implications of it are staggering considering just how committed to this life as a Black Dove. If she was truly willing to throw it away before for a man, did the events of Season 1 make her more or less likely to consider it again?
6. Who is Mrs. Reed, really?
The soft-spoken but terrifying enigma that is Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire) was a fascinatingly unpredictable factor in Helen and Sam’s story. She is honest that she has no allegiance to one government or another. She sells her intel to the highest bidder, which makes pinning down what might be her weaknesses a bit difficult. But even more than what could bring her down, we want to know what makes her tick. We saw almost every major character’s adult backstory, so where is hers? Why is she Mrs. Reed and not Miss Reed? Is there a Mr. Reed we should be worried about? How did she get to become the omnipresent leader of a band of spies and assassins contracted by entire nations? And does she do anything else with her day besides making cloved oranges for Christmas, looking fabulous, and skulking around waiting to ambush her operatives? We need to know!
7. Did the Brita filter change Lennie's life?
OK, so the real question here is obviously whether or not Lennie (Kathryn Hunter) will let Sam move on with his life without settling the assignment she gave him to kill Hector. He seemed to think her eyes said she could put it behind them and, as they said, “Let bygones be bygone.” That remains to be seen. Something tells us no. But seriously, all we want to know is if she started using the BRITA filtered water pitcher Sam regifted to her after he moved in with Michael. She was annoyed by it at first but also genuinely intrigued. And let’s be honest here: The woman who spends the majority of her life in the booth of her favorite diner smoking a cigarette clearly loves a filtered guilty pleasure. So accepting her new life as a BRITA user might do her wonders.
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I love this show. Not just because the writing is good and the story is interesting, but also because Keira and Ben just go so well together. They compliment each other, like old friends. I don't know all of Keira's movies (besides POTC 1, 2, etc) but I'll bet this show was her first knife fight where she won 😉 What a powerful and edgy role for her...contemplating her situations with that chiseled, troubled face. And Ben makes a really funny and complicated hit man because he seems to be a deep person, and it shows through in the character...like a dry sort of wit. And they both have such beautiful hair! I just cannot wait for season 2.
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