Mumbai: The ruminative fourth episode of Joe Barton’s spy thriller Black Doves Season 2 is the show’s backbone. The magnificently titled episode, ‘The Opportunity to Become Savage,’ is set in 1988 and tells of events with implications in the present — explaining how the secret spy organisation’s Berlin operation resulted in murders and betrayal today.
The Setup
A week before Wallace (Andrew Buchan) becomes Prime Minister, his wife Helen (Keira Knightley), a long-time Black Dove operative, is in Paris stealing a file from a Russian oligarch, Goran Kostic (Alexi Chernov).
The Black Doves assassin Sam (Ben Whishaw) is arrested for a hit and released by a mysterious man who offers him freedom in exchange for four hits.
When Helen’s handler, Elizabeth Reed (Sarah Lancashire), goes missing and she gets a new handler, Mr. Conteh (Babou Ceesay), whom she does not trust, things get murkier.
The Tension Problem
The casual approach to violence lowers the stakes considerably. The fact that no matter how many bullets are fired, the villains’ heads are blown off with alarming efficiency while Sam and friends escape with nary a scratch contributes to the lack of tension.
Also: how is it that, as the Prime Minister’s wife, Helen is able to rush off wherever she wishes and meet whoever she wants without security and press scrutiny?
The inner lives of people who kill for a living are becoming a little tired. Unless the exploration contributes to the story — like Jason Bourne’s amnesia — the assassin’s dilemma should be let go.
Neither Gritty Nor Cartoonish
The series is unable to make up its mind whether it wants to be gritty and realistic or cartoonish and self-aware.
The fourth episode goes for realistic and is effective for that choice — it’s where people do foolish things for love and ideals, and old sins cast very long shadows. So if Sam and gang shoot up a zillion nameless thugs in the present, will their families come looking for revenge later?
The chemistry between Knightley and Whishaw is less forced than in Season 1, but still falls short of being fully convincing.
The Supporting Cast
Laila (Ambika Mod) is a fun addition to Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor’s (Gabrielle Creevy) psycho girl gang. Neve Campbell as Defence envoy Cecile Mason does a respectable version of the annoying American.
The Details
The music is a mix of pop favourites — Billy Joel’s ‘She’s Always a Woman’, Peter, Paul and Mary’s ‘500 Miles’, Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Bang Bang’ (naturally).
There are some cool lines, including Lenny (Kathryn Hunter) telling Sam, “These are strange times to be nefarious,” and “Are liberty and freedom the same?” — as well as a crack about a “gay Miss Marple and a lesbian Hercule Poirot.”
The Verdict
Season 2 is better plotted than Season 1, but the lack of commitment to either side — Spy Vs Spy-adjacent splatter-fest or Le Carré-style moral decrepitude — ends up shooting the handsomely mounted if frenetic show in the foot.
Black Doves is currently streaming on Netflix.
