Black Doves Series Review

Black Doves was a series that I was unsure how to feel about when I first saw the trailer.

It looked somewhat interesting, but also cliche and like it was going to struggle to do anything new or unique. Yet another show with secret agents and intrigue and lying and all sorts of twists and turns.

But then, it was incredible.

The cast was absolutely stacked, with Keira Knightley as the star and in a great role for her. A performance that she absolutely killed and was able to keep the tone as centered as possible but still being given time to showcase her variety and range in this show.

Able to go from sentimental to comedic to deathly serious to manipulative in a wide range of scenes that were incredible to witness.

But aside from Keira, the additional stars like Ben Whishaw was an absolute favorite of mine while Sarah Lancashire would appear as an incredibly threatening presence who was so powerful despite not really doing anything physical. The leader of the secretive Black Doves, seeming to know anything and everything to immense degrees.

This show had an incredibly compelling and intriguing story that took place in one heck of a interesting world.

A secretive organisation called The Black Doves with women getting close to men to leak secrets and information to highest bidders. But not only that, we get other things like Triggermen who are just hired hitmen while also introducing other fun characters and alliances like The Clarks, fun sidekicks like Williams and Eleanor, and the intrigue of CIA operatives and Chinese ambassadors trying to use the UK government for their own gains.

A super interesting web of constantly evolving pieces that keeps the story easy to follow while always changing to keep things fresh and fun.

The action in this show was top tier, with my highlight being the tense showdown between Keira Knightley's Helen against assassins disguised as police officers, which then ties into more fun stuff with the relationship between one of the cops and Whishaw's Sam, who has his own complex and in depth backstory. Just a massive amount of interconnected pieces that keep everything so tied together into a great, expansive story that will hopefully continue and grow into something special.

The music, something that I often pay a whole lot of attention to when watching shows or movies, was fine enough. Somewhat forgettable, but still interesting. Would've loved some more intense music during action scenes, but this show more often than not would have the fight scenes and shoot outs be nothing but the action noise. While that is incredibly surreal and heightens the drama immensely, it would've been cool to get some cool electronic or rock music overtop of it. That's honestly my only real nitpick with the entire show.

I would totally recommend this show to anybody who is interested in spy shows, action shows, or ones full of intrigue and ever changing stories with some great acting performances.

Huge fan and I can not wait to see a second season expand the world into something even larger and more interconnected.

Overall Rating: 9/10