Go Bang Time – As the fourth episode of Black Doves begins, Sam (Ben Whishaw), Williams (Ella Lily Hyland), and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) storm the building and begin shooting people. At one point, Sam has issues with his gun and has to stop. He looks over and notices that a man is trying to shoot him. William saves him and says she’s not going to let him die tonight. They start looking for Hector. When Sam enters a room alone, Hector Newman (Luther Ford) hits him knocking him to the floor. Hector asks if he came back to kill him. He warns Sam that the city is about to tear itself apart. Sam says he’s looking for the girl. Hector says a lot of people are looking for her and a lot of people are dying. He doesn’t think Sam knows what he’s dealing with. Hector believes Sam would’ve already killed him if he really wanted to. He tells Sam he shouldn’t have come back.
Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan) calls Stephen Yarrick (Sam Troughton) and leaves a message asking him to call him back. Helen (Keira Knightley) asks Wallace if he heard anything about security for the house. He only says that it’s in hand. He leaves moments later to meet Jim Perryman with the Secret Service. Richard Eaves (Adeel Akhtar) mentions that the Chinese think the CIA killed their ambassador. They talk about Yarrick who is not answering his phone. Mitch Porter (William Hope), who is the CIA station chief, arrives moments later. Richard asks him if the CIA had the Chinese ambassador murdered. Mitch doubts it and claims not to know who Cole Atwood is. He doesn’t want to tell them anything because their government is leaky. Jim Perryman takes a call and learns that a body was found in a skip near the home of Commissioner Yarrick this evening. They’ve just identified him.
Mitch thinks Prime Minister Eaves should call the President now. Helen calls the “Repair Shop” and tries to find out more about that individual. They claim that what happened to Commissioner Yarrick was entirely down to Helen. She asks if her family is safe. The man on the other end hangs up without answering that question. Wallace and Richard talk about whether Stephen could be involved. PM Eaves believes Wallace wants his job. When he gets it, he’ll realize that the world doesn’t work like he thinks it does. Sam tells the women that he hasn’t seen Hector Newman. Eleanor leads them to the girl. They take Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei) with them. In the car, Williams tells Sam he could’ve told her since her partner died looking for that girl. Sam is the one who killed her. Eleanor says they can look after Kai-Ming. Sam says he’s sorry about Kent. Williams knows none of them are going to live that long.
She says you either end up dead or walking around with ghosts on your back like Sam. She wants extra to look after Kai-Ming. Wallace returns home and Helen has to comfort him. He insists he’s going to find out who was responsible for Yarrick’s death and he’s going to make them pay. They likely have sex. Sam tries to visit Michael (Omari Douglas) and is shocked when Michael appears behind him. They go inside. They talk about Michael’s four-year-old named Ruby. Michael asks why he’s there. Sam says magnets and ghosts. He gets emotional and asks Michael if he ever thought about him. Michael admits he thought of him every time a shadow made him jump. He goes on to say he was afraid of Sam and not those men. Sam apologizes and insists Michael and his daughter aren’t in danger. Michael says they don’t have anything else to say to each other. In a flashback, Helen talks to Jason (Andrew Koji) about the black doves. In the present, she finds Wallace and Dani playing with the kids.
Dani leaves a short time later. Helen meets Reed (Sarah Lancashire) who says the Chinese have footage of an American spook fleeing from the scene of the Ambassador’s murder. His name is Cole Atwood (Finn Bennett) and he was Kai-Ming’s boyfriend. Reed gives Helen a note from an interested party who has asked them to mediate. They’re willing to pay Atwood a lot of money if he throws a bucket of ice on the whole thing. Reed admits she’d prefer someone else to facilitate it, but Helen is the best placed to do it. She’ll have to speak to Vanessa (Jennifer Armour) and find Atwood in room J4 on the top floor. Atwood can be filthy rich and he’ll prevent a war, but he’ll have to betray his country. Helen believes Sam will know who is behind this soon. Sam takes some things to Kai-Ming. Lenny Lines (Kathryn Hunter) is there. Sam tells her that Hector wasn’t there but he’ll deal with it. Helen arrives moments later. They all talk about Kai-Ming and whoever is offering a lot of money for her.
Lenny says something about Michael and makes Helen worried he’s been dragged into this. Sam insists it’s fine. Eventually, Kai-Ming wakes up and confirms she knows her father and the others are dead. Kai explains that they find her dad in her flat. They all panicked and Cole ran away. She panicked as well so she ran the warehouse. Once they found out who she was, they wouldn’t let her leave. They kept asking her questions about Trent. When asked about Jason Davies, Kai says he left her a message. He said he was Maggie’s partner and he wanted her to call. Kai doesn’t know what he meant by saying he was Maggie’s partner. Helen tells Sam about Cole Atwood. If she can get him out, they can ask him a couple of questions. Helen invites Sam to come with her. In the car, Sam tries to convince Helen that the “partner” statement may have meant something else. He asks if she ever told Jason anything about herself. She denies it.
Sam asks whether she was desperate to leave or she was desperate to leave with him. Helen talks about her secrets and how she used to keep track of them. Sam admits he went to see Michael and it was silly. He believes they’ll be alright. Once they arrive, Helen says she’s going to go see her friend Vanessa. She asks Sam to call a specific number and to ask for Vanessa Robinson. Helen goes inside and speaks to Vanessa. Before Sam can call her, he receives a call from Michael who asks what he is. Sam calls himself a trigger man and explains he kills people for money. Sam asks if he can talk him back. Then, he calls Vanessa. When Vanessa is distracted, Helen rushes to try to find Atwood. In an elevator, a soldier tells Helen she might not have clearance for the upper floor. He finds out that she’s lying and it appears she attacks him. Helen leaves the soldier on the ground and steps out of the elevator. Michael messages Sam to say he lied about not thinking about him.
Sam asks Vanessa to hold on while he calls Michael. Helen calls Reed to ask about hacking into the American embassy’s CCTV system. A woman finds the soldier. Reed says she’ll speak to the IT department to see if they can put a few gremlins in the machine. Sam admits he missed Michael who wonders if he should come back. Michael isn’t sure he should though. Sam tells him to think about it and text either yes or no. Then, he returns to his conversation with Vanessa. Helen approaches Cole Atwood and gives him the envelope. The alarm begins blaring seconds later. Vanessa tells Sam that she has to go. Sam tells Helen that she needs to move. Helen tells Cole where to meet her outside. Helen says bye to Vanessa before joining Sam in the car. They wait to see whether the plan worked. Wallace asks Dani if she’s going to join the party. Dani says he looks like he could use a drink so she offers one. They drink and talk about Stephen. Wallace admits he’s not sure Stephen was a good man.
Kai-Ming talks to Williams and Eleanor about heroin. Eleanor talks about her mother killing someone when she was a kid. William keeps an eye on their surroundings. Cole Atwood joins Helen and Sam in the car and they leave. Dani asks Wallace about his wife. She says she heard a rumor about Helen. Cole doesn’t want to tell Helen anything until he’s sure they’re going to hold up to their end of the bargain. Helen asks what happened to the ambassador. Cole says he knew Maggie since she was Kai’s friend. Phillip was a scumbag journalist. Cole doesn’t know about Jason. If Cole is right about the people who killed the ambassador, Helen is already dead. Williams asks Eleanor to come over the window. Cole says he was there to watch the people who killed the ambassador. He eventually says he was watching the Clarks or the Clark family enterprise. He explains it’s the Kray twins meet the Freemasons.
They took over London without anyone noticing and it has spread to the United States. Eleanor and Williams see people approaching them. Williams asks about the rocket launcher. Cole says Kai-Ming is just a rich junkie with political connections. Trent is a trust fund baby moron. He is a Clark and he’s the weak link. His mother, Alex Clark, is the head of the London operation. Cole believes the Clarks know what happened to the Ambassador because they’re trying to scrub all evidence of what happened in Kai-Ming’s apartment. Once they arrive, Cole says he’s told them everything he can. He hopes they hold up their end of the bargain. Helen promises he’ll get his money. Cole asks what that means. He just wants to make sure his family is safe. Cole shows her that the envelope contains pictures of his family. Helen says that isn’t what Reed said. They see car lights in front of them. Dani says the rumor is that Helen was unfaithful with a civil servant.
Reed watches as Chinese agents prepare to get Cole Atwood. Helen asks if he can her help get to Alex Clark. He says she will do whatever she can to keep his family safe. Michael messages Sam to say he wants to see him. Sam speeds away from the Chinese.
Black Doves Review
Black Doves had the potential to be a captivating and even thrilling spy drama. Unfortunately, it falls well below the mark for a handful of reasons. For starters, there really isn’t a single likable character in the whole series. Helen is likely supposed to be likable. She’s really not because she wants to have her cake and eat it too. She’s also written to be unrealistically skilled in her craft.
Sam had a stronger chance of being likable, but the character was turned into a bit of a buffoon in this episode. It doesn’t help that the personal dramas consume so much of each episode and those things aren’t particularly interesting. Despite having such a reliable cast, the performances aren’t as strong as they could be.
The story is far too messy with constant flashbacks that add very little to the story. Viewers would be comatose if they took a shot every time they saw Helen and Jason in some romantic flashback. There’s a good chance that viewers are sick of seeing that by now. Unfortunately, the series lacks substance and the plot is pretty much as thin as a piece of paper.
It requires too much effort from viewers to try to piece everything together and it’s likely not going to be worth the effort in the end. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Black Doves can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
