Black Doves: The Ties that Bind

Women and Children First But Only if They are Interesting

Netflix delivered me an early Christmas gift in December with Black Doves. Recovering from surgery, having binged Slow Horses, and with the holidays approaching, I was a willing captive audience.

The Black Doves sell was easy (Kudos to Netflix for their spot on hooks)—take a fabulously dressed Kiera Knightly as wife/mom spy, Helen, then add Ben Whitshaw as Sam, a depressed and sarcastic hit man, returning to protect her. Let the bingeing begin!

Here’s the plot summary: Helen and Sam work for Mrs. Reed, who runs the Black Doves, a female spy organization. Helen is an employee for life, while Sam is a freelancer and a favorite of Mrs. Reed. Helen’s lover, Jason, was murdered right before she was preparing to leave her marriage. Not only is she out to avenge Jason’s death, but she has also learned he was an MI5 agent investigating her. As Helen was in love with Jason, she wanted to know if he genuinely cared for her too or if she was just an assignment. The people who killed Jason don’t like Helen tracking them down. Mrs. Reed hires Sam to protect Helen.

Naturally, this is packed with tropes as all good stories are: best friends, reunion, hidden identity, antagonist, boss, ticking time bomb, forced proximity, found family, politics, revenge, warrior, secrets, and scars.

My impetus for this article was the fantastic relationship between Helen and Sam. It is the most striking aspect of this series. Having Sam call me Darling before I was about to kick ass in a designer outfit is the kind of thing this girl dreams about. However, there has been quite a lot of great discussion about their friendship. (Google the topic if you want to read more).

The other intriguing aspects of Black Doves are the female characters outside Kiera Knightley. Their supporting roles were key to my enjoyment of the series, as I love a complex female character. And to have a handful of them? Score. Now, let’s take a look.

Mrs. Reed is the Black Doves management. She calmly discusses spying and assassinations, wearing an expensive pantsuit and leather handbag. Because Mrs. Reed looks like someone’s wife or mother, she maintains a certain invisibility common to women in midlife. Yet she has a network of spies keeping track of her spies. Nothing escapes her notice. Murder and treachery are part of her business model.

Lenny Lines is an enforcer who runs assassinations in London. She was Sam’s former employer before he disappeared after failing to complete a job. Now that he’s back, she wants the job done before he can move on. Lenny Lines is such an awesome character. She is an older woman, physically slight, with the voice of a dedicated smoker. Like Mrs. Reed, Lines never acts violently herself, yet she always knows what is going on. She radiates power in her tracksuits from the back booth of a diner. Her empire is of the working class variety.

Williams and Eleanor are the current muscle of Lenny Lines. As Irish women in their late twenties, they are comfortable with their employment as working-class assassins. Like many of their generation, they struggle with the work-life balance. Williams wants to kill Sam because he killed her pre-Eleanor partner to save Helen. Sam asks William and Eleanor to put their plans to kill him on hold when he hires them for extra muscle to complete a job. I could watch a series about Lenny Lines, Williams, and Eleanor. Netflix, take a hint.

Alex is the head of the American crime family that has infiltrated Britain. Her witless son is ultimately responsible for Helen’s lover’s death, unbeknownst to her. Like Mrs. Reed and Lenny Lines, Alex is a middle-aged woman heading her empire, albeit internationally. She is in one scene, but she is fabulous because the build-up of her character and the physicality is a delightful juxtaposition.

Dani is Helen’s husband's new secretary. She looks like a younger version of Helen, which isn’t by accident, as Mrs. Reed has planted her to seduce Helen’s husband, break up the couple, and become the new Black Doves operative in the Webb household. When Helen schools Dani after beating her but refusing to kill her is incredible. Helen may be playing a role as Mrs. Webb but she has her standards.

And finally, I love Easter Eggs, even in a series set at Christmas. Helen’s Nameless Nanny is a real trooper. Without her, none of Helen’s crime-filled escapades would be possible because, come on, someone has to watch the Webb eight-year-old twins. The shot of the Nanny celebrating Christmas with Mrs. Reed in one of the final scenes is a chef’s kiss.

The Webb Twins are the real fantasy in Black Doves. They never argue, they are always quiet, clean and most amazingly asleep. Seriously, my two cats are way more of a hassle. However, Helen is a mom and protector; therefore, we need something for her to protect. And that would be the twins, not her husband.

My favorite scene involving the twins occurs in a flashback. A heavily pregnant Helen rushes to save Sam. She kills for him, saves his life, and, covered in blood, takes his lover to safety. That shows me way more about Helen than all the scenes with her checking on the twins sleeping at night. When needed, Helen jeopardizes their safety and her own to rescue Sam.

The Black Doves female characters kept surprising me. I loved how embracing violence at varying levels was part of their character DNA and how unapologetic they were about this. They all had goals, motivations, and conflicts, key to creating complex characters. The theme of being underestimated because they were women runs through the series. My takeaway is to think about how your supporting cast can be another level of delight for readers by creating complex characters. How can you dig down to another layer of their secrets?