etflix‘s new thriller Black Doves is a show that is designed to be hella confusing. The mental gymnastics required to keep up with who’s killing whom and why in Black Doves is so intense that the characters themselves often stop to make fun of the insanity. Needless to say, after binging all six episodes of the Keira Knightley/Ben Whishaw Christmas-set spy thriller, you could find yourself wondering what the heck just happened…
**Spoilers for Black Doves, now streaming on Netflix**
Black Doves opens with a hack journalist, a jewelry store assistant, and a civil servant all being ruthlessly killed, seemingly for a massive secret the three are on the verge of exposing. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Jason Davies (Andrew Koji), the civil servant, calls his lover shortly before he dies. That lover is none other than Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a spy known as a “Black Dove” who has spent the last ten years of her life posing as a conservative politician’s doting wife.
Helen’s connection to the mysterious crime not only puts her mission in jeopardy, but her life, too. Helen’s closest friend in the spy business, triggerman Sam (Ben Whishaw), is pulled out of exile to help protect his bestie. However, soon both Helen and Sam find themselves in the crosshairs of a deadly conspiracy that only becomes more complicated as their personal lives become increasingly intertwined in the violence.
If you’ve already watched Black Doves, you might be left with some burning questions, like are the Black Doves good or are they bad? Who exactly killed civil servant Jason Davies and why? How is Jason’s death connected to party girl Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei) and her dead Chinese ambassador father (Andy Cheung)? Does deeply embedded spy Helen care about her politician hubby Wallace (Andrew Buchan) at all? And will Sam finally take out gangster Hector Newman (Luther Ford) so that rival hitmen Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) won’t murder Sam’s ex Michael (Omari Douglas)?
Let’s break down what exactly is revealed at the end of Black Doves and how the bloody finale sets up Season 2…
Photo: Netflix
Black Doves Ending Explained: Who Really Killed Jason Davies and Why?
Although Sam and Helen learn early on in Black Doves that Jason was murdered by assassin Elmore Fitch (Paapa Essiedu), whom Helen promptly executes in her garden shed, the question of who hired Elmore and why isn’t resolved until the very end of the show’s first season.
Jason and his fellow (murdered) friends were targeted because they came in possession of a recording that revealed who really killed the Chinese ambassador. Throughout Black Doves, Helen’s husband Wallace is pulled into tense conversations with Chinese and American allies over this international mystery. The Chinese refuse to accept the British autopsy, which suggests the ambassador died of an overdose. They prefer to point fingers at either the UK or US, the latter because they have footage of an American CIA agent fleeing the ambassador’s residence.
What really happened to the Chinese ambassador is tied to his heroin-addicted daughter Kai-Ming and an underground crime organization known simply as the “Clarks.” Kai’s boyfriend, Cole Atwood (Finn Bennet) was indeed a CIA operative, but he wasn’t implanted to kill her father. Rather, he was trying to get close to the Clarks. Trent Clark (Angus Cooper) was in love with Kai-Ming and supplied her with her heroin in an attempt to woo her.
Photo: Netflix
Eventually, Kai-Ming’s father confronts Trent about this and, panicked, Trent pushes the ambassador. He falls and hits his head on a marble coffee table, resulting in his death. Trent does what most spoiled brats do: he calls his mom for help. Alex Clark (Tracey Ullman) is the Clarks’ shadowy leader and she calls on high ranking politician Stephen Yarrick (Sam Troughton) to cover up her son’s crime. The video that Jason and his pals had shows Stephen on the phone with the Prime Minister confirming they have staged the scene to look like an overdose.
Got that? PHEW.
The final twist? The reveal that Jason wasn’t just any ordinary civil servant. He was MI-5 and placed on a mission to seduce Helen to ascertain if she herself was a spy. Helen is devastated to learn this from her handler Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), but it turns out that Jason filed a report exonerating Helen — even after she confessed she was a spy to him! — proving he did, in fact, love her.
Anything else?
Photo: Netflix
Who is the Woman With Mrs. Reed at the End of Black Doves Season 1?
Confused by who was celebrating Christmas with Mrs. Reed? Concerned that she looked oddly familiar? That’s because that woman was none other than Marie (Molly Chesworth), the Webb family nanny.
Sure, Helen sniffed out Dani (Agnes O’Casey) as a rival Black Dove and put the upstart assistant in her place. However it seems that Mrs. Reed has more than one contingency plan in place if Helen fails her ultimate mission. Marie is also spying on the Webbs.
Will There Be Black Doves Season 2 on Netflix?
Yup! Netflix has already confirmed there will be a second season of the Keira Knightley show.
In fact, the Black Doves Season 1 finale basically sets up a few intriguing directions Season 2 could go. We’re told that by spring, Helen’s husband will be Prime Minister, upping the stakes even more for her mission. (And, I guess, Marie’s mission.)
Elsewhere, Sam and Michael have seemingly broken up for good. Sam has also come to an uneasy truce with Kathryn Hunter’s Lenny Lines. You’ll remember that Sam had to flee the country seven years prior because he saved the life of child Hector Newman (Billy Hickey). Now Hector is a top crime lord and drug dealer and has hired Sam to join his ranks. As Hector explains, the Clarks will be looking for retribution.
Black Doves Season 2 will likely follow this increasingly violent war between Helen and Sam and the Clarks.
