Black Doves
Netflix (6 episodes, 1 season (so far))
2024
This is a delightfully cast, fast-paced, violent spy thriller set in London. Opening with the executions of three people, we soon learn that Helen, the defense minister’s wife, lost her lover in this oddly connected set of murders. Helen is a very deep-cover (married to and has kids with her target) professional spy, and her need to know who killed her lover may involve her in something more dangerous than her own situation. Her former trainer, dear friend, and professional assassin with relationship problems, Sam, is tasked with keeping her safe and helping sort things out.
Handsome secret lovers (Andrew Koji smolders), female pairs of triggermen (“the term is gender neutral,” Sam explains), underworld thugs, unpaid debts, codes of honor, deadly meals in Chinese restaurants with good neon, a very pregnant woman executing a man in the street, gay architects with fabulous apartments, roommates bickering about tidying up and misplacing the rocket launcher – this held my attention, made me laugh out loud, and entertained me thoroughly. I enthusiastically recommend it if you enjoy violent yet humorous spy thrillers.