Black Doves Recap: If They’re After You, You’re Already Dead

As a seasoned observer of the human condition, I can’t help but notice the intricate web of relationships that entwines our protagonists in this gripping drama. The dance of love and deception is as old as time itself, yet it never fails to captivate us, leaving us questioning who we truly are when our identities become intertwined with those we hold dear.

In every action-oriented spy thriller, it’s crucial to have captivating action scenes. Black Doves, for instance, offers some intense close combat, but much of the violence is more personal and less spectacular, so it’s delightful to witness an extravagant display of Grand Guignol violence. The opening scene, with its bright, eye-catching colors, feels like a festive greeting as Sam, Williams, and Eleanor stylishly dismantle Hector Newman’s club lair. This action sequence is irresistible to me, and I especially appreciate their creative use of Johnny Cash’s “Little Drummer Boy,” a fitting choice that becomes even more poignant on repeat viewings. The three assassins in this scene resemble the Three Wise Men, with the repeated “pa-rum-pum-pum” sounding like gunfire, and their gifts – guns, knives, and a small bomb – are intended for Hector, who was nearly an infant the last time Sam pursued him. Now, Hector sees himself as the young king of South London.

Previously, foggy and dim scenes tinted with red and green lights evoked the romanticism of “In the Mood for Love.” However, the vibrant blue-and-pink neon-lit scene at Hector Newman’s doomed nightclub screams “Miami Vice” and “Birds of Prey.” The visual extravagance and the magnitude of destruction by Sam, Williams, and Eleanor infuse a chaotic enthusiasm into the situation that can’t be matched by a lone gunman. Although Williams needs to keep Sam alive to receive payment before eventually killing him, there’s a genuine sense of camaraderie in her voice when she tells him, “There’s nothing sadder than an old hit man, but I’m not letting you die tonight, you bastard!” This sequence stands out as the epitome of stylish violence in the series up to this point.

It’s only natural that things don’t go perfectly smooth for our slightly unhinged friends. After transporting an unconscious Kai-Ming to Williams’s residence, they must still endure waiting for her to wake up and deal with Lenny grilling Sam about Hector one more time. The opportunity to eliminate this individual is dwindling fast, especially considering the alarming news that “17 people were shot at a disco last night!!”. This isn’t the most discreet action ever taken. My question regarding Lenny and Hector is: Why didn’t she hire someone else to take care of him in the past seven years if Sam couldn’t? Is Hector’s demise only pressing when Sam is present? Did Lenny somehow foresee that Sam would come back to London this year?

Before Cole Atwood, an Olympic-caliber bean spiller, climbed into Sam’s flashy old four-door BMW, I hadn’t fully grasped the murky and suffocating nature of their investigation into Jason’s death. They’ve had to proceed cautiously, but Cole’s crucial information as Kai-Ming Chen’s boyfriend has illuminated a lot about what’s truly going on. It remains uncertain if Jason is connected to any of this, and even Kai-Ming is puzzled by it, though it seems that Cole was more sober than she was when they reentered her apartment and discovered her father’s body. He also supports much of her account.

Due to Cole’s promptness in filling us in on the details, we now understand that although he is a CIA agent, he did not murder Ambassador Chen. Instead, he panicked genuinely, not as part of a performance, after the incident. Interestingly, his objective was not the Chinese government but the Clark crime family, who are often hinted at in conversations. They originated in London, where they developed their “Kray twins meeting the Freemasons” approach to ruthlessly eliminate rival crime syndicates and acquire influential government officials. These individuals are covert, brutal, and Cole suspects they were responsible for Ambassador Chen’s death as they have been systematically erasing evidence of the event and the people who were present. Ever since then, he has taken refuge at the Embassy to avoid their attention, as he believes that if they are after you, you are already dead, even if you are unaware of it.

In a seeming relief, it appears that Cole is sharing these particular details, along with his candid opinions regarding Kai-Ming and her associate, Trent. He describes Kai-Ming as a “recklessly rich junkie with political ties,” while labeling Trent, the son of Alex Clark, who heads the London branch of the Clark family, as a “trust-fund brat” and “the vulnerable point” in the entire complicated sequence of events that led us here. Notably, Trent can be compelled to appear by anyone with information on Kai-Ming’s location.

Not only had everything else been surprising, but as Sam and Helen arrived at the arranged meeting spot with Reed, a shocking revelation was awaiting them: The money Helen thought she was offering him at the Embassy wasn’t what he was after. Instead, that envelope held threats against his family, and all he wanted was their safety. Indeed, Reed had deceived her – as expected – and now it was crucial to switch strategies and safeguard Cole if they hoped to draw the Clarks out into the open. Let’s step on it, Sam!

Refreshingly, Cole and Kai-Ming’s entries in the narrative feel like a much-needed change of pace right now. While they are secondary characters, their energetic presence and crucial new insights make the previously flat personalities of Jason and Hector seem pale in comparison. I won’t delve too deeply into it here, but it’s clear that Jason’s role is not to be a fully-fleshed character, but rather a gender-swapped version of the classic, tragic young woman who fuels a male anti-hero’s righteous revenge. Even Helen admits that her relationship with Jason may have been more of an illusion than something tangible. It sometimes feels like love, yet one wonders if it was ever anything more profound than a tantalizing delusion. As for Hector Newman, he’s barely managed to survive after making a brief and insubstantial appearance as “What If Eddie Redmayne” or “Perhaps a Long-Lost Weasley, But with a Dark Side.” Sam continues to deceive everyone by claiming he hasn’t seen Hector at his club, so we can expect him to resurface again in the future.

Someone I would pay good money to if it meant she’d stop turning up is Dani. Kudos to Agnes O’Casey for finding a way to make her assiduously ego-stroking character not merely irritating but menacing. This tiny, doe-eyed waif is the one making things deeply and unpleasantly weird in an interaction with her very powerful boss. To me, there’s a massive gap between what she thinks she’s doing (being very appealing and solicitous to Wallace) and what Wallace perceives her as doing (overplaying her hand and disrespecting both him and Helen in the process). I’ve never before felt moved to comfort a Tory, but between his near-total breakdown over Yarrick’s death and being relentlessly hit on, I feel for Wallace. At least he was present when his very cocky prime minister got taken down an entire coat rack’s worth of pegs by the CIA station chief after he asked, “We were sat here, chatting and wondering if, just between us girls, there’s a chance you had the Chinese ambassador murdered?” Whatever station chief Mitch knows, he’s entertaining no notions of sharing it with the PM, as it’s an open secret that his government is about as watertight as a sieve.

Let’s discuss a topic that has been developing over the course of four episodes: the varying levels of authenticity in the three central romantic relationships affecting Helen and Sam. It appears that she is questioning her previous assumption that she isn’t truly real, given she is known to others solely as Helen Webb, an identity she’s cultivated over a decade with Wallace. Interestingly, Jason challenged this belief, yet despite frequently expressing the need to reveal her true self to him, she never discloses anything about that woman. On the other hand, while Helen initially treated Wallace transactionally, there seems to be genuine affection and love between them. I ponder if Dani’s (who arrived at Helen and Wallace’s home the morning after Yarrick’s body was found) presence is influencing Helen’s thought process. The romance between Sam and Michael presents a different scenario, as they organically fell in love. Their first date, filled with admiring glances, recalls the reunion between Chiron and Kevin in Moonlight. However, it’s not difficult to envision Wallace expressing Michael’s later outburst, “You let me fall in love with someone who didn’t exist!”, if he were to learn that Helen had deceived him.

Closing Doors, Opening Windows

• The wit and wisdom of Eleanor: Kai-Ming describes heroin as the greatest feeling in the world until it starts sucking the life out of you like a vampire you’ve sicced on yourself. Eleanor’s takeaway is “so, a seven out of ten overall, then?”

Sam’s car serves as one of just two subtle indications of his inheritance from his deceased father; the other being the revolver he carries to Hector Newman’s club.

As the Clark family takes center stage as this season’s main antagonist, we’ve officially stepped into the world of “Gangs of London,” where power struggles and underworld takeovers reign supreme. If you enjoy stories like that, you can stream all three seasons available on Netflix right now.

• Sam is so far off his game at the prospect of any kind of reunion with Michael that he slips pretty badly in his fake emergency call with Vanessa at the U.S. Embassy, telling her his name is Kent Brockman, the TV anchor on The Simpsons.

2024-12-06 03:54

Black Doves Recap: If They’re After You, You’re Already Dead

Closing Doors, Opening Windows

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