Keira Knightley is well-known for the many period dramas and romantic movies that dominate her filmography, but a brand new Netflix spy drama — the action-packed, six-episode series Black Doves, created by Joe Barton — will let the actress shine in a way she never has before: As a cold and ruthlessly efficient spy, one who’s both a loving wife and mother and also extremely deadly with a gun.
As a shameless devotee of the espionage genre, I’m nevertheless forced to concede that if you’ve seen one spy show, you’ve more or less seen them all. Be it a show like Slow Horses, The Americans, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, or the acclaimed new Paramount+ with Showtime hit The Agency, these stories generally brim with both intrigue and the imperfections of men and women whose profession roots them in the secret world. Even the best of these shows, in other words, aren’t necessarily revelatory; for all the fascination with the cloak-and-dagger, it’s the people you’re ultimately drawn to.
To that end, Knightley was an inspired choice for Black Doves’ Helen Webb, a woman who for 10 years has lived a double life as an unassuming tradwife while simultaneously passing along the secrets of her politician husband to the shady group she works for, the so-called Black Doves. This group, in turn, sells off the secrets it acquires to the highest bidder. As if that wasn’t enough, Helen also has a secret lover. Quite a list of flaws, when you tally them up — murderer, adulterer, thief of secrets. But when Knightley flashes that million-dollar smile, you don’t hold any of that against her. Dare I say, you actually root for her character — bloodied visage and John Wick-style gunfights be damned.
I had no idea it would be this satisfying to watch Miss Elizabeth Bennett herself at the center of gunplay, gang fights, and all manner of spy-adjacent mischief. Speaking of which: Black Doves has already racked up a slew of rave reviews ahead of its streaming debut. So many, that it arrives on Netflix with a perfect 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s reviewers rave that the show is “flat-out entertaining,” “irresistible,” and a “surprisingly heartfelt thriller.” In other words, bloody escapist fun.
“When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated,” Netflix explains about Knightley’s character, “her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.”
Geopolitics, the London underworld, spies, conspiracies, and secret lives? Say no more, Netflix. Black Doves has already bewitched me, body and soul.