Despite seeing previews for Black Doves, I had essentially no expectations for the new Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw series, which looked like a potential Netflix miss. But turns out the exact opposite is true, and Black Doves has stellar reviews after its debut.
Black Doves is currently reviewing at a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes based of a not-insignificant 31 critic reviews, meaning only one was negative. You rarely see numbers that high for new Netflix series, and you can contrast that to the continual #1 on the Top 10 list, The Madness, only at a 76% from critics. The audience score for Black Doves is lower at a 67%, but that’s only with a handful of reviews in, and given that it’s 9 AM, I doubt that most people have actually finished the just-released show yet.
Here’s the official synopsis of Black Doves:
“Helen embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is; caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen’s employer’s call in Sam to protect her.”
Two things to note here, first, Black Doves is not based on an existing book or anything like that. Rather, it was created just for Netflix by Joe Barton, who is known for the excellent Giri/Haji series from a few years back. Second, the even better news is that Netflix renewed the show for season 2 before season 1 even aired. They must have really liked what they saw, and critics agree. Here’s what some of them are saying:
- Decider – “Black Doves isn’t going to blow you away with some revolutionary spy story. But the story is intriguing enough, and is improved by the chemistry between Knightley and Whishaw, with a big assist from Lancashire.”
- Chicago Sun-Times – “There’s a lot to unpack in “Black Doves,” but the various machinations and shock-developments are handled in a clear-cut fashion that makes it relatively easy to follow along.”
- Vanity Fair – “On Black Doves, matters of the heart stand toe-to-toe with all the bloody intrigue. Characters’ idiosyncrasies, their pert humor in the face of mortal risk, are charming where so much else in the spies-with-personal-lives mini-genre feels canned.”
Outside of Knightley and Whishaw, I am also happy to see actors Andrew Koji and Sarah Lancashire of Warrior and Happy Valley respectively as supporting cast here, as those are the leads of two of my favorite shows of the past few years. I am absolutely going to check out Black Doves as a result.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
