After the shocking events of the season 1 finale, Black Doves season 2 opens in an interesting spot!
Helen Webb is about to be married to the UK’s Prime Minister. Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), Helen’s husband and the father of her kids, is just days away from taking over the top position in the UK government, but things are not all so good at home. Helen and Wallace are currently in couples therapy, and things aren’t going well.
Shortly after, Helen attends a party with Wallace in Paris, and he gets cornered by Alexi Chernov (Goran Kostic), a Russian who has fled his home country. Helen speaks to his wife, Katia (Sylvia Hoeks), at the event, and she steals Katia’s room card. She sneaks from the party and meets up with Laila (Ambika Mod), the self-described muscle of their partnership. Where is Sam (Ben Whishaw) these days?
Helen steals a “Wildflower” file from Alexi Chernov’s computer
Helen and Laila bust into the hotel room. Laila kills the armed guards, and Helen tries to crack the safe to steal something. It’s quite the mission to kick off the season. Unfortunately, this safe is hard to crack, and Laila is quite chatty.
Helen gets a call from Sam, and she asks him for help with the safe, and he gives her a confidence boost and some tips. Finally, Helen cracks the safe open and searches the hard drive of the laptop top for something called “Wildflower,” which she finds. She takes the file. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dudes blocking their exit. Laila and Helen shoot their way out before going their separate ways.
Reed is kidnapped
After the party, Helen meets up with Reed (Sarah Lancashire), and she gives her the Wildflower files. Reed listens to the tape, and she has some kind of flashback to a room full of bloody footprints as Helen watches her. Reed gives her a warning that they have enemies everywhere, and she reminds her to stay good at lying. Reed also requests her first report from Downing Street at their usual bench at their usual time. It’s quite an ominous exit for a woman who usually has more personality.
On her walk home, Reed is ambushed by two cars and trapped, but we don’t see what happens to her, but it doesn’t look good.
Shortly after, we find out that Reed is actually missing.
Sam is arrested for murder but gets a lifeline
Finally, we catch up with Sam, and he’s on another job. It’s a small one, for only $10,000. The man is watching football, and he tells Sam, before he is killed, that he’s actually Sam’s future. Sam shoots him in the heart at the man’s request, but his comments have clearly struck a nerve.
Unfortunately, it’s set up. Sam walks out of the flat and finds the police waiting to arrest him. They even know who he is. This is not good.
At the jail, Sam is given his phone call, and he calls Helen, the only person he can truly trust.
When Helen answers, she’s actually in the middle of the job with Laila, trying to crack the safe. We hear their conversation play out from Sam’s side, and he ends it without telling Helen he’s been arrested for murder.
Surprisingly, Sam is led to a room with a solicitor, a lawyer. A man, Patrick (Sam Riley), wants to hire Sam from the police station. He wants Sam to kill four people for a private entity. If Sam agrees, they’ll wipe his slate clean. This was all a setup for Sam, who balks at the original agreement and its rigidity. The man reminds Sam that there are no exceptions for the names he is given. He must kill them if he takes this deal or bad things will happen. Before leaving Sam to think it over, Patrick tells Sam to think it over.
Wallace Webb takes over as Prime Minister
After all the fanfare, Wallace officially takes over as Prime Minister, and he moves the family into 10 Downing Street.
When the kids are in bed, Helen starts to have a sincere conversation with Wallace about the counseling and about the family staying together. Her real aim is to steal the documents from his computer. She leaves after telling him he loves her with his computer files in hand.
Later that night, Helen replays the conversation with Reed from earlier in her head. She doesn’t like how things ended, clearly.
Sam recruits Williams and Eleanor to help with his mission
Meanwhile, at a fancy hotel in the city, Sam gets a delivery. After hooking up with one of the hotel workers, Sam opens the documents and finds his first victim as part of this new agreement. It’s a man named Erik Klein, also known as Zeus.
He needs help, so he enlists the help of Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy). Over tapas, they evaluate the upcoming mission.
Helen realizes Reed is missing
On a run the following morning, Helen tries to meet Reed at her usual spot. As we all expected, Reed is missing, and obviously, Helen is going to find out where she is. Helen tries calling, but Reed doesn’t answer. This is definitely fishy because Reed always turns up, as Helen says.
Throughout the day, Helen continues to reach out to Reed, but she can’t find any information.
She also looks up Alexi Chernov and reads the news of the break-in at his hotel. The reports are all wrong, and Helen also discovers that Katia, his wife, was potentially a housekeeper who was allegedly killed years earlier. It’s a very peculiar scene. I’m not sure I’m reading it right, but something is up with the Chernovs.
Sam and Helen finally meet up
Near the end of the first episode, Sam and Helen finally meet up at a diner on a rainy London day. Helen tells Sam about everything with Reed, and she asks him if they should be fleeing. Sam says no, but Helen still isn’t sure.
Sam fills her in on what’s happening with him, including his arrest and new business. Sam shows her the files of the man he’s supposed to kill next as part of his deal. Sam also expresses his unhappiness in this scene, and I feel like that’s going to be a theme for the season.
Helen is skeptical about what’s going with Sam, but she has other issues, too.
Helen is summoned by the Black Doves about the mission to steal the “Wildflower” file
While Helen is waiting to pick up her kids from school, Helen is approached by a man, Mr. Conteh (Babou Ceesay), who is looking for Reed and wants to connect with Helen. It’s unclear if he’s Black Doves, but he’s definitely in the loop about Helen’s business.
He gives her a business card for some kind of law firm and asks her to meet with him soon.
That night, Helen goes to meet him at the law firm, where she sees Dani (Agnes O'Casey), so it’s clear that this is some kind of Black Doves HQ. Mr. Conteh and higher-ranking members question Helen about Reed and her mental state. They also want to know about stealing Alexi's files and the mission in Paris. They reveal it was not a sanctioned mission. Reed did it on her own. They want to know about it. They don’t know about Laila’s involvement, so Helen spills some details about her, too.
Mr. Conteh reveals that he’s taking over as Helen’s handler, but Helen wants more information on him before they work together. She says she wants his info, so he pulls up his Black Doves file to prove who he is. Helen uses her device to steal the contents of his laptop. Her first mission is to steal the security briefings from her husband.
Helen learns that the man Sam will be killing is a Black Doves agent
On the computer, Helen learns that Erik, the man Sam was sent to kill, is a member of the Black Doves. She also finds out that the housekeeper killed with a connection to Alexi Chernov was one of the Black Doves, too. Very interesting.
To cap off the episode, Sam, Williams, and Eleanor infiltrate Erik Klein’s home, take out a bunch of dudes while doing it, and prepare to kill Erik. Sam eventually does kill him while Helen calls his phone, trying to get him to stop.
What a great first episode! We’re officially back in the action, and we have a ton of questions. Where is Reed? Who is this organization that recruited Sam? Why is he targeting Black Doves agents? How is Helen going to find her way out of this one?
We’ll find out as Black Doves season 2 continues!
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