16/14
Featured on The Graham Norton Show: Cher /Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Josh Brolin/Jaylen Ngonda (2024)
Tale
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 London’s dangerous underworld, Helen’s employer calls on Sam to protect her… Bingo, the owner of the guitar shop where Sam gets his guns, is played by Rat Scabies, a member of the band The Damned..
Spies, London, Keira, Ben, quality cinematography, a nice soundtrack – what could go wrong?
A New York tale written by Jem Finer, Shane McGowan, performed by The Pogues & Kirsty McCall. Plus, I already know this is my favorite genre and I’ll ignore any flaws that come up. But when Episode 1’s dialogue flowed slowly, a few moments lingered too long, and scenes of attempted Quinten-esque dialogue left me speechless, I tried to console myself.
I was wrong
Surely they were just developing the characters and setting a unique tone. As the episodes dragged on, I realized that this series wasn’t going to happen. Not just disjointed, but with few characters I actually cared about.
I’m so sad for what could have been
Honestly, I don’t know how the magic happened, but I was deeply drawn to the stories and characters in Slow Horses, The Americans, The Bureau, The Diplomat, and even The Old Man—with all their flaws. Add to that the lack of stakes and the numerous omissions of key details, and the bored:intrigued ratio became too high to be enjoyable. Yes, all the key spy elements are here in Black Doves, but somehow there was no salt in the recipe, and by E03 I was already upping the playback speed.