(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
A breakup can feel like a bloodbath, but in the case of gun-for-hire Sam (Ben Whishaw) in the new Netflix spy series Black Doves, the end of his relationship with artist beau Michael (Omari Douglas) is littered with actual bodies. What a way to find out your boyfriend doesn’t work in insurance!
It is a classic boy meets boy story with a twist: boy and boy fall in love, move in together, and then one boy discovers that the other is an assassin during a violent ambush. Despite Michael getting a rude awakening, the action takes a surprising turn during a flying hail of bullets, and the ensuing sequence is one of the most tender (and, dare I say it, sexy) of 2024.
After seven long years away, Sam returns to his old London stomping ground because spy BFF Helen (Keira Knightley) is in danger. His homecoming means Sam’s ex is unknowingly caught in the crosshairs of a job left unfinished. Sam now slicks back his boyish curls and wears the look of a man who can mask his emotions. However, the mere mention of Michael unlocks his guarded heart.
Whereas flashbacks of Helen’s affair with the now-deceased civil servant Jason (Andrew Koji) quickly become repetitive, the palpable ache emanating from Sam toward Michael is engaging throughout. Director Alex Gabassi capitalizes on this energy by showcasing how the couple got together and fell apart in “The Coming Night.”
Whishaw’s delivery of dialogue that flips between sardonic and sentimental helps anchor a show that otherwise might lead to tonal whiplash. Sam is a man with a strict assassin code who orders champagne regardless of whether he is in an old East End boozer or a swanky central London hotel. In lesser hands, these quirks could fall into caricature, but Whishaw offers nuanced layers and versatility to his hitman. Navigating the changes in tone ensures that an action scene flipping to a romantic interlude doesn’t feel entirely out of nowhere.
In the past, Whishaw has played a civilian trying to find out why his MI6 boyfriend died in London Spy, a newsman in late ’50s Britain playing an amateur sleuth investigating KGB spies in the canceled-too-soon The Hour, and the most famous gadget-master Q in the recent Daniel Craig installments of James Bond. In No Time to Die, Q’s date is mentioned but never seen (or given a name). Black Doves does not retread that vague ground. “I like that he’s just this queer guy who shoots people,” Whishaw recently told The Guardian.
Rather than toggling between timelines, the first 20 minutes of Black Doves’ third episode shows the lead-up to how Sam’s dangerous life ended up infiltrating his plush new apartment with Michael. Unbeknownst to Michael, even the location of their first date holds brutal significance. Sure, it may seem like a regular Chinese restaurant Sam frequents, but it is also the scene of the first place Sam ever killed a guy—who happened to be Sam’s dad. Talk about Freudian!
To Michael, Sam is someone he met on a night out, storing his number on his phone as “Sexy Pub Man Good Hair” (Michael is “Smoking Area Fit Guy?” in Sam’s). One red flag is Sam said he called because he wanted to see Michael’s eyes again. No, that doesn’t set off alarm bells, but Sam saying that when he closes his eyes, he “doesn’t always see nice things” reads as something to be examined further. Gabassi captures both men’s eyes and mouths in close-up, adding to the overlapping eroticism and vulnerability that will be repeated (ditto the same piece of music) in the ambush sequence.
We don’t need to see the ensuing three years to understand that Sam maintains a healthy(ish) work-life balance (I mean, that restaurant choice is bonkers). Unfortunately, the happy couple gets a rude awakening because triggerman Sam has failed to finish a job. It all goes a little Jason Bourne as Sam uses whatever domestic items are at hand when they’re ambushed, as Michael dozes in bed.
Their final day as a couple begins in domestic bliss: naked spooning bodies before Sam pops the coffee on. It quickly shifts to fighting in pajama pants and a shattered illusion. We return to this scene later in the episode with Michael understandably freaking the f--- out about the slow, dreamy morning turning into a brutal nightmare and his boyfriend’s secret identity coming to light.
“Close your eyes. Hold onto me. Move when I tell you to move. Stop when I tell you to stop,” Sam says. Out of context, the dialogue could sound sexual, but this is about survival and trust—even if Sam has broken the latter. Sam repeats the “close your eyes” instruction so his boyfriend doesn’t see the horrifying reality with the eyes that have brought Sam so much inner peace.
Tender romance and a shootout make an unusual pairing, but Black Doves is not the first to take a non-sex scene and give it the air of one. Think of the tooth-pulling in the third season of The Americans that saw director Thomas Schlamme set a new bar for how to shoot eyes and intimacy. Nearly 10 years later, the image of Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in a tight close-up as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are burned in my brain. Whereas the Jenningses are both in on the secret, Michael’s introduction to Sam’s world is earth-shattering. Still, the two sequences share how each director focuses on the eyes to communicate vulnerability and unspoken understandings.
The camera focuses on Michael for the most part as the gunfire becomes muffled in the background, and his body merges with Sam’s as they go down the fire escape. First, Michael’s eyes are squeezed shut. He only opens them as they continue downstairs, focusing instead on the blue sky and the birds flying above. Using the same serenading guitar music from the first date contrasts the quick cuts, showing a fearless Sam taking out every shooter in his path.
It is a usual and ambitious choice to pepper a tense sequence like this with affection. Yet, it raises the stakes in the present-day festive timeline as Michael’s safety drives Sam to confront his past. Skin-on-skin contact and Sam’s gentle guidance add to the sensual mood. So when Sam turns to face his boyfriend to caress his face, you might forget this is life and death, not foreplay. The bloody wound on Sam’s arm and the fear Michael can’t shake are reminders.
From first date bashfulness to the unexpected violence, Whishaw and Douglas beautifully convey this couple’s deep connection—and desire. As soon as Sam opens the door on the ground level, reality snaps back into place, and Sam is shot in the side. Luckily, pregnant Helen arrives just in time to shoot the last gunman dead and take Michael from this waking nightmare. In the present, Sam is about to pull him back, but at least now Michael has both eyes open.
