Black Doves brings mystery and a bit of fun to the spy thriller / action flick genre. A great cast lead the way, bringing along a number of colorful secondary characters with a convoluted story about an international incident.

Black Doves wins big kudos from me because so many of the important characters in this thriller are women. They’re all “bad guys.” The “good guys” are a rare breed in this series.

Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is a black dove. She’s been passing on government secrets for 10 years to her handler, Reed (Sarah Lancashire). This arrangement works nicely for the enigmatic Reed. She sells the secrets to the highest bidder.

Reed is a buttoned down, stoic type. She meets her assets in out-of-the-way corners of public places and gives them orders. We see her at home wrapping Christmas presents and she is still a self-contained and controlled mystery even in her own home. In an interview, Sarah Lancashire described her character as “almost inert.” I wish Sarah Lancashire had more to do in this series, but it’s always a treat to see her in anything.

Helen is married to Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), a government official who has his eye on the prime minister’s job. Wallace talks about work at home and Helen listens. They have twins, a complication.

The bigger complication is Helen falls in love with a man named Jason (Andrew Koji). She wants to be her real self with her lover. Not a good decision.

Jason, two seemingly unrelated people, and the Chinese Ambassador are all killed. The entire governments of England and China are upset over the Chinese Ambassador. Helen wants revenge against whoever killed Jason. She’s taking steps outside of what Reed has sanctioned. Her knife is sharp and her gun is loaded.

Reed calls Sam (Ben Whishaw) to come back to England to keep Helen safe. Sam trained Helen 10 years ago. They are excellent friends. Sam’s been gone for years, leaving behind Helen and the love of his life, Michael (Omari Douglas), because people were trying to kill him and it put Michael in danger. The problem, you see, is that Sam didn’t kill someone he was sent to assassinate because it was a child. (Sam is the one character with a kind heart). Sam, kind as he is, is a champagne-drinking assassin.

The minute Sam hits town, people are after him again. Even so, he can’t stay away from Michael.

Sam’s former handler Lenny Lines (a scene stealing Kathryn Hunter) wants him to kill the guy she paid him to kill years ago. Sam is what is called a triggerman. Lenny manages a whole crew of triggermen. We meet two more of her triggermen: Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy). These two are just plain cute together and add to the fun. Eleanor wants to kill everyone with a rocket launcher.

Of course, all the deaths of seemingly unrelated people are, indeed, related.

With 6 episodes to play in, the plot moves through sweet loves scenes, gun fights, hand to hand combat, child care, Christmas parties, and a few flashbacks with Helen and Sam and Helen and her husband Wallace.

The daughter of the Chinese ambassador, Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei), is in danger. Somehow the prime minister Richard Eaves (Adeel Akhtar) is involved. The big bad scary head of a crime syndicate Alex (Tracy Ullman) shows up.

Now we have a woman spy, a woman spy handler, a woman triggerman handler, women triggermen, and a woman crime boss. Oh, a woman, Lisa Gunning, directed half of the episodes. Sam, the leading man, is gay as can be. It’s a true work of art.

Keira Knightly is terrific in this. She wears her maturity well and is ever more attractive and convincing. She has grace and power now, with charisma that goes beyond beauty. I really enjoyed her in this part. Kicking ass suits her.

Season 2 of Black Doves was set even before the first season was released on Netflix. There were no cliffhangers at the end of season 1 to suggest what season 2 might be about, but there was one brief scene in Reed’s home that might mean something. Reed was looking out the window. She turned her head and looked behind her to see an eager young woman sitting bolt upright on her sofa. Maybe we’re meant to find out who that is in season 2.

The whole series dropped on the same day on Netflix (thank you, Netflix) so you can enjoy it all right away. If you take a look, please share your thoughts about it in the comments.