Bend It Like Paddington: “Black Doves” (Netflix)

Talk about the ways in which we love, enjoy and are driven slightly mental by these lovesick gun-toting “spies” and “hitmen” (non gender specific)

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.moviefone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F11%2Fblack-doves-205.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=0a5fffd047916cd2a9e0452501af23354606cddcb219a224eb3bf3427d5903c4&ipo=images

I really enjoyed this show & i fucking adore Ben Whishaw forever

but on the other hand OMG YOU ARE BOTH TERRIBLE AT THIS HOW ARE YOU EVEN EMPLOYED LMAO

Only just getting started with the first episode but I love the vibe and love Ben Whishaw in everything. Have you seen Very British Scandal? This is what I imagine became of his character there, possibly.

Yes! I loved him in that, he was excellent.

I hope they do a xmas season every year

if I was ben whishaw’s ex, I would never let him in the door again no matter how much he pulls the sad eyes schtick on me

I liked how the show seemed to be setting up keira’s husband as somehow being one of the bad guys at first but it turns out he really is just a well meaning doofus

I love Ben Whishaw in pretty much everything but be advised, A Very British Scandal created the opportunity for this very tasteful Paddington/Jeremy Thorpe slash:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54d-H6eFaI

Oh no, I realized which scene this would be as soon as it started ;_;

I haven't seen avbs but still, omg lol.

My wife and I watch Black Doves going "Oh you couldn't - oh they wouldn't - oh you would never..." but they have called our bluff a couple of times, once with the bullet casing with the fingerprints, though I still don't think he could ever have found it; and once with hector newton, when we saw his fresh young face for the first time: "how old was he when sam didn't kill him the first time? 12???!?!" er, yes.

if I was ben whishaw’s ex, I would never let him in the door again no matter how much he pulls the sad eyes schtick on me

I like to think I wouldn't, but it's little Ben Whishaw! Come on, like. We all love him.

The husband and I both thought this was a blast. It was pitched at just the level we wanted last week: daft enough for us not to have to pay too much attention to the fine details, but not insulting to our intelligence.

All the pretty horses

The main reason it doesn’t insult your intelligence is because it spent a lot of time going “we are going to do something spectacularly silly here, just roll with it” and the cast is good enough that you “ha okay, hit me” and then they do it and you go “oh my god, you’re terrible *flirty giggle*” and then everyone does a shot

I loved this absolutely infuriating show and am looking forward to another season

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

I love the assassin duo, Williams provides a lot of dry comedy moments.

yeah they’re excellent!

loved the Rat Scabies cameo in the guitar shop in the first episode

"I'm Williams, like from Kent and Williams?"
"And what's that on your face?"
"It's Kent."

lmao

xxxposts roz -yeah i liked that too, re husband character

i heard someone talk about an interview Keira Knightley did where she said on her first day of shooting they only had scripts written for the first two episodes: so they wrote the rest of it on the fly which is kind of wild for a 6 ep series but also maybe sort of explains some of the weird veering story turns etc

I enjoyed this a lot. It dragged in places and there was way too much exposition but the performances carried it. The final scene with Sam and Lenny was like a writer's meeting, trying to decide if they could kill off such a great character. The final final scene was hilarious: it's spies all the way down!

It's funny to watch this after Slow Horses where CCTV covers every inch of London; in Black Doves land, it's like it's never been invented.

We’re back baybee!
Anyone watching s2?

I'm two episodes in and I'm into it. I feel like it's a little heavy-handed with all the "Sam's life is depressing and horrible and he's careening toward a miserable solitary death" stuff, but maybe it's all a misdirect.

There is so much to be said for shows that just get GOING, yknow? S2 ep1 and for a minute I was like I don’t remember s1 really?, oh wait yeah I get it, ok off we go

That’s good to hear. I recall liking s1 but I have no memory whatsoever of the plot.

I remember thinking “this doesn’t need a season 2” so I’m somewhat skeptical

Finished this last night. Seems like they want a third season; not sure I do.

The one thing that surprised me about it was how gory it was. Given the overall tone you might expect standard cop-show "protagonist shoots anono-goon, they grunt and fall over" action, but this was full-on "boom-splat." Multiple characters got shotgunned in a way that left giant bloody smears on the wall behind them.

I'm also 2 episodes in - and this is a lot better than Season 1. They've embraced the comedy element better this season and it isn't got completely ridiculous as yet. Also, Ambika Mod is a great addition.

Found it very hard to believe throughout this season that the PM’s wife could just sneak away for hours to get involved in multiple shootouts without anyone noticing

Agree!

Even the non-shootout stuff, where she's just walking around crowded London streets and not one person says, "Hey, aren't you...?"

I bailed on S2 after three episodes

Murdering the concierge moved me from “I feel sad for you, conflicted antihero” to “won’t someone murder this psycho”