Black Doves is Netflix’s action-packed spy thriller set during Christmas. With an all-star cast including Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire, it tells the story of Helen Webb (Knightley), an undercover spy for the Black Doves organization.
As the web of lies she finds herself in begins to unravel with the impending threat of global war hanging in the balance, she finds herself caught up in it all. Throughout, she must fight against London’s criminal underworld and global political powers to uncover the truth.
Here's a recap of everything that happened in Black Doves episode 5.
The penultimate episode starts back when Williams escaped the fight in Jason’s apartment. She heads to a canal boat where she meets Eleanor who is looking for a partner. They decide to team up. In the present day, Eleanor and Williams are scrambling for guns as the gunmen descend on their flat for Kai-Ming.
Meanwhile, Sam, Helen, and Cole are being chased by the Chinese after they escaped. Stuck in traffic, they flee the car and run away on foot. Williams calls Sam to say they’re in trouble at the flat and he says they’re coming, but to keep Kai-Ming alive. If they can get Kai-Ming, they can get Trent, and then they can get Alex Clark. As they arrive, more gunmen are still turning up and the flat is up in flames.
Elsewhere, Wallace is at a meeting at 10 Downing Street to meet the new Chinese ambassador. Again, the Chinese accuse the US and UK of warmongering and say the UK needs to award key parts of its military supply contracts to China. When told that’s completely out of the question, the Chinese ambassador reveals if we don’t get anything, then they'll retaliate.
At the flat, Williams drops on top of the taxi, though she’s been shot. She reveals the Clarks have Kai-Ming and Eleanor, and they escape.
Back at Downing Street, the Prime Minister secretly calls someone and says, “we need that recording device, do you understand?” This reveals that he knows about the recording of Ambassador Chen’s death, the one Elmore Fitch thought Helen had, and the one the Chinese say is being covered up.
Helen suggests they all go to hideout at Michael’s. Sam is reluctant, but they have nowhere else to go. Michael is worried that he’s bringing trouble to his door, but lets them in anyway. Stephen Yarrick’s phone calls again for Helen, the ‘Repair Shop’, aka the Clarks. They say they have Eleanor and Kai-Ming. When Helen asks what they want, they reply, the digital recording device taken from Kai-Ming’s flat on the night Chen died. They threaten that if Helen doesn't hand it over by midday, her friends will die. Looking for a resolution, Helen asks Cole if he can get them access to Trent. He says he'll try.
Sam and Helen have a moment alone where they reveal they’ve told both Michael and Jason who they really are. Helen reveals that, in reply, Jason said he loved her and nothing she could say would change that.
Helen goes home to find Wallace, who is suspicious of where she’s been. He talks with her about the first night they met, when she left, and asks if she’s happy. They’re interrupted by a knock at the door. Perryman from MI5 shows up to ask what Helen was doing at the US Embassy that night. She says she was visiting her friend and manages to deny any wrongdoings.
Reed calls Helen to come and meet her, but before she goes, Wallace shares an emotional moment with her that he loves her, he loves their whole life, and he always has. She says she won’t be late.
At a bookstore, Reed and Helen meet. Reed says she’s trying to figure out why Helen ran away with Cole and that she’s gone soft. It’s the highest bidder, she explains, that’s how it works. She says they need to hand Cole over, but Helen refuses and talks about the Clarks. Reed says that MI5 aren’t visiting everyone that was at the embassy and maybe Jason wasn’t as clean cut as she thought. She threatens Helen to hand Cole over the next morning.
At Michael’s flat, on the news, China is accusing the US of espionage. Michael and Sam talk about their relationship, but Reed interrupts by calling Sam. She instructs him on one final job - kill Alex Clark to protect Helen and the Black Doves. She gives him Alex’s address and says go alone to finish it. She says she needs Cole though, non-negotiable. He agrees, but when he goes back, Williams has passed out and Cole has escaped.
Sam turns up at Alex Clark’s house. As he sneaks through quietly, a man creeps up behind him and holds a gun to the back of his head. A woman’s voice says, “Did you come here to kill me?” He replies and the gunman knocks him out.
Reed is waiting for Helen the next morning. From behind her, Dani emerges to say they’re not coming and they can’t be trusted. Reed instructs her to go and find her, but continues to wait.
Helen wakes up to flashbacks of Jason telling her the Christmas gift is something to remind her that the truth doesn’t scare him. She realises that Maggie worked in a jewellers and if she followed the emblem on the front of the bracelet box, she might find some answers. She goes to the shop and tranquilises the man working in there. Closing the shop, she breaks into the safe and finds the black pinhole camera - the recording device everyone’s been looking for, a recording of Ambassador Chen’s death.
As she goes to leave, Dani is waiting for her. They shut the shop and break into a knife fight. Helen, with years more experience, beats Dani and says she won’t kill her, not on Christmas Eve, but that she can tell Reed if she wants to replace her, she has to do it face-to-face.
Helen goes back to her car and watches the recording. Chen is seen in Kai-Ming’s apartment talking to Trent Clark, the drug dealer and Alex’s son, about supplying his daughter with drugs. Chen gets angry and Trent pushes him. He rolls backwards over the sofa and hits his head on the table, which kills him. He panics and calls his mum. In a twist, Stephen Yarrick shows up to cover it up. They inject him with drugs but as they’re leaving, Yarrick says, they need to phone the Prime Minister to tell him. Reed calls Helen, now knowing she has the recording device, but says that Helen works for her.
All episodes of Black Doves are available to stream on Netflix now.
