The ending of ‘Black Doves’ explained, as it leaves things open for Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw’s spies in season two

• Netflix’s “Black Doves” follows a spy who seeks revenge when her lover is assassinated.
• Keira Knightley plays Helen Webb opposite Ben Whishaw as Sam Young.
• The end of the season leaves things open for both characters.

Netflix’s “Black Doves” is the latest buzzy espionage TV drama to get audiences talking in 2024 after the likes of “Slow Horses,” “The Day of the Jackal,” and “The Agency.”

The show follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a spy who seeks revenge over the death of her lover, Jason Davies (Andrew Koji), who is assassinated on London’s South Bank during the show’s opening sequence.

Webb works for a private espionage organization, the Black Doves, and her boss orders hitman Sam Young (Ben Whishaw) to protect her because she’s also a potential target as the wife of the British defense secretary.

By the end of the six-episode series, Webb and Young figure out who killed Davies and why. Here’s what happened.

Trent Clark killed Jason Davies to cover up the accidental murder of the Chinese ambassador.

During Webb and Young’s investigation into who assassinated Davies, they discover that it’s closely linked to the death of the Chinese ambassador in London.

The coverup around the incident brews a potential war, because the Chinese government believes the U.S. and Britain planned the attack. However, the truth is much different.

Webb and Young discover that Trent Clark (Angus Cooper), the son of the powerful Clark crime family in London, accidentally killed Ambassador Chen (Andy Cheung) in a moment of rage. The high-ranking official confronts Clark, who has been supplying his daughter, Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei), with heroin.

Clark pushes Chen during the argument, causing him to fall and hit his head — killing him.

Davies and his associates record the whole incident and plot to release the footage to expose the Clark family and the political corruption they were involved in.

That’s why Clark had Davies executed.

Sam Young kills Trent Clark at the end of “Black Doves,” putting a target on his own back.

This all culminates in a dramatic confrontation between Webb, Young, and Clark, who is backed up by his mother and the family’s steely matriarch, Alex Clark (Tracey Ullman). Webb is determined to execute Clark for killing her secret boyfriend — but when Alex attempts to disarm her, Young jumps in and executes both of the Clarks.

Webb is angry that she was unable to get revenge on the people who killed her boyfriend. But by killing two prominent members of the Clark family, Young effectively paints a target on his back and cuts his chances of leaving the life of a triggerman behind.

Season two was confirmed in August without a release date. When it arrives, Young will probably have to deal with being hunted by the rest of the Clark family.

Showrunner and creator Joe Barton told Tudum that Young saving Webb is a poetic moment because she did the same for him. During a flashback to 2017, she chose to save Young’s ex-boyfriend, Michael (Omari Douglas), instead of leaving the Black Doves while pregnant.

Barton said: “The idea was that Sam makes a personal sacrifice for his friend because he loves her, and because, as you see in episode three, she sacrificed her own chance to get out in order to help him. He’s there to do anything for her, so he does it.”

The final episode closes leaving a few other threads open for exploration in season two. Young still hasn’t killed gangster Hector Newman (Luther Ford) for Lenny (Kathryn Hunter), which will probably continue to cause tension.

Meanwhile, Webb’s husband, Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), is on track to become the next prime minister, which will likely make her job as a Black Dove even harder.