Black Doves - The Cost of It All / In the Bleak Midwinter
Most, although not quite all, of the threads are wrapped up in the final two episodes of Black Doves. "The Cost of It All" gives us shit hitting the fan, Helen (Keira Knightley) finding herself behind the eight-ball with few cards left to play, a violent confrontation with her would-be replacement (Agnes O'Casey), and trouble for Sam (Ben Whishaw), Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy), and Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei) all of whom are scooped up by the Clarks. However, Helen also finds the missing footage, providing answers to the ambassador's death and leverage to save her friend and get the answers she's been seeking concerning Jason's (Andrew Koji) death.
Those answers come in "In the Bleak Midwinter" in a tradeoff with the Clarks that provides closure and new dangers when, once again, shit hits the fan. The extended epilogue of the finale is a bit unexpected both in terms of some things returning to the status quo (such as Helen's marriage) and some shakeups such as Sam's new job offer from Hector (Luther Ford) of all people allowing him to stick around and get into new trouble should the series be picked up for another season. And with the Clarks being bloodied and angered, there's no doubt some danger would be looming despite the holiday festivities and good cheer that close the episode.
If this be the end, Black Doves works as a self-contained six-episode series offering a mix of wit, humor, mystery, and spy craft. However, there's plenty of room to flex its muscles for additional stories including the likelihood of promotion for Wallace (Andrew Buchan) and unrivaled access for Helen weighed against attempting to give her marriage a real shot. And Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire) isn't putting all her eggs in one basket as we see a new operative already in place should things get out of hand again suggesting an inevitable confrontation between Helen and Reed at some point.
