Black Doves Recap Season 2 Episode 6 ‘Peace Summit’
Many times, I still miss the days of long TV seasons, when we would have 20+ episodes to flesh out characters, when the pace was more relaxed, when there was time to meander. We are where we are now, and it is a testament to the skill of the writers, creatives, and actors of Black Doves that they are able to tell this layered a story with just six episodes per season, a good chunk of that spent on gunfights. How was it that with a short flashback to 1988 Berlin and a necessarily short conversation with her dying daughter, we now have an astonishingly fascinating character, missing a few genes of humanity, sure, but so thoroughly human that her talking about ‘normal people’, a classification she did not think she belonged to, and love through absence, felt so profoundly moving, even understandable, even relatable? Elizabeth Reed had been Helen’s handler since Season One. In Season Two, she was Elizabeth Reed, a character in her own right, with her own history, her own period of vulnerability, her own pain that had been buried so deeply, she may struggle to recognise it. Joe Barton and Sarah Lancashire, thank you.
The identity of Reed’s now grown up daughter Vita was finally revealed, and it was through a bloody assault that included US Envoy Cecile Mason, and Wallace and Helen in their vehicle on the way to the Peace Summit. Katia arrived at the venue early — she was meant to deliver the opening speech — when armed men arrived, rained fire on all they could, abducted Katia, and took her to the Black Doves headquarters. Cecile was in a vehicle a mere few metres behind Wallace’s. Armed men killed her security, grabbed her, and tossed a grenade to her vehicle. Helen, seated beside a cold Wallace, was the first to recover from shock, and yelled at the driver to drive.
The Black Doves HQ was the destination because the Kestrel intent was to destroy Black Doves. The US Envoy was kidnapped, then later shot, because the US for certain would investigate the death of one of their own, and that would lead them to a building registered to a company that did not exist, filled with employees with false identities, working through files of government secrets. Katia, who was actually Vita, wanted Black Doves destroyed, because it was Black Doves that destroyed the Kestrel Berlin cell in 1988, that nearly killed her father Franz, that abandoned her to abuse and neglect in a Russian orphanage.
‘I was not that hard to find, Elizabeth’, she told her mother who left her and went on to live the life she wanted as a spy. Black Doves could erase identities, they could kill and hide bodies, they were a powerful organisation that had its tentacles everywhere. They were not easy to destroy. But Black Doves’s strength was also its weakness. They placed one of their spies at the very heart of the British government. It was this spy that Kestrel meant to use to force Black Doves into the unrelenting light of government scrutiny, and destroy it.
Patrick had clearly lied to Sam. Completing his assignment was not the end of it. Helen was not safe. Vita sent a text message to Helen, telling her to put on an earpiece they had hidden in the car without Wallace knowing. Kestrel had been able to get inside the Prime Minister’s vehicle. Kestrel had been able to get physically close to Helen and Wallace.
With no clarity yet on what was happening, Wallace’s driver and security drove him and Helen to an underground garage, where they were to wait until a safe route could be established. They got out to set a security perimeter, leaving the couple alone. Wallace, who had been secretly processing the depths of his wife’s betrayal, noted that Helen was not shaking. Then he mentioned the name that had never passed her lips since their marriage — Lily Morris.
Helen denied knowing the name. Wallace cooly replied ‘I think you’re a liar.’ It was staggering to see a man who had held his wife with affection since the day they met now look at her with sheer exhaustion and deep fury. He asked her who she was and showed her the photo Agent Perryman had given him, that of young Helen before she was Helen.
It was this emotional standoff between husband and wife that Vita interrupted with her demand, for Helen to kill Wallace. And, when the Security Services inevitably asked her who she was, she was to tell the truth. Unknown to Helen, years ago, Reed planted a spy in her house. Marie, the children’s long time nanny, was a Black Dove. Kestrel got to Marie, and now she held the children.
‘I know what it’s like to kill a husband you’re using. You get attached to them, don’t you?’ Vita referred to her marriage to Chernov, but for Helen and Wallace, it had gone beyond that. When Helen told Wallace she loved him, I believed her.
‘Right now, right this second, I’m exactly the person you need me to be.’ Helen declared before she let off a shot to the back of the vehicle. Whilst Vita was talking to her, she dropped the pin of her location to Sam, who understood it and hurried to her. She had quickly typed a warning on her phone for Wallace not to say anything, their children needed them. Wallace loved the beautiful woman he met, the wife who competently ran his household, his partner in politics. This time, what he needed was the spy.
The gunshot alerted the driver and security, who carefully walked back to the vehicle, guns drawn. Helen got out and hit one on the head whilst Sam took care of the other. Helen told Wallace to get out of the car, she would get their children. She asked him to trust her, perhaps for the last time.
Helen had placed tracking devices on the childrens’ shoes and easily tracked them to the London Zoo. There, Sam took the kids to the gift shop then the car whilst Helen had a word with Marie. Helen accused her of not having loyalty, and Marie cooly replied that was not the game. Helen shot her in the head.
One more time, Sam tried to reach out to Helen. He was so terribly alone. She was his closest friend. He suggested that they could just keep driving, rather than have her return to Wallace and a possible charge of treason. Between the two of them, they had enough money stashed to retire on an island somewhere. It could just be them and the kids. Helen reached to squeeze his hand, but she would not go with him. She could not, would not, leave Wallace. She would not break up their family and deny their children a father. She decided to go home and face the music, whatever that may be.
Laila was a wonderful addition to the series, from the first episode with her clear disdain for ‘spy wives’ up to the finale, and her yet to be explained loyalty toward Reed. It was she who tracked down Sam and tried to make him confess what happened to Reed after they left the bar. Laila said she had been to Reed’s flat; she was not there. Sam said it was over. Not even Laila bringing up that Williams and Eleanor had the contract to kill him broke Sam’s resolve to walk away from all this.
Then, Cecile Mason’s vehicle exploded, and Laila marched to the cafe where Sam sat watching the news, and forced him to face the reality that the Kestrel threat was definitely not over. Sam admitted that he handed Reed over to Kestrel, alive. They interrupted Williams and Eleanor’s romance so they could go rescue Reed.
Laila knew where Reed was because she once hacked into the Black Doves computer to show them how vulnerable it was. When they didn’t believe her, she shut the whole system down; that was why they kicked her out. They were able to get back online, but she still had access to their system. Just before the explosion, someone turned off the HQ’s internal security system.
They didn’t know this yet, but that someone was Dani, who was recruited by Patrick and who had been working for Kestrel. Kestrel seemed to have gotten to Black Doves operatives rather easily; I wonder if this will be explored more next season. Dani was lured with the promise of getting back into the field. When Patrick marched in with his armed thugs, Dani took her mask off and joined them.
Sam had to leave the ladies to go help Helen, but Laila, Williams, and Eleanor were more than a match for Kestrel. It was Laila’s bullet that hit Vita; she staggered out. Patrick had Williams in his sight when Conteh picked up a gun and shot at him. Patrick ran off. Dani put on her shoes before trying to sneak off, a little detail I liked. Laila tossed a live grenade to Williams, who tossed it to Eleanor, who tossed it to Dani in the elevator. Helen had beaten Dani into a desk job, but to be honest, I thought given more time, she had a chance with Wallace. She was getting to Wallace. Reed chose well.
Reed followed the blood trail into an empty floor, and found Vita seated facing the glass wall, weak from blood loss. She was still a daughter trying to understand why her mother abandoned her and did not look for her all this time. Reed said it was because she did not want to find her. She imagined that Vita would live a life like a normal person, a life she could not have with Reed around. She said that perhaps that was how she loved her, with her absence. Um, Reed, she was five years old. She had just seen her father with a gaping wound on his throat. She was traumatised. There was a world of trouble a five-year-old could have gotten into in the streets of any country. But Reed was being honest here, she did not possess a normal person’s instincts. She loved Vita, but it was a love of a spy who had her as part of her cover.
Was it Reed’s sadness over Vita that led her to provide Helen with an out, should her conversation with Wallace not turn out well? Kestrel wounded Black Doves severely; the executive committee was now just her and Conteh. Remember that Reed once told Helen that were she no longer useful, if she were to lose Wallace, both she and Reed would be killed. Perhaps now Black Doves needed Helen alive, for her skills, for the loyalty she has shown the organisation. Helen wanted their relationship to change, she wanted more, and Reed agreed. Reed said she had a slush pile of odd jobs — traffickers, escaped despots, all around bad guys. She thought she and Helen could do some good together. Was this how Black Doves meant to continue, not as a purely capitalist organisation but one that also worked to better the world even a little? I like the idea. Reed gave her what looked like a panic button — one time use, rapid extraction.
With Sam back in Italy, in the same community, the same bar, where he once found peace, Helen was in Number 10 waiting for the other shoe to drop with Wallace. She had Reed’s gift on her palm when Wallace came up and joined her in the kitchen. She asked Wallace where he wanted to start, and he calmly replied that they start with her name. I am remembering Wallace from Season One, when he told Helen he loved her. ‘And you fight for what you love, don’t you?’ Don’t you???? Season Three cannot come soon enough.
Rating: A
Strays
🏠The opening song was 500 Miles by Peter Paul and Mary. I am loving the music this season.
🏠Patrick offered Sam a place at Kestrel. Sam told him about Jerry’s funeral. ‘You ever turn around and see me coming, it won’t be as a friend.’
🏠This was twice already that Williams and Eleanor placed themselves in danger to rescue Reed. I wondered about their payment and Williams answered my question this episode. She told Reed the first two were freebies but if she needed rescuing again, they might have to start charging her. Obviously they were there for Sam, and perhaps for Laila now, too, given how well they worked together, but my ladies still need to get paid.
🏠What happened to the contract Williams and Eleanor had on Sam and Laila? Well, it was Conteh who took out those contracts, and I would assume he has cancelled them.
🏠Reed asked Conteh about Helen and the kids, and he assured her they were fine. Do I believe Reed had developed some affection toward Helen? Maybe, as far as she was able to feel it, but also, Reed was a professional, and she respected a fellow professional.
🏠Officer Perryman told Wallace that the CCTV from the car park and surrounding streets were magically erased. His driver and security officer could not remember anything after they were knocked out. Wallace, lying not very well, claimed armed men came out of nowhere and disabled his security team. He and Helen ran and hid on the stairwell. Why did these alleged armed men take the car and not Wallace who was presumably the target? Wallace simply said they must have wanted to get away.
Officer Perryman pointed out that backup arrived and found Wallace but not Helen. Wallace claimed Helen was scared, she ran and hid. Wallace supposedly came back to check on his driver and security, and that was when backup found him. Helen reappeared afterwards. Officer Perryman was clearly not buying any of this, but he could not very well call out the Prime Minister for lying without proof. He said he has not escalated the matter of his wife, but he would need another meeting with her. As Officer Perryman left Wallace’s office, he caught sight of Helen, and they had a bit of a stare down. That smile on Officer Perryman’s face as he left could be interpreted a number of ways; I thought it looked like a promise that he would get her.
🏠Sam and Helen made up and expressed their love for each other before Sam left. As they went their separate ways, Patrick bumped into Helen. He gave her his card, supposedly so she could send him the repair details for her phone which he caused to fall. The card was just an illustration of a bird, a kestrel. Reed said Kestrel wanted them to know that Katia (Vita) was dead but Kestrel was not. She had photos of Patrick boarding a flight to Tokyo.
🏠Reed meant to blame separatist rebels for the killing of Cecile Mason.
🏠Thank you so much for joining me in these Black Doves recaps! I hope we’ll get a quick confirmation of the third season. See you all then!
Episode Title: Peace Summit
Episode Writers: Joe Barton
Episode Director: Kieron Hawkes
Release Date: November 5, 2026