Just some quick thoughts on two very good series.

Black Doves is a way-over-the-top quasi-thriller with humor. It threads a difficult path of a completely unbelievable plot, completely unbelievable action scenes (the bad guys make Storm Troopers look like marksmen and the good gals, mostly, make jokes as they shoot them) with humor, snappy dialogue and moments of true personal angst.

This season’s backstory of Wildflower in Cold War Berlin is kind of mind-blowing. But in a way, believable. For those of us who were old school covert ops, Berlin is always a draw.

If you can past the fact the Prime Minister’s wife can disappear for a day and shoot people, that body counts in the dozens happen constantly, and we still really don’t know if the Black Doves are good or bad, it’s entertainment. I thought the season finale was very good. Good looping on the plot, excellent parallels in character stories, and overall well done.

Sarah Lancanshire (Happy Valley!) is excellent as is Ben Whishaw as Sam. The lesbian wise-cracking assassins are very good and funny.

Slow Horses is more serious and much more realistic while being darker with moments of humor. Gary Oldman delivers as always. The season was excellent and portrayed the dark side of covert ops where agents are disposable assets.

My only complaint? The last episode was depressing. I won’t give spoilers. But, a minor point but important to me, they only toasted one character while a second, although not technically a Slow Horse, deserved a toast and the way she went out was a real bummer. Also a cliff hanger on another character’s fate.

If you like these series, you’d probably like our Rocky Start series, which sort of slides in tone between these extremes. Action, humor, spies, etc. About a town in the Smokies full of retired covert operatives.

My Cellar series, starting with Bodyguard of Lies (bonus points if you know the quotes the title comes from) is also in your wheelhouse. About a secret group that polices the world of covert ops.