Black Doves ending explained: Who killed Jason?

The series, which has already been renewed for a second season, jumped straight to the top of the streamer's most-watched chart upon its debut, with viewers tuning into see how things played out for Keira Knightley's Helen Webb.

The thriller follows Helen, an operative working undercover as the wife of a senior British politician, who finds herself caught up in a conspiracy when her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is killed in a targeted assassination.

The series also stars Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire, and features a twisting, turning plot like all of the best spy thrillers. But how did it all play out in the end and who was actually responsible for Jason's death?

Read on for our spoiler-filled overview of the Black Doves season 1 ending – and get theorising now on what could happen next.

Black Doves ending explained: Who was the killer?

The final episode of Black Doves comes to a nail-biting head as the central characters converge on a warehouse in London, where Sam is being held captive along with Kai-Ming and Eleanor under the orders of formidable crime boss Alex Clark.

In a tense stand-off, an agreement is reached by which everybody present can walk away in a clean break, but alas, that does not satisfy the desire for vengeance that Helen feels having lost her beloved Jason in a targeted killing.

She demands answers from Alex as to why exactly Jason was targeted, but the matriarch claims she has no knowledge of the hit – and to the surprise of almost everyone in the room, she's not lying.

Instead, it was her hopeless son, Brent, who arranged the coordinated killing of Jason, MI5 mole Maggie and journalist Phillip, all of whom could have implicated him in the accidental death of a Chinese diplomat.

Brent had mistakenly killed the father of Kai-Ming, his girlfriend, during a heated argument over his supplying her with heroin.

Little did he know that Maggie had bugged Kai-Ming's apartment as she was selling salacious details about her friend's life to the tabloids (and later, feeding the most sensitive details to British intelligence).

After sharing the recording of that fateful night with journalist Phillip, he set about investigating the shocking events for a story, alerting government official Stephen Yarrick in the process.

Yarrick, who had helped cover up the murder and implicated the prime minister in the recording, went to the Clark crime family for help stopping this crisis in its tracks.

They began tracking Phillip and discovered his associates Maggie and Jason, who it is revealed was also an MI5 agent – unbeknownst to his lover, Helen, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Brent Clark ordered the murders of the trio without his mother's knowledge or authorisation, feeling an obligation to clean up his own mess after so many years as a liability to his family.

The secret is exposed during the warehouse confrontation, resulting in Helen turning her gun away from Alex and onto her son, Brent.

This reveals a softer side to the crime boss, who attempts to take the fall for her son and begs Helen not to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, outside, US and Chinese intelligence have gathered, both hoping to get their hands on the recording of the killing, which poses a major threat to international relations.

Suddenly, chaos erupts in the warehouse as Alex attempts to disarm Helen, prompting Sam to shoot her in the head and then execute her son immediately after.

Helen is shocked at his action and somewhat frustrated, having wanted to take revenge herself, but he may have saved her from a terrible fate at the hands of the Clark family's allies – if an ominous phone call is any indication.

Later, Reed fills in the blanks of the above story to Helen, who hadn't realised that Jason was an MI5 agent tasked with finding out whether she was the source of leaks from the UK government.

Helen is briefly shaken by the thought that his love for her was just an act, but in a classic burying of the lede, Reed elaborates that Jason's report completely exonerated her – in spite of the fact that he knew her to be a spy. Thus, it appears their love was real.

At last, Christmas Day comes and the season ends on a relatively festive note all things considered. Sam celebrates the holiday with Helen and her family, telling Wallace that he works in insurance – bored at the mention of the word, the potential next PM doesn't ask any follow-up questions.

Ah yes, how could we forget the tantalising seeds planted for the already confirmed Black Doves season 2?

With Prime Minister Eaves compromised by his complicity in covering up the murder of the Chinese ambassador, he is set to step down in the New Year citing an unspecified health concern.

That leaves a rather important position up for grabs – and it's clear that Wallace is already being eyed as a potential replacement, which would make Helen and the Black Doves more powerful than ever before.

Meanwhile, it seems that Sam is far from out of the game either, securing a fragile truce with his longtime nemesis Hector Newman by accepting a job as one of his enforcers.

It's quite possible that could put Michael in danger once again, and even put him at odds with frenemy Lenny – but that's a problem for another day.

For now, as Sam tells Helen on her snowy balcony, "People like you and me, darling, we don't get to ride off into the sunset – but we get to stay around and watch the stars come out... and that's not nothing, I suppose."

Who was the woman at the end of Black Doves?

There’s been some confusion among fans around who the blonde woman sat on Reed’s sofa at the end of the series is.

In an interview with GQ, creator Joe Barton explained that the character is Marie, Helen and Wallace’s nanny.

He continued: “She pops up throughout the series, so it's possible to miss. I mean, she looks like she could be Reed’s daughter, they've got a similar haircut.

"But no, she's the nanny, so she's been spying on them the whole time. Basically, everyone's spy."

Wondering what Marie's next move is? You’ll have to wait until season 2.

Black Doves is available to stream on Netflix.

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