Black Doves

Prominent gay male lead (Sam) shown as skilled assassin with integrated queer personal life and ex-boyfriend; supporting lesbian assassins in action roles; strong competent female protagonist in spy and fight scenes.

Almost none present; dialogue focuses on espionage tactics, loyalty, revenge, and personal relationships rather than social issues or lectures.

Central emotional thread is the platonic friendship between a straight married woman and gay man, with queer characters’ backstories shown naturally; story prioritizes personal bonds and sentiment over geopolitics but does not drive plot with identity politics or activism.

Spy organization operates as amoral mercenaries above national loyalties; government and intelligence figures portrayed as flawed or self-interested; female-led criminal elements noted but presented as story fact without ideological framing of patriarchy or Western institutions.

Viewer comments and reviews explicitly label the show “woke fest,” “feminist and LGBT woke fest,” or Netflix DEI for prominent gay and lesbian characters in action roles, strong women leads, and lack of conventional heterosexual male heroes.

Joe Barton’s prior works feature diverse ensembles in thrillers but show no activist or identity-politics pattern; other key crew have low-profile professional histories or minor associations with contemporary diverse productions.