Sarah Lancashire's Reed survives the entire second season of Black Doves, despite facing threats from her own organisation, a rogue group and her estranged daughter. The Netflix drama places Reed at the centre of a rescue mission after she disappears, with her past catching up with her.
Reed's Disappearance and the Wildflower Mission
The series resumes with Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) taking on her first assignment as the Prime Minister's wife. While attending a function with her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan), Helen slips away to carry out a covert operation on Reed's instructions.
This assignment is unusual because Helen receives less information than normal. Reed simply tells her and newly recruited agent Laila Joshi (Ambika Mod) to retrieve documents labelled Wildflower. Afterwards, Reed appears anxious, suggesting something from her past might be coming back to haunt her.
When several vehicles approach, Reed shows no sign of surprise or resistance. Once Helen discovers she has vanished, she resolves to find her. Viewers learn that Reed has not been killed by her abductors. Instead, she is being held at an undisclosed location by Robert Conteh (Babou Ceesay), who has taken over as the organisation's head.
Secrets From Berlin Revealed
Conteh discovers Reed has been in Paris trying to learn more about Wildflower. It emerges that Reed is the only surviving agent from a disastrous Berlin mission years earlier. Wildflower was her code name during that operation, and the consequences of her choices are now catching up with her.
Meanwhile, Helen's closest friend Sam Young (Ben Whishaw), who has been forced to work for rogue organisation Kestrel, is ordered to kill Reed because she poses its greatest threat.
Episode four reveals more about Reed's past. In Berlin, she had a daughter, Vita, with Franz, a man she had pursued romantically to obtain intelligence. Reed wanted to leave the KGB-linked operation, but she was also having an affair with fellow Black Dove operative Peter and wanted to stay with him.
The Rescue and the Finale
After sabotaging the Berlin operation, Reed realised her mistake and told Franz she was working undercover. Knowing he was in danger, she tried to help him escape with their daughter, but Peter shot him. Peter then turned violent and tried to strangle Reed after discovering she had derailed the operation. She shot him in self-defence.
A terrified Vita witnessed what happened and fled, leaving Reed unaware of her whereabouts. In the present day, Helen and Sam locate Reed and launch a rescue mission alongside Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy). After several narrow escapes, they get her out alive with Laila's help.
Despite the danger of defying Kestrel, Sam chooses not to kill Reed. But another threat awaits her in the finale, when her missing daughter's identity is revealed. Vita is Katia (Sylvia Hoeks), the wife of former KGB officer Alexi Chernov (Goran Kostić). She has returned to take revenge on her mother and the Black Doves for abandoning her as a child.
Reed survives once again when Williams, Eleanor and Laila raid the premises. As she escapes the gunfire, she finds her estranged daughter, who has been caught in the crossfire and appears close to death. Vita asks why Reed never tried to find her. Reed explains that she had hoped her daughter would grow up to have a normal, peaceful life — something she could never have with a secret agent for a mother. After their exchange, Vita appears to die from her wounds.
Reed is last seen planning the next move, instructing Helen to kill Kestrel leader Patrick (Sam Riley). She survives the series, but with the Black Doves more exposed than ever, her future remains uncertain.
