Black Doves creator Joe Barton details why Sam can’t bring himself to kill grown-up Hector. Although the six-episode Netflix series gains a lot of its narrative momentum from the secret identity of spy Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) and the global crisis that looms after her lover is one of four people who are found dead, there is a parallel storyline with Ben Whishaw’s Sam Young as he comes to terms with the fact that the boy he couldn’t bring himself to kill years earlier has now returned as a dangerous young man.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Barton was asked about the fact that Sam can’t kill Hector Newman (Luther Ford) even though that’s what he initially plans to do. The series creator gives a lengthy response, juxtaposing Sam’s decision to kill his father with his inability to pull the trigger when it comes to Hector. Barton explains that Sam is unable to go back on the one good thing he’s done, even if he might be lying to himself in the long run:

It’s the challenge of presenting someone that kills people for a living. What I thought was interesting about him is that I think the codes are completely bullshit, really. I think he knows he’s lying to himself as well. But this one time, where he did something that is objectively good, the objective right choice, where he didn’t murder this child even. That destroyed and that blew his whole life up, and it caused all this trouble for him and Helen. But he was like, ‘No, I did that. And that is the one good thing I’ve ever done.’ So later on, when he meets Hector as an older man, he still can’t kill him, even though he’s supposed to, even though it would help him. With his dad, he’s confronted with the fact that he’s supposed to kill his father. And really, for me, that was the moment where he either went for it or didn’t, and he wanted to be a hitman. In my head, he wanted to be a hitman because his dad was a hitman.

So it was about forcing this very complicated character into a world of binary, do or do not; good or bad. He’s so much more complex than that, but he’s trying desperately to think of himself as good or bad. His whole speech about, ‘I never killed anyone that didn’t make the world a better place,’ which is what his dad told him. His dad was lying to himself, and he’s lying to himself.

What Sam & Hector’s Dynamic Means For Black Doves Season 2

It’s The Show’s Most Interesting Story

The spy thriller doesn’t pretend for a moment that Sam wouldn’t be able to kill Hector if he wanted to. Hector doesn’t even pretend otherwise. It would benefit Sam since he’s being asked to finish what he started and the threats against the man he loves would stop. But when they’re actually in the same room, Sam hesitates twice.

Hector ultimately wants Sam to work for him as a hired gun, which Sam accepts. It’s not clear where that dynamic will lead in the already-confirmed Black Doves season 2. But based on the interactions they’ve already had, there’s plenty for the pair to play around with. Hector sees Sam as both his guardian angel and his worst enemy, which is fertile ground for the series to explore.

Our Take On The Sam & Hector Dynamic

It Could Go In A Lot Of Different Directions

There is a lot for the Black Doves cast to do in season 2, especially when it comes to Helen’s working relationship with Reed (Sarah Lancashire) as her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan) prepares to become U.K. Prime Minister. There is something, nonetheless, in that last scene with Hector and Sam that’s difficult to pin down. Hector asks why Sam didn’t shoot him all those years ago. Sam says it was because he was just a child. Hector remarks that he knew Sam had good in him, which is probably something the older man longs to hear.

Hector remarks that he knew Sam had good in him, which is probably something the older man longs to hear.

There’s something in the way that Hector watches Sam with a kind of admiration that’s difficult to pin down. It opens up the story to go in any number of directions, whether they are rivals or whether that look of admiration and moment of genuine praise is the start of something else entirely. It’s one of the more puzzling and promising moments of the Black Doves season 1 ending.