The Day of the Jackal: Riveting Intellect and Adrenalin

Well, 2024 has two weeks and a few days left, so I can tell you with confidence that, amidst stiff competition, The Day of the Jackal on Peacock was the best TV series I saw this year.

Here are some of the reasons why (with no spoilers, hence "some of"):

• The series, adopted from Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel, has almost nothing in common with the 1973 movie, also adapted from the novel (which I never read).  All three, as you no doubt already know, are about a master assassin (that's about all the movie and the TV series share).  I thought the movie was really excellent.  I liked the TV series -- the last two episodes of its ten episodes up just yesterday -- at lot more.
• Eddie Redmayne's performance as the Jackal was out-of-the-ballpark fabulous.  (If we're talking about Yankee Stadium, somewhere down Jerome Avenue.)
• The story will keep you guessing in every episode, and sometimes many more times than once.
• There are all manner of police.  Some good, some bad. Some get killed, some don't.
• There are all manner of villains.  Some bad, some really bad. Some get killed, some don't.
• There's a James Bondian aspect to the Jackal -- like a Bond and all his assets, turned bad.  And he doesn't need a Q. Other than the fact that he's an assassin, I wanna be just like the Jackal when I grow up.

On a more general level, I just wrote, in my review of The Agency, that 2024 has been a year for superb spy thrillers.   The Jackal isn't a spy, but MI-6 in London is the agency most after him, so this makes The Day of the Jackal indeed another example of a superb spy thriller streaming this past year.  A windfall of edge-of-your-seat excitement.  Hats off to creator/show-runner Ronan Bennett.

I know you'd like me to tell you more, but I don't want to spoil even one of the many jolts you'll have when you see this series.  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Black Doves: Snow White Thriller

There hasn't been a James Bond movie since 2021, but the Brits are serving up some top-notch thriller TV series in the closing months of 2024, with a second season of The Diplomat, the first season of The Day of the Jackal (which I'll review after it concludes in the weeks ahead), and the first season of Black Doves, a six-episode Netflix mini-series which I just finished watching and I'm going to review right here.

First let me say that the review will be spoiler free, hence no usual warning, and I said first season for The Day of the Jackal and Black Doves because both have been renewed for second seasons.

Joe Barton is the creator of Black Doves.  I first encountered his work in the 16-episode Lazarus Project (2020-2023) which was mostly the best time-travel narrative I've ever seen on any screen, so I wasn't surprised that Black Doves is a uniquely memorable thriller.  It takes place during the Christmas season in current London and manages to inject life-and-death into nearly every scene of snowflakes and jingling bells.  And though it has no time travel, it plays off events and people meeting ten years ago in recollections that seamlessly slide in and out of hugs and bullets in 2024.

The Black Doves are an independent spy organization that thinks itself superior to MI-6, the CIA, and any government organization, and probably are.  The highest person we meet in the organization is Mrs. Reed, played by Sarah Lancashire, whom I can't help thinking is on sabbatical as the British Police Sergeant she played so well for so many years on Happy Valley.  Keira Knightley plays Black Dove Helen Webb, happily married to the British Defence Secretary, with two adorable kids, but fully capable of loving someone else passionately at the same time, and adeptly deadly with a gun or a knife.  The other big star, Ben Whishaw (Q in the Daniel Craig Bonds), plays Sam, a flat-out but sensitive assassin, with a long-standing friendship and professional relationship with Helen, called in to help with the dangerously escalating situation at hand.

How's that for no spoilers, right?  But I will say that the twisty plot has lots of surprises, lots of lethal action, leavened with the sarcastic humor we've come to expect and enjoy in these kinds of British thrillers.  I'll 100% be back with a review of the second season, whenever it's up, and kudos to Netflix for putting the first season all up at once just a few days ago.