Quick answer: Black Doves Season 2 gives Eleanor and Williams more than sharper banter and bigger action scenes. Their relationship becomes an emotional storyline in its own right: Williams discovers that her need for connection is stronger than she admits, while Eleanor has to stop dodging feelings that make her vulnerable. Their confession and first kiss arrive under fire, but the real development is quieter — two people who have learned to survive alone begin to imagine being someone’s safe place.
Spoilers for Black Doves Season 2, especially Episodes 4 and 5.
When Eleanor and Williams first appear together, their appeal is easy to understand. They are funny, blunt, frighteningly competent, and almost absurdly calm when a job turns violent. Their conversations can sound like two colleagues negotiating a routine shift, even when the room is full of danger. That comic rhythm makes them memorable, but it also risks making them look like a very effective double act rather than two fully formed people.
Season 2 changes that balance. The action remains, and the jokes still land, but the series spends more time showing what sits underneath the performance. Williams is not simply the sarcastic assassin who never flinches. Eleanor is not only the fearless partner who says whatever comes into her head. Both women have built ways of living that protect them from disappointment — and both discover that those defenses become harder to maintain when the other person matters.
Why Eleanor and Williams feel different from the usual assassin partnership
Television often treats professional killers as emotionally sealed characters. Their competence is the point; personal attachment is presented as a weakness or a plot complication. Eleanor and Williams begin close to that familiar model. They are good at the work, quick with a line, and comfortable with the idea that violence is simply part of the job.
But their partnership is not built only on shared skills. They understand each other’s humor, recognize each other’s rhythms, and can move through danger without needing to explain every decision. That kind of instinctive trust is already a form of intimacy. Season 2 makes the emotional meaning of that connection explicit.
Creator Joe Barton has explained that Williams was originally imagined as a Season 1 antagonist seeking revenge on Sam after he killed her partner. Gabrielle Creevy’s casting opposite Ella Lily Hyland changed the shape of the story. Barton saw a chemistry that suggested a compelling duo, and Eleanor — a new character — was developed around that pairing. It is a revealing creative choice: the relationship was not an afterthought added to two finished character biographies. The performers’ chemistry helped create the characters’ shared world.
Williams’ emotional shift: from revenge to wanting to belong
Williams begins from a place of anger. Her history with Sam gives her a reason to distrust the Black Doves’ world, and her work with Eleanor initially looks like another practical alliance. Yet Season 2 gradually reframes her. The woman who once seemed almost impossible to unsettle is increasingly affected by the possibility that she could lose someone important.
Hyland has described Williams as someone who is beginning to realize she cares about people and may not be as emotionally detached as she once believed. That is a meaningful change because the show does not turn her into a different person overnight. She remains dry, direct, and awkward when feelings become difficult to name. Her emotional growth comes through small shifts: jealousy she cannot easily hide, an instinct to stay close, and a new willingness to let another person see what she wants.
Her confession is not polished or conventionally romantic. Williams says what she feels while the pair are under fire, and even then the words arrive with the uncertainty of someone who has not practiced emotional honesty. The humor is still there, but it no longer functions only as a shield. It becomes part of the way she risks being sincere.
Eleanor’s vulnerability is not the same as losing her edge
Eleanor takes longer to acknowledge what is happening. Creevy has described her as someone who sees Williams becoming vulnerable and admires that openness, even while avoiding the same admission herself. That hesitation makes sense for a character who has learned to keep moving rather than sit with an emotion that could change the terms of her life.
Her directness can be mistaken for emotional openness. Eleanor says what she thinks, often without filtering it, but that does not mean she is comfortable admitting what she needs. There is a difference between being blunt and being vulnerable. Season 2 gives her room to discover that difference.
Creevy has also pointed to the absence of family and nurturing support in both women’s lives. They have been fighting to survive, and allowing someone close can feel frightening precisely because there is so much to lose. For Eleanor, Williams becomes a person who understands her without requiring her to perform a different version of herself. That is a deeper foundation for romance than a sudden attraction or a dramatic kiss.
The confession under fire works because the emotional groundwork is already there
The series places the turning point in the middle of a dangerous mission rather than giving the pair a quiet candlelit conversation. Williams admits her feelings during the chaos of Episode 4. Eleanor returns them in Episode 5, and the two share their first kiss while the threat around them is still very real.
On paper, that sounds like a familiar action-romance device: danger strips away hesitation and forces a confession. What makes it work here is that the season has already shown the awkwardness, jealousy, humor, and mutual dependence that lead to it. The gunfire does not create their feelings; it removes the last excuse for pretending those feelings are not there.
Netflix’s interview with Hyland and Creevy adds an important layer. The actors describe a relationship that grows through humor and understanding, and they talk about how the characters’ Welsh and Irish voices help distinguish the partnership. That cultural texture is not just decoration. It gives the two women a shared point of recognition in a world where they are often treated as interchangeable operatives.
Why the Welsh and Irish accents matter to the characters
The accents are part of the characters’ identity, not a novelty pasted onto the dialogue. Hyland has spoken about how meaningful it was to use her own Irish accent on screen, while Creevy has described the value of playing a Welsh assassin without having to erase her natural voice. Their comments point to something the series gets right: character specificity can come from sound, background, humor, and the way people relate to one another — not just from plot twists.
That representation also gives their partnership a distinctive energy. Their differences are audible, but the actors describe a close working rhythm and a sense that the characters operate almost as one unit. The result is a pairing that feels individual rather than a generic “two women with guns” setup.
What the relationship adds to Black Doves Season 2
Eleanor and Williams bring levity to a season crowded with betrayals, political danger, and the collapse of the Black Doves’ internal order. Their scenes can be funny without making the stakes feel meaningless. More importantly, they broaden the show’s emotional range. Helen and Sam’s connection is shaped by history, guilt, and loyalty; Eleanor and Williams offer a different question: what happens when two people who have built their lives around self-protection discover that partnership can become a home?
Their story also gives the wider organization a human dimension. The Black Doves are not only a network of handlers, contracts, and intelligence. They are made up of people who need trust, friendship, and belonging — even when the work they do makes those things difficult. Eleanor and Williams make that contradiction visible.
For readers following the pair’s story, continue with our coverage of Williams and Eleanor’s slow-burn romance, our look at the duo’s chaotic hit-squad dynamic, and the question of whether Sam’s bounty could put his own allies in danger.
Do Eleanor and Williams stay together after Season 2?
The Season 2 ending leaves their relationship in a hopeful place, but it does not give them a conventional happily-ever-after. They have admitted what they feel and chosen to act on it, yet they remain assassins in a dangerous organization whose future is uncertain. Their connection is real; the conditions around it remain unstable.
That uncertainty is part of the point. A relationship cannot erase the violence that brought them together, and the show does not pretend that love instantly makes either character safe or emotionally healed. Instead, Season 2 gives them something they did not have before: a reason to imagine a future that includes another person.
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Williams in Black Doves?
Williams is played by Irish actor Ella Lily Hyland. In Season 2, the character’s relationship with Eleanor reveals a warmer, more vulnerable side beneath her dry humor and composure.
Who plays Eleanor in Black Doves?
Eleanor is played by Welsh actor Gabrielle Creevy. She is a freelance assassin who partners with Williams and gradually becomes more open about her feelings.
When do Eleanor and Williams confess their feelings?
Williams confesses her feelings in Episode 4 while the pair are under fire. Eleanor returns the feelings in Episode 5, when they share their first kiss.
Why does Williams become more emotional in Season 2?
Season 2 explores Williams’ growing desire for connection. Her relationship with Eleanor challenges the emotional distance she has used to protect herself, revealing that she is not as detached as she once seemed.
Did Joe Barton create Eleanor specifically for Gabrielle Creevy?
Netflix’s interview explains that Williams was first conceived as a revenge-driven character, but Hyland’s chemistry with Creevy helped inspire Barton to create Eleanor as a new character for the pairing.
Are Eleanor and Williams a couple by the end of Season 2?
They acknowledge their feelings and share a kiss, establishing a romantic relationship. The finale leaves their future open rather than showing a settled long-term outcome.
Sources and further reading
- Netflix Tudum: Williams and Eleanor’s romance, explained by the cast
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 ending explained
- ITV News: The actors on representing Welsh and Irish accents
- The Guardian: Ella Lily Hyland on her Black Doves breakout role
By Shivam Das
