When I overhear someone asking the question, “When will season five be released,” I can guess to which show they are referring. Slow Horses, of course!
AppleTV+ first released season one of this British comedy/drama/spy thriller in April, 2022. Each of its four seasons dramatizes a book in the London-based Slough House series by Mick Herron. The premise is clever. An agent of MI5 who makes a serious mistake could be fired. If that error is just above firing level, the agent is relegated to Slough House.
Slough House is more than a temporary blot on a promising career. It is a punishment, a humiliation. The agents, derisively called Slow Horses, in that broken-down facility are considered rejects. They sit around doing nothing or menial work. However, sometimes they are called upon to investigate and defend their country. Those action adventures are at the heart of Slow Horses. Their dangerous pursuits are exciting, ultra modern, and will likely cause a rise in the blood pressure of viewers. I actually took my blood pressure during one sensational, life-threatening adventure, and, yes, my blood pressure did go up!
Any slick spy thriller makes for decent entertainment, but Slow Horses also has characters that have been artfully created and skillfully acted. The two outstanding characters are Jackson Lamb, the boss of Slough House, and River Cartwright, a young agent who has brilliance and ability, but constantly messes up assignments.
Lamb is played by Gary Oldman, and it’s quite a performance. Lamb is a slob. He refrains from bathing or washing his clothes. I wouldn’t touch his filthy hair. He is flatulent and stinks up his and others’ offices and cars. He’s an alcoholic, eats whatever and whenever, and insults many of his cohorts, including his sad bunch of Slow Horses. But stay with him; there is humanity and knowledge hidden within him.
River is played by Jack Lowden. He is the grandson of a former head of MI5, and this family angle is a bonus to an already complexly-plotted dramedy. River has everything it takes to be a great agent, but things seem to go wrong for him. I doubt that there is a bone in his body that hasn’t been broken by enemy agents.
Other notables are Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, Sophie Okonedo, Saskia Reeves, and Joanna Scanlan. The entire large cast work exceedingly well as an ensemble.
Even with such a dramatic premise, comedy abounds. At the same time as explosives are blasting, good and bad guys are being knifed and shot, with blood is spewing onto walls, toilets, stairwells, and onto both assassins and victims, viewers have a mix of reactions. The gore is disgusting though acceptable these days. The stories are so well scripted that we feel emotions for the characters biting the dust and simultaneously even have a laugh at some error a character makes. Particularly the intrusions of a silly-ass computer nerd, Roddy Ho, played by Christopher Chung, make a violent escapade a blend of thriller, tragedy and a good laugh.
If foul language is a turn-off, then give this show a pass. The F word abounds. What The Sweeney was to British TV audiences as an updated version of a police procedural, so is Slow Horses an ultra-modern take on the spy thriller.
Mick Jagger wrote, and performs the theme song, “Strange Game.” It’s gritty, suitable to the mood of the show. When will season five appear? After all, a season six already is announced. Internet buzz suggests AppleTV+ will release season five in September.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
