Every person makes mistakes. This also applies to a spy. If you think your career is over then you are wrong. Fortunately, you can go to the security service's drain: the Slow Horses. I was initially completely unaware of the existence of this series. This changed when I read a news item on MySeries.tv about the start date for the third season. There were positive reactions about this series and I started to look into it further. The concept appealed to me and so I decided to start the new year with Slow Horses. I'm so glad I did, because it's a fantastic series to watch.
Slow Horses is a sharp-witted spy drama. The series is based on the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron. As a viewer you follow a assembled team of MI5 agents and their unpleasant boss, the infamous Jackson Lamb. Against their will, they become involved in a game of pretense and deceit and must try to protect Britain from dark figures.
The Slow Horses form a unit known as Slough House, which is also a reference to the dilapidated building in which they reside. You can enter the building by hitting the door firmly. The group is a ragtag bunch of MI5 agents who have failed miserably at some point in their careers. The team consists of Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung, Waterloo Road), Min Harper (Dustin Demri-Burns, The Great), Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar, Class of '09), Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke, House of the Dragon), Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves, Luther) and the infamous Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman).
In my opinion, the success formula can be attributed to the great source material, but also to the fabulous performance of Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, who may well be playing the role of his life.
The newest member of the Slow Horses is River Cartwright (Jack Lowden, The Gold). During an exercise at a station, he incorrectly identified a person as a terrorist, and in a real situation, this would have had major consequences. Even though River is convinced that wrong information has been given to him, he is blamed and is allowed to report to the Slow Horses. Unlike most agents, River is an ambitious agent. Instead of digging through or archiving unimportant files from years ago, he wants to look for action. When a group of kidnappers kidnap someone and threaten to behead him on national television, River sees his chance to get stuck in.
All of this goes against the grain of the most fantastic character I've seen lately: Jackson Lamb. Lamb wants to ensure that you are as unmotivated as possible in the office. The moment he first appears on screen you see an unkempt man, holes in his socks, drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He is derogatory to his colleagues with statements such as 'you are the low point of my career' and 'if you are still in the office after working hours then I have not done my job properly'. Behind this gloomy and sarcastic man lies a highly skilled MI5 agent. He can see situations and actions coming from both enemies and allies from miles away. He copes with these situations in his own unorthodox ways.
Completely against Lamb's wishes, River gets the Slow Horses involved in the situation surrounding the kidnappers. The MI5 led by Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas, Fleabag) must get this situation under control. When things threaten to go wrong, Diana tries to pin the blame on the foolish Slow Horses as a safety net. Diana has a love-hate relationship with Jackson Lamb and this produces nice dialogue.
When I read the concept of this series I thought it would be a humorous series. I find this title misleading. Slow Horses certainly has a serious undertone, but the drama is illuminated by subtle and perceptive humor that is beautifully woven throughout the series. This combination gives the series an original and exciting approach, making it pleasant to watch. In my opinion, the success formula can be attributed to the great source material, but also to the fabulous performance of Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, who may well be playing the role of his life. Slow Horses has already had three seasons in a short time and has already been renewed for a fourth and fifth season. I watched all the available seasons back to back and I only have one piece of advice: watch this!
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
This Slow Horses is one of my favorite Apple TV+ series. Exciting and entertaining with the necessary action, twists and dry humor. A great cast led by an excellent grumpy, dirty Gary Oldman who plays together perfectly. A review I completely agree with about a great series, which fortunately is still not over.
That could very well be the case, because there are already three seasons available. There wasn't a single review about this series yet and I thought that should change. From there we started with a review of the first season :)
Precisely because of the lack of reviews, I started with few expectations. Before I knew it I was completely hooked and watched all 4 seasons in a row. What a great series! Gary Oldman's play is so phenomenally good that I will probably watch the series again when season 5 comes out.
