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If I were to tell you that the best show on TV is about a farting secret agent who’s more likely to have points on his driving license than a license to kill, would you believe me?
I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.
Spy stories are so often about sexy and stylish secret agents doing sensational things, not losers rifling through bins and pointlessly pushing paper.
Yet not all spy series are Slow Horses, the best show on TV that’s about to return for a fifth season that may be its best yet.
Based on Mick Herron’s popular Slow Horses book series, this show follows the flatulent and feckless spymaster Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman).
Lamb is the master of Slough House, a sort of administrative purgatory for incompetent British intelligence agents who are forced to do meaningless paperwork like bureaucratic Sisyphi.
Think of it as less John le Carré and more John le Can’t-bé-arsed.
In season five, then, Lamb and his Slow Horses must investigate a series of terror attacks causing chaos in London.
This time, it isn’t River (Jack Lowden) who finds himself at the heart of some fiasco, though.
Instead, it’s the team’s hateable hacker Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) who’s somehow managed to find a girlfriend despite his general awfulness.
Thought-provoking, funny, and exciting, Slow Horses season five is a return to form for Apple TV Plus’s best-kept secret (seriously, how are people still sleeping on this show?).
How so? Well, firstly, it feels incredibly timely.
Without turning this review into a parliamentarian’s Substack, there’s a political dynamic to this story that feels very relevant to the now.
It’s about malicious and power-hungry people using tragedy to further their own ends, and I appreciated a TV show for daring to tackle an issue many in our political class wouldn’t go near with a ten-foot bargepole.
I also think tonally, the series was an improvement on the fourth season.
You see, while season four was certainly bombastic, it also felt a little disjointed, in large part because the characters were separated for the bulk of the story as River wandered the French countryside looking for his dad (Hugo Weaving).
This meant we had to keep cutting between River and the team back in London, which I didn’t like.
It felt muddled and robbed us of one of the best things about Slow Horses, Jackson reminding River what a useless lump he is.
Season five, then, rather cleverly puts the focus back on the dysfunctional team, allowing for the fun interactions between the incompetent agents that make this show such a fun watch.
Of course, that’s not to say some characters don’t get more focus than others, and in this series, we learn an awful lot about Roddy Ho.
Now, if this were a lesser show, this could have been a disaster. Roddy isn’t an easy character to like; in fact, I can honestly say I despise him.
He’s a misogynistic know-it-all with an oversized ego and all the social skills of a mollusc.
It’s a testament to the Slow Horses writers’ skills that they can make him a sympathetic and engaging lead (of sorts) for this story without sanding off his rough edges.
You don’t quite come away from season five liking Roddy, but you do respect him more… in a begrudging sort of way.
The same can be said of Lamb. He’s a character whose enigmatic past and misanthropic nature make him a compelling lead for a show like this.
You put up with his grouchiness and alcoholism because you want to know how such a capable agent became the human equivalent of a public urinal.
Yet the more time we spend with Lamb, peeling back his stinky onion layers, the more the writers risk demystifying him and robbing him of his musky allure.
Thankfully, five seasons in Lamb remains a baffling puzzle for the most part, thanks to careful scripting and Oldman’s sizzling performance.
That said, it is nice when they do give us a glimmer of the man he is beneath the sweat and nicotine-stained suit.
Now I don’t want you to go away thinking this is all jokes and character work.
This isn’t Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Stand-Up, and there’s plenty of spectacular action to keep your adrenaline up.
The best sequence in the show comes a few episodes in when the Slow Horses manage to get the jump on some other spies.
It’s a well-choreographed set piece that’s both funny and exciting.
Best of all, it doesn’t feel out of place either. We know by this point the Slough House lot isn’t as useless as the rest of the spy world seems, and it’s nice to see them get a win.
All in all, then Slow Horses season five is a bit of a triumph. I can’t think of a thing I didn’t like about it. The cast is brilliant, the story’s engaging, and the dialogue sharper than ever.
When you can, go watch it. You won’t regret it.
Slow Horses season 5 releases on September 25 on Apple TV Plus
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