Slow Horses

I put off watching this because while I thought it might be interesting in a half novel way to see Oldman muck about as the anti-Smiley I also thought it was likely to be shite

Now I'm sure some of you have seen it and do indeed consider it shite but I otoh have been very pleasantly surprised at how much much I'm having. It is that rare beast that seems to be smart about cliffhanger plot twists and just manages to keep you on the edge of "oh this is ridiculous" but paying off and dragging you back in.

and scott-thomas is all time foxy in it

I really like the show. Have watched both seasons.

much much!

Saw like 2 episodes cos my mum told me to. Thought it was quite good? Don't watch TV much so didn't see any more. Great contribution imago

I like it a lot. Gary Oldman is ridiculously watchable.

Literally started watching it a couple of weeks ago and have now almost finished the second season. Think the third one is out imminently.

Had always thought it was a comedy for some reason, and whilst it does have chuckles, it gets pretty intense at times and is definitely more drama than dramedy.

Oldman obviously having a blast and some of the support great too. It's also not afraid to jettison cast members, which was kind of surprising given how Slough House is a fairly small team to start with

i like how bad of a spy our pretty boy is

^yes it's a simple idea but highly effective

Third one's out end of this month.

It's like a really high-end BBC One Sunday night drama. Obviously I love it, but the surprise for me is that the husband also loves it, despite the fact that he never watches BBC One Sunday night dramas, no, not even Line of Duty.

i think the tone is a lot more fun and flash than that tbh

say to compare it to that submarine one- dreaful, overplotted, heavy THEME THEME THEME overwrought waste of all talent involved

this would undercut almost every large theme moment with a beat such as the duran duran looking spy constantly turning in the wrong direction or Oldman uttering a hoarse delboy faaarkawwf

the ending was underwhelming (our standish/partner/oldman reveal) and i cant for the life of me figure out even in the internal show logic how taverner is allowed remain in situ other than being blinded by her wardrobe but all in all that's not an awful tally in the 'against' column

haven't watched the show but i've been mainlining the books recently, they are very fun and well-written. however, the show seems to be going directly from the books (s1 is book 1, s2 is book 2, etc) so it might be hard to enjoy the books if you've already seen the show.

i enjoyed the slow reveal that gary oldman's v amusing disgusting savagery is both the unsurprising cover for a sensitive heart but also a rather more surprising reaction to having done something truly appalling in the line of duty

Deems would I like this

The submarine one - Vigil - had one great line, and only that:

https://i.imgur.com/SiDlcHX.jpeg

We greatly enjoyed Vigil in our house. Husband watched about ten minutes of it over the back of the sofa, when someone was saying to Suranne Jones "how are you in confined spaces?" and husband gasped and said, "Oh no, my husband was killed by a confined space!" which, well. It was very that.

This is obviously not that, but it does remind me of that other one where Ron Perlman messes about with cameras.

there are levels on which one can enjoy terribly lazy nonsense and look, suranne jones is great and i like endeavour too but all in all that moneybwas better spent on irrigation

gyac- yeah i think so its lively and snappy

I read the first book this year, owing to my desire to stretch out any genre fiction series as long as possible I probably won’t read the second one until the new year

i've only watched season 1 but this show exceeded my expectations. it bears superficial resemblance to other slightly more subdued espionage/police thrillers in some ways, along with itself involving slightly more subdued clock-racing and homegrown terrorism vs the more histrionic 24, but it really is its own thing. it somehow manages to never lose its humor even in the midst of all the catastrophic events and mistakes of the lead characters, even while engaging in some absolutely pitch-black twists at the very end of the season. the right-wing reporter being unceremoniously taken care of was maybe a bit unbelievable, as it seemed like a very public bit of problem-handling, but I'm curious to see where it goes from there. absolutely hateful character, so well-played. Featuring an extremely likable and blatantly flawed crew of heroes, per the concept, plus an appropriately repulsive and "gray hat" performance from Oldman. Kristin Scott Thomas could probably play the icy agency goon role in her sleep, she's vv good. bonus lols from the Coldplay CD being stuck in the car.

the journalist was a brilliant performance, yes. i think its rare to so unshowily but perfectly nail that kind of odious personality, he made me itch with every expression/word

i should remember his name but the guy who ends up romancing is equally good in a role that on paper is just light relief but he absolutely makes it so much better

unlike jamie from the thick of it who is i think the only below par performance

3rd series is good … the first 10 minutes or so is a bit worrying - teasing that it’s become a generic spy thriller - but all is fine.

And Vigil is back with series 2 today, minus submarine. We are thoroughly spoiled.

Enjoying the new season so far

Just starting this show, about 3 episodes in. Really enjoyable. Will wait to read thread until I am at least through season 2.

New season is so good. Jackson Lamb has gone to a whole new level of Jackson Lamb-ness.

season 2 finale incoming

took a break because of frustration at how awful a spy ginger fella is

i know hes meant to be i know thats the joke but

honestly

lol this show repays these little irritations tenfold ofc

Just finished s3 -- for some reason I thought I had one more ep to go, so during the climax I was like "How can they possibly ratchet up the intensity even further???" & then it just ended lol. Fun show, I'll keep watching as long as they want to keep making it.

I do wonder if they will eventually run out of obnoxious supporting characters from previous seasons to bring back for heel turns and nasty on-screen deaths

That final episode...nothing interesting happened? All the big plot points landed in episode 5 (except the Standish/Lamb conversation), this was mostly just a bunch of people shooting at each other. Maybe I'm looking for the wrong show.

As a show, it’s very good at managing changes of mood and tension within an individual episode.

otm

i trust it fully at this stage, especially when i know its fucking with me

xxp the baddies get their comeuppance, surely that counts for summat?

sophie okonedo as devalera now pls

Fun show, I'll keep watching as long as they want to keep making it.

^OTM

watched through to the end and fully agree it was a poor wrap up with the time and focus on all the wrong things

but the best season overall

The "next season" previews make it look like it's already shot?
There weren't any scenes hinting at it but here's hoping Oldman finally has to team up Buddy Comedy-style with an increasingly Alzheimer's addled Pryce.
Also Oldman's slobby surliness makes me wish he'd also played Johnny Rotten in Sid & Nancy.

Yeah, friend of mine saw them shooting some Christmassy stuff earlier in the year but that's clearly season 4 which they must have recorded at the same time as this one.

yes its reported as back to back filming

I think it was only this season that I realised what a silly show this is (and that's ok).

and scott-thomas is all time foxy in it

oh just wait

If it turns out they’re ex lovers i might die of happiness

Who’s the LOTR fan that came up with Elessar Intelligence Services

probably Douglas

hilarious how lamb is always two steps ahead of the other horses

A bit less enthused about s2 which feels very patchy and which was all over the place. Dmac was like, it’s part of its charm but idk, when your man the silent assassin doesn’t notice a whole phone slipped into his jacket pocket I was kind of out on it?

HOWEVER

the final scene is shot at St Michael’s Cornhill, one of my favourite churches I’ve ever been to, I have always wondered why it hasn’t featured in film more because that door is so distinctive and the blue is so beautiful.

Also how did your man go from Nigel Farage cutout except actually elected to Home Secretary, I must have missed the exposition on that

we could ask the same of many irl cabinet members tbf!

agree S2 is weak at points

S3 is the best imo so

There weren't any scenes hinting at it but here's hoping Oldman finally has to team up Buddy Comedy-style with an increasingly Alzheimer's addled Pryce

ive not read the books but ive had an idea or two about pryce since early in season 1 tbh and im getting more certain all the time

not sure what "convinced" or "satisfying" mean to others: i have been laughing a lot (all i really ask for, more than i often get)

for exciting insightful TV that teaches me about the workings of the world there is always this: can i really be the only person watching LA REINA DEL SUR?

(tho i see i need to update the thread)

It's a good question. In my case, I think 'not completely convinced' means:

I am pleased to have the cast back, and as noted above the use of London is fantastic. However, Lamb might be being mined a bit too much for comedy, ditto Ho, and Diana Taverner has been trapped in recurring set piece scenes for several series now.

* several seasons

ho is a terrible, terrible character and terribly realised

i dunno was it?

Yes? He was a Slow Horse because his boss sabotaged his career, he didn’t seem to be as misanthropic or fucked up as any of the others, he wasn’t particularly incompetent.

This season, just a dick top to bottom.

I’m enjoying this season, and its slightly lower ambitions, much more than last year’s.

But Lamb still seems over-powered and unruffle-able. We know he can wriggle out of trouble because he does it every season. I want to see him struggle and meet his match. Also, it would be good TV!

nice to see the plot borrowing from
https://cdn001.tintin.com/public/tintin/img/static/land-of-black-gold/C14_Or_Noir-en-p01-d2-d3-color_2.png

Ok - this latest season is poor.

Yeah agreed. And this final ep was quite bad

Yes? He was a Slow Horse because his boss sabotaged his career, he didn’t seem to be as misanthropic or fucked up as any of the others, he wasn’t particularly incompetent.

he is an incompetent joke of an operator

he may have been sabotaged but easily so tbh and the excesses of his impulsive behavior - evident time and time again throughout the series- were what did the most telling damage even then

he's fairly clearly imo a bit of a parody of a bond type spy and rather like whenever lecarre includes one of those im pretty sure its clear that means hes a shit spy and also everyone who has to work with him thinks hes both dangerous and probably an asshole

like I don't think this is at all a strange or controversial take here

i like how bad of a spy our pretty boy is

― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), 16 November 2023 22:53 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

^yes it's a simple idea but highly effective

― rob, 16 November 2023 23:03 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

You seem to have confused what I said (“hard to see why River was so widely disliked”) with “actually he’s clearly an intelligence superhero.”

you seem to have ignored the part of my post where i didn't do that at all

totally "incompetent joke of an operator" "hes a shit spy"

you're close. i believe in you.

The increasingly insecure, moody, and colleague-needling River in this season is a poor development.

While agreeing that this was a weak season, though still entertaining, I'm prepared to accept the shift in River's character. His parentage is not what he thought it was, and is pretty scary, and the one stable force in his life is no longer stable. He is even more desperate for Lamb to step into the grandfatherly role, and Lamb just won't do it (which I think is a real strength of the show). I could see that he would be flailing and lashing out now. That's not to say that the programme-makers have handled that particularly well.

The first 2 episodes of this season passed by with little impact so I was ready to call it "bad" (never saw the stingy 6 episode limit as a flaw before) but the remainder at least saved it to the serviceable level. It does feel like they need some major development/breakthrough in the River and Lamb characters so it doesn't feel like an endless retread of flaws we have seen multiple times before, getting a bit stale.

whenever shirley's not on screen all the other characters should be asking where's shirley

(unironically this) (also applies to coe)

I haven't seen the new season, but fwiw I think River is likeable as a character because he looks like the lead in a spy movie but is actually a hapless idiot, while deems is correct that being a hapless idiot is not a likeable trait in a coworker

River has become a very unlikable character, though. He's a huge asshole all season long, and without spoiling anything, he causes way more problems than he solves.

But this season was a very tough watch in general, because of the amount of time spent on Roddy Ho, who really should be dumped in a river or something.

yeah you get enough bits of River being a peevish prick in earlier seasons that I can definitely see them going too far with it

Yea River gets very irritating and so does Lamb. And agreed not enough Shirley this season and too much 1st desk/park in general

roddy has been a dreadfully badly done character since season 2

not seen new season but agree on the fairly obvious background as to why river might turn a bit awry at this stage, its been well flagged imo

I like River and the actor who plays River, and I thought this season was more enjoyable than last year’s. The plotting was too convenient - Lamb is essentially a telepath now. But I thought de-centering River and Louisa was a good choice and stopped it feeling samey. Shirley and Catherine short-changed as usual though.

this was fun. the team is feeling pretty small though.

poking my head round the door to say I’ve finished s3, about to start s4 and:

**i farking luv this show!**

Ho was sitting at negative 1000 on a scale of “characters i enjoy” but he’s bumped up to a solid 0 for s3 revealing him being an Iron Maiden

overall this show is a marvel of just continually showcasing layers of unlikeablility in almost every single character, from the very subtly unlikeable/incompetent/awkard to completely & utterly repellent (RIP Webb).
Not unlike a Viennetta in that regard lol

*an Iron Maiden FAN

Ahah he kinda is an iron maiden though

lol

This was a strange, strange season. Still enjoyable but the Final Destination-esque dispatch of Gimball came from out of nowhere, and the plotline ultimately went nowhere. Nick Mohammed seemed like a miscast. I liked the focus on Roddy Ho though

I appreciate the dedication to not meeting the expectations of every other show (or the limitations of the short season) - instead of a full episode, possibly even two on covering up the accidental killing of Gimball they just bounce and keep going

just finished s4 onto s5
fuck i love this show kthxbye

S5Ep1 is bad so far

there's not enough any more to offset the lazy/grating elements imo

stand by for more thrilling updates

i enjoyed s5 tbh

honestly overall i loved the whole series! pvmic i guess. didn’t really feel as bunged abt the river backstory season as others seemed to, taken as a whole this series is like chocolate cake compared to the stodgy treats that pass as good tv

line readings are absolutely stinking

did they not have time for second takes

it picked up

I've been enjoying Slow Horses and haven't even noticed a drop-off, but God, I finally caught up The Night Manager and it is in a different league. I love Susanne Bier.

Been thinking about rewatching Night Manager now that a new season is coming in a week or two. Although, could they really expect you to remember anything from the first season which aired ten years ago? I’m assuming the new season will stand on its own…

i havent read the books, the jumps to global level events are what make the season to season so uneven imo

if theyd followed a thread from end season 1 through without explosions and massive shootouts but actually bringing our characters along (instead of introducing a new one with a shallow gimmick to be used in the final episode every time) i think it wouldnt suffer so much from tonal schizophrenia

not going to read this thread more to avoid spoilers at this time, just commenting --

three seasons in, really excellent, top tier fun thriller. far better than most, just on casting alone, but of course also on plotting. there's no wasted time and thus far it doesn't feel the need to have final episodes which run twice as long as the others.

i'm a big fan of the concept of a crew of flawed, consistently underrated schmucks who rise to the occasion through a mix of instinct and good luck and tenacity.

not sure there was anything more satisfying in S3 than seeing Spider get death-punched, though Shirley dropping a grenade down the hatch on the final handful of mercenaries, Jim Brown Dirty Dozen style, was vv close.

For me the character of Lamb and Oldman's performance is so far above anything else in the show that it feels unbalanced. Standish has roundedness potential but everyone else is pretty flat in comparison. Kristin S-T does her usual character.

I’m finally catching up on the latest season and on plot alone it’s my favorite. I do wish though that MI5 just throw Ho to the wolves but I guess seeing him dab in the interrogation room was good for a laugh.

i loved him trying to do Silence of the Lambs cosplay

I don’t find the cast unbalanced - the differences give us the sense that the younger agents are less effectual and as-yet-unformed, while Oldman has the weight of age and experience that’s both a blessing and a punishment. Agree KST is doing the usual KST, but nothing wrong with that. Standish is what happens when when you age but don’t question your experience.

Caught up, and I enjoyed 5 over 4 (the whole arc of which seemed a lot more fanciful in a way that doesn't fit why I like the show).

I'm not sure how many books there are but I fully expected 5 to be the last, so I'm glad to see we have at least another season coming.

There's 9 so far (and various novellas)

there will be a seventh season as well

catching up on s5 now that i have appletv again

kinda feel like ho doesn't work in the context of tv show. he's ridiculous in the books too but most of his ridiculousness comes from his internal monologue, where you read how amazing he thinks he is, vs in the show where he's constantly talking about how amazing he is (and doing shit like cosplaying silence of the lambs). he ends up feeling way too cartoonish.