I truly didn’t realize how badly I’d been slacking on this series until I saw that two other seasons had been released since I watched the first one! I recall the first season being a bit of a confusing drag, but this time around I couldn’t watch Slow Horses fast enough!
Something I’d like to give credit to this show for right off the bat is their fearlessness in killing off main characters. They did it in the first season almost immediately with Olivia Cooke’s character, who I thought was a main character until she got killed in the second episode. Similarly this season, Min Harper meets his end halfway through the events. It certainly adds some stakes to the show. I know it’s hard for people to get invested into characters who suddenly are taken out of the story. But Slough House, for all of its drudgery, seems to have a very large target on its back.
For whatever reason, I found this season much more entertaining, as the slow horses spent the season trying to take down some rumored Russian sleeper agents. I have no clue if Russian sleeper agents are an actual real thing, but I certainly felt uneasy watching these events unfold. The slow horses are spurred into action when a former agent is found dead on a bus. Lamb was never a fan, though has he ever been a fan of anybody? Still, the unexpected death makes him uneasy, and when he finds the message “cicada” in his phone, he has to dig up many pieces of his past to try and solve this particular crime.
It is interesting how many different Russians MI5 encounter in these six episodes, and somehow they don’t even really have the same endgame. Min’s death is a result of him seeing too much, though it has more to do with greed and less to do with politics. Lamb learns eventually that all of these recent tragedies are personal, but only as personal as his actual job. I did find it endearing that Lamb kicked it into high gear when Min was found dead. He claims that even though he didn’t really like Min either, he still tolerated him and he was “one of his own.” The man may present as a disorganized, sloppy, curmudgeon, but it appears he actually does care.
River spent much of the season still trying to prove himself, but was isolated from the rest of the team. He was convinced he’d followed a Russian sleeper agent to the right location, but then spends the next couple of days walking on eggshells with locals of a small town. The climax of the season was really thrilling, and even the office dwellers got themselves into the field. They somehow all worked together to close the gap and save a lot of people in the process.
Back when the first season of this show aired, it was already confirmed to have three more already in the works. It’s since been renewed for a fifth season while the third season’s only just aired a few months ago! Crazy. I guess when you land Gary Oldman as the lead of a series, you better have the stuff ready for him! I do wonder how many of the thirteen works in the Slough House book series will end up being adapted. Especially if they keep killing off main characters! Remains to be seen.