Slow Horses: One for the Spy Lovers
A cross between John le Carre's best spy thrillers and TV comedy The Office.
Suitable for kids: No
Suitable for adults: Yes
If you like John le Carre’s spy thrillers, you are going to love Apple TV+’s Slow Horses. From the opening riffs of Mick Jagger's “Strange Game” (the legendary rocker is a fan of the series), you hear the lyrics that pretty much sum up the premise of the drama:
Surrounded by losers
Misfits and boozers
Hanging by your fingernails
The pacing is fast, the spies are burnt out, the plot is just intricate enough to be interesting and the espionage is good old fashioned Circus. All the MI5 lingo is there: MI5 is “the Park”, the muscle are “dogs” and the spies are “joes”.
Lead actor Gary Oldman's performance as Slough House spymaster Jackson Lamb is wonderfully free of vanity: he's out of shape, shambolic and as the Guardian puts it, “roars like a bear dipped in chip fat”. He wolfs down every meal like it is his last.
The show alludes to his once being a James Bond type in his earlier days. Lamb now mans Slough House, a MI5 department for burnouts and bums. His nemesis is MI5's Second Desk (Kristin Scott Thomas), a super-competent and ruthless administrator. The plots often involve a battle of wits between the two ageing lions.
On top of that, Slow Horses happens to be one of the best workplace comedies around. Make no mistake, the humour is sardonic and British. There are comic exchanges similar to The Office. Take the below scene for example. When Slough House head Jackson Lamb (Oldman) objects to being put in handcuffs, MI5's chief attack dog Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley) retorts wittily:
Flyte: I'd rather not take any chances with a man who looks like he gropes people on buses.
Lamb: You're being hurtful about my appearance. I might have to call HR.
This is strictly adult entertainment - clever, sly and witty. I would recommend tuning in just for the theme song alone.
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