From The Playlist:
“I think they’re f*cking losers,” spy veteran Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) says with characteristic brutal honesty to Mi5 superior Diana Taverner (Kristen Scott Thomas) when asked if he really cares for his team of rejects, while they sit on a park bench at 2 am in the middle of a national crisis. “But they’re my losers,” he says with loyal punctuation. This moment might sum up “Slow Horses,” in a nutshell, a darkly humorous British espionage thriller featuring a rogue, insubordinate spy old-timer, who is the boss of Slough House: a punitive dumping ground shithole and spy division for banished agents, f*ck ups, and castaways who have been exiled from the main Regent’s Park M15 HQ for embarrassing career-ending blunders of one sort or another.
Based on the book by Mick Herron, and very capably directed by James Hawes (“Black Mirror,” “The Alienist”), while the plot and various internecine squabbles between agencies is intriguing stuff, “Slow Horses” really excels with its characters, writing, and the quick-wittedness delivered by its excellent cast. Written by English comedian Will Smith, he of the Armando Iannucci stable known for work on “Veep,” “The Thick Of It,” “Avenue Five” and “Paddington 2,” “Slow Horses” has a similar crackling quickness and tête-à-tête of quips, jabs, and witheringly amusing rejoinders.
And *spoiler,* episode six ends with a trailer for season two, seemingly already in the can and ready to go. Either way, it’s a confidence that is well-earned. Its dark thrills and funny, mischievous sleaziness give it a feeling of crossing “In the Loop,” “The Office” and 007, while its poignant notions of redemption give it a bruising mood of chips on shoulders and something to prove. “Slow Horses” is a top-notch British espionage series with a superb cast, gripping vigor, and man, I cannot wait for more.
Mick Herron's website
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