Posted in: Apple, TV | Tagged: Slow Horses

Slow Horses: Season 5 Slow Burn Pays Off in Some Very Big Ways

Slow Horses Season 5 seemed to be the lightest so far, but the finale pays off in very big ways and sets the table for an explosive Season 6.

Season 5 of Slow Horses, the TV adaptation of Mick Herron's darkly comic spy novels, is complete. The series has come a long way, establishing itself as the best spy series currently on TV, and has also developed its own identity that's recognisable from the books but also distinctive in its own right. It has changed several elements from the novel to make it dynamic as a TV series. It's more precise and direct, cutting certain characters, subplots, and scenes to create a more streamlined story.

Series 5 adapts "London Rules", the fifth novel in the Slow Horses books (or Slough House to hardcore fans). The season feels faster and lighter because the first five episodes were barely more than 30 minutes long, so the plot just whizzed by before a 51-minute finale. By now, showrunner Will Smith and his writers have the routine and characters' schticks down. Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) is grouchy, slovenly, and farty, but the smartest man for five miles. Diana "Lady Di" Tavener (Kristin Scott Thomas) is better qualified for first chair than the men put in charge above her. River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is a nepo baby spy kid who thinks he should be James Bond. Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) is the incel hacker everybody hates. Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves) is a recovering alcoholic who knows as much as Lamb where the bodies are buried. The main plot of each season, like the books, stems from something terrible the British Secret Service did in the past, now back to bite them in the ass, that Lamb and the Slow Horses have to clean up. Aside from that, minor but significant changes have been made to the TV series.

Slow Horses: Changes from the Book

Claude Whelan is a bumbling mediocrity in the books, and this season gave him more to do by turning him into the cause of all the trouble throughout the season. James Callis makes the character more enjoyable to watch than expected, especially in his final confrontation with Lamb, which turns out to be a hilariously one-sided and sadistic skewering. Shirley Dander (Aimee Ffion-Edwards) is watered down from the books, being less violent and less prominent, while more time has been given to J.K. Coe (Tom Brooke), who's even more deadly and psychopathic than she is – and has become the show's biggest scene-stealer. There's a reveal at the end about Jackson Lamb's past that the books have always been hesitant about revealing outright.

The season's ending puts Lamb and Slough House in a good position where things seem settled, but the trailer for next season suggests the shit hits the fan for everyone, which means season five has really been the calm before the storm. This was Will Smith's final season as showrunner, and the trailer for season six already suggests a loud and even more action-driven approach while sticking to the next books in the series, which means Slow Horses remains in good hands.

Slow Horses is streaming on Apple TV.

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