My pal and FC loyal contributor Ted S. and I are huge fans of the Slow Horses, the acclaimed dark comedy spy series on Apple TV+. I’m thrilled that in addition to the upcoming 5th season, we’ll be getting a new 6-episode sixth season as well, expected to air in 2026.  This is one of the rare series where it just gets better every season, check out Ted’s review of the latest season (s4) that premiered last month.
– Ruth

Around the mid to late 2010s, there were talks that the Golden Age of TV series was coming to an end because some of the greatest TV shows ever created had ended their run or were about to end. Shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Games of Thrones were huge in ratings and won several awards. But then 2020 happened and it doesn’t look like the Golden Age of TV is going to end anytime soon. Personally, since the Covid years, I’ve been watching more TV series than going to see movies at the cinemas. There are so many great TV shows within the past few years. One of them is Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, which happens to be my favorite show on TV right now. There are 4 seasons of the show so far and it’s one of the rare shows that gets better each season.

Based on the Slough Houses novel series written by Mick Herron. It’s about a group of MI5s reject agents who either messed up their missions or aren’t competent enough to be working at MI5’s headquarters. Think of them as the loser version of the Mission: Impossible team. The head of this group is Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), he’s a slob who drinks too much and doesn’t care about his looks or anyone on his team. Jackson reports to his boss, Deputy Director, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas)—think of her as the Pamela Landy from the Jason Bourne films.

The series regulars are River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), who’s like incompetent James Bond; Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar), another agent who messed up on her previous mission; Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), the computer genius of the group but kind of a slacker; Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), a competent agent but have issues with drugs and anger; Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan) an untrustworthy agent who have gambling issues and lastly Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), the office admin who’s a recovered alcoholic and have a history with Lamb. Another series regular is David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), River’s grandfather and a retired agent who happens to be Lamb’s old boss.

The missions assigned to the Slow Horses team aren’t as big or world-saving akin to the ones James Bond or the Impossible Mission Force are assigned to. They tend to deal with smaller domestic terrorists or enemies of MI5. In the latest season, the group is dealing with an enemy that could take down not only the Slow Horses team but the entire MI5 group.

Without giving out any spoilers, I’ll summarize the story of season 4. When a suicide bomb goes off at the mall in London, River Cartwright decides to investigate who’s behind the bombing alone. He heads to France where he discovers something about his past and meets face-to-face with the person behind the bombing, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving). Harkness is an ex-CIA agent who worked with both the US and British governments. After he left the Agency, Harkness decided to train young boys to become assassins to work for him and become mercenaries. Think of this group as The Syndicate from the Mission: Impossible films. When his deal with one of the people who hired him went sour, Harkness must clean up his mess by ordering the assassination of anyone who knew him in the past. This list includes River’s grandfather.

While in London, Lamb is trying to find out why some of his old teammates are being killed off. The rest of the Slow Horses group are trying to hide David Cartwright from both the assassins and MI5 agents.

This season is so well written, acted, directed, and edited that I felt like I was watching a great big summer film. Each season only has 6 episodes, but I wish this season was longer. The credit goes to the series creator Will Smith, no not that Will Smith. This Smith is probably best known for his work on another great show, Veep. He hired great talents to write and direct each episode.

The performances by the actors were great all around. Especially, Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. I always enjoy their banters each time they have a scene together. I know Hugo Weaving has been typecast as the villain but he’s great as season 4’s main antagonist. I hope the Bond producers will cast him as the villain in the next Bond film.

I know there are many other great shows on TV right now, but I highly recommend Slow Horses. Even though there are 4 seasons so far, I feel like the show’s very underrated, and not a lot of people are watching it. I heard that most British people don’t even know about it even though the show is set in London. Apple needs to do a better job of promoting their shows.

Have you watched Slow Horses yet? I’d love to hear what you think!
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