Given the consistently superior quality of its previous sessions, the latest season of Slow Horses – based on Mick Herron’s fifth Slough House novel, London Rules — might be viewed as something of a misstep. The pacing is more stop-and-go, the structure less neat, and it may lean a little too hard on slapstick, especially in its characterization of everyone’s favorite ass, Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung). Do any of these drawbacks sap my enthusiasm? Fuck no, because the show remains funny and engrossing, largely faithful to what has quickly become my favorite novel series even as it enhances key characters with perfect casting.
Slough House is in rough shape to start the season, its under-renovation digs haunted by traumatic memories of violence and death. River (Jack Lowden) has developed a real attitude problem, Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) has arranged a leave of absence, Shirley (Aimee Ffion-Edwards) has PTSD, and Coe (Tom Brooke), well, he was already messed up. Only Roddy Ho seems in good spirits, something not even an attempt on his life — which Shirley rescues him from — can quash. As it turns out, Roddy has landed a girlfriend, Tara (Hiba Bennani). This seems so unlikely that Shirley’s claim that someone was trying to assassinate Ho, initially dismissed, gains credence. The slow horses canter into action, despite the chronic reservations of their cantankerous boss Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). But soon he begins to see a pattern, one that suggests a coordinated, conspiratorial effort to strike at the British government.
Season five’s comedic excesses, which extend to a key subplot involving bumbling “first desk” Claude Whelan (James Callis), make it slightly more difficult to take seriously, especially on the heels season four’s more dramatic events. But there’s still so much to like here, even beyond the sustained greatness of Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas (who returns as ruthless MI5 careerist Diana Taverner). Jack Lowden continues his subdued brilliance enacting River’s hangdog personality during a particularly surly season for him. Aimee-Ffion Edwards grows increasingly winning in her relentless resilience, while Tom Brooke builds eccentric mystique as the haunted J.K. Coe. Another side plot, involving a divisive London mayoral campaign, makes fine use of Victoria Hamilton, Nick Mohammed, and Christopher Villiers, while Ruth Bradley continues to grow into her role as Emma Flyte, ever caught between the scheming machinations of Lamb and Taverner. Saskia Reeves is as likable as ever, while Jonathan Pryce delivers heartbreaking scenes as River’s declining grandfather. So yes, compared to the first four seasons, this one does have a few unsightly blemishes, perhaps due to the specific challenges of its source material. But all in all, Slow Horses continues to deliver precisely what I want from it, and I have every intention of riding along with it for as long as it runs.
