Footprints

Did they get new writers? This was just a string of laughably ridiculous gunfight scenes. Absurdly ignorant characters "following orders" like mindless minions. If this follows the books, then bollocks to the author. Did I use that word right? Probably not. But my grasp of Brit slang is ten times stronger than the Dogs and Chieftan mercenaries' effectiveness using their combat gear, which is almost nil. "I used civilians for target practice in Iraq" was the lowest point in the script, revealing just how ignorant and juvenile the writers of this episode are. I may not watch S4 if it follows this tack. Not even tapping the spoiler alert button, you deserve to do something else than watch this drivel. Move on, no loss of character development or story twists here.

One of "Slow Horses" best features is that the seasons consist of just six episodes - which not only allows the stories to play out quickly and without padding, but also has allowed me to catch back up with all of it relatively fast. This third run, with another couple of guest stars, was another excellent season.

An operation in Istanbul sees agent Alison Dunn (Katherine Waterstone) dead and her lover, and fellow agent, Sean Donovan (Sope Dirisu) distraught. A year later, Donovan meets Standish (Saskia Reeves) at an AA meeting and, in the aftermath, kidnaps her. River (Jack Lowden) receives instructions to recover a file from MI5 headquarters, in one hour, or Standish will be killed. Close to achieving this seemingly impossible task and having made yet more enemies at Regents Park, Lamb (Gary Oldman) calls instructing him to stop.

"Gangs of London" star Sope Dirisu is the big get for the series and he's excellent as the Donovan, driven to do some questionable things to get to the bottom of Dunn's death. There is another level of ploy and counter ploy that sits above the plot of this one, though to go into it would be a bit too spoilery. "Agents of SHIELD" star Nick Blood appears in this run also and is welcome whenever he's on screen.

Again, the delight is mostly in the interactions between characters. Lamb talking to anyone remains great and this season really turns the combination of Shirley, played by Aimee-Ffion Edwards and Marcus, played by Kadiff Kirwan into a real double act. River again is a solo hero for most of the run, though there's some interesting partnering up with Louisa towards the end of the season - that I'd like to see continue.

Another great story, raced through in the tightest way possible that again delights on every episode.

Disappointed by the use of one liners and cliches. Huge drop in quality from previous seasons. I'm not too sure what has changed from the previous seasons for the drop in quality to be so apparent. Even the action itself required a lot of suspension of disbelief. Lackluster set pieces throughout the season.

Hope that season 4 can bring it back up to the quality that season 1 and 2 were. Otherwise might have to stop this show altogether. The cast was great but the script was weak this time around. The story deserved a better writer with a lot less one liners and silly jokes shoe horned in.

Cmon Slow Horses, you can do better.

This is really bottom of the barrel stuff. Why on earth was everything so cheesy? Why was everything so trivial? I don't know. But I presume it's due to lazy writing. I'm really gutted, I loved the first seasons of slow horses but this really felt like a B version of what went before. Everything's a one liner, there's no depth to any of the dialogue. This season started slow, became interesting, and then got very boring again. Regarding this episode, why were all the agents sent in to do the killing cast as public schools boys? Not a hint of authenticity to any of it. This is a broader problem with this season, nothing is believable or authentic. DISAPPOINTING!

My favorite Slow Horses series so far. And, it ends with this spectacular episode. I've read all the Slow Horses novels, the novella, and the short stories. Loved them alI. I usually never watch video productions of books I've read. Good books create images and characters in my head that I worry will be damaged by a director or an actor's interpretation. (Compare "Seabiscuit" the movie to the book. The 15 minutes I watched of the movie made me cringe. The book is a classic.) This series is the exception. As good as Mick Herron's description of Jackson Lamb is, Gary Oldman's is better. Everything is better. And, I loved the books. Waiting anxiously for news he's written another. Can't wait for series number 4 even though I know the story. This wonderful episode continues the excellence of a continuing series that has had no missteps. Well done.