User reviews

If you were a fan of Spooks you'll love this. It builds steadily and the sub plots are nicely woven in.

It's nice to have a decent programme to watch once again instead of the American spoon fed rubbish that is filed out then canned because it lost some ratings.

In the aftermath of the gruesome beheading, the Horses are in trouble as Lady Di (Kristin Scott Thomas) tries to frame them for her misdeeds. Lamb (Gary Oldman) needs his best tradecraft to counteract this. A slower episode, though with some physical action, as they play cat-and-mouse and Standish (Saskia Reeves) steps forward. A decent episode, not as good as last week.

After episode three upped the pace and the stakes, this latest episode sees further movement with our titular Slow Horses scattered and in a cat and mouse game with the upper echelons of Regent's Park trying to stop the escaped terrorists who have fled the scene and avoid entanglement with Diana Taverner's footsoldiers. What ensues is a thrilling episode full of close shaves, showing the resourcefulness of both sides of MI5 as our heroes look to outsmart their seniors. Even with the thrill-a-minute stakes this episode still manages to capture the human side of these characters showing their vulnerability and desire to come out on top, once again impressively finding room to give each character some development and purpose with an expanded role for the ever brilliant Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish who has been a relatively minor part to date but feels more integral to proceedings here. The development of the blossoming relationship between Min Harper and Louisa Guy feels wholly organic. While the series is of course a heavy drama, there is a place for humour scattered throughout from the more sarcastic and snarky undertones of Jackson Lamb to a gag about Min's car CD player being stuck on a particular Coldplay track. One can hope the final two episodes help the series stick the landing and give it the ending it deserves, with several narrative threads left to untangle and with several of the Slow Horses in a precarious position - not to mention the matter of the terrorists and their kidnapped teenager to resolve.

Ep 4 makes tentative progress toward honouring its promissory notes, delivering an instalment that occasionally feels like purposeful storytelling rather than elegant procrastination. The series sporadically remembers that espionage thrillers benefit from actual tension.

Ep 3's revelatory conclusion provides modest momentum. Previously tedious character archaeology begins revealing itself as potentially shrewd foundation-laying, though one still questions whether such laborious setup was entirely necessary.

Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb remains reliably excellent, whilst his supporting ensemble shows intermittent signs of life... though several characters still feel more like plot devices than actual people. The dialogue occasionally crackles, delivering some genuinely surprising moments between stretches of predictable maneuvering.

The improvement, whilst welcome, feels incremental rather than transformative. One senses potential lurking beneath the surface, yet the series continues testing viewer patience with its determinedly measured approach.

The entire episode is cat and mouse talking and running around with our heads cut off. Unreal. A 6 minute summary expanded into an entire 43 minute show. GTFO. With more Gary Oldman fart jokes, so far 4/4 episodes.. who writes this stuff ?