‘Slow Horses’ on Apple TV+ rides darkly funny spy drama
In the spy series “Slow Horses” on Apple TV+, Slough House is the dumpy, narrow building somewhere in London that serves as headquarters for MI5’s castoffs. Rather than the UK’s best and brightest, these are the slow horses of the title — stuck on an island of misfit toys, but for intelligence officers — and this is where young River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) finds himself after colossally botching a training exercise.
Pensive, headstrong and antsy, the last thing he wants is to spend his days digging through the trash of a hack journalist they’re surveilling. But that’s exactly what his boss — the slovenly and cranky Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) — has him doing. Every so often Lamb will bang on the floor to his underlings working below, looking for an update. “You thumped?” Cartwright replies sarcastically. Turns out, that journalist they’re watching has ties to a right-wing group, and they’ve kidnapped a Muslim university student in Leeds. Suddenly the slow horses are pulled into the fast lane. A real operation at last. That’s mostly due to circumstance, but it’s also a convenient turn of events for MI5’s icy second-incommand Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), who knows she may need a scapegoat or five if anything goes awry.
Adapted from Mick Herron’s spy novels, “Slow
Horses” takes its cue from John le Carre (someone references George Smiley just to underscore it all) and it’s a welcome change of pace from the bombastic international intrigue of the Bond franchise. Here, the focus is on small individual moments and uncertain loyalties. Setups, compromised motives and sharp repartee abound. The show has a dark and wonderfully tangy sense of humor, much of it thanks to Lamb.
Taverner, so exquisitely steely and ambitious, leaves him alone for the most part — that is, until she needs to draw him in, better to have a fall guy close at hand. There’s a terrific midnight rendezvous where they square off like the wily old spies that they are, each trying to leverage all those skeletons in the closet that could ruin either one of their careers.
Lamb’s band of losers become integral players, including Lowden’s Cartwright, who leads the way as the young agent who cannot fathom how he fouled up so badly to land himself in this purgatory. He’s actually good at the job, with a steady gaze and an itchy disrespect for authority. And unlike his Slough House colleagues, who are resigned to their fate (at least at the outset), he looks for any opportunity to do some real spy work, which includes tailing that aforementioned journalist through London in a scene that’s beautifully shot by James Hawes (who directs all six of the season’s episodes).
The show’s propulsive pacing is taut and clear-eyed. The action and violence, when it does happen, is fast, brutal and efficient. And just as quickly, the show is back to something that occasionally resembles a bleak workplace comedy. It’s an expert juggling of tones.
Adapted by Will Smith — not that Will Smith; this one’s British and his previous writing credits include “The Thick of It” and “Veep” — there’s already a second season in the pipeline.
Where to watch: Apple TV+