The mystery deepens, but most of the meat of this episode is the excellent character work. I still sometimes wish we could get to know the rest of the gang at Slough House as well as we do Jackson and River, but I always say that. Meanwhile, it took me this long to recognize James Callis. I knew his mannerisms felt familiar!
#Slow Horses
The new season starts off with a bang or two. I don't think the River situation was supposed to be believed; it was always a question of what was really going on. But it keeps the tensions high while the bombing plot moves a bit more deliberately forward. We also get a little time with each of the team members, old and new; it should be interesting to see how they factor in.
Slow Horses: ...so our hero gets ambushed by ex-KGB thugs only for them to reveal their plan to bomb a financial skyscraper in London in solidarity with an anticapitalist march
me: no, no, let them cook
I actually really appreciate le Carré because he's so deep in it that it's not even really political anymore, it's just a game. Spy versus spy. Even when he tackles the politics, as in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, he's willing to give the left at least a degree of sympathy.
And clearly Mick Herron—at least as filtered through the TV show—fancies himself in like with le Carré. Jackson Lamb is just George Smiley if he weren't a bit posh. Smiley even gets name-dropped in the first season. But he can't resist making his characters out to be heroes in a way that just fundamentally doesn't quite work.
All that said I am still enjoying the series a lot, don't let this sour you on it if it's your kind of thing!
Post season 2 update: you now what they kinda landed it. I'm impressed. Like it still has the hero problem but that aside the plotting here is genuinely very good.
Slow Horses: ...so our hero gets ambushed by ex-KGB thugs only for them to reveal their plan to bomb a financial skyscraper in London in solidarity with an anticapitalist march
me: no, no, let them cook
I actually really appreciate le Carré because he's so deep in it that it's not even really political anymore, it's just a game. Spy versus spy. Even when he tackles the politics, as in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, he's willing to give the left at least a degree of sympathy.
And clearly Mick Herron—at least as filtered through the TV show—fancies himself in like with le Carré. Jackson Lamb is just George Smiley if he weren't a bit posh. Smiley even gets name-dropped in the first season. But he can't resist making his characters out to be heroes in a way that just fundamentally doesn't quite work.
All that said I am still enjoying the series a lot, don't let this sour you on it if it's your kind of thing!