TV: Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

[epilogue]

Decent enough first episode.

[wease]

Not tonight…

[epilogue]

The latest episode was my favorite in a while. Excellent.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Yeah very good. Although Roddy's antics are becoming tiresome.

[epilogue]

Yeah very good. Although Roddy's antics are becoming tiresome.

He's been tiresome for a long, long time.

[wease]

Yeah very good. Although Roddy's antics are becoming tiresome.

He's been tiresome for a long, long time.

That’s the point.

Roddy’s bullshit and bluster have caught up with him. And now the whole city is paying for it.

[epilogue]

Yeah very good. Although Roddy's antics are becoming tiresome.

He's been tiresome for a long, long time.

That’s the point.

Roddy’s bullshit and bluster have caught up with him. And now the whole city is paying for it.

Like, I'm fine if they just kill him off. The show would literally be better without him on it.

[Simple Torture]

It’s really, really tough the way they’re being forced to translate Roddy from the book to this season of TV. It’s not a spoiler or anything, but all of the things he’s saying out loud about himself are interior monologues in the book. He still misreads nearly every situation and gets himself and everyone in huge trouble, but he doesn’t say out loud to Diana Taverner that’s he’s a sex machine, we just know he thinks it. He comes across as immature and sad but at least he has some sort of tact that he doesn’t express those thoughts.

Although I haven’t laughed as hard at this show in a while as I did when Roddy said to Lamb, “We have a mutual respect for each other,” and Gary Oldman produced a look that should be what wins him an Emmy.

[epilogue]

Although I haven’t laughed as hard at this show in a while as I did when Roddy said to Lamb, “We have a mutual respect for each other,” and Gary Oldman produced a look that should be what wins him an Emmy.

For sure

[Simple Torture]

I love when Lamb does spy shit. Apparently Will Smith has talked about wanting to produce something based on a prequel novella featuring Lamb during the Cold War. Casting him would be the lynchpin for a series/movie, but I think a behind-the-Iron Curtain season of Slow Horses would absolutely fuck.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I love when Lamb does spy shit.

Great episode this week for this reason. Oldman is so unbelievable in this show.

[epilogue]

Something I liked about this last ep is that we get to see why these folks are "rejects" because they all seem legit incompetent. Every step of the way I was like WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! But also, a thing I disliked about this ep is how we see these folks are cartoonishly incompetent.

Lamb was great. And Standish had a real, brilliant heads up moment, but otherwise, it was just like watching clowns at a circus. How the fuck does Cartwright walk away at the end?!

Woof

[Simple Torture]

Yes, it’s true, the Slow Horses are constantly fucking up, but as Lamb always says: they are where they are because they are fuck-ups. However, I think Lamb also knows a truth that no one else is willing to acknowledge: everyone, absolutely everyone in the service, is a fuck-up. Taverner cannot solve any problem without breaking an international law. The Dogs violate people’s civil rights on a daily basis and they still can’t keep hold of valuable assets. Whealan has been an impotent twat since the moment he was given the top spot. Even the OB, whom River deifies, made some huge mistakes that had serious ramifications lasting decades. Lamb knows the business is an absolute crapshoot that attracts some of the worst people who could possibly be in charge of keeping the homeland safe, but he’s going to protect his fuck-ups until the day he dies.

[epilogue]

Absolutely. Well said.

[wease]

Right on

[Simple Torture]

I mean…

[E.H. Ruddock]

lol. MI-5 can’t be that inept, right?

[Simple Torture]

lol. MI-5 can’t be that inept, right?

When Whealan’s pecker is running the show, yeah.

[Simple Torture]

lol. MI-5 can’t be that inept, right?

Not my original thought, I heard it on a podcast today, but it's also interesting to consider that Will Smith, the showrunner of Slow Horses, is from the Armando Iannucci coaching tree, and his projects are well known for being about the ineptitude of people in power. Slow Horses has a different tone and aesthetic than Veep, but at their core they're both about the farce that it's this room full of morons who are supposed to keep us safe.

[Simple Torture]