Slow Horses: Season Two

Based on the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron, Slow Horses follows a team of British intelligence agents posted at Slough House, a purgatorial “dumping ground” for agents who have otherwise career-ending mistakes, run by the cantankerous Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). In its second season, the mysterious death of a former MI5 agent catches Lamb’s attention and he gets the Slow Horses investigating, but every discovery only unearths more questions – some of which have deadly answers.

Slow Horses makes great use of its ensemble cast, carefully juggling several interconnected plot threads at once without overwhelming things thanks to its careful and considered pacing. While the show is currently in its second season, it’s a testament to the quality of the writing and the strength of the characters that audiences can hop on in the middle of proceedings without feeling lost.

The Slow Horses all have wonderfully distinct personalities, and their interactions with each other – which mostly involve swearing and bickering – remain entertaining throughout, taking on new layers as they develop. This strong character work is helped greatly by the cast, who all do a fantastic job of facilitating key emotional beats with their performances. Oldman in particular steals the show as Lamb, holding the story together with his depiction of the irascible leader.

The series’ tight structure also extends to its action, balancing moments of peace and levity with tense espionage action to ensure an engaging experience throughout. The stakes are high, but the narrative gives itself enough room to breathe and trusts its audience to read between the lines and figure things out for themselves. The web of intrigue at the heart of the second season is fairly straightforward as mysteries go, but that’s part of what makes it work: its relative simplicity makes its plot twists hit harder, and the show’s writing places more emphasis on how the mystery informs character development and relationships than on the mystery itself.

Overall, Slow Horses is a lot of fun, bringing quality comedic chops and compelling characters along with thrilling spy action. There’s a lot going on here, but the show keeps proceedings accessible and interesting through intelligent and considered pacing, delivering a delightfully off-beat take on the classic spy formula that’s at once familiar and fresh.

Umar Ali

Slow Horses: Season Two is released on Apple TV+ on 2^nd December 2022.

Watch the trailer for Slow Horses: Season Two here: