Gary Oldman’s career is varied. He has played everything from punk rocker Sid Vicious in “Sid and Nancy” (1986) to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” (2017). He won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role.
Now Oldman stars in Slow Horses, a British spy series that premiered on Apple TV+ in spring 2022. I just finished watching the first two seasons in a row and will probably finish watching season 3 before season 4 premieres on Wednesday.
“Slow Horses” is based on the novels of British crime writer Mick Herron and revolves around the so-called Slough House – a hideout for MI5 agents who, for personal reasons, were deemed not good enough to remain in the front ranks of the secret service, but not bad enough to deserve dismissal.
And so they – among them River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), the grandson of a now retired but still legendary MI5 officer (Jonathan Pryce) – spend their days doing little while being constantly berated by their direct superior, Jackson Lamb (played wonderfully sloppily by Oldman).
The series presumes that the shattered dreams, if not the outright boredom, that the agents endure are meant to make them quit on their own. And Lamb, whose drinking habits mask the skills he once displayed in his own storied career, makes it his mission to do whatever he can to help them get out the door.
But there is more to it than meets the eye. Some of the agents, not just Cartwright, but also Lamb’s administrative assistant Catherin Standish (Saskia Reeves) and a few others, are desperate to get back in the agency’s good graces. And when a crisis arises, like in the first season with the kidnapping of a young Pakistani student by a seemingly right-wing group, they step in.
Lamb also gets involved, for reasons that have to do with both his distrust of Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) and possible protective feelings towards his subordinates at Slough House.
And across the six episodes of the first season, we see Taverner and the first class of MI5 screw up, blaming Slough House for the chaos and forcing Lamb and his second-rate warriors to find a way to clear their names and thwart the kidnapping.
In Season 2, Lamb and his people are faced with two different threats: first, the possibility of Russian sleeper agents being infiltrated into England, and second, a planned meeting between Taverner and a famous Russian dissident that goes disastrously wrong.
Slow Horses is a variation on John le Carré’s Smiley novels, but with a strong sense of black humor. It mixes that humor with the dirty and sometimes violent side of government espionage. And while Lowden brings a bit of youthful energy to the series, it’s Lamb who provides most of the wit with his constant jibes and insults.
The good news for fans of Slow Horses is that a fifth season of the show is reportedly in the works. Since novelist Herron wrote 13 episodes of his Slough House series, the show’s producers have plenty of material to adapt.
And with Oldman in the lead role, they have just the right actor to pull it all off.
