Ideally, when the last season has delivered a maximum-intensity experience, one expects the subsequent season to crank up the momentum. Slow Horses, however, have opted for a relatively mellow experience in Season 5. Opening with a chilling bloodshed, treated with admirable restraint and sensitivity, the show proceeds to go slow, regardless of the gravity of the situation being handled by the members of the Slough House, headed by Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman).
However, once we're done with the finale, the overall experience feels tame when trying to recall the events of the previous season, which juggled not just multiple scenarios, but also a complex father-son conflict we didn't see coming.
Keeping the low reading on the thrill-o-meter aside, no decline in writing quality when it comes to the lead characters and the humour is noticed. There's the sense that Season 5 wanted to lean more into the humour (dark or otherwise) excavated from the trigger event — of a potential attempt on Roddy Ho's life (Christopher Chung) and questions arising from his association with a woman who may or may not be a dangerous femme fatale. Naturally, the situation provides enough fodder for Roddy's team members and Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) to bombard him with anything from his "incel" behaviour to his strong delusions about "being in a relationship."
Season 5, streaming on Apple TV, also provides enough opportunities for us to get closer to River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) and his chaotic working relationship with Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards). The latter is still nursing the after-effects of Marcus' demise in the last season, running parallel to the loss of Louisa Guy, which interferes with her relationship with Cartwright. A blow to him, no doubt, but the show treats him as a character who has undergone considerable maturity, and makes it clear that wallowing in self-pity is not on its agenda and moves on to more important matters. Cartwright reveals himself to be a character who grows increasingly likable with each season.
Aside from Dander, who, despite being driven, still struggles with her drug addiction, and Cartwright’s growth, one of the other principal delights of Season 5 is its attempts to give more space to J.K. Coe (Tom Brooke), the reclusive operative who gets to showcase a whistle-worthy heroic side that emerges when we least expect it. He, too, gets to partake in some of the unforeseen darkly comic twists furnished during a particularly tense scenario towards the end of the season.
And once again, Oldman is stupendous as Lamb, who may have exposed an unseen vulnerable side, apart from, of course, the other unpleasant qualities that make it difficult for everyone to be in the same room as him. Credit to Oldman and the other cast members for creating the sensation of wanting to get away from the screen at times, because you can almost... smell him. Lamb continues to dish out one sardonic remark after another while also giving the sense that, deep down, he really cares about his team, no matter how incompetent they may seem. In one instance, he makes it clear that even Roddy is important to him because, like everyone else in the team, they all have strengths that prove useful in the course of a perilous assignment.
Season 5 ends with a visually unpleasant shot that raises an intriguing question: Does Jackson Lamb have a traumatic past hinted at in an earlier situation involving a crafty escape from a seemingly claustrophobic situation? As was the practice in the previous seasons, we get a glimpse of the next season, promising more thrilling and exciting adventures, while also teasing the return of a pivotal character from Season 4.
Series: Slow Horses - Season 5
Creator: Will Smith
Director: Saul Metzstein
Cast: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Brooke, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Saskia Reeves
Rating: 3.5/5