The most surprising moment in the first season of Slow Horses wasn’t the resolution of the six-part series’ case (a kidnapping by far-right terrorists), but the final episode’s reveal (via a surprise trailer) that Season 2 had already been made. And so, a mere eight months after we were first inducted into the scruffy, ramshackle halls of Slough House, we find ourselves back, once more brushing up against Jackson Lamb’s (Gary Oldman) troupe of hangdog snoopers (also scruffy, just as ramshackle).
Will Smith’s (not that one) darkly comic spy series continues its run in adapting Mick Herron’s anti-Ludlum spy thrillers, where there are far fewer chases across Tangiers rooftops than there are trips to the offie, and clandestine meetings largely happen mid fag-break by a Camden canal. In a sharp de-escalation from the (misleadingly) high-stakes opening of Season 1, the show’s second lap this year begins as all great series do: in a Soho sex shop. Retired Cold War spy Dickie Bow (superb name, well-played by the ever-reliable Phil Davis) spots a familiar figure and decides to tail him. Several streets, two trains and one replacement bus later and Dickie is dead of a heart attack, but his former handler, Lamb, smells something fishy.
The show seamlessly threads the tonal needle through moments of absurdity and instances of profound sadness.
What follows is a reasonably faithful retelling of Herron’s second Slough House novel, Dead Lions — a knottier, more layered story than his Slow Horses debut, that splits our hapless heroes into four separate yet connected strands. Lamb, determined to unpick Dickie’s murder, sniffs out old contacts, assisted by Saskia Reeves’ long-suffering office manager; I.T. bellend Roddy (Christopher Chung) chafes against new recruit Shirley Dander (a delightfully salty Aimee-Ffion Edwards); office fuck-buddies Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) and Min (Dustin Demri-Burns) are seconded for a security gig involving a Russian politician; and golden boy River (Jack Lowden) doggedly pursues his own lead by going undercover in a sleepy Cotswold village.
There’s a lot to keep track of but, thankfully, doing so is never a chore, in large part as each and every one of Slough House’s misfits and boozers are an unequivocal delight to be around. The show seamlessly threads the tonal needle through moments of absurdity (Lamb’s various bodily functions; inept, bicycle-assisted surveillance) and instances of profound sadness (the shocking death of yet another major character).
Oldman is clearly the standout, making the most of a plum role, but he’s almost matched by Lowden et al — lions for Lamb, one and all — each contributing to a standout ensemble and staging a labyrinthine yet captivating story about death, its after-effects and how we feel responsible for it. Our only real complaint is over the lack of screen time for Kristin Scott Thomas’ sub-zero spymistress, Diana ‘Lady Di’ Taverner, whose acid-tongued sparring with Lamb was a Season 1 highlight. Still, Slow Horses’ surprise end-of-year curtain call remains a very welcome early Christmas present.
