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By now, Slow Horses has comfortably earned its place as one of British TV’s sharpest exports, a spy series that swaps Bond’s martinis for hangovers and MI6 glamour for water-stained walls.
Season 5, adapted once again from Mick Herron’s beloved Slough House novels, finds Jackson Lamb (an incredible Gary Oldman) and his band of misfit agents in another dense web of deceit, departmental politics, and deadpan disaster.
The script remains as acidic as ever, balancing weary humour with the kind of barbed dialogue that cuts deeper than any bullet. It’s still television’s most unkempt masterpiece: equal parts espionage and exasperation.
This time around, the spotlight unexpectedly shifts to Roddy Ho, the resident hacker and human migraine played to perfection by Christopher Chung. What was once comic relief becomes something richer - a study in accidental heroism and unchecked ego. Ho’s snark and swagger take centre stage, giving the show some of its best scenes yet, and Chung nails the tricky balance between irritating and endearing. It’s a breakout turn that proves Slow Horses can evolve its ensemble without losing the scruffy charm that made it addictive in the first place.
As ever, the casting is faultless. Gary Oldman continues to make Lamb’s chain-smoking cynicism feel oddly heroic, while Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, and Jack Lowden bring weary gravitas to the bureaucratic battlefield.
Every withering put-down lands with surgical precision - whether it’s Lamb dismantling an underling or a junior agent muttering through the office chaos. Even at its most outlandish, the dialogue sings with the kind of precision you can only get from writers who enjoy their characters’ failures as much as their victories.
That said, the plotting this season occasionally stretches belief. The espionage threads grow tangled, the coincidences pile up, and a few narrative shortcuts threaten to topple the show’s grounded tone. But somehow, Slow Horses makes it work - partly through sheer wit, partly through the emotional weight of its cast.
The stakes feel personal, not political, and the absurd twists only underline the show’s point: that the intelligence world is just as messy, illogical, and human as the people trapped in it.
Season 5 delivers rich fan service - sly callbacks, running jokes, and quiet payoffs for long-time viewers - while still keeping the door open for new recruits. It’s an espionage drama that understands its own ridiculousness and leans into it with confidence.
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Beneath the nicotine haze and bureaucratic despair, Slow Horses remains a show about redemption, loyalty, and the painful comedy of being ignored by your own side. It might be stretching its limits, but when the writing, casting, and wit are this strong, it’s a stretch worth taking.
