In the spy series “Slow Horses” on Apple TV+, Slough House is the dumpy, narrow building somewhere in London that serves as headquarters for MI5′s castoffs. Rather than the U.K.’s best and brightest, these are the slow horses of the title — stuck on an island of misfit toys, but for intelligence officers — and this is where young River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) finds himself after colossally botching a training exercise.
Pensive, headstrong and ansty, the last thing he wants is to spend his days digging through the trash of a hack journalist they’re surveilling. But that’s exactly what his boss — the slovenly and cranky Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) — has him doing. Every so often Lamb will bang on the floor to his underlings working below, looking for an update. “You thumped?” Cartwright replies sarcastically. Turns out, that journalist they’re watching has ties to a right-wing group and they’ve kidnapped a Muslim university student in Leeds. Suddenly the slow horses are pulled into the fast lane. A real operation at last. That’s mostly due to circumstance, but it’s also a convenient turn of events for MI5′s icy second-in-command Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), who knows she may need a scapegoat or five if anything goes awry.
Adapted from Mick Herron’s spy novels, “Slow Horses” takes its cue from John le Carre (someone references George Smiley just to underscore it all) and it’s a welcome change of pace from the bombastic international intrigue of the Bond franchise. Here, the focus is on small individual moments and uncertain loyalties. Setups, compromised motives and sharp repartee abound. The show has a dark and wonderfully tangy sense of humor, much of it thanks to Lamb, who arrives at work to announce: “Another day dawns at MI-(bleeping)-useless.” He’s not wrong. There’s an old spy motto from the Cold War era they keep repeating to one another — Moscow rules: Watch your back; London rules: Cover your rear. The show takes place in London, which tells you all you need to know about how the higher-ups approach the job and what that potentially means for all those expendable Slough Housers.
Lamb keeps his screw-ups occupied with busywork, and he’s content to ride out his career as a disheveled jerk who drinks single malt at the office and then naps it off, feet propped up on his desk (the holes in his socks are a prominent visual throughout the season) only to be awakened by the sound of his own farts.
Taverner, so exquisitely steely and ambitious, leaves him alone for the most part — that is, until she needs to draw him in, better to have a fall guy close at hand. There’s a terrific midnight rendezvous where they square off like the wily old spies that they are, each trying to leverage all those skeletons in the closet that could ruin either one of their careers. She needs a favor, but first, he’s going to give her the business — he has other plans for the evening, including a massive bowel movement brewing, and he’s more than happy to “sit and read a book and birth that beauty” if he’s not able to extract some favors from her in return.
His band of losers become integral players, including Lowden’s Cartwright, who leads the way as the handsome young agent who cannot fathom how he fouled up so badly to land himself in this purgatory. He’s actually good at the job, with a steady gaze and an itchy disrespect for authority. And unlike his Slough House colleagues, who are resigned to their fate (at least at the outset), he looks for any opportunity to do some real spy work, which includes tailing that aforementioned journalist through London in a scene that’s beautifully shot by James Hawes (who directs all six of the season’s episodes).
As with the equally terrific 2011 movie “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (which also starred Oldman, once again as a veteran intelligence man who is more than meets the eye), the English skies are perpetually overcast, and the color palette inside the Slough House mirrors that as well, a sad medley of washed-out grays, dingy yellows and muddy greens — all of it in contrast to the show’s propulsive pacing, which is taut and clear-eyed. The action and violence, when it does happen, is fast, brutal and efficient. And just as quickly, the show is back to something that occasionally resembles a bleak workplace comedy. It’s an expert juggling of tones.
Adapted by Will Smith — not that Will Smith; this one’s British and his previous writing credits include “The Thick of It” and “Veep” — there’s already a second season in the pipeline. There’s really nothing here I can’t recommend, except for Oldman himself. He’s so good here, but his performances for me are always tinged with the memory of who he is off-screen: A person who defended Mel Gibson’s antisemitic comments and called Hollywood “a town that’s run by Jews,” for which he later apologized. I’m not a “separate the art from the artist” kind of viewer and I’d love to see Hollywood give big opportunities like this to other actors instead; it would result in a different performance, but not necessarily a lesser one. Anyway, that’s me; plenty of audiences take a different approach and if that’s you, that’s fine too.
It’s a gem of a role, really.
Lamb turns to his team at one point, when things look especially hairy: “I don’t normally do these kinds of speeches, but this feels like a big moment and if it all turns to (garbage) I might not see any of you again.” They look at him expectantly. Then he offers the following sentiment: “You’re (bleeping) useless, the lot of you. Working with you has been the lowest point in a disappointing career.”
Then it’s back to business: “Right. Cartwright, you’re with me.” And off they go to save the university student who’s become a pawn in everybody’s game, including MI5.
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'SLOW HORSES'
3 stars (out of 4)
Rating: TV-MA
Where to watch: Premieres Friday on Apple TV+
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