Slow Horses (TV Series) Boardroom Politics (2022) User Reviews

on the Spot

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 1 January 2023]

Episode 5 of Slow Horses Season 2 starts with River tied up at the airfield, kept in the office while the true nature of this plan comes into effect. It would appear that these Russians intend to bomb the Glass House, which is the site for our politician friend Peter Judd giving a big speech. Diana obviously told him several episodes back to change the venue but his sheer arrogance sees him snub that advice. Time is of the essence, and with Lamb and his Slow Horses looking the other way, this happens to have been the real plan all along. This occurs right on the same day as an anti-capitalist march, incidentally, and Lamb immediately heads off to find Nick, enlisting his help in breaking into the interrogation records. It's the least he can do after half-arsing the investigation into Min. So all of this has been a ruse from the very beginning, intending to bring Jackson Lamb onboard for some sort of unfinished business from back in Europe. That's certainly quite the twist, although there are other elements of this episode that definitely stand out. Catherine being given more agency and time to show her skills is definitely the stand out moment. Time is of the essence, and with Lamb and his Slow Horses looking the other way, this happens to have been the real plan all along. This occurs right on the same day as an anti-capitalist march, incidentally, and Lamb immediately heads off to find Nick, enlisting his help in breaking into the interrogation records. It's the least he can do after half-arsing the investigation into Min. As a nitpick, there's a bit too much time wasted with River attempting to break free from his binds, which goes on for longer than it perhaps should, while the Peter Judd situation has really felt like a bit of an afterthought in the grand scheme of things. Eventually Lamb makes it inside, where he immediately begins poring over the details involving Nikolai. Lamb starts to get the feeling that this guy is not a minnow but instead more of a whale, someone on the inside of the operation. At the same time, Louisa gets her head on straight and heads into her meeting with Pashkin alongside Marcus. The entire affair is tinged with a cold veil of bitterness on Louisa's side, who's quick to go over every single detail of Pashkin's briefcase and the two security goons.

Sloppy frisking

[dkarhu-1 · 7/10 · 30 January 2024]

The episode moves the story along, but some of the logic is weird.

Why does Louisa frisk the Russians before they get into their vehicle? They did not even have to swap suitcases. Heck, anyone could have grabbed a gun from the car. You frisk people before they go into the meeting.

Also Diana is giving pushback as to alerting about the Cessna, talking about point of no return. Why? Scramble a plane. If it turns out to be nothing, you can always stand down. Seems like a low risk action.

But I am not trying to take away from the story as a whole. It was an enjoyable episode overall. I just don't like obvious plot holes from otherwise great writers.

Most of the episode was just treading water ...

[caitriona-shanahan · 5/10 · 22 January 2024]

The problem for this episode was the finishing twist of the previous one: River Cartwright is not getting killed, so clearly it's a big old bluff with the plane. Once you realise that, you spend the episode being irritated by the slow rate of exposition. Yes, I understand the mechanics of the plot, and why River had to take the bait, but could they not have moved the whole thing along? 5 episodes, rather than 6?

I understand that the conniving and venal Home Secretary Peter Judd is based on one B. Johnson (Samuel West being obviously much slimmer than the original on which he is modelled), and he is a deliciously awful human, played with gusto. Hat tip to Ms Scott Thomas who delivers a cold, calculating player who, one suspects, is merely toying with Judd like a cat playing with a mouse.