Slow Horses episode reaction S5 E3 Tall Tales

The Park and the horses are sabotaging each other

We’re at the midpoint of the season now, with an episode that ties together the destructive relationship between the horses and the Park. Diana has put Slough House in lockdown, and although of course Lamb will set his joes free, doing so causes a delay. Meanwhile, the Park aren’t doing any better because Diana is having to spend her time interviewing a man – Roddy Ho – who believes himself to be ‘mythical, historical and futuristical’. Perhaps if Aldersgate and Regents Park could stop bickering, maybe 22 penguins would still be alive. But the Ho scene is hilarious, and Lamb’s reminiscing of Berlin is a phenomenal bit of veil-lifting that gives an insight into his previous experiences up against the cruel and chaotic Stasi. Luckily, we suspect that no penguins were harmed in the shooting of this episode.

Tractor tipping in the city

I’m not convinced by the footage of ‘severe gridlock’ which seems to show traffic flowing relatively freely. But the isolated plumes of smoke (seen especially clearly at 07:48) reminded me of the scene in Cars where Lightning and Mater go tractor tipping.

Lightning and Mater go tractor tipping - a scene from the film 'Cars' — Could tractor tipping bring down London? Or make it Londerful again?

Jaffrey junior keeps us guessing

I’ve not enjoyed the refocusing of Zafar Jaffrey’s story – until now. We can see more clearly what the writers have been aiming for – the portrayal of a stereotypical professional career politician. Although I can’t say that I’ve met that many politicians who are actually like that – most that I’ve met, from all parties, have tended to believe in a cause that’s larger than themselves – Slow Horses perhaps needed a character that fits the shallow cliche, especially to compare against populists such as Gimball and Judd. We don’t yet know why the terrorist masterminds are doing what they’re doing, but having recruited a Gimball supporter to do the Abbotsfield massacre it’s even-handed of them to get Jaffrey’s son Irfan involved. Perhaps this is a novel approach to bring competing political views together?

The horses are hopeless, until they aren’t

There are some very funny moments in this episode, such as the cut to Whelan, who was supposedly getting to the bottom of the petrol sabotage but was in fact wailing ineffectually. But for my money, River attempting in vain to warn Shirley that the Dogs have taken control of Slough House has to be up there. We can’t rely on the slow horses to work together…until we see Catherine and River’s minds clicking into gear as Lamb delivers his tale from the past. And what’s not to love about J K Coe’s parting gesture to Devon. Speaking of whom…

Devon may care

In London Rules (and other books) Devon is a fairly innocuous, loyal lieutenant to Emma Flyte. He (he’s a he) is best known for being the butt of jokes from Lamb who calls him by the names of other southern English counties, but never Devon. This is the kind of material that won’t work for an international TV audience. On the other hand, since the departure of Duffy and the death of Hobbs, we’ve missed a real antagonism from the Dogs to the horses, and the reconfiguration of Devon’s character restores some balance.

Here’s how Cafethinking covered the book on which series 5 is based.

And some thoughts on episode 1.