Mikes Film Talk

Season 5, episode 3 of Slow Horses: Tall Tales focusses somewhat on penguins and Roddy. It also allows Coe to take the lead. This segment is all about destabilisation, misdirection and political assassination.

Episode 3 (Spoiler Alert)

Roddy is in an interrogation room. Taverner arrives and starts questioning him. He comes across as delusional and a bit short shrift in the brain department. Eventually, though, Roddy reveals he left Tara alone with the MI5 database.

Whelan panics after being told an article by Gimball’s wife will be published about him. As he quizzes the MI5 solicitor about avenues he can take, a bomb goes off in Regent’s Park.

Meanwhile, the rest of the slow horses are still in lockdown. When the penguin enclosure is destroyed by a bomb in Regent Park Zoo, Flyte leaves the “losers” and puts Welles in charge.

Lamb and River now believe that Coe is on point with his destabilisation strategy. Welles refuses to believe Coe can to keep his phone. Lamb tells a graphic story of the Stasi and their torture skills in Berlin. He drops some clues to the rest of his “joes” to aid an escape.

Jackson expresses surprise that his “F**kwits” are actually paying attention for once.

The slow horses head to the political debates as the fourth item on the destabilisation strategy is to kill a populist politician. Gimball and Jaffrey are holding separate sessions instead of a debate. Lamb sends Coe and River to cover Gimball while Katherine and Dander cover Jaffrey. Neither of the two women have guns.

As the Slough House regulars are splitting up Catherine asks Lamb if he was the one being tortured in his story. His reply is that it was all made up. Meanwhile, Taverner instructs Park House to find Roddy’s girlfriend and tell IT to check for a breach.

Comedic Highlight

The comedy highlight of this episode goes to, no surprise here, Jackson Lamb. Once all the slow horses are in one room with Flyte, Welles and their third wheel, Lamb lets his toxic gas rip. The entire room is one step from heaving. Flyte allows the head to go down and use the downstairs bog.

Once there, Lamb goes into a cubicle and asks Welles if she is coming in with him, or happy to wait outside. As Flyte leaves Slough House, she stops by the loo and leaves instructions with Welles. Lamb then departs the toilet and tells Welles, “I left the lid up for you if you need to go.”

Coe

Coe is the “joe” who is leading the crew this season. At least so far. The quirky “loser” has shown that his still waters do indeed run deep. His analysis of Dander last week, for instance, felt spot on. Whelan is clearly the weakest link at Park House, although we knew this already, and could well be the next target.

This show continues to evolve and show more sides to each actor and the characters they portray. Dander is rapidly becoming my favorite of Slough House in a three way tie with Lamb and River Cartwright. Although, it must be said, that Coe is racing towards the top of that list.

The Verdict

Slow Horses is sticking resolutely to its 5 star rating. Everyone in this show shines. It is streaming on Apple + with new episodes airing on Wednesdays. Check it out, if you have not already. If you’re new to Slow Horses, start at episode one and watch the entire lot. You’ll be glad you did.

The Cast

Gary Oldman – Jackson Lamb.

Jack Lowden – River Cartwright.

Christopher Chung is Rodney Ho.

James Callis is Claude Whelan.

Nick Mohammed is Mayor Zafar Jaffrey.

Kristin Scott Thomas – Diana Taverner.

Ruth Bradley – Emma Flyte.

Rosalind Eleazar – Louisa Guy.

Saskia Reeves is Catherine Standish.

Aimee-Ffion Edwards – Shirley Dander.

Tom Brooke is JK Coe.

Christopher Villiers is Dennis Gimball.

Cherrelle Skeete is Devon Welles.