I’m a fan of the first second of Slow Horses, the Apple TV Plus series that will be returning to its fourth season in September 2024. There will be many twists and turns, so let’s recap some important facts and characters?

The Main Horses in the Espionage Race

• Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman): Direct, chronically grumpy, and hygienically questionable boss of the office for M5’s outcast or problematic agents, located in Slough House. The office’s function and the street name help to give it the nickname “slow horses” because there are “exiled” agents who do manual labor instead of being fired.

Jackson was one of the most important and effective agents during the Cold War, but today he only sleeps, drinks, and swears at people. He pretends not to want to work too much, but even though he is “lazy”, he is above everyone else in terms of intelligence. And, as much as he hates his team, he defends them because they are “his nags”. We know that this is not quite the case…

• Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) is the unscrupulous, ambitious, irritating, arrogant, and enemy of Jackson Lamb. Angry at not being the head of MI5, that is, “first desk”, but the second in command, she oversees Slough House and has been trying for three seasons to overthrow her boss, Ingrid Tierney (Sophie Okonedo) in a game of chess where they sacrificed many pawns without hesitation.

Diana is very intelligent and cruel, a dangerous combination.

• River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is the agent removed from MI5 in the first season after a mistake by his colleague, Spider Webb (Freddie Fox) ended up on his account. Impulsive, River is excellent, but still far from the perceptiveness of Jackson, Ingrid, Diana, or his grandfather David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), a former senior figure in MI5, which offers him a certain level of protection and who, in the past, worked with Jackson Lamb.

When River knows how to combine his energy with the ability to analyze information and create strategies, he will have more chances, but, for now, he is always in the eye of the storm almost by accident.

• Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), the secretary, is Jackson Lamb’s weak point because he feels guilty for many of the sorrows in her past. A former alcoholic, Standish is extremely intelligent and attentive, although people do not suspect her abilities.

With truncated information in all seasons, we know that Lamb hides from her how her beloved boss, Charles Partner, was really killed during the Cold War. Officially it was suicide, but we know that it was Lamb who killed him, on David Cartwright’s orders because Partner was a double informant for the Russians.

Diana knows the truth, but it is only at the end of the third season that Lamb finally reveals at least part of the real story, omitting her participation, of course. Outraged, she resigns and with that, when we return to Slow Horses, it is still uncertain whether she will return.

What has happened so far

In all seasons, except the second, but still with a relevant role, the confusion is caused by Diana, nicknamed “Lady Di” by Lamb.

In the first season, she involved the Slow Horses in the investigation of a right-wing terrorist conspiracy, led by a white supremacist organization that kidnapped a Muslim student and threatened to behead him. In reality, it was a setup that went wrong when Diana’s former undercover agent was discovered by his companions and killed. The team, with the unorthodox help of Lamb, must track down the terrorists to save the hostage and also prevent Diana from ending their careers.

In the second season, we experience a bit of Cold War panic when Russians trained by the Soviet Union seem to have awakened a sleeper cell and planned a terrorist attack in London.

As part of revenge against Lamb and David Cartwright, the Russians cause serious casualties among the slow horses’ team. In the end, once again Diana needs the victory of the agents she detests so much to save her career and (almost) everyone survives for a new adventure.

In the third season, the most violent to date, once again we have dirty operations by MI5 ending up in the hands of the nags. A former MI5 agent from Istanbul turns against the agency when his girlfriend, also an agent, is suspiciously killed.

His revenge seems somewhat confusing and leaves a trail of deaths in its wake, threatening the life of Standish who is taken hostage. In fact, this time Diana is not responsible, but she can profit from the result because it is Ingrid who is trying to cover her tracks and orders the killing of all the Slow Horses, who, inadvertently, are swallowed up once again to do the dirty work and take the blame for the mistakes. The nags have another victory and this time, with Diana celebrating too.

The ‘secrets’ of the fourth season

There are several dramas amidst the action and fun of Slow Horses. There is the dilemma of Jackson Lamb, who feels guilty for what he had to do as a spy, especially for killing his friend, Charles Partner. It is because of this crime that he asked to be removed from his position and placed in Slough House.

Lamb suffers – in his own way – for Standish, whose alcohol addiction makes her a dull and sad woman, always looking back on a past that was never what she imagined. He tries to spare her, but he finally destroys the perfect image of Charles for her, who was actually a mercenary spy and double.

With Standish’s departure, Lamb loses the human connection with his team and is still left wondering if he will ever explain and reveal the full truth to his secretary, including how Charles really died.

To make matters worse, we see in the trailer that once again there will be casualties in the team, this always shakes him more than it reveals.

River Cartwright is also having personal problems. His grandfather, who raised him and is his main ally and advisor, is suffering from dementia, becoming more confused and dangerous every day. After all, his memory is vulnerable and he may reveal information that is inappropriate for National Security.

That’s exactly what the antagonist of the moment, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving), takes advantage of. The mercenary has an extremely personal issue with David that threatens not only the country but River as well.

The season premieres on September 4th!

Pesquisar

Pesquisar