Image via Apple
Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) is an MI5 section chief with all the charm of an SS officer who cloaks his excessive intellect beneath an unwashed indifference for his fellow man. Running crowd control at Slough House, where secret service agents go to die, Lamb is a mass of undercover contradictions who manages to stay one step ahead of his so-called superiors. Dragged from the imagination of author Mick Herron and embodied with no small degree of gusto, Lamb is a masterclass in misdirection that Oldman brings to small screens once again for season 3 of Slow Horses, helped in no small measure by razor-sharp writing, an exceptional ensemble cast, and a series of plot twists that make this Apple original mandatory viewing.
Aided and abetted by River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), these Slough House Slow Horses come under scrutiny again when one of their number goes missing, forcing Lamb into seedy political circles, while his favourite whipping boy gets a beating for being a hero. That being said, he isn’t the only one under the cosh in an instalment that wrongfoots MI5 and isolates everyone, as Lamb gets bounced between Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott-Thomas) and other unsavoury elements within The Park pushing tensions sky high and making resolutions hard to come by.
Image via Apple
Other familiar faces are back in the frame including James ‘Spider’ Webb (Freddie Fox) turning everyone against each other, giving River the run around, and hampering progress even further as their situation continues heading south. However, what will keep audiences coming back still boils down to the writing behind these awesome performances that just seems to level up every season, allowing Oldman, Lowden, and Scott-Thomas to play in this MI5 sandbox of deceit and double dealing.
With conspiracy theorists running rampant, Standish (Saskia Reeves) otherwise engaged, and the tag team of Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan) forced into becoming unintentional allies, season three has more than its fair share of internal squabbling. As tensions mount and events show no signs of improvement audiences are advised to embrace every disreputable moment of Oldman’s Jackson Lamb performance, as he plays friend or foe like a perfectly pitched Stradivarius, making them all dance to his tune.
Image via Apple
As the source material from Mick Herron is far from exhausted, audiences can also take heart from knowing that Slow Horses has already been confirmed for Season 4, while Oldman himself has said he is happy to embody Jackson Lamb until such time as Apple pulls the plug. However, for the time being, just let this latest slice of supremely crafted long form television play out and enjoy watching Slough House come up smelling of roses.
Slow Horses Season 3 will debut with two episodes on Friday, 1 December, on AppleTV+.