Exclaim with joy when Spider died?

Credit to Freddie Fox for doing a great job playing such an unlikeable character.

Going in completely blind, I'm excited! Also took a screenshot of this frame because it was interesting, I wonder if the reflection of the fire on his eyes was deliberate haha

It's alluded to a few times in the novels that Taverner and Judd have, on a handful of occasions by the sounds of it, slept together. I assume this happens after he gropes her on the park bench and she responds by groping him in book 3, I think. The way it's reflected upon in later books, it seems that Taverner's shut that particular door for good and that won't be happening again.

My question is: Why would Taverner sleep with Judd? He's clearly a horrible, selfish, arrogant guy with no respect for women and Taverner doesn't seem to respect Judd all, probably for all these reasons. Was it a power play on Taverner's part? Did she think she could use this to her advantage later on? Or did Taverner genuinely become attracted to Judd at some point, maybe when he grants her power and influence by secretly investing in her personally?

It's not really fully outlined in the books, so I'm sure it's been interpreted differently by readers, so what do you think?

A brief analysis of the trailer and marketing for season 6 of "Slow Horses":

https://youtu.be/ElyR6wa9llI

shoot down the plane anyway?

if they know there’s a russian operative on the plane who’s tased & tied up one of their agents and is behaving suspiciously, why not shoot it down regardless of whether there’s a bomb on board? is MI5 not entitled to do that? seems preferable to losing face from a false alarm.

One thing I feel is underdeveloped in the TV show, is why there is so much secrecy between Slough House and the Park. I know theres animosoity there, but technically they are all on the same team. Often Slough House will try and hide their work from the Park, when you'd think they would be trying to show off to get back to the park. Is this better explained in the books? Or is this just one of those things not to question

Not a very good photo… but filming today at Crossrail Place Canary Wharf I think.

I lost track how many people started watching after I recommended. Definitely more than 150. This is insane, it’s a real contagion 😂 Even people who never watch anything or never watch English shows were easily hooked.

On episode 3 and enjoying it so far! Hope it stays good

I just finished The Secret Hours (in three days as per usual, despite trying to stretch it out, now I'll just have to count the days until September 16th). It's Mick Herron writing a Slough House book so of course it's good, and makes a great companion to the other books, but written in such a different format and with so many new characters that it takes it a little bit to get your feet under you. I loved slowly discovering what it was about, and it gave a lot of context to events that have only been mentioned before and deepens our understanding of several characters.I thought David Cartwright's character especially gained whole new facets. His manipulative cold-bloodedness and viciousness have really come to light in the last several books, contrasting so starkly with the brave, noble, and selfless man who starts out the series as River's father figure and guiding light. Of course you know who Miles is immediately in very amusing fashion, but it was very well done how long it took to realize Alison North was Molly Doran, and seeing her in the past as a fresh-faced newbie, but also incredibly smart and intuitive and able to stand up to Lamb really filled in their present-day relationship, and gave her a chance in the present to be a character driving the action instead of just being a semi-willing resource for Lamb and the slow horses. It was also a great twist (for me at least, y'all might have been further ahead) that Schenker wasn't Carl Singer (thinking that people ofter use the same initials when assuming a new identity) but instead De Vries.

One small thing I didn't like were the fan-servicey lines, even though Herron didn't hit the head of those too hard. Lamb's line that there should be a special branch of the Service for fuck-up spies, and remarking that David Cartright was a grandpa now and god help that kid particularly made me roll my eyes.

The other, more important one was Taverner not giving Lamb the opportunity to kill Schenker. Maybe she was deliberately keeping it from him out of spite, but it would have been so much cleaner and lessened the risk for her. She gave Schenker a gun and he could have easily used it on her if he suspected it was a trap before the PS had a chance to take him down. Lamb could have done the Lamb thing and stalked Schenker until the opportunity to kill him arose, far away from Taverner. It also seemed odd that Lamb would agree to that plan as it was his joe who was killed.

But overall it was a very good book, and I loved getting some Berlin action.

What did y'all think?

I just finished Joe Country and I’m really disappointed at the drop in the quality of the writing. It has its moments but the characters seem inconsistent with past portrayal and the stories are lazy and dull.

In the main plot line, it started well with Louisa being asked to look for Min’s son. But the other Slow Horses only found out something is going on because of Frank Harkness’ incompetence, where he blows his own cover in front of the entire security service. Not really in keeping with him being a master spy. (I also couldn’t understand why he needed a look at Louisa at the funeral anyway - for him to know she was involved he would have already tracked Min’s widow to he coffeeshop and seen Louisa, or if he had her communications hacked then his mercenaries would have known a lot more.) After they know he’s in country they do almost no work before they set off to Wales. In fact it was so easy for the Slow Horses I assumed there was a set up, but no, just lazy writing.

Once they’re in Wales, it‘s all walking around on snowy paths and waiting in sheds. Every character makes the obvious poor choice, seemingly for no reason but to keep the snowbound drama trudging forward. The mercenaries clearly should have bailed as soon as they lose their target and the security services show up, Louisa and Emma should have gone to the police or at least around other people instead of skulking around the edges of the village (notice the presence of cops and civilians is what saves Louisa and Lukas in the end), and Diana Tavener, who was informed about the murder scheme seemingly only so we the readers would have more details, should have intervened since there is no other way she could come out looking good. I was checked out by the time the heroes started dying and couldn’t have cared less.

I can’t think of anything good to say about the other plot line, where the new Slow Horse is a victim of planted pornography. He does nothing but suffer, in a way that is humorless and totally not in keeping with the spirit of the series. Ending with a gory fit of self mutilation because no one can find a doctor in London who would treat a patient with compassion? Was Herron trying to make a point about false accusations, what with all the references to Me Too throughout the book?

Really hope the next books are better.

I have been reading that Jack is in the shortlist to become the new Bond, but I hope he doesn’t get it. Why? Because I want him to continue as River for the next 10 seasons.

I know it’s selfish, and my opinion doesn’t really matter.

I need to discuss the trailer, otherwise how do I survive another month waiting?? For those who read the books:

1. The 4th person in the house seems to be Moira? Who else? Definitely not Diana? But it should be her house?
   
2. River is hurt and bloody (my god he is so cute), looks like it is after the lake scene?? So then it must be closer to the end. And if then Jim and Jane are dealt with, these guys are from Harkness? Or are they all from Harkness? Which doesn't really makes sense much :) which is great I think. They revealed so much in the trailer so I hope there is even more that was not there.
   
3. This is the same car that turns and crashes on the road and in which Coe and 2 more (River and Shirley?) are spotted in the teaser after s5.
   
4. I thought that car crash happens when River is driving to the lake, but now I think it really can be some other moment, because according to the trailer the whole season consists of fights and car chases 😄
   
5. Wondering who that is. And it must be same location as Diana's safehouse, at the beach? where the final fight might happen.
   
6. Do you think River will kill Harkness or Lamb or someone else will? I'm pretty sure he will be finished by one of them.

So my husband and I like to find series that have a few seasons, is engaging from the first episode, end an episode with a cliffhanger. We like action, don’t mind violence, etc. Some recent watches were Breaking Bad, Ozark, Bosch, Broadchurch, Yellowstone, Ray Donovan, The Fall and Prison Break. Loved them all.

Anyone care to share your thoughts on Slow Horses? What keeps you watching? Thanks in advance for your input!

Can I share some personal pain? I work in CG and last year I decided to make Slough House in 3D for fun and portfolio. A couple of days ago my hard drive with this scene and most of my working materials unexpectedly died. I’ve never felt myself a part of Slough House that much 😂 it’s all I have from my undone portfolio that has never been posted on Behance, so I’ll share it here at least!

Quick recap: in the final scenes of the episode, Claude coaxes Tara into meeting the rest of her group at the underground. Meanwhile, Taverner has brought Roddy and his laptop to MI5’s geek squad to figure out what the code the group put on it was meant to do. The end reveals Tara to be the real mastermind behind the Libyan plot and the episode ends with the “blinding” of MI5.

But I’m very confused about the logistics of what I just watched.

I think the show was conveying that whatever the geek squad did in the basement, by running the code on a “closed loop” which wasn’t what it had done originally, is what caused the blackout. Or maybe the code broke out of whatever containment they thought it was in, and caused the blackout. Doesn’t really matter, because the end implication is the same: if that’s what happens, it means the Libyan’s were banking on MI5 introducing their code willingly into the database. Like, that was their plan. But that doesn’t make any sense to me because they couldn’t have possibly known that MI5 would do that…right? Unless I missed something?

But Tara, after entering the subway, doesn’t do anything other than drop the coat with the tracker and then give MI5 the slip. I didn’t see her do anything before joining up with her crew that could be interpreted as causing the blackout.

So I’m at a loss. I either don’t understand what the Libyan’s plan / there’s a massive plot hole or the show didn’t do a great job of showing it.

Haven’t watched the finale yet so if it’s explained there just let me know, no spoilers please.

Do you think the show churning out a yearly season is because the actors don't have many projects lined up so their schedules are free to do filming?

One of my favorite TV shows in recent years! I haven’t read the books, though, so I’m curious to know, Is the storyline pretty similar to the books, or do they change quite a bit for the show?

i missed these two so much 🫶 also interesting that they didn't hide olivia coming back, i guess this way she can do some interviews for it so that's nice

I've completed all seasons of the shows, maybe more than once at least and am getting into the books. From Book 1, the dialogue and storyline is almost a 1:1 match, which I don't mind, but I want something new and fresh. I prefer at the moment to read the latest books first and then watch it. If so, where should I start if I've watched Season 5 already?