Season 3 opener of the thrilling, and decidedly different, spy series Slow Horses starts with a little murder and ends with a dramatic kidnapping. And in the middle of it all? Casual sex, demeaning bookkeeping, and in a perfectly self-retrospective moment, Jackson Lamb wolfs down a shredded lamb kebab. Or is that a portent of what’s to come season-wide? Needless to say, I’m hooked. Or should that be, “skewered”?  

 

The Apple TV+ series Slow Horses adapts the novels of Mick Herron and wonderful follows the underdogs of MI5 who are fed scraps from their master’s table (Kristen Scott Thomas). Although consigned to the dreaded Slough House, they are led by that boorish rascal Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and end up bumbling their way to mild forms of success. The show beautifully balances cutting comedy and realistic spy craft.  

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Other than the splash of murder, one that started with a visually-nice “come visit Istanbul” chase scene, and then ends with the gripping abduction of one of the Horses (and I ain’t saying who), the season 3 premiere mostly plays catchup with the team. A grumpy Lamb suffers through an HMS-mandated physical; River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) continues to complain; Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) tries too hard; and Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar), who continues to mourn the death of Min Harper, is not trying hard enough.  

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Although this is probably the end-of-the-road career-wise for Lamb, he still has his smarts, if not his hygiene. Lamb plays off as a drinking, smoking, farting Santa Claus as he knows when someone is sleeping, fornicating, or following. Oldman plays the role masterfully, too, and commands the screen. And although Lamb is standoff-ish, he cares – in his own selfish way – for his team. Seeing what sort of action he, and presumably River, will jump into makes for an exciting premise. Along with the promise of trouble. 

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Season 3 is based on Real Tigers, Herron's third novel in the Slough House series. Whereas the first two seasons dealt with the Horses taking on domestic and international terrorism cases, season 3 is trending to be more personal. Perhaps Lamb will need to up his game, or he might be the one covered in tzatziki. Which, come to think of it, would be a delicious way to go.