Slow Horses

I put off watching this because while I thought it might be interesting in a half novel way to see Oldman muck about as the anti-Smiley I also thought it was likely to be shite

Now I'm sure some of you have seen it and do indeed consider it shite but I otoh have been very pleasantly surprised at how much much I'm having. It is that rare beast that seems to be smart about cliffhanger plot twists and just manages to keep you on the edge of "oh this is ridiculous" but paying off and dragging you back in.

and scott-thomas is all time foxy in it

I really like the show. Have watched both seasons.

much much!

Saw like 2 episodes cos my mum told me to. Thought it was quite good? Don't watch TV much so didn't see any more. Great contribution imago

I like it a lot. Gary Oldman is ridiculously watchable.

Literally started watching it a couple of weeks ago and have now almost finished the second season. Think the third one is out imminently.

Had always thought it was a comedy for some reason, and whilst it does have chuckles, it gets pretty intense at times and is definitely more drama than dramedy.

Oldman obviously having a blast and some of the support great too. It's also not afraid to jettison cast members, which was kind of surprising given how Slough House is a fairly small team to start with

i like how bad of a spy our pretty boy is

^yes it's a simple idea but highly effective

Third one's out end of this month.

It's like a really high-end BBC One Sunday night drama. Obviously I love it, but the surprise for me is that the husband also loves it, despite the fact that he never watches BBC One Sunday night dramas, no, not even Line of Duty.

i think the tone is a lot more fun and flash than that tbh

say to compare it to that submarine one- dreaful, overplotted, heavy THEME THEME THEME overwrought waste of all talent involved

this would undercut almost every large theme moment with a beat such as the duran duran looking spy constantly turning in the wrong direction or Oldman uttering a hoarse delboy faaarkawwf

the ending was underwhelming (our standish/partner/oldman reveal) and i cant for the life of me figure out even in the internal show logic how taverner is allowed remain in situ other than being blinded by her wardrobe but all in all that's not an awful tally in the 'against' column

haven't watched the show but i've been mainlining the books recently, they are very fun and well-written. however, the show seems to be going directly from the books (s1 is book 1, s2 is book 2, etc) so it might be hard to enjoy the books if you've already seen the show.

i enjoyed the slow reveal that gary oldman's v amusing disgusting savagery is both the unsurprising cover for a sensitive heart but also a rather more surprising reaction to having done something truly appalling in the line of duty

Deems would I like this

The submarine one - Vigil - had one great line, and only that:

https://i.imgur.com/SiDlcHX.jpeg

We greatly enjoyed Vigil in our house. Husband watched about ten minutes of it over the back of the sofa, when someone was saying to Suranne Jones "how are you in confined spaces?" and husband gasped and said, "Oh no, my husband was killed by a confined space!" which, well. It was very that.

This is obviously not that, but it does remind me of that other one where Ron Perlman messes about with cameras.

there are levels on which one can enjoy terribly lazy nonsense and look, suranne jones is great and i like endeavour too but all in all that moneybwas better spent on irrigation

gyac- yeah i think so its lively and snappy

I read the first book this year, owing to my desire to stretch out any genre fiction series as long as possible I probably won’t read the second one until the new year

i've only watched season 1 but this show exceeded my expectations. it bears superficial resemblance to other slightly more subdued espionage/police thrillers in some ways, along with itself involving slightly more subdued clock-racing and homegrown terrorism vs the more histrionic 24, but it really is its own thing. it somehow manages to never lose its humor even in the midst of all the catastrophic events and mistakes of the lead characters, even while engaging in some absolutely pitch-black twists at the very end of the season. the right-wing reporter being unceremoniously taken care of was maybe a bit unbelievable, as it seemed like a very public bit of problem-handling, but I'm curious to see where it goes from there. absolutely hateful character, so well-played. Featuring an extremely likable and blatantly flawed crew of heroes, per the concept, plus an appropriately repulsive and "gray hat" performance from Oldman. Kristin Scott Thomas could probably play the icy agency goon role in her sleep, she's vv good. bonus lols from the Coldplay CD being stuck in the car.

the journalist was a brilliant performance, yes. i think its rare to so unshowily but perfectly nail that kind of odious personality, he made me itch with every expression/word

i should remember his name but the guy who ends up romancing is equally good in a role that on paper is just light relief but he absolutely makes it so much better

unlike jamie from the thick of it who is i think the only below par performance