r/SlowHorses

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!

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?

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.

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?

A small lingering question I have about a minute detail in Clown Town, for any readers:

>!In the final chapters, when Roddy is searching through his car for the tyre jack, Herron catalogs the car’s contents and one of the things Roddy finds is a raincoat and can’t recall where it came from. It's not mentioned again and quickly moves on. Whose coat is this? Usually when he writes something like this, it's a subtle clue to something that has happened or is to come. My first thought was that it may have been Emma Flyte’s, knowing that Emma and Louisa swapped coats in Wales, and Roddy’s car was on the scene there. Did this stick out to anyone else?!<

Thoughts?

Here's the spoiler: had First Chair and Second Chair brought the Grey Books out of the storage facility for the kidnappers to view, then the point of episodes 5 and 6, and part of 4, vanishes. That's how safe deposit boxes and closed stack libraries and special collections all work: you request an item, your qualifications are checked, and if you are allowed, they bring the specific box or book to you in a little room. Jeezes petes.

Have MI5 check what is in the boxes before the kidnappers look at the files and poof, the plot vanishes even faster.

Or is the point of the episode that First and Second Chair are oblivious to a simple solution? And Lamb doesn't suggest it because he "can't be arsed."

Full trailer has to be coming any day now...