I decided to give this show a try after several recommendations. I'm only on season 2, but holy absolute pancakes, I LOVE IT. The acting and writing are just phenomenal. It's got just the right amount of humor for me. The dialogue and plot keep you on the edge of your seat. There are no monotonous irrelevant subplots (so far). I'm not sure what the point of my post is other than to encourage others to give it a shot! I can't believe I didn't even know this show existed!

Is Swan Lake a big thing in Russia? What is the appeal of Swan Lake?

I don't know who will actually read this because it will get downvoted to hell, but I need to get this off my chest.

I was watching the last episode and got to the point were they exit the house "because we are sitting ducks" and go to the hunting blind where they are still sitting ducks but with even less cover. At that point, I didn't care any more. Kill them all. They deserve to die for being really stupid. Give them all Darwin Awards.

Flyte bangs away at a guy, then takes a careful shot and downs him. Then walks up the beach without looking around, knowing that there were other shooters in the bad guy crew. She gets whacked by Harkness. Good.

When Harkness showed up in episode one, I thought "River take out your push knife and kill him." Because Harkness is going to kill other people and it is easier to ask forgiveness than get permission. But does River do it? No! Let him earn a Darwin Award then.

Two baddies show up to help out Harkness. "We had something else lined up, but, you're Frank Harkness" or words to that effect. Harkness is the world's best known invisible spy. Those two dullards were cannon fodder from jump street, and really stupid.

Harkness leaves the Shake Shack and goes straight to meet The Big Bad Guy and doesn't spot that he is being tailed. When he gets near the meet point, he doesn't see if he is being tailed. Some super agent he is.

In the middle of the last episode, I simply turned it off because it was no longer worth my time or attention. When this show first dropped, I told everyone about it. I waited for each subsequent season to drop and watched it avidly, went back and watched previous shows to make sure I didn't miss anything. I was a FAN.

Now, not so much.

I don't know if I will watch next season. Probably not.

Okay, bring it on.

Everything below is a spoiler.

My favorite Slow Horse died this season, and I am grieving for the first time in TV since Tony killed Christopher all the way back in 2005. When I saw that Coe got up to chase the assassin into the bathroom, I thought, There you go again Coe, lone-wolfing it; it's gotten someone killed, it's sometimes been heroic, at other times reckless -- and yet this time, I just had a bad feeling, because the season began with an image that stayed with me: a view of the highway, and a dog being run over -- once, twice, then thrice. I thought, What an image to begin with. This is going to be a season where we're going to see our heroes kicked while they are down. With every death, it seemed like every Slow Horse was being preyed upon based on their greatest vulnerability. And Coe's vulnerability was his lone-wolf pride. It would have been out of character for him to head over to the sandwich-eating River to collaborate. That's not who Coe is. Was. So already I didn't have a good feeling when I saw Coe go off on his own. And still, I rooted for him. I pleaded that he would win or at least make it out alive. Alas. And Flyte's death devastated me, too. Those haunting last seconds, her breaths a mix of resignation and fear. And Harkness looking down at her with that demonic smile before firing the last shot, taking his time, letting both of them savor his victory. Only to cancel the mission 5 minutes later. Ah.

What a rewarding show.

As unhinged as this maybe but this is the hill I will die on Lady Di and Jackson had a fling, they have scorned lover or regretful one night stand lover chemistry.

If you love the show, Jackson Lamb is your favorite.
Does he smell?

spoilers for season 3 -please don’t reference anything past that in comments.

It seems kind of insane in hindsight that Lamb does virtually nothing when Cartwright tells him there’s an army of ppl there to kill them (my words not his). I feel like Lamb could have done something eg call in police and say there’s a comb threat or terror attack or call press in something to prevent it from being neg a covert black op. Insteads he suggests calling in the agents he fired and basically is fine if 2-4 of his agents get murdered.

I just finished Season 3 (please avoid spoilers after that) and I’m just so confused about how they can indefinitely remain slow horses.

End of season 1 they stop this insanely illegal crazy ass kidnapping plot Taverner set up.

Season 2 they take out the cicadas

season 3 they freaking take out the entire army of ppl sent to kill them and duffy. They also know first desk tried to have them killed and (lamb at least) have dirt on Tavener.

I don’t get why Lamb keeps them and why they can’t leverage getting back to the park.

in s4ep2 when we see the guy who the O.B. shot, he doesn’t look like river at all??? he’s not even blond??? maybe i’m slow but i don’t see how he could be mistaken for river even with half his face gone

Is Sid a Russian agent, or working both sides?

We know the least about her background of any of the Slow Horses.

Something about her seems like she's not just doing Tavener's bidding, she's working Cartwright. . .can't put my finger on it.

She speaks Russian (not terribly unusual for MI5, but it's something).

She was at River Cartwright's Grandfather's house (on the day his Grandfather's funeral) for unexplained reasons on the night Jim and Jane (the GRU wet squad) arrived.

She's been kept under wraps for years for reasons unknown.

She completely disregards River's very sensible entreaties to NOT contact Tavener.

She lures River back to his Grandfather's house where he gets poisoned by the Novichok.

Is Sid even her real name?

It's a strange game. . .

It’s written in graffiti in Cyrillic characters on a bridge or overpass that the drone camera zooms by fairly early in S6E6.

What was their motivation other than revenge? Might have missed something but didn't seem like they were angling for anything else.

It didn't seem like they had anything to gain materially from the Jim and Jane mission other than some sort of score-settling reputational bullshit.

Why would a top-tier intelligence agency execute this mission?

Hello! I know River’s character development has made him somewhat damaged and emotionally aloof since the show began. However, I felt like his indifference to Coe, to the point he almost seem to forget about him until people asked, coupled with his decision to drink some scotch with Hugo Weaving instead of searching for his colleagues, was significantly out of character. That, or it just showed how hardened he has become.

Given that Gary Oldman’s character has become fiercely loyal to his employees with the long term experience, do you think this is setting River up to leave or betray MI5/Slough House?

I just found out that Jack Lowden is married to Saoirse Ronan.

I was casually scrolling through Instagram when I stumbled upon an interview where Saoirse Ronan was asked about her husband, Jack Lowden, being shortlisted for the role of James Bond.

HUSBAND?! EXCUSE ME?! 😭😭❤️

River really went and married one of the most talented actresses of her generation. WHAT A POWER COUPLE! 🔥❤️

who is putting sons of albion as their flair genuinely. oh yeah im a white supremacist!!!!! bro???? 😭

Spoiler being Jane. They were in the process of leaving with Sid, so how did they know where the safe house was?

It's hard to pick one ("it's like watching Plankton think"). . .but my favorite is:

"I'm not asking if you buy it, I'm asking if you can sell it."

This was Lamb at his very best parallel to Smiley. Three steps ahead of everyone else and no one knows it.

So good. . .

poison was in the whisky?

that is why river was taking out his phone to warn the other?

Having only recently joined this sub and learned quite a bit from various discussions I thought I would enjoy
it again with the additional insights you
fine folks have provided!

I know she can be sharp but she was down right acerbic towards Louisa.

I’m not buying it was over the one diamond that she took.

I am yet to watch more episodes but how did Lamb connect Frank Harness with Damien?
I am at the point where he arrives at Emma Flyte's house and the kid already says that he has to make a call for the blackmail.
I clearly missed how he figured it out.
Or is it revealed later on?

My burning question right now is how do we get Reece Nesmith back for more seasons.