Slow Horses Season 2 Review, AppleTV+ Show

Season 2 Review 

When Slow Horses hit AppleTV earlier this year, it was immediately singled out as one of the streamer's best offerings. In a turbulent year that saw as many lows (Doubt and Gutsy) as highs (Pachinko), Slow Horses is thankfully one of the more stable and consistent quality offerings on the net.

  Slow Horses is far from perfect, and it has some narrative hesitations (as noted in the first season), but it's a solid offering all the same. And this second time around, the show feels more confident in telling its story and presenting its ideas.

  The 6-episode season 2 adapts the second novel in the Slow Horses series, Dead Lions, and follows Russian sleeper agents called Cicadas embedded in British society. When an ex-agent named Richard Bough is found dead on a bus after suffering a heart attack with the word "Cicada" written on his phone, Jackson Lamb pulls his team together to find out what happened.

Different Players 

  As the story progresses, several different players appear in various subplots that feed into the main story. Min and Louise are left out of the security detail for an upcoming meeting between some Russians, while River is tasked with an undercover operation to try and infiltrate the sleeper agent waiting in the sleepy village of Upshott. But back in London, Catherine and Lamb have problems of their own.

 

 The plot isn't overtly action-packed or full of thrilling chases, but what it lacks in those areas it makes up for with some pretty intense sequences and a few neat twists. However, while the ending is somewhat abrupt, there are a few twists that emerge. Additionally, players like Roddy Ho and Shirley are sadly underutilized despite some interesting parts of the story being fought.

  What's immediately noticeable this time around is the balance between dark humor and edgier sequences. Sometimes there are genuinely funny moments, a scene going from one line of dialogue to somber and sincere to downright funny. There's also a fun recurring joke about Jackson Lamb eating a different dish in every scene he's in, after a direct reference to how sloppily he eats noodles in episode 1.

Enjoyable 

 With all that in mind, Slow Horses is an enjoyable and solid sequel worth checking out if you were a fan of season 1. A better balance between humor and drama certainly feels like a step up. a few narrative issues keep this from being a better offering. You can't fault the effort here as Slow Horses continues to prove why it's one of Apple's most solid offerings.