There’s solid evidence that Season 4 of Slow Horsesmay just be the best season yet for Apple TV+’s dark comedy espionage drama. The Gary Oldman-led series continues to gallop along with vigor, but this go around, there’s something raw, powerful, and personal involved for many of the folks in our favorite dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who were cast away in the nether regions of MI5, Slough House.
Oldman’s Jackson Lamb is still plodding around in fine disheveled form, this time straddling a major threat to London while uncovering a mystery centered around one of his own, River Cartwright (Jack Lowden). The ripple effect of River’s story arc puts everybody involved with Slough House on edge, giving the entire season a major throughline to easily follow and several fan favorites to track more closely.
To that end, the season is a rich and powerfully effective adaptation of Spook Street, the fourth novel in award-winning writer Mick Herron’s gripping page-turners. From the season’s impressive opening scenes of a massive London bombing to the subsequent fallout, Season 4 becomes a continuous high-stakes outing filled with the unveiling of major secrets that are bound to further rattle the already shaky foundation of Slough House.
A New Mystery Ignites a Season-Long Story Arc
Fans quietly embraced Slow Horses when it first dropped in 2022, but it didn't get the attention it deserved (if it even has) until its second and third seasons. The series was adapted for television by Veep’s Will Smith. Season 4 is directed by Adam Randall (I See You) and benefits from the buzz the series has garnered for the groundbreaking nine Emmy Award nominations it received for its third season. The acting noms include Gary Oldman (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series), Jack Lowden (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series), and Jonathan Pryce (Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series).
The returning ensemble fans love are back, too: Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Kadiff Kirwan, Winner Hugo Weaving, Joanna Scanlan. Meanwhile, Ruth Bradley, Tom Brooke, and James Callis enter the fold this season. Less than five minutes in, a bomb goes off in the heart of London. But more trouble mounts in the home of River's revered dad, David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce at his finest). A mystery forms, pulling in Oldman’s Jackson to begin unraveling the mess. What fun it is. In watching this season, you cannot help but root for Oldman to finally grab the Emmy gold in September. It’s his time.
River Runs Deep: It's Jack Lowden's Season to Shine
The aftermath of the home incident finds fan favorite River Cartwright having to go the run. Much like Season 3 gave Catherine (Saskia Reeves) and Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) a chance to have their own fabulous story arc, our frazzled River gets the same. The big plus is that we, as an audience, get to relish the exceptional acting talents of Jack Lowden, who offers River’s dilemma a visceral edge.
While there’s a lot to savor (and unpack) about River’s trajectory this season, most of it is best left to be experienced. What can be said is that River’s confrontations and chase scenes — and, in turn, Lowden’s execution of them — are some of the finest action sequences we can ask for in episodic television.
Elsewhere, the season’s scene-stealer, aside from Oldman of course, is James Callis (Gaius Baltar in Battlestar Galactica) as MI5’s Claude Whelan, a higher-up buffoon more preoccupied with the agency’s PR optics than actually getting anything else done in proper form. This gives the delightful Kristin Scott Thomas a wonderful sparring partner, as Diana Taverner can only sigh in disgust at the man’s ineptitude.
Look for Hugo Weaving to deliver a memorable turn as Frank Harkness, a steely mercenary who becomes a significant threat if not a major plot point to track. Other standouts from the core cast give Kadiff Kirwan’s Marcus and the ever fierce Christopher Chung as Ho enough scenery to chew on. These two actors don’t disappoint.
Gary Oldman Shines Across Six High-Energy Episodes
Season 4 offers six swift and intense episodes that exist within a seemingly never-ending swirl of activity. This is infectiously high-energy television at its finest. At the heart of the tale is Oldman, of course. With Apple TV+ already having announced a fifth season, which will be adapted from Mick Herron’s fifth novel, London Rules, we’ll be seeing more of these characters, but Oldman has found himself in the role of a lifetime (and perhaps a perfect swan song).
If you thought you could never be more surprised by the lengths to which Jackson Lamb goes (or does not go) to handle a situation or, for that matter, how disgusted you might be by his shabby appearance and gruff demeanor, guess what? There’s apparently no limit to how impactful (or reviled) Lamb’s presence can be. An exceptional orchestrator, Oldman delivers a powerful masterclass in acting here.
Slow Horses Becomes a Timeless TV Classic
Aside from the mesmerizing actors and the gripping action sequences, Season 4 is elevated by the precision editing itself. Sharp as ever, the cuts between things like open rural country spaces and compact and claustrophobic settings are handled with great care, fueling the overall drama and turning it into an artful locomotive heading to the season’s final episode. That, combined with situations that find our pals each facing their own kind of existential angst, make for a memorable time all around.
Spellbinding and pulse-pounding in equal measure, with Season 4, Slow Horses has become an all-time television classic. Season 4 of Slow Horses debuts on September 4 on Apple TV+, with new episodes each Wednesday. Watch the series through the link below:
Watch Slow Horses
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