Slow Horses Season 3 Episode 3 Review: Negotiating with Tigers
On Slow Horses Season 3 Episode 3, “Negotiating with Tigers,” the tiger team pivots, revealing their true end game — getting their hands on the gray books.
Obviously, this is tied to Donovan losing Alison all those years ago, but what remains to be seen is how it would be in the gray books.
Lamb describes them as books detailing conspiracy theories MI5 has looked into and debunked. We don’t have all the details on Donovan and Alison’s “missions;” all we know is that Alison was killed by the person she turned over the files to and that the two of them were, seemingly, on opposite sides.
At this point, the specifics of Alison’s death aren’t all that interesting, but perhaps Slow Horses will manage to surprise us. It wouldn’t be surprising if the tiger team had something else up their sleeves.
Perhaps there were ulterior motives for taking Catherine/targeting Slough House in all of this that Donovan and company didn’t share with Spider.
There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to Spider. While he was never our least favorite employee at the Park, he was up there. However, he usually brought in some fun drama or laughs, and that’s the case on “Negotiating with Tigers” as well.
His whole acting debut with the reveal that he’s working for Chieftain and orchestrated the tiger team attack is hilarious and typical Spider.
Louisa punching him would’ve made the whole thing so much better, but the juxtaposition of Spider’s “victory” speech vs the severity of River and Louisa makes the whole scene even better.
Admittedly, I always thought of Spider like a cockroach — indestructible and always around when you least expect him to be. To say his death is shocking is an understatement. It’s really well done. His death doesn’t hit any emotional notes, but it wasn’t supposed to — he’s not a beloved main character.
What his death does is add intensity to the case at hand and reveal something about Donovan — he’s out of control, making him a scary opponent.
If he had meant to kill Spider, that would’ve been one thing, but he didn’t. He acted impulsively without thinking, not understanding his own strength. This means you never know what to expect from him, and what his mental state might be.
While no one particularly wants to be in Slough House, gone are the days when we can believe that everyone is completely miserable there all the time. They’ve all formed some friendships and have grown to trust one another to some degree. Under no circumstances do they voice any of that though.
So, it’s nice to see River showcasing his complete faith in Jackson, telling Duffy how Jackson will be getting him out of there any second now. It’s a small moment, but it’s one of my favorite ones of the episode.
Stray Thoughts
- Did we know that Shirley had a drug habit? I can’t remember if this is new information or not.
- I am growing more and more fond of Shirley and Marcus as partners.
- Catherine, I see you doing a bit of profiling. I’m proud of you. Keep it up and don’t make your kidnappers angry.
- Louisa and River are partnered up for a bit! I love to see it.
- The politics of MI5/the Park are intriguing.
What did you think of this episode of Slow Horses? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Slow Horses airs new episodes on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).