Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Incommunicado

On Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 2, “Incommunicado,” Jackson goes to Roddy’s house for a sleepover/protection detail, which is as delightful as expected. They are such an odd pairing, and it is fun to see them push each other’s buttons.

Despite the seriousness of the situation — an attempt on Roddy’s life and Shirley getting her ass kicked — there’s so much humor in this episode. It comes from the chaos that is the slow horses trying to do their jobs and interact with one another. 

They’re an absolute mess, whether acting alone or partnered up, but that’s why we love them. It’s hard to pick a favorite pairing — River and Coe or Roddy and Jackson. Both are unexpected and showcase different dynamics. 

It is unclear what exactly this hotel sidebar gave Jackson and the rest of the slow horses; it’s not as if they walked away with any new intel. Tara not being at the address she gave Roddy indicates that she is not innocent in all of this, which everyone (us and the slow horses) already knew. 

The only thing Slough House got out of this was time for them all to meet up and bear witness to Roddy and River’s incompetence. 

Following the bad guys around brings back not-pleasant memories of Slow Horses Season 1, which is the last time the show forced us to endure this. It didn’t work back then, and it likely won’t work now.

The only positive is that the Slow Horses’ main objective isn’t to track them down and rescue someone who has been kidnapped, like it was in Season 1. Right now, we are just getting glimpses of how the bad guys are operating.

Their scenes are sort of cluing us in on what their current objective is, and then once they accomplish that, they move on to the next one. Their overall master plan is still a bit of a mystery, but Coe’s destabilization theory doesn’t seem too far off.

However, our time spent with them isn’t adding all that much entertainment value. It still would be better if we spent our time with either Slough House or the Park, with characters we actually care about.

Stray Thoughts

• Roddy’s house is basically what I imagined it would be.
• Shirley is an absolute badass; that fight looked brutal.
• The political scenes with Diana and Whelan still aren’t all that engaging. Maybe future episodes will change that.
• Flyte’s friend is definitely not ready to deal with Jackson and the slow horses. Good luck to her.

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Slow Horses releases new episodes on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

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