Slow Horses, Season 5, Episode 3: 'Tall Tales'
The Slow Horses are locked up by the Dogs — or are the Dogs locked in with the Slow Horses?
A review of this week's Slow Horses, "Tall Tales" — with spoilers — coming up just as soon as that's mostly a fart...
Alan Sepinwall
There's a famous scene in Alan Moore's Watchmen comic (recreated in Zack Snyder's overly-literal movie adaptation) where the unhinged vigilante Rorschach is waiting in line in a prison cafeteria, surrounded by criminals he helped put there. One of those other prisoners threatens him, and Rorschach responds by hurling hot grease from the fryer in the man's face, before turning to everyone else in the room to explain, "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me."
There's a similar dynamic at work in "Tall Tales." The Dogs have taken over Slough House, and are keeping Lamb and most of his team under lock and key while Taverner interrogates Roddy Ho back at the Park. The Dogs are armed, better trained, and more competent than most of the Slow Horses. Yet much of the episode feels like the story of the Dogs gradually realizing that they're locked in with a group of dangerous, clever, and extremely flatulent spies with nothing to lose.
