![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image_315415.png\")
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River Cartwright is a mess. Or that\u2019s what people keep telling him, anyway.<\/p>\n
Following last season\u2019s<\/a> reunion-spoiling revelations about his father (ex-CIA operative Frank Harkness) and his father\u2019s past (raising children to be super-soldiers), the galloping young stallion (played by Jack Lowd<\/a>e<\/a>n<\/a>) hasn\u2019t been able to screw his head on straight. Lamb (Gary Oldman<\/a>) unfavorably compares him to a \u201ccrack-up, a drunk, [and] a psychopath.\u201d Standish (Saskia Reeves) reprimands River for not dealing with his issues as well as he could (a.k.a. her version of Lamb\u2019s blistering reproach). And Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) lays it out as plainly as can be: \u201cYou\u2019re a mess,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re not allowing yourself to feel things that you should be feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n But River doesn\u2019t see it, and frankly, neither do we. Sure, he snaps at Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) for no good reason, and yeah, his instincts aren\u2019t as attuned as one would hope. (He makes an obviously errant pass at the worst possible moment.) But River has always been rough around the edges. His blunt bullheadedness is part of what landed him in Slough House<\/a>, MI5\u2019s storage locker for damaged agents, but it\u2019s also what\u2019s helped the haphazard team save the day, time and again, season after season.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s the truth? Is River in desperate need of some R&R, or is everyone else projecting their own predicaments onto him? Well, after five seasons of Will Smith\u2019s savvy Apple series<\/a>, there\u2019s little question as to who\u2019s right in this regard: It\u2019s Lamb. Our foul, flatulent father-figure may exaggerate a bit when belittling his enemies (and friends, for that matter), but cloaked under his aura of filth \u2014 like an adult Pig-Pen\u2019s toxic dust cloud \u2014\u00a0rests a core truth. So as soon as Lamb backs a team he\u2019s wont to disagree with, any mystery around River\u2019s mental health status is settled: He\u2019s a mess.<\/p>\n Even with one false impression exposed, splits in perception become a running theme of Season 5. When Roddy (Christopher Chung) almost gets hit by a van, Shirley claims she saved him from an intentional attack. But Roddy argues she was just \u201clooking for an excuse to sexually harass me\u201d and demands reimbursement for his damaged clothes. Is someone trying to kill him, or is Shirley\u2019s personal loss (Marcus, last season) making her paranoid? Later, Roddy needs to look his best for a date with a woman way out of his league, yet his inflexible ego \u2014 and a cozy night at the club \u2014 make their shared passions seem weirdly plausible. Did Roddy, of all people, find love, or is she\u2026 being paid for her services (as his peers repeatedly contend)? <\/p>\n Distinguishing the appearance of truth from truth itself isn\u2019t limited to individuals, either. Season 5 is set in a country gone \u201cfucking mad.\u201d When a campaign volunteer for the mayor gets killed by a gunman who supports the opposition, investigators prepare for the ramifications of a political attack. But when it turns out the shooter \u2014 who police initially believed had taken his own life \u2014 was, in fact, shot by someone else, the assumed situation spawns question after question: Who? When? Why?<\/p>\n As more strange situations sweep London, our favorite scruffy spies must decide what, who, and how much to believe. Is this a particularly bad week, filled with normal crises at an abnormal pace, or is there some sort of grand conspiracy connecting each bizarre emergency? Who among them should they listen to (besides Lamb), and whose vision is being clouded by personal bias? But also, how much is too much? If one far-fetched theory is proven credible, what other previously disregarded ideas merit reconsideration?<\/p>\n Invigorating in its temerity, Smith\u2019s six-episode Season 5 is told with propulsive clarity (save for the mysteries you\u2019re intended to guess at). Chaos is sorted into appreciable story arcs without diluting its overwhelming effect on our heroes. The element of chance isn\u2019t treated as a convenient plot device, nor is it pushed aside entirely so a grand plan can click into place. Best of all, Slough House\u2019s ability to make sense of the senseless becomes their key to saving the day. We may not always be able to separate reality from perception \u2014 sometimes differing perceptions simply can\u2019t coexist \u2014 but we can still respect and value actual intelligence, especially when it\u2019s used to solve public problems. <\/p>\n Problems \u201cSlow Horses\u201d directly links to anti-intellectualists, ignorant bullies, and willful distorters of the historical record \u2014 natural enemies of any self-respecting spy. They don\u2019t call them intelligence agents for nothing, and Season 5 is a nice reminder of their basic function: not only to know more than your Average Joe, but to apply that knowledge toward keeping the peace. <\/p>\n![\"Hawaiian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Chief_of_War_Photo_010901.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Savant-Jessica-Chastain-Apple-series.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Slow-Horses-Season-5-Jack-Lowden-Tom-Brooke.jpg\")
Jack Lowden<\/a> and Tom Brooke in \u2018Slow Horses<\/a>\u2018Courtesy of Apple TV+<\/p>\n