‘Slow Horses’ Recap: ‘Negotiating with Tigers’

12/6/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in Episode 303 of ‘Slow Horses’ – ‘Negotiating with Tigers’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 303 of ‘Slow Horses’. To revisit the Season Three Premiere, click here.

One particular aspect of work that so many of us lament, is the performance evaluation. Because well, it is annoying. After all, the process often features a disconnected conversation with a disengaged leader, and no matter how much work we do, it seems that Meets Expectations for a piddly 2% raise is about as good as it gets. Plus, we dread the conversation in question because it’s just tedious at best. So, we do our best to put thoughts about our performance evaluation out of mind until the time comes to deal with it, so we can keep our head down and focused on putting food on the table. But while we do indeed hate that time of year, the fact of the matter is… it could be worse.

Granted, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect better of our employers, and we should demand that such a process be more than just routine. But there are workplaces where employees don’t get feedback, much less raises, and there are some workplaces… where one’s performance is judged on life and death matters. Such as say… MI5. For the next episode of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ informed us, that the harrowing and personal events of the season three premiere, were nothing short of a ruse. For ‘Negotiating with Tigers’ expanded upon Jackson Lamb’s use of the phrase ‘a Tiger Team’ to inform us… that such a phrase was used in this business… to describe a fake attack on intelligence agents, to stress test security.

Ergo, everything that happened was staged, and was designed to see if by chance MI5 could be compromised. Which was the hope for some parties, since that would mean that Chieftain Security could land a huge contract with British Intelligence and well, that made it seem that despite some major embarrassments for Slough House, life would go back to normal, and Standish would be returned. Which also spoke to a very different world for spies and a very different set of rules for them to abide by, especially in having their performances evaluated. Since this really did offer up a live fire exercise in competency and skills, one that obviously, everyone failed miserably.

Jack Lowden as River Cartwright in Episode 303 of ‘Slow Horses’ – ‘Negotiating with Tigers’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

But alas, this episode had far more to offer than showcasing what life would be like as a spy come yearly evaluation time. For it turned out, that Donovan wasn’t ready to hand Standish back over yet. In fact, his entire Tiger Team had other plans in place, the kind that involved keeping Standish as leverage to see what is known as ‘The Grey Books’. Which featured de-bunkings of every conspiracy theory currently known to man. But Donovan was of the belief that these books would prove something right and well, that meant this Tiger Team was going rogue. To the point where other agents were quickly in hand, and that meant, Lamb had to spring to action in this story and take some extreme measures to reset the narrative.

His first order of business was to toss Marcus and Shirley out of the service for sloppy work and equally as sloppy habits, more so on Shirley’s part. Then, he needed to get River out of the clink at MI5 to have him head to Chieftain to get their files, while he took the time to address its CEO and the Ministry directly. To make it clear that real trouble was on the horizon here and that Donovan was about to bring forth heaps of trouble. But thanks to Spider’s outright arrogance and stupidity, the plan to properly warn of a rogue unit and to get the intel needed, went belly up quick. Because despite Spider’s best efforts to bring Donovan in line, since he was now a top chief at Chieftain, he failed to make that happen and lost his life because of it.

Making it clear, that the rogue element is here to stay, and they will not be letting up on their demands anytime soon. Giving rise to real trouble and real danger for Standish and the other hostage, simply because… Donovan means business and is willing to kill if needed. All of which made for an amazing episode, one that once again turned everything upside down in a vastly inventive and relatable manner. Because sadly, the desire to believe in conspiracy theories is strong in our world, and there are folks that are indeed ready to fight to try and prove a fantasy to be real. Making Donovan a unique foe, one whose fate may be ugly and tragic in nature, now that Jackson Lamb is laser focused on Donovan and getting Standish back. Until next time.

Watch ‘Slow Horses’

0 Comments