This article was published on 9/21 and republished on 9/23.
There is nothing quite like what’s happened with one of Apple TV+’s most successful shows, given the landscape of streaming these days.
Slow Horses is not only an amazing spy thriller, but it’s a series that produces a new season every year, or even in less than a year, with way-in-advance renewals and fast filming. For instance, season 7 of Slow Horses started filming before season 5, out this week, even aired. That simply does not happen anywhere in the industry right now.
With the return of Slow Horses, we are already seeing that this is yet another 100% Rotten Tomatoes scored season. That makes it the third out of five seasons, with season 4 and season 2 also getting 100%s. Season 1 had a terrible (ha) 95% while season 3 had a 98%. The show is rated at a 98% across all five seasons right now, a pretty monumental achievement in the industry.
Both Apple and star Gary Oldman seem content that they will be making this show forever. Oldman has said he plans to keep playing Jackson Lamb “as long as Apple keeps us on the air.”
Slow Horses is easily one of Apple TV+’s best productions, and while it’s not grabbing all the headlines or racking up Severance-level views, I’d argue that it is the consistently best show overall on a service with a rather surprising amount of great shows. Here’s what critics have said about this perfect-rated season of Slow Horses so far:
- Lady Geeks Media – “There’s much to explore and unveil with the six episodes, proving that where there’s a concise vision and narrative outlining, the story will continuously find a way to be captivating. And Slow Horses Season 5 certainly captivates.”
- Tech Advisor – “Lamb continues to be a true delight on screen, with Gary Oldman once again delivering some dialogue for the ages and new mannerisms to go down in the show’s legend.”
- AV Club – “This many seasons in, the show needs to do some of this maneuvering so as not to drive home the same central characters’ issues and burn out… But that doesn’t make any of this less delightful to watch, maybe just less fulfilling.”
“I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about it,” says a Metro review.
Despite being a 100% scored outing in season 4, fans were a little less on board, rating it an 87% instead. But that has been true of the entire series. Audience scores are between an 87-89% for every single season, which is kind of interesting to see.
Slow Horses season 5 is out this Wednesday. Check it out then.
Update (9/23): I was wondering now that we’re a day out from release tomorrow, Wednesday September 24, if Slow Horses had dipped a bit but no, that’s not the case. That 100% score remains in place, as does the 98% overall for the series. I thought it might be relevant to further reinforce just how good this show is, even compared to Apple TV+’s generally stellar line-up of shows. Here’s the ranking order of its major shows, as it stands:
- Slow Horses – 98%
- Black Bird – 98%
- Pachinko – 97%
- Murderbot – 96%
- Mythic Quest – 96%
- Ted Lasso – 95%
- Severance – 95%
- For All Mankind – 92%
- Foundation – 87%
Black Bird is a limited series so that makes Slow Horses the only 98% that’s an ongoing series. And even more impressive is that it has done that over the course of five seasons. Only Mythic Quest and For All Mankind are close with four seasons each.
But you can see what I mean about Apple. It has way, way less shows than its rivals, and a full seven of them are between 95% and 98%. And with Slow Horses, you have a full five seasons to watch with that quality. Well, honestly, I didn’t like last season quite as much and I’m not sure it deserves its 100%, but that’s neither here nor there.
I will be tuning in to the premiere of Slow Horses season 5 tomorrow, which will not drop as a binge, but week-to-week as Apple is prone to do, even if at times they do double episode premieres. We’ll see if it’s worth the hype soon.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.