Lead Me Astray

Slow Horses "I'm still laboring under the illusion that, uh, that Shelby…" "Shirley." "…is only half shit and not full shit like everyone else."

A guy so deeply damaged by a lifetime in the spy service during the cold war, hunted and tortured by the stazi (and if the story is true, watch the woman he loved and their unborn baby be murdered infront of him) and losing countless other people in the meatgrinder of the Service - only to then discover the guy in charge of it all is the reason why so many of his people died, and he is roped into executing him by his handler before being quietly dismissed for the crime of following orders.

So he holes up in unofficial retirement in a rundown office building slowly drinking and smoking himself to death through sheer force of self-loathing.

And yet he spends all of his time protecting the group of fuckups that have been dumped on his doorstep, while simultaneously trying to annoy them and drive them as far away as from him emotionally as humanly possible.

Slow Horses Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb & Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho -> Season 3

river reaching for a cover story when talking to the taxi stand and going my uncle's prone to wandering about and we're worried about him given what we find out about david later... baby

i've always been struck by how much this season is about ghosts (so is s3 but that's a different conversation for a different day), esp with how the show makes these parallels between katinsky and jackson to set them as foils against each other

they're both retired and old, at the end of their lives. their entire moral framework revolves around charles partner from opposite ends, and their conflict this season derives from the same principle -- that you don't abandon your joes. katinsky is killing the guy that killed one of his, and lamb had to kill partner because partner got his guys killed

even the fact that katinsky brings a fake bomb to the final showdown -- a move that we have seen jackson do a season beforehand -- they're equals apart from what side of the line they're on

and the fake narrative that katinsky sells river to call in the code september -- that he's going to attack the glass house -- something something people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones something something

and especially with how lamb ultimately gets katinsky to take himself out -- that it is a mirror of charles's suicide in manner and weapon, except that he [lamb] doesn't do it himself but puts the gun in his hand

Jackson Lamb takes a page from Roddy Ho.

The Slow Horses crew at the 2025 SAG Awards, nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. 🐌🐎

(February 23, 2025)

BTS Whelan vs. Lamb

📷 @jackenglishphotography IG

If anyone with better eyes than me can read some of the ones below that I can’t decipher, that would be wonderful! Here we go:

The classic ‘NO WET SPOONS IN THE SUGAR!’. This was definitely scribbled onto this post-it angrily by Catherine after she had once again found a wet spoon in the sugar.

‘NEVER REMOVE THIS PLUG ⬇️’ with plug underlined twice. That plug is probably keeping the whole building from exploding or something.

‘OUT OF ORDER’ on the lift, which has probably been there for about ten years.

‘If the water bottle is empty PLEASE REPLACE IT’. And a no smoking sign above it.

‘NOTICE TO ALL. WHEN USING SPONGES OR CLOTHS PLEASE SQUEEZE OUT WATER FIRST BEFORE LEAVING IT ON WORKTOP.’ Poor Catherine having to deal with these messy children.

‘LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, PLEASE HAVE SOME RESPECT WHEN USING THE KITCHEN AREA. DO NOT LEAVE UNWASHED DISHES IN THE SINK AND PUT YOUR DISHES AWAY.’ Thank you @abubblingcandle! The last bit is too obscured to read it clearly.

Think this one may be ‘Keep This Door Clear. Nothing to be leant ^up on this area.‘ It’s in Catherine’s office.

I just enjoy that there’s one of these on Catherine’s and Jackson’s office doors. She definitely put them there.

There’s also a written No Smoking sign on the landing - you can see it here behind Aimee in one of Gisele’s photos, and I’m pretty sure it’s visible in one of the episodes too, I just forget which one!

Thank you for reminding me of this one @too-many-rooks. ‘Your designated smoking area is NOT HERE’. Once again, this was definitely written by Catherine.

Thank you @daincrediblegg for reminding me of this one, and @timrousbeastie and @thebeigelunatics for their explanations. I wasn’t aware that this meme existed, but it’s highly enjoyable that the Slow Horses have stuck this up in the kitchen. According to @your-mighty-words-astound-me, the number scribbled on to indicate how many days it’s been since the last incident is 25,915,655,XXX (twenty five billion, nine hundred and fifteen million, six hundred and fifty five thousand, and an indecipherable three digit number that's been crossed out and another number written above).

This one made me laugh. ‘HELPFUL REFRIGERATOR CHART’ is so Catherine after her lunch has been eaten (by Lamb, probably) or one of the Slow Horses complain to her about their lunch being eaten. I can’t read it exactly, but the first line is ‘Did I bring this in?’ followed by arrows to Yes and No, which presumably point to ‘Eat or drink your lunch’ and ‘don’t’ Lol.

‘FIRST AIDERS C. Standish (3rd floor)’ ⛑️🩹

I’m guessing Moira scribbled her name out? I could also see Lamb doing it angrily and drunk when he realised she might not be coming back, or when he received the third letter from HR that required his signature to finally dismiss her, but at the same time, if he was holding out for her return, I can’t see him scribbling her name out. Also, I wonder if Catherine has ever given first aid to anyone in Slough House.

Another one from the kitchen, nicely spotted by @your-mighty-words-astound-me. ‘KEEP THIS AREA CLEAN. (YOUR) MOTHER ISN’T HERE (SO) CLEAN UP (AFTER) YOURSELVES.’ Another one definitely put up by Catherine.

Slow Horses The Lamb/Taverner Bench: A Short History