What a heart stopping start to 2023! Season 1 of “Slow Horses” was brilliant (my review), the exact same mix of spy thriller action and stringent humor we encounter in Mick Herron’s underlying books. Season 2 tops the opening season, although I am unsure whether that is due to a stronger novelistic plot or familiarization with the characters. In this labyrinthine episode (one that clever scriptwriting and very tight direction master), Jackson Lamb’s hapless Slow House crew finds itself enmeshed in the death of an old ex-agent that might provide a clue to sleeper Soviet agents still in pastoral Britain. The body count is high, the tension never relents, the ensemble cast are uniformly brilliant, and Gary Oldman revels in his profane portrayal of a Cold War warrior gone decrepit but still deceptively astute and effective. How can Slow Horses Season 3 possibly top this level of outperformance?