I’d normally find something like Slow Horses excessively violent, but there’s enough comedy in there—sometimes even in the cruelest of characters—to sweeten the deal. My suspension of disbelief is fully engaged, although I’m not even sure the storylines are actually that implausible at this point in history. But Gary Oldman playing the ultimate slob, Kristin Scott Thomas being at her absolute snootiest, and Jack Lowden looking pretty with a beard (although without his Scottish accent) keep me coming back for some post-work adrenaline kick. Also, the first law of UK-based television remains true: every production must have at least one actor who’s been on Midsomer Murders.
I’ve also been sucked back into The Morning Show, and every week I promise myself it’ll be the last time. I know it has received a bunch of nominations and awards, but I find it badly written, overproduced, and relying too much on the names of its biggest stars, rather than their performances, which are constantly over the top—doing nothing to mask the obvious fact that the whole show has always been nothing more than a high-budget soap opera. And, frankly, actual news is crazy enough as it is—do we really need to relive the previous year’s scandals and hot topics with every new season?