Compare Slow Horses, Season 6 vs Last Seen

Hugo Weaving’s American accent drew one of the sharpest individual complaints, with one reviewer calling it the worst they had heard from an Australian actor.

The natural delivery of distinctly Australian dialogue is praised as a refreshing part of the show’s local identity.

The season’s recurring focus on who accepts blame, who ducks it, and how institutions pass responsibility upward remains a satisfying part of the show’s cynical workplace machinery.

One review strongly criticizes the show for letting Ian cross major legal and moral lines without adequately addressing the consequences.

The established personalities still feel sharply defined, from River’s impulsiveness to Lamb’s abrasive competence and Roddy’s ego. Reviewers praised how well the cast understands those ingrained flaws and rhythms.

One critic finds the supporting characters’ behavior inconsistent, especially in how the show applies the effects of isolation and socialization.

Season 6 is repeatedly described as the show’s bloodiest and most brutal run, yet positive reviewers felt the violence serves suspense and consequence rather than empty shock value.

The violence is viewed as a notable content concern, with reviews describing it as occasionally brutal even when the show avoids constant graphic excess.

Although Season 6 combines and alters material from two Mick Herron novels, critics generally felt it preserves what makes the books and series distinctive. The adaptation changes were usually seen as thoughtful rather than damaging.

The adaptation makes substantial changes from The Dispatcher, to the point one reviewer recommends treating it as inspired by the novel rather than a close adaptation.

Reviewers repeatedly celebrated the show’s unusually reliable yearly cadence. The fast turnaround is seen as a major advantage because the story and characters stay fresh in viewers’ minds.

A reviewer suggests the weekly rollout may be less satisfying than waiting to binge the complete six-episode story, especially given the repetition and back-and-forth in the pursuit.

Most full-season reviews found Season 6 exceptionally propulsive, particularly from the second episode onward. The biggest tradeoff is that the speed can crowd out quieter emotional scenes or make the middle harder to follow.

Season-level pacing is the biggest point of disagreement. Some critics call the six episodes tight and pacy, while others find the middle choppy and the penultimate flashback a major momentum killer.

The final cliffhanger is divisive: some reviewers found it breathless and brilliantly effective, while another called it a cheap send-off. Its ability to create urgency for Season 7 is not in doubt.

The ending divides reviewers: some praise its ambiguity or satisfying destination, while others find it lackluster or argue that its most interesting idea arrives only in the final moments.

The quick, acerbic dialogue remains a standout, with razor-sharp exchanges and dry wit surviving the season’s darker turn. Reviewers especially praised how the banter keeps tension from becoming monotonous.

The dialogue is praised when it sounds natural and distinctly Australian, though one review finds some police characters reduced to exposition-heavy functions.

The premiere earns praise for efficiently setting up several threats and emotional threads at once. Reviewers also noted that the show can juggle disparate material with surprising smoothness.

The dual-perspective structure earns strong praise when it intercuts Ian and Sarah, but the penultimate flashback is widely criticized as overextended and poorly placed.

The central hunt is easy enough to follow, but combining two novels creates moments where several storylines compete for attention. Some reviewers found the middle stretch harder to track even though the season ultimately pulls the strands together.

A small but pointed set of reviews criticize large unanswered questions, logical gaps, and head-scratching coincidences that make the plotting feel less coherent than the character work.

The closing stretch drew some of the strongest praise of the season, with multiple critics calling the penultimate episode and finale gripping, brutal, and among the show’s best set pieces.

The finale draws sharply mixed reactions, ranging from praise for a brilliantly ambiguous final shot to criticism that the closing episode feels lackluster.

Twists, returns, deaths, and reversals are among the season’s most consistently praised pleasures. Several critics described the run as unusually unpredictable and packed with major turns.

Reactions to the twists are split: some reviewers love that they carry emotional consequences instead of existing for shock, while others find the reveals early, predictable, or insufficiently clever.

The season’s drama was widely praised for feeling tense, consequential, and emotionally charged. River’s grief and the threat against Slough House give the espionage plot a more personal edge.

The drama is often intense and emotionally involving, though one negative review finds parts of it overly melodramatic. Its strongest scenes come from clashing forms of grief and desperation.

The season continues to stand out as a distinctive spy thriller by mixing bureaucratic drudgery, messy fieldwork, dark comedy, and grounded danger. Reviewers repeatedly framed that blend as something rival shows do not quite match.

Most critics see Last Seen as a strong crime thriller, but many also say it works better as a family or character drama than as a conventional mystery. A smaller group finds the genre execution too familiar or slow.

Opinions split sharply on freshness. Many critics loved the unpredictability and personal stakes, while dissenters thought the show was recycling familiar faces, chase mechanics, and a formula that has become predictable.

The series is viewed as familiar in premise but fresher in emphasis, especially when it shifts away from whodunit mechanics toward consequences and character perspective. Some critics still find it deeply predictable.

The scripts retain the series’ signature sarcasm, wit, and efficient plotting even after the lead-writer change. Reviewers who focused on the writing found the handover impressively smooth.

The scripted drama is praised as top-notch in the strongest review, particularly for giving twists emotional meaning instead of treating them as isolated shocks.

The season often earns praise for making violence feel painful, messy, and grounded, but one critic objected to assassins becoming implausibly ineffective when the plot needed the heroes to survive.

Believability is one of the clearest weaknesses. Reviewers repeatedly flag coincidences, implausible decisions, loose police procedure, and nonsensical scenarios, even as some praise the emotional behavior as painfully authentic.

The roughly 45-minute episodes were praised for feeling lean and fast without seeming starved of story. The runtime helps the season keep pressure on the plot while avoiding obvious filler.

The sub-50-minute episodes help keep the story manageable; one critic says a longer runtime would have made the plotting flaws much harder to tolerate.

The season uses grief, disposability, loyalty, and institutional neglect to deepen its spy-story mechanics. River’s mourning and the fate of discarded agents give the thriller more emotional and thematic weight.

The strongest thematic material centers on grief, obsession, love, trauma, empathy, and the cost of truth. Commentary on fanaticism and blind faith receives a more mixed response and can feel underdeveloped.

Most critics thought the show still balances brutality, grief, sarcasm, and absurd comedy remarkably well under the new showrunner. A few dissenters felt the humor had dulled, but the broader tonal identity remains intact.

The series sustains an unrelentingly bleak, grief-soaked mood that fits its themes, even when that emotional heaviness may be too much for some viewers.

Returning pairings—especially Jack Lowden with Olivia Cooke—were a major highlight, while new character combinations also brought fresh energy. The ensemble’s ability to bounce between bickering, affection, and danger remains a core strength.

Brammall and Lourdes are praised for selling the pivotal phone-call connection strongly enough that its emotional impact outweighs the contrivance behind it.

Adam Randall’s direction was repeatedly credited with making the season feel more cinematic, darker, and more intense. His handling of action and visual atmosphere drew especially strong praise.

Christian Schwochow’s direction is repeatedly praised for keeping the drama muscular, polished, and psychologically focused while shifting perspective without losing emotional clarity.

At least one reviewer watched all six episodes in a single sitting, matching the broader sense that the compact, propulsive season is easy to tear through quickly.

Several reviewers were hooked quickly, with one finishing the show in two breathless sittings. Even a more mixed review suggested the full run may play better as a binge than week to week.

Kyle Soller and MyAnna Buring’s assassins were widely praised as cold, menacing threats, and Hugo Weaving’s Frank remains formidable. One negative review argued that the killers are underwritten and occasionally made implausibly incompetent.

Henry and Jenna work best because they are not treated as conventional thriller villains. Reviewers find the antagonistic side more compelling when its motives remain psychologically messy and morally uncomfortable.

The caustic workplace comedy and Lamb’s insults still land for most critics, even against a much bleaker story. A few reviewers felt the one-liners were less sharp than in earlier seasons, so the comedy is not universally seen as peak form.

Brief flashes of humor through Ian’s bleakness are praised for making him feel more human without disrupting the show’s somber tone.

The assassins, constant pursuit, and uncertainty over who will survive create sustained tension across the season. Reviewers frequently described the run as gripping, anxiety-inducing, and hard to look away from.

The show is widely seen as tense and compelling even after revealing major information early. Suspense often comes from watching damaged characters move toward collision rather than from wondering who did what.

Returning characters are pushed into new emotional and professional territory, with River’s grief and old relationships receiving particular attention. Reviewers generally welcomed the way the season develops familiar people without rewriting who they are.

Reviewers consistently prefer the show when it focuses on grief, guilt, identity, and damaged family relationships rather than puzzle-box mystery. Sarah, Ian, Henry, and Donald are often highlighted as richer than standard thriller types.

Most critics found the twists and cliffhangers extremely effective at keeping momentum high and setting up Season 7. A minority disliked the final cliffhanger as a send-off even while acknowledging its impact.

The best episode endings turn near-misses and revelations into emotional pressure rather than cheap shock. The Episode 2 phone-booth ending is repeatedly singled out as especially effective.

Most reviewers thought individual episodes moved briskly and efficiently, especially once the season gets going. One premiere review found the opening chapter slower and more cumbersome than usual.

Individual episodes are often described as measured but effective, with several reviews praising the deliberate build and strong momentum. The main pacing complaints are concentrated in the later flashback-heavy stretch.

Grief, loss, and old relationships give Season 6 more emotional weight than a typical chase-driven thriller. Several reviewers found the deaths and River’s vulnerability genuinely affecting, though one felt the relentless pace left too little room for intimacy.

The emotional material is one of the show’s biggest strengths, with grief, parental loss, and fractured family bonds repeatedly described as haunting, heartbreaking, and powerful. One family-focused review finds the turmoil almost too heavy to be worth it.

Several critics liked how Season 6 spreads plot and development around the ensemble, but others felt the large cast and returning favorites sometimes squeeze regular characters out of focus.

The show is praised for giving meaningful time to both the searchers and the family hiding the truth, though at least one review feels some characters, including Ian and Debbie, get lost in the mix.

The broad consensus is that Season 6 tells a strong, often excellent story with personal stakes and relentless danger. More skeptical critics found the core chase repetitive or the underlying mystery merely solid rather than exceptional.

The broad consensus is that the story works best as an emotional family drama inside a familiar missing-child thriller. Praise for its character focus is offset by criticism of contrivances, predictability, and uneven middle episodes.

The season’s imagery drew strong praise, from its rain-soaked London atmosphere to more cinematic framing and a cold blue-green palette. Reviewers saw the visuals as a meaningful part of the darker mood.

The series is repeatedly praised for handsome, atmospheric imagery and a polished prestige look, with the Australian scenery adding mood rather than merely serving as backdrop.

Six episodes continue to feel like a sweet spot for this series. Critics praised the format for avoiding filler, preserving urgency, and still leaving room for plot and character beats.

The six-episode format is generally seen as a good fit, keeping the premise from overstaying its welcome even when some critics still detect wheel-spinning.

The dense plotting and brisk pace encouraged repeat viewing for some critics, including one who immediately watched the whole season again. Another called it the easiest season to rewatch so far.

One reviewer explicitly sees the series as a one-time watch, suggesting limited replay appeal once the story’s revelations are known.

Even reviews focused only on the premiere generally found it a strong, enjoyable return. Full-season critics repeatedly described the run as compelling, riveting, and easy to stay engaged with.

Most reviewers find the series gripping or riveting, but there is a notable minority that calls it overlong, boring, or merely adequate for a single watch.

Longtime devotees are still well served by the familiar rhythms, callbacks, and returning faces, though one critic warned that viewers less invested in the formula may crave something fresher.

Enthusiastic reviews frame the series as a must-watch, particularly for viewers who like emotionally driven crime thrillers rather than nonstop puzzle-box twists.

The Slow Horses remain a collection of abrasive, damaged misfits that viewers have nevertheless grown deeply attached to. That affection makes the season’s danger and deaths hit harder.

Ian remains surprisingly easy to invest in despite his volatility, addiction, and destructive choices. Brammall’s performance is repeatedly credited for preserving that sympathy.

Early critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with roundup coverage describing Season 6 as one of the series’ strongest outings and highlighting its pace, writing, and performances.

Critical response is broadly strong, with multiple roundups noting high approval and repeated praise for performances, atmosphere, and emotional depth despite recurring reservations about pacing and logic.

The season continues to expand the grimy MI5 ecosystem while keeping its institutional rules, rivalries, and history central to the plot. One review specifically praised the sharp world-building behind the character arcs.

The premiere is praised for gradually building Port McKenna and its ensemble alongside the mystery rather than dumping background information all at once.

Rain, muted gray-blue tones, wide surveillance-like compositions, and everyday locations give the season a colder, more cinematic look. Reviewers generally felt the visual shift suited the darker story.

The muted, polished Australian look is generally admired for giving the story a grounded, moody atmosphere. One critic finds the ashy palette less exciting as pure thriller imagery.

New and returning supporting players were widely praised, with several reviewers saying the additions strengthen the ensemble. Harry Lloyd, Lenny Rush, Kyle Soller, MyAnna Buring, and others drew especially positive notices.

The supporting ensemble is widely seen as a major strength, especially Cowell, Peake, Lourdes, Henshall, Wren, and Muhafidin. A few critics question some supporting characterization, but the performances themselves are usually praised.

Most critics thought the ensemble was operating at a very high level, with several calling the cast’s work among the strongest the series has delivered. Even more mixed season reviews still tended to praise the performances.

Performance quality is the strongest area of agreement across the reviews. Even critics who dislike the plotting or pacing often say the cast, led by Brammall, is what keeps the series working.

Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden remain major anchors, with reviewers praising Oldman’s lived-in comic menace and Lowden’s more vulnerable, physically demanding work. Both are repeatedly described as delivering some of their strongest material.

Patrick Brammall’s lead turn is the clearest point of consensus, with reviewers repeatedly describing him as stellar, haunting, vulnerable, and compelling even when Ian behaves recklessly.

The chase scenes, fights, and later set pieces were repeatedly described as inventive, breathless, and unusually cinematic. Several reviewers felt Season 6 pushed the action to a new high without losing the show’s grubby identity.

Ian’s struggle with alcohol is praised as part of Brammall’s internal performance, making his instability feel tied to trauma rather than a generic troubled-detective trait.

The de-aging work in the flashback episode is singled out as genuinely impressive even by a critic who strongly dislikes that episode’s placement.

Season 6 leans heavily on the show’s history, bringing back old characters and unresolved consequences while preserving the established tone through a leadership change. Reviewers often saw that continuity as a strength.

Moving the story to rural Australia is widely viewed as a meaningful strength, giving the series a distinct atmosphere, landscape, and social texture rather than a cosmetic location swap.

Season 6 pays off long-running threads, revives earlier characters, and pushes the larger series story forward. That stronger reliance on prior seasons rewards established viewers more than newcomers.

Frequent strong profanity is flagged as a content drawback for viewers sensitive to language.

The pressure created by a hostile media figure and Taverner’s public exposure fits naturally into the season’s political machinery. One reviewer specifically praised that political-media dimension for feeling tangible.

Defense spending, institutional compromise, media influence, and financial irregularities give the spy plot a recognizable contemporary edge. Critics who highlighted this material found it persuasive rather than decorative.

The premiere is consistently described as a strong start, introducing Ian’s grief and the central mystery at a deliberate but effective pace.

One reviewer found the recurring Sony game placement noticeable enough to become distracting rather than invisible background detail.

Enthusiasm for more Slow Horses remains extremely high among positive reviewers, with some openly hoping the series continues for many more seasons.

One review finds the limited series reaches a satisfying endpoint despite frustrations along the way.

One review argues that the promotion sells a twistier thriller than the show actually is; the finished series is described as a deeper, more emotional character study.

The shabby, ordinary environments remain part of the show’s charm, and the premiere’s shipping-container setting received specific praise for its sad, lived-in detail.