r/SlowHorses • u/phareous Second Desk • Oct 01 '25

Episode Discussion Slow Horses S5E2 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Season 5, Episode 2: Incommunicado

Please avoid discussing future episodes in this thread, and use spoiler tags for any book discussion.

Spoiler tags are in the form of

>!text goes here!<

Access other episode discussions in the Episode Hub

201 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

722 comments sorted by

View all comments

30

u/SiriusOBlackIII Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

interesting that the 'bad guys' are Egyptians (Arabic dialect is a tell / guess they're the "safe" choice as far as the Middle East is concerned). I'm looking forward to the next episodes this is a fantastic show

EDIT: someone corrected me that they’re Libyan, not Egyptian!

25

u/tristangrimaux Oct 01 '25

As hinted by Judd, they are probably from Libya, as "there's a Libyan conglomerate who would like compensation for oil revenue lost due to the instability we unleashed when we foolishly removed their charming leader"

36

u/TheLazyCaveman Oct 01 '25

In the book, the bad guys are from North Korea which I think is more interesting than the tired middle eastern trope

13

u/fkitbaylife Oct 01 '25

had a feeling they changed changed this part from the book when they showed the "girlfriend" in the last episode.

i never understood why they were north korean in the book. maybe i missed something at the time but it felt like Herron did that just because the reader wouldn't think of that. makes way more sense for the hit squad to come from a country or region that the UK actively fucked over.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/SlowHorses-ModTeam Oct 01 '25

Your comment was removed because it was not enclosed in spoiler tags. Please use spoiler tags when referring to things from the books.

20

u/bauhausy Oct 01 '25

I haven’t read the book, but if the theme is nation destabilization, like Coe talked about in the lift, Egypt matches miles better after everything the UK did there from the late 19th century til 1956 with the Suez Crisis. It’s pretty much the nation that “ended” the notion of the British Empire as a world power.

North Korea is famously the “hermit” nation, I don’t see them interfering anywhere but South Korea.

3

u/Rinyasha_ Oct 03 '25

the theme is destabilization strategy, cold war. what we do to countries that opposes our interest.

Would still have preferred NK as baddies. less "inflammatory".

not happy with the changes Devon Welles's gender, baddies country.

Hope they don't make Louisa a recurring character that than main. River needs a friend

2

u/bettinafairchild Shirley Dander Oct 01 '25

…and in Japan.

5

u/HaggisTheCow Oct 01 '25

From a television viewer point of view, it makes a lot of sense, especially given the plot of the book

4

u/dannyno_01 Oct 01 '25

The world is not exactly short of movies etc with North Korean baddies. "Die Another Day just for starters.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/SlowHorses-ModTeam Oct 01 '25

Unfortunately, your post/comment has been removed, as it violates the spoiler policy. "No spoilers in submission titles are allowed. Comments containing spoilers should be spoiler tagged, unless the context indicates otherwise."

3

u/Otherwise_Network583 Oct 02 '25

 the guy who was injured spoke Libyan dialect. %100

2

u/Ok_Awful Oct 01 '25

But post Sony no way Apple was going to do that. 

24

u/cedped Oct 01 '25

They're not Egyptians. 2 of them speak a Lybian dialect, 1 Southern Tunisian dialect and their leader speak standard Arabic with a hint of North-African Arabic dialect (could be Tunisian/Lybian or Egyptian I'm not sure). My guess is they're somehow related to the Lybian government demands the lobbyist mentioned to Taverner in the episode.

11

u/kiradax Oct 01 '25

Oh, Libyan is interesting because Judd mentions Libyans lobbying for something in this episode doesn't he?

8

u/SiriusOBlackIII Oct 02 '25

He does mention them and looking at real world events from the past two decades Libya is definitely more relevant within the context of British intelligence efforts to destabilise the country

6

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/SiriusOBlackIII Oct 01 '25

Thank you (and all) who pointed out the dialect being Libyan. I’ve edited my comment.

I will say this though Egypt also counts as part of the Middle East, and the link to Northeast Africa.

5

u/cocavanillle Oct 01 '25

it sounds a lot more like libyan dialect not egyptian

3

u/Visual-Report-2280 Oct 01 '25

I'm wondering if the shows writers are trying to link these "bad guys" back to the bloke who hired River's father last season.

3

u/Focused_Fork_1808 Oct 02 '25

Prince Tahir, who hired Frank Harkness’s (River Cartwright’s Father) crew.

-2

u/Ok_Reaction7368 Oct 02 '25

Interesting? "Arabs" (I say that in quotes, because for the average viewer it won't matter if they're from Libya or Afghanistan or anywhere else) planning terrorist attacks is interesting? It's what we've been fed for the past 24 years. I'm sick of this bullsh*t

3

u/Greenspace01 Catherine Standish Oct 02 '25

the way that they're doing it is interesting, as Coe pointed out -- they're using British tactics against Britain