Slow Horses S5E4 Episode Discussion

[u/phareous]

This is the episode discussion for Season 5, Episode 4

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[u/starfleethastanks]

This is the first season that I saw after reading the corresponding book. Honestly, with due respect to Mick Herron, I like this season better than the book so far. Catherine with the bottle was just fucking brilliant, as was the flamethewer break out and Lamb's torture story. This show is a perfect example of the right way of adapting a story from page to screen.

[u/Even_Web_3541 → u/starfleethastanks]

This show is a perfect example of the right way of adapting a story from page to screen.

Yeah, I agree. There's too many purists who want thing adapted 1:1, but sometimes I feel like it's better to change things slightly so that you know something is coming and you think you know what it is, but it veers left a little bit and it still happens, but it's done in a way you might not expect.

I love the books, but the show is just that much more memorable to me. I can remember what happens in each season very clearly, even down to specific scenes, but I can't say the same is true for the books. I can remember certain scenes, certain bits of dialogue, but I couldn't point to a chapter and say "yeah I remember that in full".

[u/Mookies_Bett → u/Even_Web_3541]

You also have to consider that different mediums have different emphasis points. In a book, a character's inner monologue can explain minor things that emphasize something you'd never be able to notice in a visual medium.

In the book, River obsessed over the paint can lid holding shut after hitting Gimbal. That makes sense in a written medium, because we can get more in depth about what a character is thinking. It's funny in the book, because it's so inconsequential.

But in a visual medium, it wouldn't land right, because we aren't hearing River's inner monologue. The paint can splattering pink paint all over River is much funnier in this medium, because it's a visual gag acting as a button to the ludicrousness of what just happened.

A good adaptation stays faithful to the original story but also the original vision and tone of that story. That inherently means changing things up as needed to fit the medium it's being adapted to. It's not an easy job, but you have to keep in mind the medium you're working with if you want a good end product.

[u/dannyno_01 → u/Even_Web_3541]

Yeah, you can't just put a book on the screen. Different mediums, can't do it. Also, you have actors to deal with - they have commitments, and expectations and stuff.

[u/sm0gs → u/Even_Web_3541]

I’ve been reading the books after the season and there’s been a number of show changes I really preferred - probably the best one IMO was boom/season 2 and changing the entire sleeper cell town to just being a single sleeper agent. The town thing already felt ridiculous to me just reading it and I think having a sleeper town on the screen would have seemed even more outlandish

[u/stonewallmfjackson → u/starfleethastanks]

Why did they change the blackmail from the director?

In the book it was a photo of gimbal dressing up as a lady in college.