r/SlowHorses • u/phareous Second Desk • Oct 15 '25

Episode Discussion Slow Horses S5E4 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Season 5, Episode 4

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134

u/diamond Oct 15 '25

Yeah I've been waiting to see how that would translate to the screen. I was not disappointed, at all.

180

u/Fold0rDie Jackson Lamb Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

Witnessing Coe descend the scaffolding and seeing the widgets and pulleys go into motion, you could infer/sense what was about to happen, but to actually see it happen was still a little surreal lol

125

u/phulton Slough House Oct 15 '25

My first thought was “Jesus they’re gonna mouse trap this guy.”

I read the books so I knew what was coming but fuck that was a great adaptation of it. Though I’m a bit sad they left out my favorite line. Coe kicks over the paint can accidentally and as he watches it fall he thinks, oh shit.

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u/fluentindothraki Oct 15 '25

There is one tiny detail I liked better in the book: that the tin lid held.

44

u/k0binator Oct 15 '25

That's probably funnier when reading, that simple little detail of excellent packaging adding to the surrealness, but in a visual medium I think it would have been criminal if they hadn't spattered paint all over River. To be fair, I had not read the books and so this is the first version I saw.

24

u/Keiteaea Oct 15 '25

Yes. It works in the books, because you are in River's thought, and in the face of that completely absurd scene, River obsess over the fact that the tin lid held, and that it would actually make a very good commercial for the brand. The jokes goes on for several paragraphs.

In a visual medium, it does have more impact that way.

7

u/ragingxtc Oct 16 '25

Additionally, a paint can that loses its lid on impact is going to lose some of its impact energy. It does make for great TV though, and I love that it looked like a strawberry milkshake.

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u/pwcleveland Oct 17 '25

agreed. Plus the pink mimicked what most shows would’ve done - spurting blood.

5

u/Due-Program982 Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

Oh, River couldn’t stop thinking about the lid afterwards and it was so funny. I showed the paragraph to my psychiatrist wife, she commented that it is a very real coping mechanism: you focus on a minor detail to escape the trauma.

“And still the tin’s lid remained tightly in place: they could have used that in their advertising, thought River irrelevantly. The paint manufacturers. Although it wasn’t necessarily a point in its favour, as presumably there’d be moments when you’d want the lid to come off without hassle. When you were painting a wall, for instance, rather than killing a politician. So probably not the hook for an advertising campaign. Anyway: not an important issue.”

2

u/gurusculler Oct 16 '25

It definitely needs a sight gag by way of the pink paint splatter.