‘Slow Horses’ Season 6, Episode 2: Recap. Plus, Our Top 10 Shows of the Century!

20:15Rob:But if it's like this is shadowy money from somewhere else. Oh, for sure. And that's another thing. But it's not as if she knowingly took money from him. Well, can she explain that? And I think especially in this interview, where the specter of a first desk taking money from a foreign interest is sort of dangled over her to make her feel even more vulnerable. I think they have her, but only because she hasn't had time to process and figure out how to move from here. It's a great point. And that's sort of part of where we are in the format of this season. Yes. OK, let's go back to Harkness looking at the fox.

20:54Rob:Goes in and kills a dog who stole the files for them. Right. So basically Damien with his shadowy new media money. Yep. And we should say Damien, new media guy, does the like classic hot fuzz standing in front of a portrait of himself. Always works for me. It's a great move. If you're Timothy Dalton or anyone else, it always works for me. More so if you're Timothy Dalton, but that's just a Timothy Dalton. The mustache, really. helps honestly but he does that he also does like full bond villain boxing he does uh if you're gonna like skyfall box like in front of like a bunch of windows with just like red lights on you that i mean i just don't think this money can possibly come from good good avenues no way i mean look doing a boxing workout sure could be fine sure could you know like i think you could use it to suggest certain things about a character certainly but the lighting this is just aggressive This is villain, villain lighting.

21:47Who does any kind of workout in like piercing red light?

21:51Rob:Unless it's like actual the red light that, you know, can be restorative to you. Oh, you think he's got a bald spot he's trying to address up there? It's not just for hair growth. I know it's not. They have at my gym, they have like basically, it's like a tanning bed that's red light. And you can go lay in it after a workout. But aren't you only supposed to do it for like 15 minutes at a time or so? Yeah, but like what if he's, what do they call it? Life maxing? That's not what they call it. I hope not. Biohacking. What if he's biohacking and he's like, I believe, I've read some studies that say if you box under restorative red light or it's just villain lighting, you know?

22:26I think it's probably both. I think those studies are probably out there. I hope they're debunked soon because we got to stop people from boxing in weird red lights.

22:34Rob:I look pretty sick, honestly. So Harkness is on an errand, it seems, for Damien to kill this guy, this dog. Now former dog, we should say. Now former dog, now former person. He is deceased. Good correction. He is no longer. Shout out to this actor who was on Rings of Power the last two seasons, played a Harfoot, played a kindly fatherly Harfoot. Genuinely great on that show. No Harfoots this season on Rings of Power and bumped off after one episode on Slow Horses. So just like, I hope that guy gets more work soon. So I haven't watched Rings of Power. What are your feelings about the Harfoots in general?

23:12Rob:Thanks for asking. I like them. I don't think they were used super well in season two, but in season one, they were delightful to me. Are they? I mean, just look, from my outside perspective, they seem like store-brand hobbits. What's the situation here exactly? Last week, you went after Aragorn and Strider. What is your Lord of the Rings agenda that you are circling here? I simply love the films, but have not seen Rings of Power, so I'm trying to understand what's going on. Harfuts are proto-hobbits. Okay. Does that help you? It's the Prometheus to the Covenant that is the Hobbits. Correct. They sing.

23:47Rob:They're nomadic. Okay. I like them a lot. I really like this. So when this soon-to-be former dog person says, To Harkness, you must be new. And he says, I don't feel new. I thought that was a great line, well-delivered. I felt that in my bones. I also don't feel new. But I was at a funeral this morning. Okay, so same day. I was at a funeral this morning. We're same day. Okay. I just, I don't know how long we can stay this day because it seems like it's already night. Well, River's still in the funeral suit for most of this episode. No, no, I'm saying like it's the same day, but like it's already night on episode two.

24:22Rob:Are we going, is it one crazy night? Are we going through the night, you know, here? Oh, that would be thrilling. I mean, we love, like once you're getting that condensed, I think it can get pretty exciting. But you're right, a lot has to happen very quickly. This is a lot of slow horses that are getting knocked off in very rapid succession. Moira. Important that a father take care of his son. A fine, clinky, ironic statement from our guy. We found out that he was at the funeral looking for this guy, so it had nothing to do with River or David Cartwright or anything like that. Pure coincidence.

24:55Rob:Just, I was there on a job. Anything else you want to say about this sequence? I guess I am curious about the end of it. Strangulation is not my area, personally. Oh, yeah. You prefer, you're a poisoner. I just think it's more elegant. But like Frank seems like he's having a hard physical time with all this. He gave a real I'm tool for this shit. He really did. Sort of moment. And so it's like to what degree is he kind of slipping at this point? You know, he's getting up there in years. He's not River's age anymore. Like he's been in this game a long time. And so how we see that over the course of the series, I'm eager to chart.

25:30Rob:I do always enjoy a strangulation that ends with like the body on top of the strangler. Oh, it often does. and to exhale. Yeah. Yeah, we did it. Okay. Quick sidebar. This is my Roddy Ho top five, but it's more than five. Just the greatest hits of Roddy Ho in this episode. There's so many. I got to run through it. We start with the raw eggs, right? POV camera up through the glass where he's putting the raw eggs. Okay. So that's just our guy Roddy Ho. He's not doing the full English breakfast. He's just crushing raw eggs for the protein game. He's ready for the red lid boxing gym. He wishes. he could go to the red-lit boxing gym.

26:09Rob:Crypto Rod is a nickname he gives himself. We were just talking about this on House of R. You can't really nickname yourself, but don't tell Roddy Ho that because later he calls himself Hobie One fucking Kenobi. He does. Okay. I'm going to come back to that in a second. The condom drawer with the Kama Sutra makes its reappearance. Love to see it. You flagged this last week that you felt like Roddy was like a bit more on top of his job, like a bit more competent than he's been in the past. I would say him having to explain five times to River that you can't trace a missed call and River being exasperated but I'm like but Roddy seems like he's A right and B is trying to explain something to you and you're acting like he doesn't get it.

26:47I think they're actually both right. They're just kind of miscommunicating in a way that's very fun.

26:52Rob:The way he sages and namaste's his office after River tries to out choking. Really good. Go for ho. Answering the phone with go for ho. Yep. Very good. Well especially for a guy who is just the as far as TV shows right now, the guy at the desk. There really is no competition for a Roddy Ho. It's true. Let's go back to Obi-Wan fucking Kenobi. Yeah. To which River says, I fucking hate Star Trek. And then Roddy's like, so exasperated. You're telling me, elder millennial River Cartwright doesn't know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is? Especially like for the filmed in the UK Phantom Menace? Impossible to me. Impossible to me.

27:34I find it hard to believe, but maybe we're too close to this, you know? Joanna Robinson of House of R.

27:39Rob:I understand. I understand there are people out there in the world who will mix up Star Trek and Star Wars, and that's fine. Like, whatever. Live your life. I don't believe that River Cartwright, the age that he is, is someone who does not know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is and who might mistakenly call it Star Trek. I would prefer it if it was, like, purposefully setting up Roddy. But it did seem like he just didn't know. Yeah, if he was trying to, like, needle him. Yeah, exactly. I also don't know about the Obi-Wan. like even for what Roddy is invoking there maybe he's invoking like the detective obi-wan situation like this is this is my zone you know he's a real attack of the clones guy yeah i'm gonna get to the bottom of this uh of this clone situation all right judd and diana at lunch lobster lunch on the ranking of like evil villain shit and we've got red light box night boxing where do you put eating lobster, like cracking lobster open with your hands at lunchtime, daytime.

28:34Rob:Yeah. Cracking lobster open, finger bowl to like wash the lobster. Menacingly cracking lobster while you're trying to intimidate someone. Where do you put that on the villain ranking? I think on a scale of zero to 10, it's like at least a seven, you know? Normal everyday people and certainly not heroes are for one not eating lobster lunches and not doing it in that fashion. The only thing that could have escalated it was if there was any breaking of the shellfish and then sucking the innards. Yes. Which, look, you do you. I'm going to say for lobster, it wouldn't be me personally, but you just can't do it in front of people in that fashion at that kind of establishment.

29:07Yeah, if you're going to suck a claw,

29:07Rob:you got to do it on your own time. You know? Can't be done in fine dining. Whatever you want in the comforts of your own home. Yeah, suck your claw at home. Okay. On the like most British thing that happens inside of this episode, most English thing. Okay. I'm going to nominate, I'm not sure it's my final one, but I'm going to nominate this language from Judd. Yes. oh I do wish you wouldn't be so preemptory I'm sure there's a more convivial person in there somewhere don't judge my accent it's I'm not an actor first of all preemptory and convivial in in the same sentence I don't think there's anything to judge uh Joe there's no one doing it like you right now this is just unbelievable work preemptory convivial I think I think outstanding your mission should you choose to accept it It's to incorporate both of those words into casual podcasting conversation by the end of the series.

30:01Do you think you could accomplish that?

30:02Rob:On our podcast or a different podcast? I feel like it's more fun on another. I would like you to use either Convivial or Premptory on the Zach Lowe podcast. You know what? On a NBA podcast of some kind, I will work it in. Okay. All right. Anything else you want to say about this luncheon? Damien shows up. He's in full hoodie. Hoodie with a blazer. Yeah. look which I fucking hate with a with a wilted ball cap hate it hate everything about it love Harry Lloyd hate this character he's already pretty detestable in many ways I mean I just think for Taverner she's experienced enough in this game where she has to know that this is just the first squeeze right like this is like the test case for them of Peter Judd feels like he has Taverner dead to rights about this whole like money funding situation yeah and the interview is just the first ask of what I assume will be several, if not many, over the course of the series.

30:55Rob:Especially now that she's just sort of put herself in an even more vulnerable place. It's only gonna get worse and worse. On air. And so it's like, again, how do you take the first step as the head of, as first desk at MI5, knowing how this always goes? A little mystifying, but Taverner is spun about. Ah, spun about. Well, she has more to lose than she ever has had before. That is true. And it makes people do desperate things. And to Peter Judd, I mean, too, not just the lobster eating, but the shit-eating grinned Peter Judd of all people. His, uh, God, I want to read his text to her later. Of all the texts she got.

31:28Rob:That one is very good. Looking fab, wife wants to know if you've had work done. He's the best. Horrible person. Should I just start texting that to people? Just to get some responses? Looking fab, wife wants to know if you've had some work done. Everyone's talking about it. Wife wants to know who's your guy. Oh, who's your guy? Yeah. Who's your guy might be worse. You look so refreshed. Oh. Who's your guy? Oh, no. Yeah, really tough. Jackson River, the crime scene. Rob, how snacky do you have to be to eat some crisps you found at the scene of a crime? Me personally? Yeah. What flavor are they?

32:02Rob:What flavor would get you over the line? Well, I mean. Salt and vinegar? I mean, I love a salt and vinegar. I'm trying to think of the typical British English assortment. Like a cheese and onion doesn't do anything for me. A prawn cocktail, forget about it. Absolutely not. Not my area. But a salt and vinegar? Salt and vinegar crisp? Now, I think it's the moment is would I consume the crisps? Maybe. Would I stare at the corpse while I eat them? Probably not. But I am not Jackson Lamb. All right. So if you're going to suck a claw, do it on your own time. And if you're going to eat some crisps, at least have the decency to not look at the corpse while you do so.

32:34Or walk outside. Get some fresh air. Yeah.

32:37Rob:That air must be really corpse-y at this point. I would think. Lenny Rush, an actor, comedian who I really enjoy. I first saw him on a holiday special of Taskmaster. He's like a very delightful figure. He is here as Reese Shearsmith, I believe, is the character's name. And we see him sort of out of Harkness's peripheral vision while he's like, I'm too old for this shit, strangulating his dad. Stumble out of the way. Gets out of the way, has a bag with him. Yes. That we linger on, the fact that he's a bag. And then we see him sort of scooting away later on. On a little segue. Yeah. I'm excited for him to be part of the season.

33:13Rob:Yeah. Who am I most excited for him to see? there's one answer is it Jackson it's Jackson Lamb is it not Roddy oh honestly Roddy would be very good too yeah I mean I just think the comedy potential here is astronomical yeah and I think so we're led to believe I would think by the nature of this scene Lamb flags there's no laptop here there's no phone here all the cash is gone all that's in the bag right is there anything else that we would want or expect to be in that bag I don't think so yeah laptop seems like a thing that we would want to keep track of right in general I mean there's been a lot of flash drives on TV this year.

33:46Something is getting flash drive to someone else. Yeah. There's going to be some sensitive information.

33:50Rob:If that laptop goes in the water and then it's fine, will you be upset? I will be a little bit. Okay. But maybe data recovery is more advanced than I've been led to believe. Later, a little later on, after they've tracked down the CCTV, River has tried to recruit someone to the dogs. Can we talk about that? Sure, go ahead. What the fuck is going on with this scene? Well, this is my best use of spycraft, actually. It's for this lady, the head of security I didn't catch her name her name's Rosa Rosa she hacks a camera in the alleyway because she's like we have this TV she's like okay we have this angle on him yep there's another camera in the alleyway it's not our camera that's true but I can get into it and she basically in the moment hacks a camera that like her company doesn't own yes and so I think he's like wow that was some pretty slick spy work well not only that but she hits him with the enhance that it's like let's zoom in let's clean this up a little bit all of that sure but just this whole sequence slow horses is guilty of this on occasion where it just feels like the mick heron cinematic universe it's like we're going to introduce this character and river like inviting her to apply for the dog so that she shows up in series seven as one of the dogs and everything about it just felt so clunky to me i don't like i don't even know if she is and maybe not like it just felt like you didn't you like okay i agree with If she is someone that will show up as one of the dogs in a future season, clunky.

35:16Rob:If it's just an occasion for Jackson Lamb to make fun of River being like, drop my name, you know, then that's kind of fun. I think what makes me, what leads me to believe that she will be back is just how many shots are lingering on this actress, Larise Harrison herself. And so it's like, there's so much focus on her. Again, I have not read the books, have no knowledge of this stuff. I don't know her. It just seems like this is a character who could reappear on the show in someone recurrents. Or in an Emma Flighty capacity. Sure. But after they do all of that, and River gets the call that he takes so that Roddy can later track it.

35:51Rob:Yeah. And Jackson is asking him about it and, like, making fun of him for being a bad liar. And he eventually admits, like, it's, I think it's Harkness. He's messing with me. And Jackson says, if he calls again, let me know because fucking with you is my job. These are the, like, little kernels that I'm always looking for from Jackson Lamb of, like, a care. Right? He cares. abusive work dad does care about me he's like he doesn't get to fuck with you that's my job but it's also like I'm gonna protect you from your dad right? it's endearing I mean look there's a lot of endearing lamb stuff in this episode between this with River and then badgering Catherine Standish to get into the car to protect her I mean I love their whole deal generally but I found this episode to be particularly good I also really enjoyed the Shirley and Co energy that we got when they go investigate the narrowboat Quote, Coe says he's loaded, investment banker 10 years, has a cool car too.

36:45Rob:Do you believe all of this? I believe he's a compulsive liar, but I also believe he is the kind of person who could be a 10-year investment banker and make a fuck ton of money. Do you want some money, he says? He said she steals money from the, again, stealing money from the scene of a crime or eating crisps at the scene of a crime. What do you think? I mean, K-White doesn't need it. Here's the thing. As Denzel Washington will tell you, you can't take it with you, you know? Yeah, he coined that. You can't take your prawn crisps with you. And so you can't take this cash. What good is it going to do Kay White?

37:14Rob:I really loved this moment when she was like friend or family. And he says, colleagues, we cherished her. I thought that was really good. It is very good. And then they sit down and they have some pulled pork, applesauce, onion rings, mac and cheese. Great spread. Looks delish. I'm ready for that right now. I really like their dynamic. And also later when they're split up and Lamb says nobody cares about Ko. and Shirley's like, I like him. I like their thing. Especially, it feels like maybe two going on three series now where Slow Horses, I would say, didn't quite know what to do with Shirley.

37:49She would have maybe one episode where she got to do something and then would be sort of in the background, cracking wise at Roddy's expense or something like that.

37:56Rob:I thought they did a better job with her last series, Windbreaker season, relapse drug season. But yeah, the Marcus partnership and then the post-Marcus, whatever, I think the person they've had a harder time with is Ko. Oh, for sure. And so I feel like having someone who could unlock him would be very important. I think the difference for those characters for me is like, surely at her best moments in the show is a character I really like. And I'm like, how can we get back to that? Versus Ko, I would say, really hasn't even had that flash yet. It's just occasional moments of extreme violence and also podcast listening, which I guess those are the prestige TV listeners too.

38:34Who's to say?

38:35Rob:The spies at Home Depot, or again, whatever the UK version of Home Depot is. Yeah. Here's the phrase I wrote down. Murderous whimsy. And it's when Kyle Soller, in pursuit of a nail gun and other things, sort of wheeze around on the cart inside of this UK Home Depot. I love murderous whimsy. I'm a big fan of it. It's wonderful. What do you make of Jane in the scene saying, I just don't like other people telling me how to do their job? What do you think is going on there? I mean, clearly, I took it to mean pretty directly that they are being told specifically how to kill these various slow horses.

39:10Rob:So you can't just use a nail gun. You have to like go in, pretend to be the energy. Exactly. Is it they all have to look like accidents and not you can have fun with your murder? You can't have a nail in your brain. Yeah, you can't like slice and dice. You got to. That makes more sense. Especially Strew and Lloyd, like that seemed a little improvisational, you know, at least getting into the, you know, the storage unit. and kind of locking him in there with the fire. I can't imagine that was like the plan as it was written up specifically. But you're right. If you can make it look like an accident, that does seem to be the common thread so far.

39:42The clunk on the head into the river, the gas leak, like all that stuff.

39:46Rob:The accident, but like they all go out sad. You know what I mean? They really, really do. Is there any other way for a slow horse to go out? I mean, the scene they set up for Moira is really tough. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the Moira situation. What is the saddest part to you? Is it the glop of the soup? This is what I was going to ask you. A couple questions. Yeah. What would you be most embarrassed to be found dead watching? Oh, boy. I think it's something like the Home Shopping Network or like some TLC, like, you know. I was going to say your friends and neighbors, but that works too.

40:18I really don't.

40:20Rob:Say it all the way to the microphone. And then what meal would you be most horrified being caught dead making? and it wouldn't be sad, reheated, glopped, like supermarket soup. Well, which one's worse if you're posed in that way? I guess she did buy the soup. So she was planning to eat it at some point. I mean, supermarket soup has its role. I'm not really above it. Yeah. I think it'd be worse if it's like, this is your gremlin meal. It's like, this is the thing that nobody's supposed to know about, you know? This is me in the depths of my depravity. This is you sucking lobster claws in the dark.

40:52I guess so. I mean, again, that level of shellfish consumption just seems odd under these particular circumstances. but maybe it is the time. Maybe that is the occasion for it.

41:03Rob:Is it like a crunchy Cheeto? Like what are you? Yeah, I think it would involve not only the food spread that you have laid out in front of you, but the way in which you have covered yourself. Okay, so death with like orange dust on your hands. Cheeto hand dead? Well, here's the thing. Joe, if you ever find me dead with Cheeto dust on my hands. I will know that someone did you in. You will. I mean, because first of all, I'm chopstick in that thing. I also chopstick. That's just... I learned it from Oscar Isaac. It's not Cheeto 101, but it's Cheeto 301. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. So that'll be the tell.

41:36Completely.

41:37Rob:Close up on a book. Shadow Between Us. Now, I know you're not fond of fiction. Depends on the fiction. This isn't a real book. Okay. The author is Claire Houlihan. Claire Houlihan is the graphic designer on Slow Horses. So it's a little Easter egg. I love that. For the graphic designer on Slow Horses. Well deserved. She just made herself a little book. And she's like, look, it's my name. That was great. There are books titled Shadow Between Us, but none by an author named Claire Houlihan, who is the name of the graphic designer on the show. Okay, let's talk about... Oh, can we talk for just a brief moment about Moira a little more, too?

42:11Rob:R.I.P., man. I mean, sending her off in this fashion, I love Moira. I'm glad it's like Escalade. To have Strew Loy, who we haven't seen in seasons. Yes. To have Kay White, who we never met, you know. and then to have Moira who we not only spent more time with recently but like we saw her in last week's episode of course tough you know and does that mean that like yeah like is a Louisa guy next is a you know could easily be is a more a horse closer to home next on the list I mean that feels inevitable not only because we got the river drop earlier but like we are edging ever closer in but Moira is one of my favorite registers of slow horses, which is like, you just need people in this show who are super uppity all the time with no reason to be.

43:01And I'm going to miss Joanna Scanlon pulling that off all the time. I loved whenever she would pop up and I loved, just to give her one beautiful note of physical comedy to go out on, the fantastic Mr. Fox-esque way in which she just like keels over immediately after being sprayed with poison. Of all the ways to go out, wonderful for the character, but sad for us. When the sun goes down, on the appetizers come out. Yeah, you heard that right. Late night half price appetizers are here at Applebee's. Saucy, sweet, and spicy boneless wings. Crispy, cheesy mozzarella sticks. Creamy spinach and artichoke dip.

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44:47more at SoFi.com slash Spotify.

44:52Rob:So good. Oh, and most damning of all, Joe, the line from Jane on their way out of the building. It still seems too easy. Are you sure we have the right list? Tough. How do you rate that next to like who the hell names her kid River? She's just like, she's just nagging the horses. Just barbs left and right. All right. Catherine and the wine. Okay. Before Jackson rolls up and bullies her into the car, we get her at the wine shop talking to a guy who wants to talk to her about terroir. And I have lived in wine country and I know this guy so well. The Bordeaux's and the Margot's, et cetera, et cetera.

45:28Rob:Wild Hedro, berries, oak, and leather are the tasting notes he gives her for the Margot. How do you feel about that palate? I mean, that's a delicious wine in the right circumstance. When we're describing it as leather, you know, it's not what I'm looking for. Well, I would say like one of the most common tasting notes that you get are like pencil shavings or sawdust. Like they love to give like an off sort of a non-food flavor. They really do. So I feel like leather, I can see the appeal of leather inside of a red wine. I feel like Somalia World is maybe the closest that food, wine, the broader culinary community comes to basketball scouting.

46:13Like the obscure random one-off comp.

46:16Rob:What do you say in basketball when you're scouting? It's just the ways in which players are compared to one another and the like very, very deep pulls that come out as purely a result of like wanting to be unique about it. Right. Like, I get it. your drink tastes like sandalwood because you want to say it tastes like sandalwood more than anything else. That sounds delicious to me. I just want to shout out the delivery of this line. Oh, I'm going to need a corkscrew. Just like, I mean, so this is a woman like on a spiral. Yeah. She's teetering on the edge of the wagon here. And this very like, you know, oh, I used to drink that with an old boss of mine, like very sad.

46:57Rob:But the, oh, I'm going to need a corkscrew, making it sound so like casual. Yeah. But like this is a woman who has eliminated alcohol from her life, does not have a corkscrew because she does not want the temptation of having one. No. So just sort of like trying to come off so like bright and casual, just like a woman buying a bottle of wine casually, but like is in this desperate moment. I thought delivery of that line was really, really good. Well, even in doing so, even in being as breezy as she can be, The idea of I want a bottle that I can sink into is just like such a dark pit of despair to lump into the middle of the scene.

47:34I just thought this whole sequence and everything we get with Catherine in this episode is just like my favorite kind of Slow Horse's character work. Of a little disconnected from the plot, kind of spiraling out from stuff we saw last week. But really just a reminder of the way that these characters are kind of all on their own individual journeys and really have no support systems to speak of. save for Roddy Ho occasionally trying to give you a kind word and failing miserably.

47:58Rob:No, but I, well, I agree and disagree because like when Jackson shows up to scoop her up. Yes. Which he does and like bullies her into the car and then takes her to, you know, the confab. And then he's like, who wants to be key monitor and sort of waggles it at her and grabs it. So now she still has that bottle with her, but she has a purpose. She has a job. She has a job and she has to be alert enough with the keys because now everyone else is depending on her. That's a great point. And so like it's sort of what I was talking about last week when he took River with him to look at Strew and Loy's container fire.

48:34Rob:It was sort of like give them a purpose, something to do so they don't spiral out into the emotional turmoil that they're experiencing. The idea of busying yourself and distracting yourself, which Lamb has taken to mean give these people a job, give them a function. and Roddy is taken to mean I'm just going to kind of annoy you for 15 minutes and I think that's the same thing. Yeah, it's so good. Anything else you want to say about this Jackson going into the archives? Anything like that that you want to talk about? Well, I guess we want to unravel I guess how this is all connecting so far. I mean, this loops into the boxing scene as well.

49:08But if we're to put all these pieces together so we learn that Damien is behind the death of Andrew Neesmith, the dog who is allegedly hung himself. Yeah, Reese's dad. So he wanted this file, which we can intuit to mean the file of the slow horse's identities, which was smuggled out by him. No one really knew that at the time. At least he was under the impression, Andrew Neesmith, when he's talking to Harkness at the beginning, he's under the impression that no one in MI5 really knows that it's gone, which is sort of true.

49:39Rob:So he was caught on the floor. He was. He wasn't fired for stealing file. He was fired for kicking up a fuss. So like, yes, I believe that nobody knows. And Molly was like, they're all missing. She didn't know that they were missing. She didn't know they were missing. Lamb comes, helps kind of uncover that fact. And that's when he was like, full alert, let's go and, you know, go off the grid. But even then, it's Slough House full alert. It's not, this is on Diana Taverner's desk. Because I think the one piece of this that I can't quite place is Lamb's suspicion about Taverner in this larger thing.

50:09Rob:Why are the digital files missing? She doesn't do glitches. Right. So we don't know why the digital files have been deleted. But if the digital files are deleted, paper files of the slow horses would be the only way to find them. Yes. Right? And so the paper files were stolen so that Jane and Jim could go and find and kill all the slow horses. Yeah. We still don't know why they're doing that. We do not. Last week we were sort of like, they're not interrogating them. They're not trying to find information from them. They're indiscriminately killing all of them. But why? And why would Damien of all people be interested in that?

50:45Rob:Yeah, exactly. So we don't have all the information. It's a good hook for the season. But everything, if Diana is somehow involved, as Liam suspects her to be, everything is all connected thus far. I mean, I think this is, for one, just like a great concept for any spy story, right? Of like, we deleted the digital version of this. There's only the one physical version. And so now, not only are all the slow horses in danger, but like no one outside of Slough House would even know who to protect. And so Jackson Lamb, like the institutional knowledge becomes an essential life-saving resource, right?

51:18Rob:Finally, he's a guy and here comes Sid. Yeah, it's not like Taverner. It's not like anyone in MI5 could put together the full dossier in the way that Lamb theoretically could. I mean, they have to have those files also at Slough House somewhere under, Catherine has to have put them somewhere safe at Slough House, I have to imagine. I don't know. They've been cigarette soaked at this point. I think most things in that building are unrecoverable. It's interesting because the folks who worked on this season have mentioned that they wrote two versions of this season. I don't know if you saw this article.

51:50Rob:One, if they could get Olivia Cooke back, and one, if they couldn't. And I think the plan – I think. They haven't mentioned it. But I think the plan was like we would just slide Louisa sort of into this position of like someone who had a connection to River. Yep. who was gone for a little while and is now in danger because the horses are being hunted down. So Louisa could have. And that was a theory because like people weren't sure. People knew that Sid came back in this book, but they weren't sure if Olivia Cove was going to come back to the show. So like that was a theory when Louisa, when the actress left last season, last series, and the character doesn't in the book, a lot of people were wondering like, oh, did they have her leave so that Allah said she could come back in this way?

52:40Rob:So I don't know if that was the plan, but it seems like potentially that was a contingency. But Olivia Cooke was like, I'm thrilled to be back on Slow Horses. Well, not only thrilled, but you and I, I mean, we complain all the time about the pacing of TV production these days. Like some of these shows, they take years upon years to create new seasons. This is a case in which we can thank House of the Dragon for the incredible amount of time it takes to put a season of that show together because we get Olivia Cooke back. She can just pop back for what I imagine is a highly accelerated shooting schedule as is everything with slow horses.

53:11Rob:Absolutely. Get it done and probably still have months if not years to spare before she's needed back on set being a kind of hostage in a room somewhere. I love it. All right. Any of the categories that we haven't gotten to that you want to talk about? What's your lamb shake of the week? Christ, it's like watching Plankton think. It's very good. I will give it also to he tried to bounce you off his windscreen. doesn't necessarily speak to evil motives. Same scene. Also, and as we track the writing this season, I feel like this is a much more nickname-heavy season. Oh. I have to go back and... RstimeThePopeAtGmail.com if I'm wrong about this, and it's always been sort of a nickname-heavy show, but he calls Shirley Tiny Dander.

53:51He does.

53:52Rob:And then he calls Roddy Womble of Wall Street, which is like a Wolf of Wall Street slash Womble, which is a very British thing, which is actually maybe my nomination. And he calls Co. Mr. Bundy too, right? And Mr. Buddy. So like it's three nicknames right in a row. It was just like a lot. And then Roddy nicknamed himself twice inside of this episode. So it was just like the nicknames are sort of flying fast and furious in a way that I couldn't quite recall them doing. Tremendous pull, especially because Jackson Lamb is not a attaboy nickname kind of guy. Yeah. My only other lamb shank would be it's not like I mean, I mean, it's like watching Plankton think is the clear answer.

54:26Rob:Outstanding. But when River's looking in his dad's car and Liam goes, is he in there? That's the thing. Some of the shanks, I feel like, don't translate well to us reciting them on a podcast. Is he in there? But it's so funny. They just fucking make this show. They're so good. Frankly, him pointing at Derriford the Boo-Ware of Dog sign and then immediately barking at him upon entrance. Really good. Nobody's doing it like Gary Oldman. All right. Most British slash English slash whatever you prefer moment of the episode. Oh, I don't have one for this. I think I'll just give it to that line from Judd that I read.

55:02Rob:That seems more than fair. Also, the word windscreen instead of windshield is very good. Okay. Best use of spycraft, worst use of spycraft. You've already mentioned Diana Tavener. Yes. I would say Rose ahead of security doing the hacking to the camera and the enhance is best use also. Anything else? I think that's the only one, to be frank. This is not a sterling display of spycraft. The slow horses can barely follow the Blake's grave protocol. They get there sloppily and sometimes not at all and aren't going fully dark. No one is doing their job particularly well from Slough House's perspective.

55:40Rob:Are you giving Worst also to Moira for letting these people into her home, these assassins into her home? I expect less spycraft of her than Diana Taverner, so I'm going to stick with Taverner for Worst. That's fair. All right. Anything else for this episode? Best fit? Best fit. What do you have? I think there's one answer, and it is the guy at the sandwich shop who is wearing not only like - Whose visa is expired. Exactly. Expired visa guy. Very nice fleece geometric cardigan situation. That's cool. Butterfly chain. Yeah. The jewelry is really good. Do you think I could pull off a butterfly chain?

56:12Rob:I believe in you. That was not the voter support I was looking for. I would recruit that guy to Slough House. Oh, completely. Yeah. He seemed - He can make us apple slaw all day long. They need like a house chef. You know, it can't be pasta and noodles all the time. It can't just be Catherine making weak tea. I have to presume weak tea. It has to be something else. Yeah. All right. Anything else? Just glad to have Molly back. I don't know how much we're going to be seeing of her this season, but. When you go on the stage. Honestly, she was a nominee for Fit Watch 2. Her going out situation. And then she's like, there's my night fucked.

56:47Rob:Very good. Absolutely fucked. Like, you know, I would hope in a perfect world that she could be in the mix more with the slow horses. But I don't think she's going to be targeted in the way that they are. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. All right. We're going to do the TV Top 10 now. Let's do it. So here are the rules. Yeah. We could pick anything we wanted. 10 shows had to have started 2000 or later. Yes. To be clear, to be clear, The Sopranos is not eligible. West Wing is not eligible. Not eligible. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not eligible. Seinfeld, Larry Sanders, Cowboy Bebop for me, which I would have loved to put on this list.

57:25Okay. Many things.

57:27Rob:If you have anime on your list, I will not be able to guess it. I'm just going to put that out there right now. We'll see how it turns out. All right, do you want to go first? In terms of guessing yours, I would love to. So again, show starting in the year 2000. I believe that Joanna Robinson on her list of the 10 best shows of the century. I mean, Lost is on this list. Lost is on this list. I believe for Rob Mahoney, and I'll give you this hint, not that you asked for one. Okay. But I texted you last night and I said how many shows from one creator are we allowed to have on our list? Yes. Obviously you knew that I was talking about Damon Lindelof.

58:01Rob:I did. I limited myself to one. Wow, okay. So Lost is there, brackets, Leftovers, Watchmen. I had to pick between the three. So what you're saying is you're a cheater. I'm from House of R. This is what we do. The smuggling, we are one pick in and you smuggled in a top 12. I think Rob Mahoney has on his list Deadwood. I do indeed. To me, so we were talking about our processes for this. For me, it was like there were five locks. There were five like gotta be there. And then there were like 30 shows that need to occupy the bottom five spots. Deadwood, easy lock for me. The fact that you only did one Lindelof show though throws me for a bit of a loop because I obviously would have guessed that you would have had at least one of those other ones on there.

58:44But Andor is on your list.

58:45Rob:Andor is on my list. All right. I think Rob, and by the way, these are not ordered. These are just 10 shows. We did not torture ourselves by doing one through 10. So it's just like. Nor does the Times. Nor do they. So we do not have to. I believe that Rob Mahoney has on his list Battlestar Galactica. You are incorrect. I love Battlestar Galactica. Are you serious? Look, what are we doing here if not killing our darlings? Okay. All right. The honorable mentions, I just feel so bad. I know. For these shows, which are wonderful. for my oftentimes younger self watching Battlestar Galactica for the first time.

59:17Like, could not be there.

59:19Rob:I was so sure. Okay. I believe that you have Twin Peaks The Return on your list. I almost did. Oh, okay. So we both have one. Yeah. I don't know if there's like a three strike system here or what's going on. I was thinking maybe there should be a three strike system. I mean, we got one miss each so far. Yeah. You know, we'll see who's the better friend between us. Oh, sure. The return is on my short list. Okay. I believe that Rob Mahoney has on his list Justified. Justified. Don't. Guys, this is hard. I really don't know what to do with these lists. Justified is an unbelievable show. Double Oliphant.

59:56Rob:The erasure. Disrespect from you. I didn't even put Alien Earth on my list either. No, you have Deadwood. Sorry. You have Deadwood. How did you think about this part of like the peak versus total run of a show? Totally. Very hard part of this exercise. Yeah, absolutely. There are shows where I was like, if I could just nominate one season, it would be different. I hear you with Justified, like, really peaks, obviously, in season two. But, like... It's always watchable. I want to be clear. The worst of Justified, still a very good time. But, yeah, I made that argument about some of the darlings that I murdered, for sure.

1:00:29Where I came down is those kinds of shows where there is a little bit of a valley and it's just kind of watchable fun as opposed to, like, really great TV. They just kind of got nudged into the, like, 11 to 20 range on me. So look, this list got away from me a little bit, but such is life. I think you have Mad Men on your list.

1:00:46Rob:I don't have Mad Men on my list. Okay, Joe, what is happening? It's really hard. What are these lists? There's so much television. I don't have Mad Men on my list. All right. Of course, Kai, please don't cut the feed. We're sorry, Kai. I don't have Mad Men on my list. I believe that you, Rob Mahoney, have Friday Night Lights on your list. I do. Okay, great. But full disclosure, it was the 10th pick on my list. that was one again where it's like the lower points of Friday Night Lights are like a little slower a little sillier you could see it getting lost in the shuffle but I just simply wouldn't be allowed back into my home state if I did not select it you know it'll be me and Mr.

1:01:20and Mrs. Coach forever but I think you have okay here's the classic list making dilemma I already know you're smuggling so I already know what you're doing

1:01:28Rob:no no no that's my only smuggle interesting because the dilemma I'm going through is I think you have one of but maybe not both of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul on this list. So which one would Joe choose? Is it the groundbreaking in some ways more mythological show? Is it the more delicate character study? Yeah. That is in some ways I would say the more impressive achievement by its very existence. I'm going to say you pick Better Call Saul on your list. I did pick Better Call Saul. And you're right that like in theory that could be a Breaking Bad smuggle but it's not. I didn't put anything in brackets.

1:02:01Rob:Just Saul. Okay. And Saul bumped something very important on my list. Rob Mahoney, I believe you, king of the yearn, have Fleabag on your list. Oh, this was a lock. Stone cold lock. Fleabag season two might be one. I mean, it's among my favorite seasons of TV ever. Series two. Sorry. We got to really get it straight on this episode. We'll get there. I just don't think you can do it better than that. What Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott get in those six episodes. Unreal. Transcendent. Broke my brain. I will that's like a as far as where were you when you like watched the Red Wedding or whatever like the break to camera that Andrew Scott clocks was like one of the most thrilling things I've ever seen a literal gas a genuine gas what a show I think I think you have Station Eleven on your list I do have Station Eleven on my list okay so just to recap I have successfully guessed four of your shows Lost, Andor Better Call Saul and Station Eleven and I believe you have successfully guessed three Deadwood, Fleabag, and Friday Night Lights.

1:03:04Okay. But we've got some misses in here.

1:03:06Rob:It's true. I think you have leftovers on your list. I do indeed. Great. And you don't because you cheated. I don't know how else to put it. Some of us are out here making the hard decisions. We're leaving. I'm leaving Justified Out, my beautiful Kentucky darling. Wow, the holler will never be the same. I don't think it will. We dug gold together, but I left him behind. Yeah. What's next? Well, I can't pick West Wing, even though you're what's nexting me. So now the question is, did you put Breaking Bad on your list? You said you didn't smuggle it, but the way you talked about it led me to believe that you did not.

1:03:42But I got to be honest, I have run through the shows that I really thought were going to be on there.

1:03:47Rob:Really? Really, Rob? What am I missing? Oh, boy. I think you have...

1:04:02So here's the question. What are their Pantheon shows? There's some personal favorites in here for sure. But would there be any of the other Pantheon shows that you could not resist leaving off your list?

1:04:13Rob:Right. I think you have The Wire on your list. I don't have The Wire on my list. Okay. It hurt. It hurt. But I don't have The Wire on my list. Great guess. I'm wondering if you have Mindhunter on your list. I don't. Okay. A long list pick for sure. Yeah. That was a swing. A swing, but a good swing. And I like, especially when we're talking about the peaks and valleys of these shows, like it's just flat more consistent than a true detective or something like that, you know? So a really tough one. You know, I'm just gonna say it. I think you do have Breaking Bad on your list. I don't. What the fuck?

1:04:46Joe, we're so bad at this. This is hard.

1:04:48Rob:No, we're doing okay. We're doing okay. I mean, I would also say you haven't guessed any of the ones that I guessed for you, for me. I guess that is true. So think about that. It's a fair point. Do you have Six Feet Under on your list? I don't. And again, this is another one that just kills you. I don't know. Okay, so let's do some housekeeping then. I think you also have Friday Night Lights on your list. I don't. Okay. We're doing okay. It's going to be okay. Do you have Veronica Mars on your list? Nope. Wow. Marshmallows, forgive me. Kristen Bell, forgive me. We're going to have to start giving hints.

1:05:19Other Rob, Rob Thomas, forgive me. So you do have Fleabag on your list? Okay. So we're getting somewhere.

1:05:25Rob:Do you have Dairy Girls on your list? No, I do not. Okay. I found comedy to be very, very difficult to make space for. That said, I'll give you one clue that I did include one comedy. Okay, well, here's my hint. If we're not counting Fleabag as a comedy, which... I mean, it's too sad. I cut all comedies from my list. No comedies. I know, and it hurt my feelings. Well, let me ask you this. If you were to pick a comedy... Dairy Girls. It would be Dairy Girls. Yeah. Got you. I mean, I think there's a fair number of very worthy contestants. It's just when you put it up against the best that TV has basically ever been in one of the best eras of TV ever.

1:05:57Rob:Well, I told you my sister is like challenging herself to do an entire comedy list. Like she she like started kicking like Breaking Bad and the Wire off her list for comedy. I want to I want to see. Absolutely. All right. What I'm trying to think of what stones I have left on. You're missing like a really, really big one, like a really big one, like one of the biggest shows of all time that is like very closely identified with me. Joanna Robinson. Game of Thrones. Yes. OK. See, I didn't know if there was too much baggage. I had to put, I really thought about cutting it, but I had to put it on there.

1:06:28Rob:Wow. Like I had to. Yeah. So I take it, given that you were also Joanna Robinson of MCU, the New York Times bestseller, you must have Falcon and the Winter Soldier on your list. No, it's Secret Invasion, obviously. Do you have Bojack Horseman on your list? I do not. Okay. But emotionally, I am always Bojack speaking at his mother's funeral. That's just where I'm at. I've never left. I'm almost out of guesses. Another tough one for animated, I think, just in terms of finding space for this stuff. That was a fun thing, like looking at like some of the luminaries who picked things for the New York Times.

1:07:02Rob:There was a lot of animation in there. A lot of good animation, a lot of good anime. But like, I'm a little less up, like I saw Aldous Hodge went like super hard anime. Bless him. Yeah. But like, I'm just not up on like Jujutsu Kaisen like that. I had a really fun, I played a fun game with myself. So they have this list of like all of these like sort of creators and our pal Andy Greenwald was asked. Creator extraordinaire Andy Greenwald. To put their top 10 so you can scroll through. I was playing a fun game with myself, I guess, where I would look at the list and try to like draw a conclusion about who it was.

1:07:30Rob:And I'm like, well, this is someone from the UK. Yes. Or like, yeah. So that was fun. Including the many, many actors and writers who chose their own shows for that list. When someone comes to us and is like, what are your 10 favorite podcasts? Are we going to smuggle? Are we going to smuggle? I mean, a couple. We got some options to choose from. Which would you pick of your podcast? The Bill Simmons podcast. Wow, tough. Tough to hear it. is it my turn I think it's your turn oh no you guessed Game of Thrones I did I'm like out what else do you have give me a hint I mean I have another one in common with you oh actually I have two in common with you oh do you have Andor on your list I don't Andor is a tough cut I can't I don't like these we're just throwing darts at a board but like every spot is a jackpot somehow and it's like you miss but I don't know what to tell you you do have justified on your list.

1:08:23Rob:I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. Okay. Yeah. So my list so far that you've guessed is Justified, Game of Thrones, Station 11, Fleabag, Lost, and or Better Call Saul. So you're at seven. I'm at seven. I believe you're at four. Deadwood, Fleabag, The Leftovers, and Friday Night Lights. And I want to say for our audience at home, I have no idea if this is good podcasting. You probably jumped ahead already. Before we did this exercise yesterday, you were like, I know. I got you nailed on five picks. I really thought I did. And here you are with four, an hour into us guessing each other's top ten lists.

1:08:57Rob:I thought Battlestar was for sure going to be on your list. It's tough. Okay, but you said something in common. Yes, we do still have one more in common. Station 11? We do have Station 11 in common. Great pick. I did have a self-consciousness. I was talking to our producer, Kai, about this before the pod, about like, how many one-in-two season shows can you pick? Yeah. And I think— The answer for me was two. Yeah. I think that's where Rob, the TV lover, and Rob, the film lover, are kind of at odds. Like the finality of a one-season arc where they kind of know what they're doing. And Station Eleven is just extraordinary.

1:09:35Rob:It's perfect. And like it captured... I have another pandemic watch on here. Well, I guess Fleabag is also kind of a... Right? Isn't Fleabag also... I think it predated it, I think. Okay. I have another pandemic. But like the pandemic watches that like news stories that came out during the pandemic that like really hooked you. Yeah. It's sort of hard to escape the power that those have over you. The intensity of that is really singular. For some reason, like the movie Pig is in that zone for me. It was like one of the first movies I saw back in theaters for the same reason. So good. Oh yeah, you're right.

1:10:06Rob:Fleabag series two came out. Well, it was 2019 in the UK. It was probably, yeah, okay, fine. Fair enough. Okay, I'm also out of guesses for you, I have to say. Can you give me a hint on one of your three remaining shows? Pandemic watch, one and done, intensity of emotion. Oh, my God. Normal people? Yes. Oh, okay. I see. I didn't know you were that big a Rooney head. Yeah. Oh, okay. It's true. I'm not that big of a Rooney head, but I am a Mescal. A Mescal. A Mescal. A Mescal. A Mescalian for sure. A Jones head for sure. Yeah. I wish different things for her, but her career's gone in kind of a weird place.

1:10:42Rob:Anytime I rewatch Normal People, I'm like, this is such an extraordinary performer. And when she finds the right, like, mode, it will be extraordinary again. Agreed. I believe it. Oh, God. Okay, give me a hint. I have some pics that I guessed for you and was wrong. Oh, really? Yeah. That I didn't write down. I couldn't resist some of the Pantheon stuff. Oh, okay. The Wire. I do have The Wire on my list. Obviously. Okay, great. I just think, like, scale, intrigue, complexity. The architecture of The Wire. I mean, look, you don't need me to fucking defend the wire on this podcast. But it's like, how could you not have that on your list, Joanna Robinson, TV critic?

1:11:20Rob:Tough. I have Game of Thrones on my list, so don't worry. It's fair enough. Okay, I need another hint from you. What else you got? UK. Another UK show. Is it scripted? No. Taskmaster. Yes. Okay. See, I didn't even consider Taskmaster. That's on me, you know? So Taskmaster, so I really wanted to have a UK panel show type thing. And I would say a lot of the people on the New York Times list picked What I Lie to You, which is a great UK panel show. And there's just like a bunch of great options. This is like one of my most like pleasure rewatches for me are like the UK panel shows. They're like all on YouTube.

1:11:58Rob:You can watch all of them at any time you want. You can go back decades. They've been doing them forever. But Taskmaster is my heart and soul. It's the weird comfort watch where it sort of takes over your watching experience. Like a lot of comfort shows for me are things I've already seen a hundred times. Yeah. And I just, it's usually always scripted. I just want it on the background because I know the beats. I know the characters. I know the music cues. It's like ingrained. Taskmaster though, like if it commands your full attention, whether you want to give it or not, it's like you, you get so sucked in by the panel discussions.

1:12:31And like, again, just like the bits of failure and emotion in the course of doing the tasks that it's like, I really don't know of anything else like it.

1:12:38Rob:And just the way that you become sort of like emotionally invested in the narratives and the way it's helped me discover so many like brilliant comedians. There's like most of the comedians I know that are working. I know because of I know UK and sort of Australian and New Zealand. Irish, yeah. Like much better than I do American comedians of their same age range just because I've watched them on these shows. So because we have proven that we cannot replicate this formula. Unfortunately, Mad Men. is on my list. Another lock for me. Yeah. So I think we're getting somewhere. I believe I have nine of your 10.

1:13:12Rob:I have seven of your 10. Yes. So we're getting there. Yeah. What's the hint for your last remaining show, Joe? You watched it recently. Midnight Mass. Midnight Mass. Ooh. I was also tempted by Midnight Mass. I was thinking putting, it was either that or Haunting of Hill House. I had to put a Flanagan show on there and Midnight Mass is just like, I don't know. I just find it exquisite. It's so cool. Yeah. so unexpected I mean I had such a wonderful time with it this was you know an incredible recommendation from you as part of a little content trade that we did I couldn't be happier about it alright so I have three more for you and I have no idea what to do do you have any more big like Pantheon shows on your list?

1:13:50we have one more in common

1:13:52Rob:Saul? Saul oh nice I went through the same like Saul or Breaking Bad conundrum I really don't know how to make heads or tails of it but to me it's like I think it's the invention of Kim Wexler that throws it into a totally different stratosphere for me. I also think, and Andor is similar, like the bar is in hell when it comes to sort of like spinning a character off into something else or giving you a prequel or something like that. And just sort of the art that they made out of Saul Goodman. Yeah. You know, a comedic character. The fact that originally this was going to be like sort of a courtroom comedy spinoff and instead they made this like achingly poetic heartbreak of, and as Andor does as well, play with your expectations of doom around a character.

1:14:34Rob:Like we meet Jimmy and we want such good things for him, but we know that he's going to at least at one point wind up the buffoon that he is in Breaking Bad. So the comedy and the joy of what Bob Odenkirk does as a comedic buffoon in Breaking Bad becomes like this Tears of a Clown sort of experience. And it's just a masterpiece. I love Saul so much. And the way that becomes a gateway to not just have like expanded roles for certain characters you already know, but like introduced me and a lot of people like Tony Dalton as an actor and like just an incredible sort of like rogues gallery is not quite the right word but the supporting cast that fills out around Saul is unreal.

1:15:12Rob:All right. So you have all of mine and I need two more of yours. Two more. One is a comedy. Okay. And one is a show that you have by crook refused to put on your list. By crook? By crook. You've attempted to kind of smuggle it in. Watchmen also? You have Leftovers and Watchmen? I have Leftovers and Watchmen. So you left Overs and Watchmen and I have lost. That's true. We're covering our bases. We did it. I think for, I went through many permutations in which Watchmen was or was not on the list for the sake of many of the great shows we've mentioned. But like, I think when it really, when it really comes down to it, I think it's one of the most extraordinary works of adaptation I've ever seen.

1:15:49Rob:I mean, it's outstanding. In our world of, as you said, like spinning off characters, trying to mine IP, the fact that you can take a beloved and sacred text like Watchmen. Yeah. that people have tried to adapt and have been met with incredibly angry response, I would say, in a lot of ways. I actually think that movie's not so bad, but the series is on a completely different level. And what - I'm just gonna leave that. Zack Snyder watched this. We're running - It's not that bad. We're running long on time. So one comedy left. I needed one more hint about the comedy. I mean, there's always money in the banana stand, Joe.

1:16:24Okay, there's a development.

1:16:25Rob:Fair enough. All right, all right. So my list is, in no particular order. Justified, Game of Thrones, Station Eleven, Taskmaster, Fleabag, Lost, Normal People, and or Midnight Mass, Better Call Saul. And your list is? Mad Men, Deadwood, Fleabag, The Leftovers, The Wire, Watchmen, Arrested Development, Station Eleven, Better Call Saul, Friday Night Lights. With great apology to many, many shows. Absolutely. I would say my quick runner up. Yeah. I will say, as I mentioned, Dairy Girls almost made it. The Return almost made it. Schitt's Creek almost made it. Friday Night Lights almost made it. the great Westworld season one, like Westworld season one, I think is a perfect season of television.

1:17:03Rob:I think about it all the time. The other seasons dragged it off the list. And then The Good Wife, which is just sort of like a really good, like network, like a great example of what like a network drama can be. Unrepresented on our list. You know, like we didn't really show that idea love. Yeah. Other than Lost, I don't really have anything network and Lost, of course, is genre. So like, yeah, I really wanted to honor The Good Wife, but I didn't make it happen. I would say of the things we have not even mentioned, it would also be long list for me. The Americans was a very hard cut for me. Hannibal.

1:17:34Rob:What else we got? I can't believe I didn't even guess Hannibal for you. I mean, again, it's yet another one where the third season is so messy and does not quite work. And so it kind of takes the whole thing off the rails. But I put Arrested Development on my list. Season four is not good. Season five, I literally haven't seen because it came out and everyone's like, so Jeffrey Tambor is a piece of shit. And I'm like, I don't know that I want to watch this season anymore. but the first three seasons are oh yeah masterpiece well not just and like endlessly quotable exactly just core to my experience as a human being that's my favorite house of art listener reaction when people are like does Joanna why does Joanna keep saying Star War and I'm like you see children in the year 2000 and something there was a show called Arrested Development it was very important to some of us alright really quickly again because we're running a bit long let's just breeze through some return of TV characters that we thought was like you know and again spoilers for all of television because these are big moments and if you have like somehow avoided knowing that these characters come back completely I wouldn't want to spoil it for you especially you Mallory Rubin if you're listening if you not even Mallory Rubin Mallory leave Mallory get out also if you are a House of Our listener yeah I don't think you should listen to this segment of the podcast if you if you're a House of Our listener and you haven't already seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer get out of here okay that's my number one you want to start with Buffy my well the premise of both Lost and Buffy's final season just by premise allows for all these characters to come back, right?

1:19:02Rob:So like with Buffy's final season, you've got the first. So you've got like, especially in the first episode of the final season when you get just like, we run through the big bads of all the previous seasons. So the mayor's there and the master's there, et cetera, et cetera. When the mayor, Richard Wilkins, comes back in a later episode, that's my like favorite example of that in that season. I guess this is a philosophical question for this idea of like characters coming back. Because like Sid comes back in Slow Horses. Did the mayor come back in Buffy? Okay, that's a fair question. I don't know.

1:19:33So then the real answer, of course, is in season six when Willow is dark willowing.

1:19:39Rob:Yeah. And then the door busts open. She's like, no one can stop me. And then Giles says, I'd like to test that theory. Oh my God. I'd like to test that theory. Boom. Incredible. But the joy of Buffy is it's not just Tony Head. I think Seth Green coming back is an amazing moment on the show. Like, I think Eliza Dushku coming back. Faith in the final season, yeah. And honestly, Charisma Carpenter getting the second lap on Angel. Yeah. Very, very important. Because she got... She got screwed. ...jobbed on that show. Absolutely. And then Lost, like, of all the characters that come back on Lost, like, Michael comes back on Lost.

1:20:15Rob:But Charlie, when Charlie comes back in the final season of Lost. That's a big one. That's just amazing. Okay. What else you got? Sam Seaborn in season seven of The West Wing. Yeah. Again, these are like fun final seasons. It's a lot of final season stuff. And just like, again, getting the gang back together. Often, like, I mean, Rob Lowe kind of famously left the show under like kind of frustrated circumstances. Thinking he was going to be the lead of it. Did not turn out to be that way. Got the hell out of Dodge. Bradley Whitford's like, sorry. Martin T's like, sorry. We're so good. You know, we're just too charismatic.

1:20:46But like, I love Sam as a character. Yeah. And getting him and Josh back together in the final season is very fun, very exciting for me.

1:20:54Rob:So, ER, the final season. Yeah. Like, Noah Wiley comes back to Joanna Margulies, blah, blah, blah. But, like, George Clooney. They got him. Who was at the height of his movie stardom. They got him. They got Clooney back on ER in the final season. And it's, like, a real, like, characters that are currently on the show go to take an organ to Seattle. Yes. And then he's just, like, in that hospital. Just doing it. Like, you know, Doug Ross is coming back to Chicago. It's like they're at his hospital. It's like, who wanders in? It's Doug Ross. And you're like, what the fuck? Clooney's here. It's amazing.

1:21:27Rob:What else you got? How about, I don't know how you felt about this. Admittedly, I'm a little mixed on it. David Tennant returning as the doctor. I have that on the list. You know what would be crazy? To your Sam Seaborn point. Yeah. If they ever get Eccleston back. If they get Chris Eccleston back on Doctor Who, that would be insane. He's almost like a charisma carpenter on Angel situation. where it's like, just did not have the material to justify who he could be as the Doctor. I mean, I would love. I would kill. I would love Eccleston. He seems like a good sport about a lot of things, but not Doctor Who.

1:21:57Rob:Not that, and I can't say I blame him. And I can't say that Tenet coming back led to the best stuff to work with either, frankly. No. One of those specials is okay. The anniversary special with Eleven. Yes. Right, 10-11. That's great. Rose Tyler is not there, but is there, so that's like Billy Piper being there. I gotta say, I notably did not put Rose on my list. Okay. But I think I like Billy Piper as Bad Wolf. Like, I think that's really funny. I like Billy Piper as an actor. I do not like Rose as a character. Oh, okay. We can talk about that. But then when he comes back with Catherine Tate for those specials, that didn't open up the best next chapter for Doctor Who, but I like those specials a lot.

1:22:35Rob:So I'm for it. Some of them, I mean, got back to my favorite Who, which is like spooky, scary Who. Blue Yonder. Yes. No one does that better than Tenet as far as the modern Doctors go. The other one I want to throw is Chris Abbott on Girls. Yeah. Another one where it's like. Panic in Central Park. Yes. Oh, one of the best episodes of television ever. Very, very good. Oh, my God. And another case of an actor who's just like, I don't know if this show is for me. And then also the show is a phenomenon. So what if I did one more episode? I shout out a couple of things. Jess on Gilmore Girls, not my favorite character.

1:23:06Rob:But when he comes back to tell Rory about herself and he goes, why did you drop out of Yale? That's like an all time great TV moment. um Shelley Long on the finale of Cheers that's a similar thing where like an actress was like bye and then she goes back Bradley Cooper left Alias he has to be written off Alias he goes he makes uh wedding crashers so he's not like hangover status famous yet but he made wedding crashers he was on Kitchen Confidential the failed Fox uh Anthony Bourdain show uh but he comes back in a late season and you're just like Bradley Will's here Bradley Cooper's here so post Kitchen Confidential but pre-burnt yes okay It's a very specific range of Bradley Cooper.

1:23:44Rob:It is Chef era. And that's, you know, there's a few other examples, but those are the big ones. And it's like, you know, again, it's usually like a final season finale, sort of. We've called in the big guns. We're giving you your dose of nostalgia. This is different. Like, as we've said, they've already shot series seven of Slow Horses. They're in production on series eight. Like, we're not at the end of this show. And here comes Sin. It's very exciting. I think it's fun to sort of have zero expectation that Olivia Cooke's going to stay on the show. I just don't think Sid's going to be a regular she makes sense for this plot right and this is a like again very smart way to loop back in all of these characters who have drifted in and out of the show back into one fold to have to work together again yeah and in forms that we never really got to see in the first place like Sid in series one is so tethered with River that I just can't wait to see how she works with everybody else as much as him it's gonna be great all right that is it it is for a very special jam-packed episode of Prestige Television I would love to hear from our listeners their top 10s I was thinking the very same.

1:24:42Rob:Yeah. So your top tens, if you're still here, I guess I should have said that before. I was like, spoiler warning, please leave. But we might call for it again because, again, the New York Times is still sort of unfurling this list. As of time of recording, they've got up to the 60s. So I don't know if the plan is by the end of the week, maybe they'll have the full list out there. That makes sense. And then we can all argue about what they decided their top ten was. We were already both very mad where Justified was on the longer list. Yeah. So we might return to this. we might check in with some of the like celebrity lists and see uh my favorite i will just shout out this one thing on the celebrity list i think it was brian grazer a few of them didn't even put 10 i think brian grazer did like seven and i was like brian grazer are you like too busy important to come up with too precious about this it's really funny but i mean it really does speak to the depth of the field that i was looking through the times list even the ones that have been announced and i'll see like how to with john wilson i'm like yeah it's how to with john wilson the greatest TV show ever made.

1:25:37I am willing to entertain that conversation. It might be. It might be.

1:25:41Rob:Yeah. So yes, your top 10 list, Proceded TV at Spotify.com. I would love to hear other people's character returns too. If there's anyone in a Sid-esque fashion who returned to one of your favorite shows, especially if it's one we forgot, I would love to hear about it. Charlie and Girls is such a good shout. All right. Thank you to Kai Grady. Always. Jacob Cornett. Of course. Dev. Anyone else? Everyone else out there? The New York Times. The New York Times. To you, Joanna Robinson. Come on. Damon Lindelof who made three of the greatest shows of the century you know he really did it he did it sorry Lanterns was also on my list I forgot to note that down Mrs.

1:26:15Rob:Davis also on campus you know honorable mention alright we'll be back with more Slow Horses and some other fun stuff that we have coming up and we'll see you soon bye

1:26:38Rob:I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either going to be okay. No, stop. Or not. We are outgunned and we are outmanned. We have each other. FX is the bear. The final season. All episodes now streaming on Disney+. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices. Every plan to just$15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

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