Jack Lowden Perfects The Triple Take - The Graham Norton Show

🏛️ THE GREEK PITT-THEON 🏛️

OP, thank you for seeing this and saying this.

Guess what, FRANK? The reason you can work so hard at being a doctor is because your wife gets up every time a kid is puking at 2 am and every morning 365 days a year to make then breakfast. She makes sure there's milk in the fridge, toilet paper in the bathroom, and clean underwear in your drawer. She sends your mother her favourite flowers for Mother's Day and writes your name on the card. And she probably quit her consulting job at McKinsey to do all that.

And that's why he actually doesn't deserve Mel. He doesn't understand or respect the woman he already has. Addiction? Yeah, whatever. Call me when he goes to rehab for being a sexist jerkoff.

honestly this is the only thing he deserves an ass beating for. everything else he can recover from

Chinese street fashion in Chengdu

Videos compiled by me. Videos were filmed with the subject's knowledge.

song: 好久不见 - Lil Jet

AU where instead of being spies the Slough House gang are in an unsuccessful punk band called Idiot Activity. Lamb is their long-suffering manager. Taverner is head of A&R at the record label who keeps them on the books as a tax write off.

Idiot activity

River in the first frame all "can't you just abandon me in the garden and leave like an adult with some fucking dignity instead of embarrassing us both in front of my friend"

Revisiting this scene for giffing inspired by @countessrivers posting about it the other day bc it really is just. River's expression in the first one is so just, fascinating. Exhausted and disappointed and realising he's been betrayed again, but still just overwhelming sad about it. The way his eyes track down to look at Spider's hand clutching onto him, his lips, his eyes, the last contact they'll ever have, and then it's just.

So deeply embarrassing and pathetic!! Spider being like. hah! You moron! worried about children dying! Louisa just. Had enough. The 'sniper' going for his 'gun', pulling the most insane faces in the background. Spider gripping River's clothes about as long he can justify it's all so -

why can't you just break up like normal people?

Okay, Slow Horses fandom, serious question: we all know that in season 1 / book 1, Sid is at Slough House because Taverner sent her there to keep tabs on River. But. Why!?

Sure, he caught her Up To No Good. But:

1. He has no idea that he has any dirt on her

2. He's been very effectively removed from any position with any kind of authority or access

3. His reputation has been thoroughly destroyed and to anyone who might have listened to him before, he is now a cross between a laughing stock and nuclear waste. He's untouchable and non credible after Stanstead/King's Cross.

4. She already has Jed Moody on the inside at Slough House. Sure, he sucks but he's there.

5. Sid is not a fuck up and Lamb's not an idiot, so placing her there risks drawing attention to something that Taverner is hoping no one ever notices.

Also, what is the budget line item for this? "0931. Surveillance misc. personal"? I know it's the security services but it's also government. You probably can't get a highlighter out of the stationary cabinet without filling out a form in triplicate.

So what is so important about River that he gets his own marker on a full time basis? I like to think that there is something deeper to the whole situation but honestly I cannot imagine what. And what did Taverner tell Sid to look for?

I love imagining the surveillance reports this must have generated though.

"Day 42. Subject is still sulking. Took coffee black instead of usual milk and sugar - sign of growing despair? Was called a "dumb cunt" by J.L. Visibly did not appreciate this. Spent 3 hours and 17 minutes playing spider solitaire instead of working. Otherwise no suspicious activity."

I know we been knew that fandom in general is terrible at tolerating gray areas, but I find myself beyond irritated with this song and dance when it comes to the Pitt because the fallibility of the characters is the whole entire point.

The show is not subtle about its themes. Every single episode and character arc is hammering home that impossible, high-stakes judgement calls are an occupational hazard and a torturous burden placed on healthcare workers, and they can never be 100% sure in the moment if they're making the right decision. Sometimes you order a BiPAP and you accidentally make the patient's condition worse; sometimes you do a REBOA against literally every superior's instruction and you save a life. You do your best in the moment, and it's only after the fact, once the results come in, that people will decide whether you're a stupidly cocky student or a heroic cowboy-doctor.

That trade-off is present even when it's not life-or-death. Taking extra time and care to get to know your patients is great for the ones already in the bed; it's not great for the ones still out in the waiting room. Which type of patient satisfaction should we prioritize? Do you involve law enforcement before you know a crime has been committed? When does preemptive action prevent harm and when does it cause more? How do you adhere to "Do no harm" when someone always gets shortchanged no matter what decision you make?

Hell, the inherent unfairness is baked into the very premise of a teaching hospital: these patients didn't necessarily sign up for their once-in-a-lifetime emergency to be a med student's teachable moment. Nobody really wants a newbie doing their stitches—but also, practical experience is an absolute must for medical training. Without interns now, you can't have experts later, so here we are.

So with all that in mind, I don't think debating which character was Right or Wrong in a given scene has ever been a less productive way of engaging with a show. For all I disdain the mentality that refuses to engage with the Trolley Problem because "the REAL problem is whoever tied those people to the tracks in the first place!!1!" sometimes you actually are supposed to consider the bigger, systemic picture. The Pitt is inviting us to engage with very real problems with the state of healthcare in modern America by showcasing how it's literally impossible for these doctors to make the perfect decisions every time, and no it's not fair. To anyone.

idk I just think in light of that very clear message, fighting over which blorbo was the rudest or made the worst fuck up or whose reaction to stress and trauma is more valid is the height of media illiteracy.

I was at the opening night of The Fifth Step tonight!

I was 1 metre away from Jack Lowden. 🤯 It turns out he doesn't just live in my television but is, in fact, a real living breathing person. Also, he is very ginger (affectionate) IRL.

If you're going to see the play, be assured it's really good! If you're thinking of going, you should! It was funnier than I expected but also had Things To Say about addiction, 12 step programs, modern masculinity, and religion. Also, you get to hear Jack Lowden use his natural accent for once and now I wish they had just let River be Scottish.

SLOW HORSES 3.01

JACK LOWDEN as River Cartwright in Slow Horses 2.01