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Three Minutes and Forty Seconds: A Slow Horse Running

by Johanna Blom
The image features a stylized, layered design against a teal background. On the right side, three profiles overlap in a vertical composition, each depicted in contrasting hues. The largest, a dark silhouette, forms the backdrop, exuding mystery. In the middle layer, an older man with glasses is rendered in warm orange tones, suggesting experience or introspection. The foreground features a younger man holding a drink with a straw, depicted in muted red tones, hinting at a more immediate, casual presence. Behind the figures, faint fingerprint patterns create texture and reinforce a theme of identity or investigation. On the left side, partially visible textured bars resemble those from a bar chart, subtly blending data visualization elements into the design. The overall tone conveys a narrative of depth, complexity, and discovery.

In Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, River Cartwright spends exactly 3 minutes and 40 seconds running in Season 1 alone. This observation started as a joke about the recurring scenes of actor Jack Lowden racing down escalators, stairs, and through train stations, repeatedly yelling, ”move, move, move!”

Slow Horses is a British spy thriller about MI5 agents. After career-ending mistakes, they are reassigned to Slough House, their professional purgatory. Here, they are meant to quietly serve out their careers doing mundane paperwork. Yet somehow, these outcasts repeatedly become entangled in cases that threaten national security.

While chase scenes are a standard element in spy thrillers, my joke became an obsession. I had to know: just how much time does River spend running on-screen?

"River’s Running Time Per Season." It features four bars representing the durations of running time across seasons labeled S1 to S4. The durations are the same as in the first image: 3 minutes 40 seconds for S1, 43 seconds for S2, 1 minute 20 seconds for S3, and 2 minutes for S4. This chart maintains the same hand-drawn, textured style but lacks the additional illustrative details present in the first chart. It conveys a straightforward comparison of times across the seasons.

Looking at River’s running time across seasons reveals an interesting pattern. From a peak of 3:40 in Season 1—meticulously measured, scene by scene—the time drops dramatically to 43 seconds in Season 2, before settling at 1:20 and 2:00 in Seasons 3 and 4 respectively. 

One might argue that 3:40 minutes of running across six ~50-minute episodes is not much. But when you realize it is exactly the time needed to soft-boil an egg to perfection, you start wondering what else can be done.

"Everyday Equivalents." The chart uses four bars, each representing different durations of time with relatable activities as examples. The activities and times are: "Perfect soft-boiled egg" at 3 minutes 40 seconds, "Time to tie your shoelaces" at 43 seconds, "Heat water in microwave" at 1 minute 20 seconds, and "Brush your teeth properly" at 2 minutes. The chart uses a hand-drawn, whimsical design with illustrations corresponding to each activity, emphasizing a playful and informal tone.

In the end, River’s running scenes might seem brief. But measured in everyday moments, his total running time adds up to a proper morning routine: soft-boiling an egg, heating water for tea, brushing teeth, and tying shoes. It’s fascinating how we make sense of time by anchoring it to everyday moments.

(And if you’re wondering about other metrics, I dare you to count how many people River shoves past during these runs. Just remember to note whether they were innocent bystanders or actual threats.)

Johanna Blom
Website

Johanna Blom is a front-end developer and sociologist who combines her dual background to make data more accessible through creative visualization. Her work focuses on code and playful interactions, with a particular fondness for animations. She and her dog Boomer can be spotted (un)gracefully canicrossing through Swedish forests – and yes, she gets to yell “OK, Boomer!” unironically.

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