Grave Danger – The episode opens with Molly Doran (Naomi Wirthner) emerging from a commuter bus in a wheelchair. Upon arriving at her flat, she receives a visitor, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving) claiming to be the maintenance man. She insists on seeing his ID. Unzipping his jacket, he reveals a pistol in his waistband. Elsewhere, Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley) questions a restrained River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) as several Dogs escort him away from David Cartwright’s (Jonathan Pryce) house. He agrees to answer all her questions after he sees David and she promises to keep him safe. She refuses his offer. The Dogs put him in a vehicle. Hugo watches live footage from a hidden camera outside David’s house. He identifies himself as Mitch Philpott who died a few years ago. Molly recalls him requesting Sam Chapman and David’s addresses. She suggests he is a former CIA agent. He claims to have chosen her because she lives alone and has no friends. He asks where River is being transported. She says the Park. He demands she give him her access code to the Park’s database. When she refuses, he draws his knife and threatens to remove her fingers or one leg.

Flyte studies Adam Lockhead’s passport and a photo of Frank’s Les Arbres gang. She accuses River of shooting Robert Winters in the face. She questions if Frank is planning another bombing. River believes Frank isn’t planning another bombing and demands to speak to David. She asks where is David hiding. He says at Catherine Standish’s (Saskia Reeves) place. She claims Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) said the same thing but David isn’t there. She notifies Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) of River’s arrest and request as well as David’s escape. Diana orders her to drop Lockhead’s passport off at her office. Flyte says it needs to be logged first. Diana assures her that she will take care of it. Flyte appears to be suspicious of Diana. A confused David orders Lamb to stop and let him out. Lamb asks who he sent guns, cash, and IDs to in France. David isn’t talking. Aboard a commuter bus, Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) asks Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan) about his gun. Louisa Guy (Rosaline Eleazar) warns that Dancer Blaine deals with organized criminals. While Shirley and Marcus argue, Louisa receives a call from Isobel (Anna Wilson-Jones) asking about River. Louisa fills her in on the shooting at David’s house. Isobel has no interest in David’s welfare, only River’s. At Slough House, Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) talks to Kim while searching the Park’s database to find out why Moira Tregorian (Joanna Scanlan) was transferred. Moira was in charge of the duty logs from local law enforcement agencies. He pulls up a duty log for Galahad, a code name for someone who works at the Park. He reveals the man’s true identity,  Claude Whelan (James Callis). She is shocked. Roddy claims Whelan is fond of the ladies. Louisa strategizes about ways to help. JK Coe (Tom Brooke) says they had been written off and cannot help anyone. She disagrees with him. Roddy says JK was in a psych eval. Shirley argues that it is a crap unit. JK criticizes her. Roddy applauds him.

Louisa says they should focus on finding the man who tried to kill Chapman. Marcus reminds her that the man was injured. Moira agrees to get someone to check the Park’s backstreet doctor database. Elsewhere, Taverner informs Whelan of River’s detainment. He says Lockhead’s passport put him in Munich in 2014 when a car exploded and killed a CIS member. The computer loses Internet connection. She assures him that the PowerPoint presentation isn’t necessary. Lockhead and Winters’ passports are being utilized by a death squad. Whelan is no longer about swift justice but making the cold body program disappear. She reminds him of Agent Giti Rahman (Kiran Sonia Sawar). He suggests she will be a whistleblower and insists she needs to be disposed of as well. She stresses the need to keep whichever one of the Cartwrights responsible for the shooting out of jail to protect their secret.

Utilizing Molly’s access, Harkness accesses the Park’s database to track River’s destination. River suggests Flyte doesn’t trust Diana which is why she never told her about the Les Arbes photo. She claims to have left Met because of corruption and was hoping MI5 would be different. He demands she find and protect David. She reminds him that he is in no position to give her orders. He insists she distributes the photo. She texts the photo to Giti and Whelan. River thanks her. Lamb takes David to Rose’s gravesite and grills him for answers about his business in France. David claims to have done it to save Isobel. Harkness planned to create an assassination squad of natural-born killers. Isobel wanted to go with Harkness. David bought her freedom with cash, guns, and cold body IDs. Lamb says Harkness wants David dead because he can link him to the Westacres bombing. Standish insists on taking him to the Park but Lamb warns her against it.

Patrice (Tom Wozniczka) shows up at Molly’s flat and tells Harkness that he has Chapman’s phone. Harkness tells Patrice that Lamb was Chapman’s friend. Pointing at Marcus and Shirley’s photos, Patrice says they came to Chapman’s rescue. Grabbing his ear, Harkness demands he be ready to strike and promises to rebuild. They do a special handshake before Patrice leaves. Harkness returns to tracking River via the Park’s database. Elsewhere, Giti tells Whelan about the photo. He checks his phone, sees the photo, and asks how to delete it. Giti identifies the cold bodies as Paul Wayne, Robert Winters, Adam Lockhead, and Harkness. Diana orders her to distribute the photo, so the men can be detained. Whelan realizes it is impossible to make it go away. Elsewhere, Harkness watches Patrice attack three sanitary workers from Molly’s flat. Patrice drives away in the trash truck.

Roddy informs Louisa, Shirley, Marcus, and Shirley that one of the backstreet doctors died in a fatal accident today. CCTV shows an injured Patrice enter the doctor’s office and leave with barely a limp. Roddy says the Dogs apprehended River at David’s house. Louisa notifies Lamb. He tells her that Standish and David are returning to Slough House. Louisa tells the others. JK warns Roddy that he is talking to a bot and explains how they are utilized in scams. He claims only a few people fall prey to bots. After running off JK, Roddy stares at his computer screen in shock. Elsewhere, Harkness monitors River’s location when a text pops up on his phone. He says three minutes. Beard Dog (Leroy Kincaide) drives while Tattoo Dog (Joshua Lacey) watches their surroundings. Flyte tells River that he isn’t bad for a Slow Horse. Upon leaving, Harkness says goodbye to Molly who has a back turned to him. A shot rings out. She turns to see the room empty and finds five envelopes made out to Whelan, Mike Peterson, Jim Lanford, Jean Fraser, and Natalie Hensley.

Flyte asks what it’s like to have Lamb as a boss. River says he is terrible but hard to beat when he puts himself to it. Hearing sirens and car alarms blaring in the distance, River urges them to turn around. Beard Dog turns around only to find that they are trapped. When he opens the door, he is shot in the head. They come under fire. Tattoo Dog exchanges gunfire. Flyte shoves Beard Dog’s lifeless body out of the vehicle and moves into the driver’s seat. River tries to get the handcuff off. Tattoo Dog is killed. Patrice appears and fires multiple shots at River while approaching the vehicle. River urges Flyte to shoot him. Patrice breaks the window. She emerges from the vehicle and empties her chamber but misses Patrice. As she reloads the chamber, he approaches her. She hits him. With one hand cuffed to the inside handle, River intervenes. A struggle ensues. Patrice slams Flyte into the vehicle. She collapses to the ground. Patrice retrieves her gun, shoots the handcuff chain in half, and forces River at gunpoint through the street. He forces a man to open his boot before shooting him. He puts River in the boot as the episode ends.

 

Slow Horses Review

A great way to set up the finale. Unfortunately, the majority of the episode did nothing to push the conclusion to the forefront. Roddy being scammed by a hacker was quite amusing. JK calling Shirley out was enjoyable as well. Just when Whelan is starting to agree with Diana about making the cold body program go away, the photo of Frank’s death squad appears. Lamb puts David on the spot to get information from him about his connection to Les Arbres.

Flyte’s shortcomings put her team and River in jeopardy. The episode is the best of the season. It deserves a 6.3 out of 10. Get more Slow Horses recaps here. Join our newly established forum to see what others are saying. Support our site by donating. Learn about our advertising packages here.