Slow Horses season 6 has taken a slight detour, but not an unpleasant one. Intentionally, the series has pushed the Slough House agents, led by Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), out of their home and into and around London while trying not to get killed, at least through episode 4.
What fans of the show might have been waiting for is, sadly, which of Lamb's agents would be killed next. In episode 4, we lost Coe, and he was a fan favorite for years. It is almost as if the series is slowly trying to start over without doing that exactly.
This definitely could be the case if Jack Lowden (River Cartwright) gets the role of the new James Bond, but the decision-makers for the series couldn't know that yet. Or could they? Anyway, here is what happened in episode 5, the penultimate episode, of season 6.
River and Sid finally escape (sort of)
After being chased by what are clearly Russian assassins, Jim and Jane, for most of the last few episodes, episode 5 picks up where episode 4 left off. This has been a trend throughout the most recent season and something that will make watching season 6 in one sitting rewarding. The episodes are extremely connected, almost as if we are watching a film instead of a series.
Unfortunately, when episode 5 begins, Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke), the agent that the Russians believe entered Russian soil in Kazan and murdered one of their GRU agents, is being driven away by Jane and Jim, as they had captured her in episode 4.
River is right behind them, though, as he takes control of a vehicle of a lady arriving at the mall where Sid and River had holed up temporarily until Jane and Jim discovered them. We also flashback to an injured Jim, hurt in his knife battle that led to Coe's death in the previous episode, in the back seat with Sid in the getaway car driven by Jane.
Sid, though, remembers the nameplate with the name "River" on it that she had purchased when she and Cartwright were in the mall, and Sid pulls it from her pocket and is able to hit Jane in the head with it. This leads to a brutal wreck where the car turns over. Sid is able to break the glass of the door, climb out, and run into some nearby woods near a river.
Though she tried to hide near a tree, Jim is able to catch up to her, and a fight ensues. Just as Jim is about to drown Sid in the river, River shows up, having discovered the overturned vehicle, takes a look at Jane, whom everyone believes is dead, and heads into the woods.
There, he attacks Jim from behind and eventually is able to drown Jim while Sid reaches the shore in distress, but ultimately is fine. They are discovered by other MI5 agents, whisked away, and think they are heading to the Park (MI5 headquarters). As the group arrives back at the road, we can see that Jane has escaped the vehicle, very much alive, though we do not see her for the rest of the episode.
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Instead of finding safety, River and Sid are taken to a compound when they learn from First Desk Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) during a phone call that Sid will be sent to Russia as part of an agreement with Vassily, the First Desk of GRU, for payback, as the Russians think Sid has killed their agent.
Only, it wasn't Sid who killed the agent, we learn, but Taverner doesn't want to expose the true identity of the agent who did the deed in Kazan. The identity isn't known to viewers, either. Not yet.
Sid and River also learn that Sid won't be going to Russia but to Bulgaria, so that the Russians can keep her off the proverbial map. Sid assumes she will be killed. Just before she is set to board a plane to be taken to Bulgaria, she and River share a slightly romantic moment that is far sweeter than one might anticipate.
This leads to River taking control of a nearby truck, and he rescues Sid all too easily, and they drive off the compound. The two drive a bit down the road when River tells Sid to run, and River turns around and gives himself up.
Jackson Lamb confirms the source of who is killing the Slow Horses
Lamb already assumed that Taverner was somehow caught up in what was happening to former agents of Slough House, but with some help from Roddy Ho, who, along with most of the other Slough House agents, is holed up at a "safe house," which actually is just one of Taverner's houses. Ho is able to tap into media mogul Damien Cantor's schedule.
After going to a children's dance rehearsal where Cantor seemingly met with his Russian handler, Natasha Carrington, who is able to escape Lamb's view, leading Lamb to know that Carrington is a pro, Lamb goes to Taverner's office and confirms his assumption: Taverner has been given money by Cantor that led to the Russian agent getting killed, but without top-branch approval.
Lamb then understands that his Slough House agents are being murdered for the wrong reason. Sid wasn't the agent who killed the GRU agent, but as Sid was a former Slough House agent, those are the MI5 agents being murdered in revenge.
The final episode of season 6 of Slow Horses airs officially on Oct. 21 on Apple TV. The season overall has been far stronger than season 5, so the final episode should be brilliant.
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