Slow Horses: Grave Danger Show Only

October 1, 2024 7:52 PM - Season 4, Episode 5

Lamb questions David about France as River comes face to face with the enemy.

A spooky ending to a fairly dark episode. I was saying goodbye to Molly as soon as the creeps showed up at her (very nice) apartment and was happy to see her still with us by the episode's end. Said goodbye (I think?) to Tattoo Dog and I'm less sure (without peeking at IMDB) about the lead woman from the dogs. I am also curious what to make about First Desk now that he, you know, swears and stuff.

posted by jessamyn (22 comments total)

Given what's been written below the fold, should this be a "show only" post? (Though they were posted by a different user, I've been meaning to ask about the previous posts for this season too, but this is the first one I've watched not long after it came out rather than weeks later).
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 4:31 AM on October 2

Thanks, yes, I've edited this. I guess I was watching it while everyone else was watching the debate.
posted by jessamyn at 7:43 AM on October 2

I laughed at the inverted mugshots trope for the Slow Horses - they look *better* in their mugshots than they do in person, especially Lamb.
posted by Molesome at 12:35 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

JFC what a tense excellent episode of TV! I was so worried for Molly, so happy she’s still around. And just read in the recap this is the penultimate episode, give us more! Well done bcwinters for calling that it was River’s mother!

Slow Horses Recap: Concrete Box [Vulture / Archive]
Slow Horses Incompetence Index: Honeypots and PowerPoints [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 1:27 PM on October 2 [2 favorites]

Is Rivers mother still around? How did Louisa get her contact info? I guess Lamb will be getting in touch now that he knows she was in France.

I'm fairly positive Flyte is going to be ok. She was slammed into the glass and not shot, so that's usually code for "not dead".

(With this as a show only post, the previous episode link goes back to season three for some reason)
posted by autopilot at 2:40 PM on October 2

Plot armor is supposed to be transparent so that you're never 100% sure whether it's there; but there are times at which it gives off a telltale sheen.

If Slow Horses has a moral, it’s that 99% of the intelligence community is squandered on idiocy. When First and Second desks aren’t dealing with the predictable consequences of their shitty past decisions, they’re busy creating new blowback that their successors will have to deal with.

The fact that Molly understands this and opts out of it (to the greatest extent possible in her job) makes her unsporting to kill, for the same reason that the Predator (from Predator) doesn’t hunt the unarmed. I would've bet $1,000 on Molly remaining alive through this series. (Not really; I'm not Marcus.) It’d be like the Final Girl in a horror movie being murdered at the end — going wholly unrewarded for her chastity.

(The in-universe reason why she is spared escapes me; it’s not in character for Harkness, and I’m not confident we’ll find out why he did it. This is when I wish that these series went longer than six episodes each.)

Likewise, there's no way they would've killed off Flyte after going out of their way to make her so much more likable than Duffy. So her nameless colleagues get taken out with bullets, but the assassin is temporarily unarmed when he accosts Flyte so that she can plausibly be made only temporarily incapacitated. Once again, I don’t mind the outcome, but I’m not sure it was earned.

I was less confident about Giti coming to no personal/professional harm, since she's a brand-new character; but the fact that Flyte doesn't trust Taverner ended up bailing Giti out rather elegantly. (Giti's plot armor really was invisible; well done there.)
posted by savetheclocktower at 3:44 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

my erudite analysis: that was fucking intense
posted by mcstayinskool at 4:40 PM on October 2 [3 favorites]

The in-universe reason why (Molly) is spared escapes me; it’s not in character for Harkness, and I’m not confident we’ll find out why he did it

I think this has to do with the envelopes he left behind, each with someone else's name on it. Either they have information about that person that Molly won't be able to resist digging into, or they are messages he wants her to deliver (which she'll do because... reasons?).
posted by coriolisdave at 7:41 PM on October 2

Intense is the word! I also thought Molly would be fine, and Flyte is definitely ok. The one that got me was that random guy forced out of his own car right at the end...then shot point blank like it was nothing. Talk about wrong place, wrong time, that was just chilling.

Also, I think I missed something about what exactly happened at Westacres, did the Winters assassin make a mistake (too much explosive) when taking out the target? Or did he go rogue and do it on purpose (because there was that video)? Frank said it was a 'mistake' to the prince, right?
posted by atlantica at 6:06 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

I think Whiteacres was a targeted assassination that was gin'ed up to look like a terrorist attack. The mistake was probably having a name to link to the attack, which absolutely led to the stash of cold-body identities used by Harkness' team.

The IDs were all 100% off-book (I think) until then, but now everyone who was connected with getting them back in the day (Cartwright the Elder, Bad Sam, etc) have to be liquidated. Also Harkness is a little bit nuts.

Other thoughts -

Are we about to find out that Harkness is River's father? Why else would Patrice free him/trunk him and haul him off? Or maybe he's going to be bait for the grandfather.

Is Tavener going to find out about First Desk's proclivities ("Galahad"), leading him to step aside or something?

Will what's-her-name return to The Park now that she knows why she was sent to Slough House?

Is Coe hanging around? He's sort of growing on me.

And yes, it was super intense. The last thing I thought as the credits rolled was, "Well, he can get out of that trunk whenever he wants; they all have releases now."

Finally - could someone who is excellent with UK regional accents give an ID for Jackson Lamb?
posted by jquinby at 7:28 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

I love how Harkness is always chawing down on apples just to remind you how AMERICAN he is. And yeah the Molly thing must have been the restated "I need you to send a MESSAGE" but we thought it would be a figurative message but the envelopes make it seem like a literal one, or five.
posted by jessamyn at 7:54 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

coriolisdave: "I think this has to do with the envelopes he left behind, each with someone else's name on it. Either they have information about that person that Molly won't be able to resist digging into, or they are messages he wants her to deliver (which she'll do because... reasons?)."

Sure, but it’s in tension with Harkness’s stated and intrinsic goal of eliminating anyone who knows about Westacres, Les Arbres, or the deal he made with David Cartwright.

I'd understand if his goals had expanded — for instance, if he realized that too many people now know the truth for it to be extinguished — but we should at least get a scene where he acknowledges that he's switching tactics. Unless he's planning on outrunning the faux-MBS character for the rest of his (probably numbered) days, he doesn't have much choice about this.
posted by savetheclocktower at 9:17 AM on October 3

Why else would Patrice free him/trunk him and haul him off?
He seemed to change tack when he came face-to-face with River - presumably the first time he'd actually seen River properly - River, the guy who looks just like the brother he grew up with.

This just after a conversation with papa about how they would have to start building all over again.

Makes me wonder if he thinks River can be turned, and the rebuilding start with him.
posted by coriolisdave at 2:05 PM on October 3 [2 favorites]

One of my favorite touches of this season is them driving around in that beat-to-shit taxi
posted by mcstayinskool at 2:54 PM on October 3 [3 favorites]

jquinby "could someone who is excellent with UK regional accents give an ID for Jackson Lamb"

I am no expert beyond living here, but it sounds very East London to me. Oldman is from Southeast London so it's probably not far from his original accent or something he grew up hearing.
posted by farlo at 2:55 PM on October 3 [4 favorites]

The last thing I thought as the credits rolled was, "Well, he can get out of that trunk whenever he wants; they all have releases now."

Maybe IRL but in movies and TV they have them or don't as the plot demands.
posted by axiom at 6:11 PM on October 3 [1 favorite]

> I love how Harkness is always chawing down on apples just to remind you how AMERICAN he is

They keep saying Harkness is American but Weaving is not even trying to do an American accent. Good for him.

This was a very tense episode but I'm not sure I buy the whole Murder Magician character. One thing that gave this show a lot of character and charm was that nobody in it was Jason Bourne or his evil analogue. They're capable of violence but nobody is an invincible onslaught who can get hit by a car and walk it off. A terminator, as they call him.
posted by dis_integration at 9:10 PM on October 3 [1 favorite]

I am no expert beyond living here, but it sounds very East London to me.

Seconded!
posted by ellieBOA at 2:43 AM on October 4 [1 favorite]

The fact that Molly understands this and opts out of it (to the greatest extent possible in her job) makes her unsporting to kill, for the same reason that the Predator (from Predator) doesn’t hunt the unarmed.
We really have to get into Arnold Schwarzenegger movies for episode. Not Just Predator but also Terminator Judgement Day there The Terminator the T1000 has the same invincible assassin characteristics as does Patrice in the closing scenes.
posted by rongorongo at 4:15 AM on October 4 [2 favorites]

Shout-out to Roddy Ho for being the worst ever.
posted by RakDaddy at 8:47 AM on October 4 [5 favorites]

"Okay, if you're gonna do the list thing, then that's gonna make it sound worse."

Vehicles of choice: a stolen taxicab, and a garbage truck

Can they connect a laptop to a screen? Hahahah nope

River talking to Flyte, and you can tell that he's judging her for making mistakes, which is rich
posted by Pronoiac at 5:50 PM on October 5 [1 favorite]

I'm with dis_integration: the unstoppable killer man is rankling. Then again it's so ridiculous that even the characters are making fun of it, down to an argument of whether he's a T-1000 or a T-800. So I'll take it as a cheeky author gimmick, "I'm such a good writer you won't even care if my villain is improbably powerful as a foil for all the fun writing I'll do around him."

I'm confused about the main story. Is David Cartwright's daughter-who-was-rescued-from-Les-Arbes the same as the daughter that Standish calls on the phone, River's mother? Are we guessing or is it certain?

I'm glad Coe finally got some lines and character development. Delicious that the entirely psychologically broken one is the psychological expert.
posted by Nelson at 10:47 AM on October 9