The fifth episode of ‘Slow Horses’ season 2 sees the cicadas commence their mission while the officers of Slough House are left catching up to them. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Recap
River wakes up to see Katinsky and tries to convince him that his mission to fly a bomb into the city will cost many lives since there is an anti-capitalist march going on.
Katinsky claims that he is not targeting the people, and if they die, River and the members of Slough House are to blame, as they failed to stop them.
Katinsky is in fact targeting the individuals these people are protesting against. River assesses that Katinsky intends to bomb the Glasshouse, where Peter Judd will be giving his speech later on.
Louisa and Marcus play along with Pashkin and his bodyguards. They follow everything as per the plan and arrange the meeting between Pashkin and Webb.
Roddy continues to track River’s service phone and watches Chernitsky enter the city. River is yet to contact him. Shirley arrives and informs Roddy about Nevsky’s death.
Catherine plans to meet Viktor Krymov again in order to figure out why the Slough House has been dragged into this mess.
She also advises Roddy to get going and do something like everyone else. Roddy and Shirley then decide to chase Schernitsky.
Catherine did her homework on Victor before confronting him again. They both agree to play a game of chess. If she wins, Victor will provide the information she came for, but if she loses, she will have to drink with him.
Meanwhile, River tries to break free at Upshott Flying Club. Duncan and Kelly arrive and meet a tied-up River, who discloses that Alex is actually a Russian sleeper agent.
Initially, the father-daughter duo laughs it off until they notice Alex’s ring on a table with a note that she has left for them. They release River, and he wastes no time in alerting Taverner, who is at the Glasshouse with Peter Judd.
Catherine beats Viktor at chess and learns that he met Katinsky, not Pashkin. She immediately calls Lamb to inform him that Katinsky made sure that Slough House is involved in this mess.
Katinsky wants someone from the Slough House, and that someone has to be Lamb.
Lamb spent time looking into past records for Katinsky’s intake. Molly Doran helped him find the intake, which is apparently signed by Lamb, who claims that he didn’t sign it. He was in Prague at that time for some off-the-books business.
The alarm at the Glasshouse goes off and alerts Louisa, Marcus, and Webb. Pashkin brings out a gun to stop them from making any moves.
Louise finally lets Webb know that Nevsky is dead. Webb is not interested in sitting quietly. He confronts Pashkin, who then proceeds to shoot Webb down.
Marcus grabs the gun hidden under the table and shoots one of Pashkin’s bodyguards, Kyril, while Pashkin and Piotr escape.
Review
- It’s crazy how ‘Slow Horses’ has managed to create tension around the whole cicada situation quickly in this episode. The bomb blast certainly feels like a big deal, and the mystery surrounding Katinsky’s motives will excite the viewers further.
- The episode finally sees every other member of the Slough House on the move. Catherine shines this season. She has been more helpful than Roddy and is certainly someone who shouldn’t be underestimated.
- The episode underutilizes River. For the most part of the episode, the viewers see him trying to free himself, and the only job he had was to inform Taverner about the oncoming threat.
- One thing the viewers can admit is that River’s subplot did have some funny moments. The most prominent among them involves Kelly, who claims that River Cartwright is a name that is way worse than Johnnie Walker.
Slow Horses season 2 episode 5
Director: Jeremy Lovering
Date Created: 2022-12-23 00:00
3.5