We learned a few things in tonight’s episode of Slow Horses, but some of these revelations only lead to bigger questions. We also get not one but two resurrections in tonight’s episode, and three old Slough House members return to the fold. A fourth is added thanks to the spiteful nature of First Desk, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas). Spoilers ahead.
A Double Resurrection
The obvious “Resurrection” – the title of this week’s episode – is Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke) who popped up at the end of last week’s episode. River (Jack Lowden) asks her why she never told him she was alive and she gaslights him a bit, acting as though he should have visited her and (in my humblest of opinions) pretending like she wasn’t aware that her survival was covered up and her death faked. I could be wrong.
The second resurrection is Moira Tregorian (Joanna Scanlan) who our mysterious assassins Jim (Kyle Soller) and Jane (MyAnna Buring) “killed” last week, or at least left for dead, dressing up her attempted murder as a gas leak and too much wine. Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), Catherine (Saskia Reeves) and Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) rescue her just in the nick of time after they realize that she could be on the list of Slow Horses after her brief stint there. It’s a close call, and in typical Moira fashion, she’s mostly annoyed that she has to be associated with Slough House at all rather than particularly grateful.
Louisa is snagged from a fancy business meeting before this, told by Shirley and Catherine that her uncle “Blake” is in “grave” condition (hinting at Blake’s grave, the meetup spot for emergencies) and after a brief argument she goes with them. “You look amazing,” Shirley tells her as they exit, Louisa in a huff and driving a fancy corporate car.
From Russia, With Love
Jane and Jim
Credit: Apple
Sid is back from the dead but she and River don’t have much time to chat. The assassins show up at his grandfather’s house and she recognizes them, telling River that they’re here to kill her. Neither of them questions why they’d be showing up at River’s house if they were after Sid. The truth is, he was next on their list. I had theorized that Sid was at the heart of all this, but it seems as though she’s just one of many on the list and likely had nothing to do with the Slough House files getting wiped.
We also learn, during the ensuing chase, that Jim and Jane are more likely Dmitry and Anastasia, or some other Russian names. Sid mentions a Russian connection, telling River that she’d received a move order that has something to do with a death in Kazan, Russia, but it’s all pretty vague at the moment and they have to rely on looking stuff up in the house of an older woman named Anne to try to piece things together.
Naturally, they’re interrupted by the arrival of Jim and Jane, and while Anne stalls them, Jim sets their jeep’s gas tank on fire and he and Sid escape in the ensuing chaos. Hopefully Anne is okay. They get picked up by Coe (Tom Brooke) and head off to find more answers, and make a phone call. At the end of the episode, we learn that their pursuers are still not far behind.
So Jim and Jane are not British at all, and this makes me think that maybe whatever’s going on with Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving) and Damien Cantor (Harry Lloyd) has nothing to do with whatever’s going on with the systematic elimination of the Slow Horses. These could be two separate operations, one aimed at Slough House (but why?) and one aimed at Taverner. Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) asks her if she’s pissed anyone off lately and she denies it, but we know that she took money from Judd (Samuel West) and that he got the money from Cantor. Is that enough of a motive to kill? Whether or not Cantor is after Slough House, Harkness killed Nesmith and he’s now hunting down Nesmith’s son, who we also meet this evening.
Say Hello To Reece Nesmith
Reece Nesmith (Lenny Rush) is the kid who ran away from the scene of his father’s death last week, when Harkness showed up and killed the former Dog. Now Harkness is hunting him down, but Lamb and Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) show up first and whisk him off to safety – very much against his will.
The interactions here are all golden. Lamb calls Reece a “midget” (because it’s Lamb and he’s not one for political correctness) and Reece corrects him indignantly with “dwarf” though you get the sense that not much really bothers Reece. Lamb likes him instantly, and Lamb doesn’t like most people. They even have a farting contest in the car at one point, though Lamb remains undefeated and Reece – sweet summer child that he is – almost has a panic attack when he realizes what he’s started. Poor Roddy has to suffer the flatulence from both sides.
Lamb heads to Taverners to get the truth, though he finds her about as willing to offer up intel as you’d expect. I got a chuckle out of their final interaction. When he’s leaving he asks if he can go through the house. She tells him he can go out the way he came in. “I came in through the house!” he replies. Never change, Jackson Lamb. Never change.
Slow Horses
Credit: Apple TV
There is one casualty tonight, though not in a literal sense. Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley) has been bumping heads with her boss and tonight Taverner decides to take out all her frustration over the interview debacle on her subordinate. She tells her she’s not dismissed, that it’s more of a lateral move: To Slough House. Obviously, while Flyte has indeed disobeyed her boss, she’s hardly “reject” material, and she lets Taverner know exactly how she feels about this decision. I’m curious to see if she quits or moves in with the gang. She’d be a great asset for the team, but it’s quite the humiliation.
Tonight’s MVP: Anne (Barbara Marten who I remember from The Devil’s Hour) who is just delightful during the entire scene in her home, going on about how it’s unfair that men and women can’t date at work anymore, managing to ruffle both Sid and River’s feathers in the process. “Was he on the take?” she asks when Sid reveals she’d been investigating River. They divulge quite a bit too much information to the old woman. She’d probably make a great spy!
All told, another rousing, hilarious, mysterious and overall genuinely great episode of Slow Horses. I’ll add an update once I’ve watched a second time. For now, let me know what you thought of “Resurrection” on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Also be sure to check out my interview with Christopher Chung, aka Roddy Ho, in the below video:
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