 |
| Slow Horses Season 6 Episode 2 Recap. |
Slow Horses Season 6 Episode 2 wastes very little time making it clear that Jackson Lamb and the Slough House crew are dealing with something far more serious than another round of bureaucratic nonsense. Former agents connected to Slough House are turning up dead, the Park has mysteriously erased the department from its records and payroll, and River Cartwright is trying to get through his grandfather David’s funeral while discovering that his estranged father, Frank Harkness, has turned up. Naturally, MI5 responds to all of this with the calm, sensible approach of pretending nothing unusual is happening.
Struan Loy becomes the latest former Slough House agent to meet a grim end. After retiring from MI5, Loy has settled into an unusual second career teaching martial arts while attempting to build a business around converting shipping containers into small studio homes. The idea is unconventional, to put it mildly, but Loy is clearly committed to it — so committed that he is actually living inside one of his containers.
That makes it particularly unfortunate when two strangers arrive claiming to be interested in his business. Loy welcomes them inside and begins enthusiastically explaining his plans, apparently missing every possible warning sign along the way. The pair eventually reveal their real intentions, attack him and start a fire inside the container before locking him in. His home becomes a death trap, while the circumstances are initially treated as an unfortunate accident.
The case eventually reaches Emma Flyte, head of the Dogs, but Diana Taverner is reluctant to treat Loy's death as anything more than an isolated incident. There is also a rather important detail being brushed aside: Loy was once part of Slough House.
Protocol should mean Jackson Lamb gets informed, but Diana decides that is unnecessary. Because apparently keeping Lamb in the dark is still considered a workable strategy, despite his remarkable talent for finding trouble anyway.
Flyte has other ideas. She secretly meets Lamb at the Italian restaurant near Slough House and hands him Loy's file. Lamb performs his usual routine of looking deeply unimpressed, as though someone has just interrupted his lunch to tell him the sky is blue. But he takes the information seriously enough to tell Roddy Ho to investigate other former Slough House agents and see whether Loy's death is part of something bigger.
While the mystery around the former agents grows, Slough House itself effectively disappears from MI5's systems. The problem first becomes apparent when Cole encounters an unfamiliar man inside the office and immediately decides that knocking him unconscious with Roddy's keyboard is the appropriate response. It turns out the man is an estate agent rather than some sinister infiltrator, which is probably the most Slough House explanation imaginable.
The stranger's presence still leaves questions, particularly once the team realises their salaries have not arrived. Roddy investigates and discovers something much more alarming than a delayed payment. Slough House has apparently been wiped from the Park's servers altogether. Their existence, at least as far as the agency's digital records are concerned, has vanished.
Lamb's initial response is spectacularly on brand. He decides that if MI5 is not paying him, then MI5 can apparently manage without him. Standish, however, is less interested in making a point and more interested in finding out what has actually happened. She manages to persuade Moira to investigate, and the result makes the situation considerably more suspicious.
The deletion was not a technical error or an administrative mistake. Someone high up inside the agency ordered Slough House to be removed from the system. That detail changes the whole situation because it suggests the horses are not merely being forgotten; someone has deliberately decided they should effectively cease to exist within the Park.
Lamb eventually confronts Diana about it at David Cartwright's funeral. Diana maintains that the disappearance must be some sort of mistake, but Lamb is hardly convinced. At the same funeral, another revealing conversation takes place between Diana and Peter Judd. Judd learns that the money the Park previously took from him came from a wealthy benefactor, adding another curious piece to a puzzle that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Meanwhile, River Cartwright is dealing with David Cartwright's funeral and the weight of losing his grandfather. David's real contribution to MI5 cannot be publicly acknowledged, so River has to deliver a carefully modified speech that honours him without exposing the secrets surrounding his career. It is an understandably uncomfortable compromise, particularly when River is already struggling with the loss.
Then comes the surprise River really did not need.
Outside the church, he spots Frank Harkness, his estranged father. Frank claims he has come for sentimental reasons, but River immediately suspects there is more to the visit. Given Frank's history and the circumstances surrounding the funeral, River has little reason to accept the explanation at face value.
Their confrontation becomes even more uncomfortable when Frank makes a pointed remark about River's mother not attending the funeral. It is a small comment, but it opens another question around River's family and why she is absent at such an important moment. Frank then attempts to leave, only for River to make the extremely sensible decision of trying to stop a dangerous former mercenary by jumping onto his car.
It does not work.
Frank manages to shake River off and drives away, leaving River with even more questions and considerably less information than he would probably like. The scene also gives the episode another reminder that River's personal history is becoming increasingly tangled with the wider danger surrounding Slough House.
And then the body count rises again. Kay White, another former Slough House agent, is killed at home, reinforcing Lamb's suspicion that the deaths are connected. The attackers then appear to consult a list of former agents before selecting their next target. Unfortunately for River, the name they seem to settle on is his.
The episode therefore ends with the threat becoming much more personal. What initially looked like a collection of unrelated deaths is beginning to resemble a deliberate campaign against people associated with Slough House, while the Park's decision to erase the department makes the whole affair even stranger. Diana may continue calling it a coincidence, but Lamb has never been particularly good at accepting convenient explanations — and this time, his instincts look increasingly justified.
Episode 2 is where Slow Horses starts properly tightening the screws. The combination of murdered former agents, missing payroll records and Slough House being digitally wiped feels much more interesting than simply throwing another spy chase at the audience.
There is a wonderfully absurd contrast between the seriousness of the situation and the horses' deeply unhelpful reactions to it. Cole knocking out an estate agent with a keyboard is exactly the sort of workplace incident that makes Slough House feel like the worst office in Britain and somehow the most entertaining one to visit.
River's storyline also gives the episode some emotional weight without completely abandoning the show's dry humour. His encounter with Frank is particularly intriguing because it clearly leaves more questions than answers. And that final selection of River as a possible target gives the next episode a much sharper edge. What do you think is really happening behind the Park's decision to erase Slough House, and why is River now in the crosshairs? Share your theories.