With the stakes higher than ever, will the slow horses survive?
The finale opens with Katinsky sitting at Lamb’s desk inside Slough House. Just as Katinsky did to him, Lamb calls and leaves a message letting Katinsky know that he’s aware of his presence. He picks up, and the two trade barbs. Katinsky threatens that it only took a drop of radioactive poison to kill Nievsky – and the bomb is made of the same materials.
Interestingly, it all comes back to Charles Standish – Catherine’s husband that Lamb killed, years ago. Katinsky knows that Lamb killed Charles, and Lamb says he doesn’t want Catherine to have to go through it all again. It’s important to remember that David Cartwright (River’s grandfather) was also there the night Charles was killed.
As Alex approaches the city, air traffic control attempt to contact her. On the ground, Catherine is on her own mission to get Marcus and Louisa out of the Glass House before the plane hits it. She weaves through the streets as protestors run in all directions. She makes it inside the Glass House, but the Russians have locked Marcus and Louisa in the boardroom with an alive-but-unconscious Webb, and the remaining Russian man. Marcus tries to smash their way out of the room while Louisa tortures the injured Russian to force him to spill their plans.
The plan was to shut down the Glass House to get a virus into Nievsky’s computers, so Moscow could drain his accounts. This is why they cut off his thumb – to override the security access. He gave them the passwords before he died in exchange for a quick death – his gun.
Roddy and Shirley got separated in the crowd, but Roddy successfully followed Chemitsky onto the train. He relays the stops to Shirley. While Catherine climbs the many flights of stairs to the boardroom to rescue Marcus and Louisa, Shirley tries to catch up with the train Chemitsky and Roddy are on via motorbike.
River apologizes to a still-shocked Kelly and Duncan for all of the insanity now surrounding them. As he was leaving, Cartwright notices the bomb is still sitting in the shed at the airfield. Meaning he has called in a fake bomb threat, causing chaos in downtown London and ruining Peter’s speech. He quickly realizes that Chernitsky and Katinsky lead him to believe the bomb was on the plane so he would call it in. Kelly makes River call it in so MI5 don’t shoot down Alex’s plane. But if there’s no bomb, what is her target?
Cartwright is patched through to Diana who is less than thrilled to learn there is no bomb on the plane that she currently has two military helicopters flanking. River quickly explains that the cicada (Alex) and her Russian handler wanted to trigger a Code September as Russian operatives want the city shut down for reasons he does not yet know. Frustrated, Diana informs him that if Alex does not make contact soon, her plane will get taken down.
Diana asks Peter for permission to take the plane down. He tells her she has his full support. Since Alex still refuses to engage, the military prepare to shoot down her plane. Cartwright calls Roddy and asks him for help to track the plane and see if it gets shot down, but Roddy gleefully informs River he can’t do that as he’s on his own mission, tracking Chernitsky.
Alex suddenly engages and informs everyone she’s turning away from the exclusion zone and awaiting further instructions. The military helicopters escort her to an airbase.
With both Shirley and River now on their way to catch the train with Chernitsky and Roddy aboard, Roddy realizes he’s been made as Chernitsky chases him down the train at the latest stop. The two struggle, and Roddy manages to lock himself in the train toilet as Chernitsky pulls a gun. Shirley manages to make it on the train and subdue him with a few well-placed punches and kicks before Chernitsky gets back up, shoves both Roddy and Shirley into the train bathroom. He slams the door, fires a few shots through it and leaves the train. Thankfully, both did not get hit.
Louisa and Marcus finally smash their way out of the boardroom and make their way through the now-empty building. They enter Nievsky’s office to find it empty, his severed thumb on the desk. His computers are running the virus the Russian spoke of, and his accounts are being emptied. The remaining Russian guard lies on the floor, dead. Pashkin must have gotten greedy, Louisa thinks.
While all of this is going on, Lamb has a standoff with Katinsky. The two trade barbs and history. Katinsky confirms he was in on the plan to get the Glass House shut down, to aid the Russians in their plan to drain Nievsky’s accounts. He himself is the fabled Popov. Lamb confesses he killed Charles – because he was selling secrets to the Russians. Charles was Katinsky’s asset. But why kill Dickie?
Marcus finally runs into Catherine in the stairwell and realizes that with the elevators not working, Pashkin never came down the stairs and left the building or Catherine would have seen him. Louisa checks upstairs and spots someone running ahead of her. An air ambulance helicopter lands on the roof, ready to pick up the waiting Pashkin. Louisa blocks the helicopter from landing unless Pashkin tells her why he killed Min. Pashkin simply tells her Min was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Louisa makes a run at him, and Marcus sneaks up and shoots Pashkin from behind as he’s about to shoot Louisa.
Lamb and Katinsky continue to sort out their differences. Katinsky says he wanted the humiliation of Lamb and his team but Lamb laughs and tells him it was a waste of effort, as everyone in Slough House has already humiliated themselves in order to get there.
As payment for helping orchestrate the death of Nievsky and the return of the money he stole, Katinsky says he asked the FSB for two names. He says he knows Lamb wanted to kill Charles immediately but was told not to by someone at the top.
Chernitsky and Cartwright both arrive at the home of River’s grandfather, former agent David Cartwright. Chernitsky pulls a gun and a shot fires before River can get there. Katinsky awaits a call for confirmation that David is dead, but is surprised when he calls Chernitsky and River answers. David managed to shoot Chernitsky before the Russian could shoot him – much to the disappointment of Katinsky.
Katinsky realizes Lamb has once again outplayed him, and warned David Cartwright than Chernitsky was coming. Lamb and Katinsky point their guns at each other once more, before Lamb empties his clip and leaves the room, forcing Katinsky to turn his own gun on himself.
Diana briefs Peter on everything that happened, though he’s still unhappy at the false Code September call. Diana suggests putting it all into a locked box, as the general public finding out about what happened to Nievsky and his accounts would not look good for Peter, currently Home Secretary but wanting to be the next Prime Minister. Diana and Peter decide to blame the Prime Minister for not funding a defence system upgrade, and call it a day.
Diana and Lamb’s final meeting of the season takes place in her office, after Lamb’s debrief. He’s come to ask Diana for Min’s funeral to take place at St Leonards, but Diana says it’s for officers of “good standing” to which Lamb takes offence. As it turns out, Min’s funeral is a small church affair.
Lamb summons the slow horses to St Leonards anyway, and he fixes Min’s plaque on the wall there with other agents who have lost their lives. Satisfied, the squad leave peacefully – with Catherine touching Charles’ plaque as she passes. Before he leaves, Lamb adds a handwritten plaque on a piece of paper to the wall for Dickie.
A great end to the second season. I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of the case, how everything intersected and the twist at the last minute. As the show has already been renewed for season 3 (and 4!), I can’t wait to see what Lamb and the slow horses get up to next season.
