Welcome back to Slough House, as the slow horses find themselves on the trail of Russian sleeper agents.
A suspicious shopkeeper trails a man on a journey through London. As the bus the pair were on arrives at Oxford Parkway, the shopkeeper dies – without any visible injuries, it’s impossible to tell what caused his death. Deep in the MI5 archives, an employee stamps his file – Richard Bough, retired field agent – with a “deceased” stamp.
Lamb seems to have an interest in Bough’s death, as he shows up to the travel hub posing as his brother. He asks to see the bus Bough died on, but doesn’t say why. Perhaps Bough was working undercover for the slow horses? The rest of the crew are lounging around the office, seemingly waiting for an assignment. Catherine asks if they’ve seen Jackson, who has located the bus he was looking for.
As soon as he gets a moment alone on the bus, Lamb searches around and finds the phone Bough hid, almost like he knew it was there. Only one word is stated in the notes app: Cicada.
Meanwhile, Cartwright is on a job interview at a private intelligence company. I don’t think he thought those interviewing him would know about Lamb and Slough House, as it seems to come as a surprise to him when the interviewers ask what Lamb is like. It seems Cartwright is determined to get out of Slough House this season, one way or another. Min and Louisa are flat hunting while waiting for an assignment, which turns out to be helping Webb with security for a meeting with a Russian oligarch.
Cartwright arrives back at Slough House to the squad watching Bough’s last known movements via security footage. Lamb has already got word of his job interview, and is unamused. The squad quickly deduce Bough, whom they know as Dickie, was following someone. As usual, Lamb brings the comedy to the show with his sharp wit and blunt observations. Min informs Lamb of their side gig for Webb, and Lamb approves of the job simply because he thinks they’ll fuck it up. Also because Cartwright hates Webb, naturally. I love the comradery of this squad.
After some ribbing from Lamb, Cartwright says he turned the private intelligence job down. Cartwright wants the assignment of retrieving footage from the trains and buses, but Lamb enjoys a few more jokes at his expense first. Cartwright mulls over his choices while helping his grandfather (a retired MI5 agent himself) with his garden and confesses he didn’t get the private intelligence job, as his history continues to count against him. He is surprised to learn his grandfather knew Richard Bough, and seems quite shaken at the news of his death.
Shirley, a new recruit to Slough House, tails a man around the supermarket. It’s easy to see how she ended up with the slow horses, as she isn’t subtle at all as she steals the man’s wallet – only to turn it in to the help desk on her way out. Having stolen the security access card she needed, she then calls Roddy to cut the power to the building she wishes to access so she can avoid facial recognition sensors.
As explained by Cartwright, a cicada is a sleeper agent embedded in British society. If Bough is trying to tell them the man he was trailing is a cicada, how did he know the man and why has the sleeper agent been activated now? Cartwright’s grandfather tells him they thought Dickie defected back in the day, when he came back extremely drunk with a story about being interrogated by the Germans. Not believing his story, the men threw him out. Cartwright questions what Dickie knew and saw then and now before he died, but his grandfather is dismissive and tells him to let it go. Everything is definitely not as it seems. “Be careful, River.” His grandfather warns as he leaves.
Min and Louisa prep for their security roles. They vet the building the meeting will take place in, which includes a boardroom, private banks and investment companies, and 20 floors of a luxury hotel. With such a big building, it’s very possible some unwanted intruders will try to crash their meeting.
Roddy messes with Shirley by making her wait before he cuts the power to the secure facility, leading to Shirley almost being spotted by a guard. Once inside, she uses the credentials on the card she lifted to access the system – but she doesn’t know the guard has realised the card was stolen and is approaching the building to warn others. Shirley quickly grabs the footage she needs as the men enter the data center. Just as the lights flick back on, she makes a clean getaway. Hopefully this will help her prove herself to Lamb.
Cartwright praises Shirley for getting the footage, and questions why she’s in Slough House. Shirley informs him she punched her commanding officer after he made a pass at her, then punched him a second time after he told her she hits like a girl. “Fair enough,” Cartwright says. The pair go over footage of Dickie’s last movements, and Cartwright questions how close the bald man aka cicada got to Dickie. He then finds Lamb in a nearby restaurant and informs him Dickie was murdered. Lamb is of course, unsurprised.
The footage shows the bald man touching Dickie on the arm as they switch between the train and the bus, with Dickie later rubbing his arm as if it hurt. The cicada must have somehow dosed Dickie with something that induced his heart attack. Cartwright bets Lamb $50 that “cicada” is the message on Dickie’s phone, which is correct. He doesn’t get his $50 though, as Lamb promptly uses it to pay his restaurant bill. Gotta love him!
Episode one has drawn me in completely to this new season and case. I missed Diana Taverner this episode as I really enjoy the scenes between her and Lamb, but I’m sure we’ll see her soon. I love the unique blend of action and comedy Slow Horses gives us, so lets dive straight into episode two!
Lamb quietly slips into the building of a Russian loan shark, who masquerades as a language teacher. The loan shark quickly outplays Lamb, and informs him he knows exactly who he is. It turns out the “language teacher” defected from Russia in his younger days and told MI5 everything he knew back then. Lamb questions the man on cicadas.
Cartwright asks Roddy and Shirley for help on the bald man’s whereabouts, but the pair have nothing new to give him. So naturally Cartwright does what he does best: improvising. He makes up a story about his uncle to get the cab service to give info on where the bald man went, only for the bald man to have prepared for that ahead of time. The taxi driver is willing to help Cartwright.. in exchange for some cash.
Lamb and his new friend head to a pub to discuss the past and the present. The man tells Lamb of a conversation he overheard years ago about cicadas, but it’s not as much information as Lamb would like. He provides Lamb with a name, and describes him as bald. But surely, it can’t be that easy. Later, Cartwright gets the cash the cab driver requested, but a generic drop off location doesn’t provide much more information.
Min and Louisa organize their side job, and I’m intrigued to see how it ties in with the main cicada storyline. Min distrusts the men they meet with, and follows them through the city to a Russian import/export business where the men collect a small box then manage to lose Min in traffic.
Diana and Lamb have their first clandestine park bench meeting of the season and bicker over who arrived first. Their subtle jabs are one of my favorite parts of this show. Diana questions what Lamb said to the Russian “language teacher” and tells him Dickie’s death is simply what it looked like: a heart attack. She tries to tell Lamb that cicadas are a myth, but Lamb lays out his evidence and forces her to at least entertain the notion that things are not what they seem.
Lamb reminds Diana that Webb is using Min and Louisa for one of his operations, so she owes Slough House some resources and budget for the slow horses to investigate Dickie’s death and find out the truth about the cicada legend once and for all. She agrees simply to shut him up, and I’m sure she’ll later regret it when the operation no doubt goes rogue.
After he leaves the café, Cartwright catches the taxi driver warning the bald man that someone is looking for him. The driver panics and eats the piece of paper with the phone number on, before confessing to Cartwright he dropped the bald man at an airfield. Finally, a proper lead.
At the Park, Webb and Diana meet to discuss the slow horses. Webb explains he’s exploring the possibility of a meet between Diana and the Russian oligarch, using the slow horses as insurance. If something goes wrong, naturally Min and Louisa will get the blame. Diana tentatively approves the operation, with the warning that should the slow horses misbehave, they’ll be sent back to Slough House – and Webb will go with them.
Cartwright passes the number of Dickie’s killer on to Roddy for tracing, but the paper is smudged from the taxi driver shoving it in his mouth. Cartwright peers around the property the taxi driver has taken him to, and it appears someone is living there but there’s nobody around. Roddy traces the number to Estonia, and Cartwright ends up stranded at a flying club after the taxi driver ditches him. A delighted Lamb rescues him – after making him walk five miles. After filling Lamb in on what he has learned, Lamb quickly points out how likely it is the bald man wanted the trail he set to be found – as it was all too easy. “Sometimes the only way to work out why a trap has been set, is to walk into it,” Lamb tells a disappointed Cartwright.
Lamb informs Cartwright he already worked out Dickie’s killer was most likely a Russian man named Andre Chernitsky, thanks to the “language teacher” aka ex-KGB informant Nikolai Katinsky. Cartwright is frustrated at playing catch up once again, but rises to the challenge of the undercover assignment Lamb gives him.
Meanwhile, Min tracks down the Russians he lost track of before… but they are not happy to see him. As the episode ends on a cliffhanger, next week’s episode is set to be a fun ride!
