The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘Slow Horses’ Season 6 Finale: Moscow Rules

Episode Date: October 21, 2026

Jo and Rob take themselves off the board to recap the ‘Slow Horses’ Season 6 finale. (0:00) Intro(1:42) Instant reactions(10:53) Did we like Season 6?(14:07) Mailbag check-in(29:40) The showdown(39:21) Jackson Lamb(46:37) Emma Flyte’s fate(1:02:22) What’s next? Email us! [e-mail] or [e-mail] Follow us on IG and TikTok! Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of ‘The Prestige TV Podcast’ and so much more! Hosts: Joanna Robinson and Rob MahoneyProducers: Kai Grady and Devon RenaldoStudio Production: Jacob Cornett Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to by Google Pixel. Whether you're at the game, your kid's party or a wedding, you want to capture the moment, but you also want to stay present. So you should probably check out Google Pixel 11 Pro with just one tap. Magic Capture on Google Pixel 11 Pro captures both video and high quality photos, then finds the best ones. So you can get back to what's important. Ask more of your phone.

Try the Google Pixel 11 Pro. Check it out at store.gogle.com. Now more than ever, quality matters, but so does price. You don't have to choose. You can get the good stuff for less, the stuff that lasts. Because there's no point in tightening your belt if it's just going to break when you do. Get the good stuff in store at Marshalls today. Come back to the Presti-TV podcast feed.

I'm Joita Robinson. I'm Rob Mahoney. You are watching this perhaps live on YouTube. Welcome. We are not quite exactly live. It's a little bit of a fake out. Taped to live. Taped to live.

Here we are. This is our slow horse finale, instant reactions. By instant, I mean taped ahead of time. Also, while we have you, here. We are allegedly finally doing our mailbag episode. The Long Promise Never Delivered. Email us. Your questions, your comments, your concerns. Where should they email us? Prestige TV at Spotify.com. Or if you prefer any of the associated show-specific emails, they're all going to find their way there. So, you know, follow your heart. You can email us

your Slow Horses theories, your reactions to the finale so that we can get some of those in. But yeah, this is a Slow Horses season series six finale. If you have not watched it, there are spoilers in this video. Get out of here. You got to go. You got to leave. Big stuff happens. We're going to talk about it.

If you click the link because you saw we were live, but you're not quite that live and you're watching, you need to eject right at this second. Get out of here. What are you doing here? Come back, though, later. We would love to have you. Okay. For reals. Go, go, go, go.

Bye. All right. Louise's a guy. Mark safe. Barely. Barely. Her crutching into the church, the sigh of relief I let out. I really thought she was a goner for a second fair.

When they gutshot her, I was like, I was thinking about you. I was thinking about our guy Jomey. I was thinking of both of you. The guy heads, the guy guys. I know. I mean, it's one thing to disrupt her very tasteful fit, but at least she lives to fit another day. I love the funeral fit.

I think it's very good. For sure. I'm a flight. Gone but not forgotten. Not long for this world. Yeah. Coe already gone. Yes.

And then a big old cliffhanger at the end of this episode. Quite. Rob Mahoney, you're not a spoiler guy. Books exist out there in the world. Have you been able to sort of restrain yourself from figuring out anything about the cliffhanger of this finale? I have attempted to stay as neutral and clean on it as possible. And so far I've succeeded.

So if you're out there and you know where this is going, do not message me. Shut up. Don't say anything about it. Leave Rob Mahoney alone. Be cool. Yeah. The show will be back in like four months probably

and we'll be able to watch it together and it'll be great. But look, maybe I was a little slow on the uptake And we kind of hit this the first time that the crowbar came around But it was nice to get some resolutionist Like what is going on with the lingering shot of the crowbar What was going on with Jim and the gloves and the chemicals That may have been sitting there Now as to who took River here

I really don't even know where to turn Are we to infer that Sid is directly involved with that Or that there's something else in play Oh, I don't think so I think that's just a pure coincidence I think basically Jim set that trap with the crowbar and the crowbar was just sitting there

this whole time. I'm going to read, I can either do it an hour later, a section of the book that is related to this. But I'm not reading everything so as to preserve everyone's sort of innocence. But I think there is a, you know,

a very similar thing happens in the book and basically what it is, and I think this is okay to say. Basically what this is a long-waiting trap from the now-dead Russian assess. that sort of gets him in the end. And you were just wondering if Sid had baited him there.

Well, I'm mostly taking the context of we see river go down. We see next season on slow horses, one of our favorite things in television right now, that we get the instant preview of next season. No river to be found in that trailer. And so, like, is he hospitalized? Is he abducted? Like, where is he off the grid? Right.

And is there just, like, some opportunistic third assassin that's been waiting outside the Carbite residents being like, you know what, when he picks up that crowbar, we're really going to be in business. I mean, I think some things to note is, so we see Sid through the window, and then she's in the shower while this is happening. And then the last thing we hear in this episode is the shower turning off.

Yeah. And so what happens next? She should find him, right? One can only hope, but we don't know. I will say, as someone who is a bit of a chronic declutterer, drugging the crowbar is like a particular kind of cruelty. It would get me, but there's so many people I know. Like, Sid, I guess, has been in that house for a couple days and just didn't bother her that the crowbar was just sitting there.

But I would have done the exact same thing where I'm like, this does not belong here. Can I read this section of the book or partially the section of the book? It's not a crowbar. It's a door handle. And I think what's so beautiful about, I just think this is one of actually the most poetic sections of the books that McHaron has ever written because it's talking about. And it's done quite pointedly and tragically inside of the show, right? River comes home. He, this is very like, Giles comes home and finds a setup for passion and Buffy.

You know what I mean? It's just sort of like, River's down here in the kitchen. He's like getting the wine out. Oh, there's rose petals? Yeah, yeah. It's happening. Nick Drake is playing. Like, the mood is set.

You know, especially when you compare it to the beginning of the season, River eating alone by himself in front of the television in that sense. same house. And so this section of the book is very much about River recontextualizing what this house means to him, this house that was his grandfather's house, that was a house of a lot of memories and a lot of grief and stuff like that and what it means for him to have Sid inside of that house. So the whole thing would be very long, so I've cut together sort of some pertinent bits. But basically, no matter what, whether it's a crowbar or door handle, he gets hit with this nerve agent through his hand. So there's his hand.

motif before it happens, right? His hands were scabbed and torn. He washed them until they tingled with cold while deep in the bones, the knuckles, the joints, the memory of what they'd done last night tingled too, holding the woman's head in the lake until she died. So I guess it's Jane who goes in the lake in the book. Sid was still asleep, curled in the armchair. It was good to see her peaceful after last night's alarms.

When someone you loved was in danger. That's what he'd been thinking. Someone he loved was in danger. And now she was sleeping in the room he'd grown up. in. He looked at Sid and wondered about taking her photo before deciding this would be creepy beyond belief. But while the phone was in his hand, he scanned the room anyway. The old bastard shelves, his books and mementos, the print of the night watch above the fire, a six-second video that ended with Sid's sleeping form. Okay, still creepy, but he could always delete it.

It's just a very river moment. Then he goes outside. He flexed his fingers, felt the tingle again, remembered the texture of the woman's wet head, but he'd be better off right now putting together some breakfast. It was his house. It had always been the house he'd grown up in, always been home, but until now it had been his grandfather's property, and he'd simply lived in it. But now it was his. The other evening, contemplating his future, he'd pictured himself with a hand on the doorknob, ready to step into whatever the next room held. So, okay, here he was. River had his keys in his pocket. So he used the front door for a change, unlocked it, and twisted the knob, and stepped into his future. And it's that grasping for a

door handle on a door that he does, he usually goes in the kitchen door, he goes in the front door as a symbol of like, I'm stepping into my future. I own this house. This woman I love is here. And that's what poisons him. And it's just sort of like, really good writing. It's very good. Yeah. And like, I mean, for the show version, I don't think we quite have as poignant a comparison as that. Like the crow bar is probably, to be honest, the item that is most associated with Sid in this house just because River was ready to wall up who he thought was Frank and then found Sid holding it. Right. but it doesn't really mean anything other than it's it's an item that was out of place.

I think it was easier to translate to the audience what's happening. Oh, for sure. Then another doorknob. Yeah, he just like opens the door and we all be like, well, what? You know, but like the crowbar. You would need an elaborate montage to pull off the door handle. And I mean, regardless, I do find it very effective. Kyle Solerick is paid for another episode as we flash back to him painting the nerve agent on the doorknob.

Anyway, Rivers in Danger. and a great performance from Jack Loudon the gasping, the choking, very, very good stuff from him. So,

I don't know. Tune in next season. Rob and I are going to talk about the trailer the next time on trailer sort of at the end of this. But I just didn't want to wait until the end to talk

about the ending of this episode is a big deal. It's too big. It's all kind of hanging in the air. I mean, it's a natural extension of what we talked about last week, too,

with all of the River and Sid's stuff and getting follow through on her appearing back in the show, surprising River by kind of being at the house and leaving the light on for him. And I mean, there's that particular kind of comfort, too, that I was struck by as you were reading that passage of the, like, there is background activity in the house that you grew up in or in somewhere that you spend a lot of time

where it's like whether you're waking up in the morning and people are already awake and bustling or in this case, you're coming home and there's something happening. Yeah. Versus the kind of silence and darkness that's been happening at the cartwright home. I mean, to lose that in an instant before you can even grasp it. Horrific stuff around River right now. I think of all, I mean, the sound of the shower, like, she's upstairs in the shower.

So, like, the sound of someone else in the house, I think that's a beautiful, you know, and also like a reason for Sid to not hear him banging around in the kitchen and stuff like that. So I think all of that's really good. For me, it's the Nick Drake playing or maybe because I just love Nick Drake as a musician. But to, like, come home and, like, the lights are on. There isn't like something cooking on the stove, but, like, music's playing. You know what I mean? It's just sort of like, this house is full.

And it's someone like he loves and she loves him or if you want to say like, you know, it's early. But they're, you know, she chose to lead the light on for him on purpose. And it's just like, it's really well done. And like for whatever the ups and downs I feel about this season, I think this finale was incredible. And I think the whole thing, you know, I think the penalty was really strong. And I think the finale was really strong. And with some really high high. and some of the other episodes.

So all told, I think this was a really strong season. And I think this ending with River and just the, you know, Emma dies, co-dyes, like Min Harper dies. Like a lot of people have died on this show, Marcus dies. Of course. But it's not just that River is like our second lead character. It's just the emotional twist of how he dies is so. I mean, Min was similarly like a gut punch to me. but like, I don't know.

This just felt like a depth of theme and emotion that Slow Horses doesn't always sort of mess around with. That's what I found most energizing about this season. I think we hit enough of the familiar registers where I'm like, okay, we got the spy hijinks. We have a pretty similar sense of humor, if not dialed in completely all the time. And then you're in this very different emotional register.

That I think I would say to this point, the most emotional notes on the show, yeah, the character deaths are part of it, but I would say mostly the River David Cartwright stuff has been what hit me the hardest. And so to get a natural offspring of that that feels so different and he's hitting such a dramatically different tone

in terms of creating hope, reviving this relationship with Sid as she kind of reappears back on the show. I mean, kind of revives literally in River's consciousness. I'm so impressed that they were able to pull that off in the way that they did. And it didn't feel like, oh, here's, Olivia Cook stunt casting.

Like, let's get this like kind of famous, buzzy person back in the fold again and have fun with it. It was that, but it was also like narratively satisfying. And I think it helps that, you know, this is a book plot. So it's not like they're just like, oh, Olivia Cook, she's popped. We got to get her back. It's like Sid comes back in the books. I think also probably my second favorite scene in this episode,

other than that finale moment or the final moment is the Franken River scene in the house. And so that's the second scene. this season that I'm like, it's a Frank scene and it's my favorite. And we just did not love the way that Frank was used before. And so this scene between River and Frank in Diana Tavener's decimated beach house, I think is better than any of the Frank and River stuff in that whole season that was dedicated to them. Not even close. So, you know, again, I think this writer's room for whatever reason is more equipped to just like really gut punch me with this dynamic. And I just, I thought it was really, really good. Sometimes you just want a normal dad. In this case, I think part of it is what you

described, which is it's kind of a tertiary thing that's happening. And I think the fact that Frank is not the big bad of the season, the central mystery of the season. He's just like a component, a cog in the machine in ways that he's like psychologically trying to deal with, like his station in the world now. But moving him slightly out of focus, I think just makes that character work so much better. And really he taps into Hugo Weaving's like very particular kind of matter. that sure he can be Agent Smith. Like we've seen him do that thing too. But I like him so much more in this context being on slow horses as the off speed punch,

as the unpredictable, like, rogue agent that everyone's trying to like account for and trying to understand like how do they fit into this exactly? Because we know what the Russians are trying to do and we don't quite know what this guy is up to. Yeah, I love that. Let's go back to the beginning and hit a few mailbag things before we get into the episode. This is me while actuallying myself. As soon as we were done recording yesterday, I did look up Aruncini. Invented by the Arabs in the 10th century.

So you were kind of right. Oh, was that? Not Italian in nature. I couldn't have been more wrong, I think, is what we've discovered about. I'm going to say broadly right, specifically wrong. Yeah, okay. Gary wrote in to ask about River and Louisa. We get a bit more of River and Louisa inside of this episode,

but he wanted to point out in last week's episode that Louisa asked specifically about River you know and then like when they're at the house together Shirley who's just like so irritated with Louisa firing on all cylinders in every direction is irritated by the sort of like unit that they immediately kind of reform and so Gary was like is there gonna be a Louisa

River Sid love triangle of some kind in our future I don't know that I see it but you know it's a possible a possibility I'm gonna say last time that subject was raised Louisa did not seem terribly interested in it. It's true. Maybe things have changed, but I'm going to take her on her word on that until she shows otherwise. Our listener, I think it's A-B, Rodin, to say, my friend Chris and I keep arguing with this question,

besides Lamb, who is the best agent in Slough House? What's your answer to that? It's not Rivercar, right? I think we feel pretty confident about that. So if it's who is best at their specific role, I think Roddy Ho might be the second most competent slow horse. He's very good at what he does. If you ask him to do anything else or say anything else.

Outside of his purview. Or behave in any context, not it. But if you just want him to like tap Damien Cantor's phone, like trace his whereabouts, get into some files, like he does that stuff. It's a really good call. I might say Catherine Standish. Also very good. You know, very, very good at what she does.

And she can work outside of her purview as well. So her mounting annoyance with Moira over the course of this season has been really, really great. And again, speaks to how far she's coming, a lot of those regards. She calls lamb from the beach. She gets the help that they need, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, we have this declarations of love section. We've already received feedback from our listeners on this front. A couple options. What about this one from Nate? Who says, in Mad Men, when there's a total solar eclipse and Betty looks up at it and Henry Francis reaches out and shades her eyes without touching her and gently says, don't look at it. It's such an intimate,

protective gesture. I think she fell in love with him right then. There's something so gentle about it. Betty Draper and Henry Francis never my like number one badmanship. I don't know that there are anyone's one true pair even each other at times. But I think that's a swoon worthy gesture, right? Like something protective like that is exactly what we're talking about.

Something Dr. Draper would never do. No. Or maybe to one of his other mistresses literally the first time they meet and then never again. Yeah, absolutely. Any other responses that you got that you wanted to call out? The only one that jumped to mind for me that we just didn't get a chance to talk about was better call Saul. I would say specifically Kim wanting

to get married so she would never have to testify against Jimmy. Like basically, it's like that being a declaration of love. Like, I refuse to wound you in this way. What about them sharing a cigarette? I mean, that too. Yeah. A number of people wrote in with my so-called life. There's a very famous scene that Claire Dane's recently reenacted with Amy Poehler,

where Angela and Jordan hold hands and walk down the hallway. And it's just this big moment where he like sort of declares in front of everyone that like he and cue the Buffalo Tom. So that is a very important thing. We got a couple normal people nominations. Of course. I'm always here for normal people recommendations. Monica wrote in to say basically all of In the Mood for Love.

I actually thought about In the Mood for Love. Yeah. I don't know that there is like a one distinct, this is the moment that we are announcing our feelings gesture, which is like part of the evasiveness and the appeal of that movie. Yeah. I think the closest to me would be the like you notice things if you pay attention sort of theme. But again, that's like a runner more than it is a scene.

Yeah. It's a, yeah, I would have to rewatch. Oh, no, I would have to rewatch in the moon for love to think about it. God forbid. But yeah, thanks to all the folks who wrote in. There's plenty of others. And keep them coming. I would love to see more.

We loved all of them. Okay. So the horse's finale. Judgment Day is the name of the episode. It's a lengthy episode over an hour for this episode. Yeah. I didn't even think about it, but like, do you think there's a Peter Judd Judd Judgment Day pun in here that we just waltzed on right by? I would really love for it to be spelled Judd.

Judgment Day. Judgment day, if it were. I'm so glad he found his way back into the focus, if in a bad way for him. It's funny because I didn't look at the episode title before I sort of wrote my opening notes. And it just says Terminator Jane in the bathroom, you know, because she's like still going. But it opens with, to go back to that idea of like emotional appointancy this season. It opens with her like humming this like heartbroken, I don't know, Russian lullaby or whatever as she thinks about, you know, her gym drowned in the lake, I suppose. Or the glass in her face, one of the two.

Or the glass in her face. What is grief if not glass in your face, Robbony? I often wonder. I do want to note, just like for the record, to get ahead of it, to prevent the flood of emails that would be coming, I need to protect my freeze framing bona fides. I did see the ligma in the graffiti in the bathroom. It's acknowledged. We don't need to talk about it.

I saw it. What's ligma? Joe, I respect you too much as a friend and a colleague. We can't be doing that right now. Damn. I hate when I expose. This is like when I was like, what's gooning? And you guys are like, German and we don't want to talk about it.

We can't do it. We're acknowledging it for the record. We all ligmaed together. Here's a deal. We never find out how it was the Jim and Jane were able to track them all so well. Did not. We don't understand why Jane is still alive in this scenario. I also don't really understand.

She has a map with an X marks a spot on it. Was it something like one of the maps that the slow horses had that she got a hold of where it's like this is where the safe house is. Or maybe traced a phone that wasn't properly turned off or something? I've decided they're goblins. I've decided they're supernatural entities of some kind that they're able to do this.

But the bloody like fingerprints on the map. I actually like, yes, it would have been nice to get a reason why they were able to follow so closely every step of the way. I'm going to choose to believe they're just very good trackers. The one that got me is River Cartwright just, freed a detainee. Oh, I knew you're going to be so mad about this. Maybe killed some federal officers.

And they're just like, yeah, I guess we can just cut them loose. All it takes a little light homophobia, you know what I mean, to get there. Couched and supportive, you know, dating advice. I just, at minimum, he and Sid both have incredibly sensitive information. And he just tried to jailbreak her and then drive off into the distance. And then he's like, I don't know where she is in. They're like, oh, he definitely. definitely doesn't know where she is.

I can understand why in the end it all shakes out the way it is because essentially Lamb saves Diana. Yes. Right? And so I think not for the first time. And so her not pursuing River further or something like that could be sort of as part of a trade-off for sure. But in terms of these dogs just tossing river out of the car, insane move.

I think the upside of it is we get with that light homophobia, probably like the closest, the most Jackson lamb that River has ever been on the show in terms of understanding that truly the way to manipulate people is just to annoy them. And if you just badger, badger, badger, badger people over and over, eventually they'll kind of give you what you want. You know, I want to rewatch this episode thinking about the ways in which Lamb has inspired his horses,

because that's a really good shout. Did you note the way that Roddy Ho was eating those noodles? That was very lamb-esque as well. Did Shirley exhibit any lamb tendencies? Something I think about. I mean, she was almost an action hero in this episode. I think really a woman right in the thick of it, every flame, every Molotov cocktail, impressive stuff from Shirley. Do you know how hard it is for me to not Google Ligma right now on my work laptop?

Don't worry about it. Trust me, you don't want to do it. It's a rabbit hole you don't want to go down. But I want to know. Okay. So then River gets himself booted from the car with the dogs, again, an insane move that I knew was going to bother Rob Mahoney specifically. He calls Lamb. Yeah.

At least Lamb says going dark means no using. the fucking phone because it was like really bothering me how much they were on the phone after all of this going dark stuff. And this is where we get without question my lamb shank of the week. Not even close. Do you want to deliver it, Rob? Sid Baker was a better agent than you when she was in a coma.

Tough to hear. Really tremendous. Tough to hear, tough to know. I do love though the, I mean, you can see and feel lamb's level of concern with the slow horses safe. Even just the idea of like Sid's going to be fine. I need you River, one of my more competent agents in theory, to please, please go help these other slow horses. You at least know how to run sometimes. You know how to run. You can at least like fight people off

with a lamp. Like there's some hand-to-hand capacity there that might be useful in this particular occasion. And also just like the absolute weariness with itchy responds to the news of Coe's death. And kind of also setting up another runner I really appreciated in this episode all throughout the season, River is coming off of an incredible loss with his grandfather's death in the funeral. And the fact that, like, he can't even say that Coe has died to anyone. It's just like here to Shirley later. It's like he and Reese are kind of both in this position in their own weird ways. And please don't take Shirley's advice.

We can circle back to that later about how to deal with such traumas. But just the idea that... Wait, I wrote that on my therapy journal. Just shove it down. Just shove it down. Just deeper, deeper. Like molten levels of inner core, shove it down. I mean, maybe it works.

Well, I mean, based on the what's coming next season, I'm going to guess it's not going quite surely either. But River's just like not ready to confront any kind of death. And so the idea that he was the closest person to Coe when he ended up getting killed. Not prepared for it. And it seems like neither is lamb in his way either. Carr right, he hits River with the Moscow rules. Watch your ass.

You know who's the epitome of London rules later is Diana Taviner? Queen of the London rules. The, you know, again, aided. and abetted by Jackson Lamb. Sure. But the enormously satisfying, almost Rube Goldbergian, like, way we get Cantor and Judd and Oliver, all sort of out of her way in one elaborate move is pretty delightful. Pretty, pretty sweet stuff. Yeah.

And all it took was going to the most improbable place on the planet, which is into Jackson Lamb's car. Okay. When I did the obsession rewatchables episode, something I called out is like things you can just smell on screen, right? The house and obsession and this car. And like we've seen this car one million times, but I feel like it's not until I saw Diana Taviner get into it that I really had to contemplate what that car smells like. And we've all been in that car of like someone who's just never clean.

It's just so old. Someone smoked so many cigarettes in it. The stains. The stench. The crustiness. And it's just like, so Diana Tabbinner, her like pristine, beautiful hair sitting in that car was just a real, a real moment. I don't know that I've ever seen a human being be more uncomfortable in a space than Diana Tadner. She came to Slough House last season.

And I say that about the uncomfortable. Yeah. Knowing that you and I and our colleagues here all came to this office to watch Sidney-Sweeney dishwash dildoes together in our workplace. So it's like there's love. Levels to discomfort, and this is on a different stratosphere entirely. Yeah, at least there was no... Anyway, my Britishism of the week, I think, comes from the scene, which is him saying, like, come on, you're Diana Tavanaugh, your first desk.

And he says, The Big I Am, which is a Britishism that I didn't know. Like, if someone is acting the Big I Am or giving it The Big I Am, they're behaving as if they're very important. Which I had... There's a movie called The Big I Am, which I've never heard of. but this is like a... I love that. This is a phrase, the big I am.

I love that expression. And I love this conversation, too. It's almost... It's the equivalent of like your second act like Spider-Man needs to be told that he's Spider-Man kind of pep talk. Is it because Jackson Lamb says, is that all you've got with great power comes great responsibility?

Follow-up question. What do you think is Jackson Lamb's favorite Spider-Man movie? I'm... I mean, he wouldn't watch an animated one for sure. No. What if it's three? What if he's... like a huge sandman guy.

I think he's too. I think he's a doc-a-classic. Most people are. No, it's just so generational. Well, he has no time for Tom Holland. Yeah. Let's be real about that. He's a Toby guy.

I think he's definitely a Toby guy. Yeah. Especially the more he learns about how Toby operates in real life. I think he'd be more and more of a fan. But, I mean, not a Spider-Man person to run through. Is that a pussy-possy reference? Oh, no. That was like Molly, uh, Molly's game poker manipulation.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he would have some respect for the level of deception and control. Got it. Oh, but, As far as that goes, like the, I mean, again, if you'll, it feel part in the superhero part of that. It just feels like part of what we've been waiting for from Diana, who is so slippery and so clever and so, like, unsentimental about everything else in every previous season. It's like she allowed Damien Cantor to back her into a corner and convince her she was trapped in it. And just even having Jackson Lamb as improbable as that might be say, you're really not trapped here?

This is what you do. Like, it really spurred things into action in a way that I found in very. for this episode. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, she's like, I'm going to turn myself in. I'm compromised. I'm the greatest fetch national security. She was not going to turn yourself with it. And he says, there's a way out of this mess, Diana.

Get off that bloody cross and start listening. Do I like everything that happens in this episode? Yes. Do I like the implication that, like, Diana just had to listen to Jackson Lamb and do, as he said, in order to get herself out of this scrape? I don't think it's that. I think it's more like... I think it is. You know, like, everything that happens next is his plan, essentially, right?

I took it as, like, more of a... collaborative plan. Sure. More of like, okay, get yourself out of the headspace that you have something huge to lose here. And remember that this is a little boy with a TV station who, with one threat of Russian assassination, like, he's not built for this in the way that Diana and Jackson are built for this.

This is why you cast Harry Lloyd in this role. As soon as he's like scared of the Russians and he runs out and he's just gormlessly looking around, it's just like really good. I think to me it's less like, oh, Jackson told her to do this or came up with this plan or even spurred her along in this way and more having a person who's outside of her own head who is relaying like this is what you just did. Yeah. And not moralizing it.

It's not like how could you do this? Sure. How did you fuck up this badly and how do we fix it? And I think just kind of that out that like exterior perspective on top down, what are the pieces on the board? A clarifying moment that's more, more to do with like the way she's seeing the board than anything he says. I'm not sure I wholly agree with you, but I do like that you have such a generous read there. And I think that, I mean, these two together are always magical. I'm always a delight.

Let's go now to the rat trap, the Home Alone House. You already mentioned, Catherine is up to here with Moira and her shenanigans. They all are, to be fair. But Moira, foie gras, band, I believe, but yummy. She's a foodie. What can you do? I love how concerned she is about Diana's stuff, where is Shirley just, like, putting on, You leave those tea cakes alone.

Yeah, you put on the murder sweater from Knives Out. I bet that is a really nice sweater that Shirley's wearing down on the beach. I can't even imagine how much that thing costs. But it puts in work in this episode. You know, I like to think that it keeps Shirley safe. It's really what propels her through the end of it. We get this Roddy, you know, reese back and forth, the over Moira, right? Would you speak to your mother that way, Roderick?

Like, all of that sort of stuff. And then a car rolls up, everyone gets like battle stations. We get a nice reminder of how many guns are available to them. You know what I mean? A nice accounting. And similarly, when Diana and Jackson were in the car, I really liked that scene, but there was also Jackson recapping everything that happened this season. He's like, so let me get this straight.

Look, sometimes you need it. You took Russian money for an off book's job, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, so we get this like battle stations, everyone gets the guns. or Shirley's so excited for to use the Molotov cocktails and then it's just like Knock Knock It's River. It's pretty great. Don't worry. The Molotov cocktails are going to have their time.

But in this zone, when we're still in sleepover, before the bullets really start flying, this is what made me realize more than anything that I'm distinctly going to miss Emma Flight. And I didn't expect to get there with that character, but putting her in a space that she's been in over the back half of the season where she is perpetually in ath leisure, chiming in halfway through a heavy point,

Like, it's been a, it's really suited her. Is there going to be a fight? God, I fucking hope so. That was, like, a pretty good one. That was my own internal monologue. I'm just like, I am Reese and Emma all at once, waiting for this thing to blow up. While Catherine is just, like, dragging her fingers through the wine on the table. It's great stuff.

Before we get to that, Frank and the henchmen are in the grass looking at the house. One of them says the goldfish bowl, rat trap more like a boss. Did you look up like sort of snipers and Goldfish Bowl versus rat trap? Oh, no, not really. Okay. So goldfish bull I couldn't find anything, but that's like self-evidence. It's sort of like, high visibility glass. We can see everything.

We saw this earlier when they first got there and they were all sort of like checking the various rooms. Like you can see everything. But a rat trap, I think, in sniper lingo. It's a sniper trap, colloquial term in the U.S. military, Chechen rat trap, is a tactic used by snipers in which the sniper indebted. intentionally shoots to wound instead of kill an enemy combatant, with the end goal of drawing more enemy personnel into the field of fire so the sniper can fire on them as they provide aid to their wooden comrade.

Not only does this tactic provide more targets for the sniper as enemy personnel come to help the wounded, but also causes the sniper's enemy to expend more resources in recovering, evacuating, and treating the wounded combatant. Then they would be expended to the sniper simply killed the enemy combatant. So then I don't really know how to like square that with what follows. So I don't know, you know, if I can. you know, because the hench get temporarily taken out, one with a bullet, one with, you know, Molotov cocktail sort of car explosion. Good job, Shirley.

But like, or are they just saying like, this is our, this is what we should do is we should wound one of them and draw the rest of them out? Or what do you think? I mean, maybe that was the plan, but in practice it turned out more just like smoke them out of the house where there's nowhere to go. Right. Like, it's a lot of wide open fields. It is this giant beach with like no usable boats, it turns out at least for their purposes. convenient pipe and a convenient shack for cover. That's all you got.

And so it's like, I mean, within minutes, every slow horse is out of that house. So from that perspective, mission accomplished by the hench. Anything else you want to say about this co-death announcement? Maybe specifically thinking about Shirley and her reaction to Coe's death. I mean. How did he die? Was he alone? Yeah.

I mean, I think our reactions to those things often speak to like what affects us, right? It's like, what is your worst fear for your own fate personally? and Shirley is someone who, as you alluded to earlier this season, every slow horse she gets close to seems to die. Everyone falls off the map in one way or the other. And so who is she going to be when she doesn't even have code to cling to anymore? Is she just kind of become a Roddy sidekick once again? Is she going to be her own kind of main character within slow horses?

I'm eager to see you in series seven. Roddy sidekick fate worse than death. It's not good. Like how dare you honestly? I'm just saying like, but she is the sole horse more than any who has been kind of untethered, bouncing between, trying to find her place and things. Like, River, I would say to a fault, thinks he knows who he is.

I would say Shirley really doesn't. And she and Coe had such like a lovely, you know, and when we were going through our favorite co moments or something like that, that moment that he talks her down after Marcus dies. Yeah. And just sort of like they have this connection. And I'm devastated for Shirley. Completely.

You know, and for Coe himself, but, you know, for Shirley who remains behind, you know. I mean, like all of this is also present in the way she, she's lashing out at Louisa too, which, look, I am very glad that someone other than us and our listeners and the people on Reddit remembered the diamond. Diamond mentioned. Remember that Louisa may have allegedly stolen a diamond? Definitely did. And look, I think Louisa's claim that Shirley needs to get her shit together, fair in many respects,

I would argue, as Shirley kind of does, it's easier to get your life together when you're a stolen diamond way of progress towards self-actualization. You know, it takes a lot of variables out of play for you when you have that kind of money. Should we steal a diamond? Without a doubt. Have we already stolen a diamond? That's, which ice cream pint does it in in the Spotify freezer? That's great question. My question for you, so we, I mean, we samples Freibento's this season. We're always looking for a little interactive bits with our shows. I just got so upset thinking about the Freibento. It was not a great time in our lives. Should we have been throwing Molotov

cocktails? Should we have been really sampling the wares that this series of slow horses has to offer? Have you ever thrown a Molotov cocktail? I wish. Let's do it. I've done a flamethrower. Honestly, weird. Rewind. Rahmah Pahoney. Yeah.

When was it in Texas? When did you use a flame thrower? It was in Texas. I mean, clearly not a regulated situation. I'm going to not say what movie theater it was, but I went to a special screening of the Rambo reboot, like when they did like the, I don't even know what number of that. It's the fourth Rambo movie, I believe. And part of the pitch was like, come to this movie.

We're going to hang these like targets. And you can fire as Rambo does in this movie, a flamethrower at these targets. Oh, my God. Incredible time. So if I could do that at a Rambo screening, what's to stop us from throwing some Molotov cocktails in a parking lot somewhere? Other than California wildfires. But, you know, we'll have staff on site.

I know. We should do it while it's actively raining, perhaps. I don't know. Maybe so. When I was at, I think it was Fantastic Fest, maybe Southbub, but I think it's fantastic fest. And Free Fire was there and they were doing some press around it. And they're like, we're going to have this joke in. on a firing range, I didn't go because I don't like guns.

But I was just like Texas. Here we are. See, that's the thing. I also don't like guns, but a flamethrower is not quite a gun. I would try a flamethrower. I think you have to. For sure. If presented with the opportunity, and if presented with a Molotov cocktail, I would like to throw it.

And a harpoon gun. I would like to try that as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, anything you want to say about when shit kicks off? Like the window explodes. Yeah. You know, everyone scatters to their various corners. Moira's in the larder.

Stay in the larder. Please do. Maybe she should have just stayed there the whole time. Roddy's sort of crawling on the ground. Reese is behind the couch. Everyone's like concerned. Everyone keeps checking in our Reese to make sure he's okay. It's a team effort.

They have a child in their care. Anything else you want to say about this? I was a little surprised. I know these are frenetic circumstances. The shit has hit the fan. The window has exploded. The smoke grenades are streaming in. Everyone's like on high alert.

As you mentioned, they do have two guns. And I'm going to assume not a whole lot. lot of ammo. And I know you need to lay down some suppressive fire in a situation like this, but they feel a little willy-nilly in a way that does come back to bite them a little bit when Emma Flight's gun picked up by Roddy runs out of bullets by the back

half of this episode. And she's out of, Emma's out of bullets when it matters most as well. Yeah. Yeah, I, um, how much ammo did Louise like not very much when you got that gun? A little bit? Yeah. But I mean, they are firing. I mean, look,

again, you're trying to keep everybody safe. You're trying to keep these like would-be invaders at bay. I thought it was a little loosey-goosey in a way that I do expect of a slow horse, frankly. I don't disagree. Moira falls down. Classic. Yeah. We get an oh, we are very fucked cut to lamb at Natasha's party.

Great stuff. Let's talk a moment to talk about Jackson Lamb at Natasha's party. Exquisite. What more could I possibly want from slow horses? Just the piled high three-inch icing on the cupcake of this season. Natasha is sort of like assembling sort of like bits and bobs in the kitchen while she's talking to him about global espionage. Jackson getting involved in party games, you know, all of this. Yeah.

This is an incredible setting for this scene. And I just think it's fantastic. And once again, put, you know, put Diana Taviner in Jackson's car and I feel like I can smell the car. Put Jackson inside of this like spotless Hampson home and I can smell him as well. Like, absolutely. You get both. Like, right? You get the comedy of.

having him at this party. And we want to talk some more about that. But also, I feel like the secret sauce of slow horses and certainly this series is you pit Jackson against any serious person. And it just turns into riveting conversation, riveting TV. And Natasha is, I think, proving to be quite a serious kind of player in this scene, an intermediary in her way. And frankly, if being a Russian intermediary gets you this sort of kitchen, I'm a patriot, but I might sign up.

I don't think that's, Diana said she married, uh, British. Nobility, I believe, or something like that. So I think that's where that came from. Plus, she's the daughter of an oligarch, so it's family money. Anyway, you slice it. Should have been born to an oligarch. Yeah, next time around, man. I really agree.

I love the moment when her daughter asks if he's a clown in Russian. And she's just like, let's not pretend you didn't understand that. You know, like, you heard her. I thought that was an honorable mention lambshank as a reverse lambshank. Someone actually gets Jackson for once and a little kid calling him a clown of all things. It's really wonderful. And I love all of this. You know, the deal he offers her.

I'm not asking if you'd buy it. I'm asking if you can sell it. Yeah. Very good. Again, the way the plan comes together. Yes, there's incompetence all throughout slow horses as there is every series. Yeah. There's some plot conveniences here and there as far as why certain characters are doing

certain things. Make your piece with it or don't. That's fine. But the resolution and the way all this stuff ties up and the way that they flip Damien into a would-be double agent on the puff of smoke that kind of is operating in this sort of shadowy spy space, I just thought was really, really tremendous. Do you, I really, I think this is perfect. Is there any part of you that wanted Jackson at the shootout at the beach house?

Or would you rather have him here at the child's birthday party? I mean, this is what he does best. Yeah. And frankly. Because we've seen him do that. They did a sort of like Home Alone house in a previous season when they like drove the bus into the house and stuff like that. Someone was, like, involved in that. It's just, like, it beggars belief.

I'm willing to believe Jackson Lamb can do all sorts of things. But it beggars belief that he can, like, sprint around on a beach and, you know, do all of that. He would have tumbled down that hill just like more than it did. Yeah, exactly. But plus, when you take him out of the frame, like, you can even see it by the end of this episode, when they're having the Slough House funeral and sending off their fallen Joe's. Everyone is, like, looking to him to say something, to give them, like, a direction, a word of consolation. It's like, that's never going to come. if he's at Diana Tavernor's vacation house,

everyone is looking to him for the plan. And then you don't get Emma trying to do something actually quite noble and selfless, like basically using herself as a distraction and then doubling back trying to help people. You don't have River and Louisa going off on their own trying to get to the cars. It's like, I like that you're putting

the other slow horses in positions to make, like, battlefield decisions almost by not having Jackson there. Including Rodney saying basically the lone wolf survives. Not true. Um, yeah, Ronnie saying, if they come from the sea, I've got them covered. And Reese saying they're not Vikings. And then Emma, to your point, is like, I'm, you know, you guys make a run for it.

I'll keep them distracted. And he goes, what a legend, Bert takes flight. And then the look on Reese's face as he absorbs this. So this fucking guy look. Yeah, this fucking guy look. So good. Lettie Rush really killing it in this episode. That's the thing.

I wish there were a convenient excuse to keep Reese around. I know. But he's a literal child. Can he be a slow horse anyway? You know, there's clearly vacancies. I just don't know that he's going to be the one to fill it. And that makes me very sad because he and Roddy have been gold together all season. Really good.

And I mean, also, Roddy's like, don't worry. Well, no when the time is right, I'll feel her regarding Emma's presence. Real warrior poet stuff from Roddy in this episode. Let's talk about Emma's death. She does get a really cool, like, badass moment. She's shooting and then she just stops, you know, grounds herself. and then headshot, you know, does a headshot on the henchman. And that's a great moment.

And then she gets, like, winged right after that by Frank. And then she does blow out Frank's knee. So good job, Emma, but that's it for her. I'm going to, I kind of want to read a bit of the passage of the book when this happens, but I'm curious sort of how you felt about this death. I mean, it felt fitting in a lot of ways, at least to the character that we were told Emma Flight was, if not the one we were shown who she would be over the course of these last couple series.

And I think the moment of resignation that you get from her when she's at a bullet, she's like, there's nowhere left to crawl. And Frank is kind of encroaching closer and closer and closer. And it's like she looks it in the face and stares it down and accepts it in a way that like kind of proves she was never meant to be a slow horse. Right? It's like there is a maturity. And like this is an adult who ran out of options. And it's just kind of like, I guess I just have to accept what's coming and look Frank Harkness directly in the eye as he does this horrible thing. and that's it for her.

But I mean, slow horse for a day, certainly, here with this group, enjoyed watching her bounce off of all these other characters, but was too good for this line of work. But it's similar to River where it's just sort of like, I'm so enjoying this mode for her. We finally like get something, you know, that seems like it's working and it's fun and it's over.

The reason, you know, a reason I sought out this passage, the river passage, the co-passage from the book, is like trying to think about what's going through these characters' heads, you know, when this happens to them. But I think what's interesting with what Mick Heron does, his books leap POV to POV, like paragraph, not even like a space between paragraphs. So you're in like one person's POV and then the next paragraph without any sort of like help or warning you're in someone else's as you have to just like keep up. And he doesn't usually do. And we saw this in the co-passage I read when co died. It was about River Finding Co.

Not about co-dying. So he doesn't usually do death POV. You're not usually in the person's head. You're usually the person who found the body. With Emma, we get right up to the end, right? Emma's been taken by one of the henchmen

and she's like waiting for her move. One of Frank's guys. Emma moved, her fist clamped around the stone, heading towards his face. Her elbow angled and knock his gun arm aside in the same movement. Muscle memory suggested she'd done this before or wearing sweats on a padded mat, a risky move, but they were the only kind available. He wasn't going to let her go, not now that she'd had contact with Lucas, who's the kid in the

in the book. Punch him in the face, knock his gun arm aside. Some of this happened, but not enough. No special noise was involved. Emma heard not much more than a cough. That and the overhead branches sawing each other in the wind and the soft womps, their burdens of snow made when they laid them down. The sound winter sunlight makes when it passes through dead leaves and then nothing.

So that's how Emma dies. And you could read that and say, maybe she made her, maybe she got knocked out or something like that. But then Louisa is the one who finds her. And that passage is like is really hard. And I'll just read the very end of it. Emma's eyes were open, but all the life had fled.

Louisa heard movement behind her and turned to find Lucas at her shoulder, wide-eyed with horror. Again, this is the teen they're protecting in the book. Don't look, she said, but it was too late. and she might anyway have been talking to herself, don't look, don't see, don't know that you'll be remembering this forever. And so instead of Louisa,

it's Roddy who finds Emma's body on the beach. And it's the thing that makes him turn back around to sort of a bit too late, like help Reese and Shirley and inspire him to like try to be more like her, right? Sure. Be like Emma. And does a really shit job of it,

just empties a clip for no reason whatsoever. But at the same time, time, it's the bravest thing he's ever done. Absolutely. And then at the very end of the episode, we see him, like, playing the video game with the gun and sort of like, I don't know, is he practicing to be a better shot? Is he trying to work through, like, what if I had been able to, like, could I have saved her in that moment or something like that? So, like, I don't believe that there's anything, like, true and profound deep about Roddy's feelings for Emma Flite. No. You know, he was an annoyance more than anything

else to her. But, like, her death really did impact him, I think, in a way that we have. haven't much seen for Roddy in the show. Well, he's not a character who has demonstrated or exercised a lot of regret about anything. Even when he's at fault, it's always like pinned on somebody else. It's always somebody else's misunderstanding in his view. And so to be in this perspective where, yeah, his instinct was, I kind of want to leave Reese here because I want to run faster to the boat. And getting from that point to, as you said, turning back to try to help Reese and Shirley,

I thought it was a really great turnabout for that character within this episode. It's like it's not too big a jump. It's like just enough kind of narrative momentum. And also, I think the trickery with the camera, both with the harpoon gun and here with Frank shooting Emma as well, it's like the way their stage is like you're waiting for somebody to shoot them in the back. You're waiting for somebody to club Frank over the top of that with a rock. I thought for sure.

I thought for sure Emma was going to make it up. River and Louisa are going to come back. Like somebody's going to catch up to this. And so having it both ways where you in one case get that outcome and in one case you don't, I think it's just like a nice way to kind of split the baby on that one. There's also like death math that one does when one was. So you're like co-died is that the only like death we're going to get this season. Okay.

Emma dies. Does that mean that Louise is going to be okay if she gets gut shot? Or does that mean that like, or we're just going to, it's just going to be a bloodbath. Like what's going to happen? Damien and Diana and Jackson. Anything else you want to say about the Diana and Damien in the restaurant? Jackson Lamb being the one in the car.

Yeah. Any of that? I think for one, the way Diana plays this and really all she needs him to do is get in the car. So it's like in some ways maybe more theater than it really required. I guess that's it.

But even if he had the cell phone, what would have happened? If he, I mean, he does, he's a billionaire. He has resources. So if he could like call his, call his militia to come, like, to the airfield to rescue him or something like that. So I guess that's the only disarming she really needs to do is like get him to put down the phone.

Because otherwise, the scheme kind of writes itself. Like him showing up eventually with the Russians and trying to convince them that he knew nothing about the hit, that he funneled the money to exercise. Like, that's exactly what he would say if you were a double agent. So it really is kind of a perfect crime in that way. But her laying it out as like, I'm doing you a favor. Right.

I'm giving you the heads up about this horrible thing. I'm going to protect you. This big bad Jackson lamb. Yeah. He's on us. Oops, he already told the Russians. Oh, no. Leave your phone.

Everything's going to be fine. Get on a plane to a black site prison. I'm sure it's going to be cool. Jackson drowning Damien out with Abba in the car as he's like shrieking about how much money he has is pretty phenomenal stuff. And then getting Damien to be the one to call Frank off. And Frank being the kind of contract killer

where he's like, okay then. What a professional. Yeah. Answer the phone on the job. And just like, you know what? You're right. I'm done. Yeah.

The job changed shape. I would like to flag for our purposes at some later date. I don't know when this will be context appropriate. but Taverners, one could enjoy the irony if one had the bandwidth. I suspect we can find use for that around here at some point. I'll leave it to you to find out where. Let's talk about this Shirley Reese situation, right?

So Shirley goes off to get the boats and they're like too heavy for her to drag or like... Even before that, I would say, of all the action shit in this episode that is impressive, Shirley picking up the grenade and hurling it back might be like the most action hero moment that we get. I mean, she was winging those Molotov cocktails as well. She did a great job with them, I thought.

And River also looked great, flinging some Molotov cocktails. I'm just saying that's eight plus work. Saved all three of their lives in that moment. I really agree. You know, she goes off to get the boats, can't drag them. They're crumbling and falling apart. They're kind of useless anyway, but she does find the harpoon gun. She brings it back.

And then I just was like actually quite emotionally staggered by this moment where she was like, I got to teach you how to use this. And he's like, why, you're here. if I'm not here. Again, I think Lenny Rush has just been really incredible this season, but just sort of like his, you know, his

just like absolute innocence and bewilderment in this moment. And then the fact that he is the one who kills the henchman, like he doesn't hesitate what he needs to. As you mentioned, Shirley's giving him terrible emotional

upkeep advice. But sometimes in an adrenaline-packed moment, maybe what you need is terrible advice. Like, this isn't really the time for him to break down in tears. You know, like, this is the time to grab the harpoon gun. I've never killed anyone before. And, like, the cut back and forth between her showing him how to use the gun and Catherine showing Moira how to use a gun, as Moira is saying, she'll look over Louise's body.

This just sort of like, we're not meant to be here and be part of this. But this is the world we live in and we have to learn how to protect ourselves. Absolutely. I'm with you as far as Shirley's part of that in particular. They're like, I found it extraordinarily sweet. And like such a gracious gesture in a way from Shirley to say, like, this isn't as hard as you think it's going to be, even though she knows that's a lie.

But it's like, she needs to hear something in that moment that's not like, hey, you have to show, you have to face down a super spy who raise an army of child soldiers and shoot him with a harpoon gun. I don't know logistically quite what happens here because basically the henchmen's coming towards them. She grabs a rock. She leaves the harpoon gun with Reese. She grabs a rock like she's going to go and then she gets shot out.

So she ducks back behind. And then Roddy shows up with the gun. Yeah. I don't know why. Like what is what is Shirley doing just like still sitting there with a rock in her hand? What else is she supposed to do? Grab the harpoon gun and be the one to shoot. Yeah, but like at this point in time that henchman has like an assault rifle.

Like they've upgraded the- But his back is turned. And it's and it's Reese who steps out with the harpoon gun, not surely. It's true. But you need him to fully turn around and look at Rock. in that moment. It's really good. Anything else you want to say about that before we go to?

I mean, River and the Terminator Jane are fighting in the house. It's great. I mean, this action, I think, is really good, the way that both of them are just absolutely clobbered. And the home goods that are being broken and the kitchen items that are being deployed, it's all very good. I just think, too, like, going from car crash where you're literally pulling the glass shards out of your face in a public restroom to then getting another glass. smash in your face is just about

my waking nightmare. I didn't even know it but I'm like, can this woman catch a break? And I say that, look, she just shot Louisa. She's basically dead to me at this point as a character. And yet, I can't help but feel for the double glass. You're like Frank put her out of her misery, man. It's too much glass. Nobody kills my kid but me,

you know? The way that the river comes tumbling down the stairs and Frank just sort of regards him and then shoots her and then has this great explanation later of like I took out the threat with the gun. But like, Like, there's enough sentimentality that we can claw out of the scene that really, really works for me. Also, shout out Frank Harkness. My guy is quite cultured.

He's quoting Philip Larkin. He's, you know, paraphrasing Sunset Boulevard. Sure. Like, he's a man, he's a man of culture, and I admire that. Where did he find the time? Yeah, it's true. Between raising, like, fucking so many women that he has produced his own army of sons and then raised them. But do you think they had movie nights on the compound?

I mean, at some point, you got to keep the kids in her. So, like, you got a... And they love Sunset Boulevard. I mean, you got a projector, you got a bed sheet. Like, you're just kind of making it work. Yeah, you're like, meet Norman Desmond. What a legend. I mean, what's the...

I guess it's like a daddy daycare situation, really, is what was going on there. Yeah. And I just think he's so outnumbered that a movie is the natural place to go. And you're right, Sunset Boulevard, apparently is the way to keep kids locked in. Child soldiers specifically. I think they're going to love it. They love Busterkeet in that movie. Okay.

So what I loved this scene, you've already, like, alluded to the fact that I love it, but he gives River enough of a kernel of a compliment. Yeah, with his derision, like, you know, sometimes daddy doesn't have the time. It's not my fault you're fucked up. You know, one day you should take a good, hard look at what your granddad got up to, complete your education. And then he says, maybe the old bastard did get a few things right. Oh, my God. We'll take it.

We'll take the tiny little kernel of, you know, affection and compliment from our horrible, horrible contract killer father. who just killed Emma Flay. These withholding dads, the power that they have. Just one little drop in bucket. A little drop, here's a glass to share with your old dad? Yeah. And that's all it takes. And there's no nerve agent on it?

No, I mean, again, I would think that's the bare minimum, but apparently it's not. And then I also love the moment when he walks off and River does that. Like, that's just a 10.10 TV moment. It's really great. I should say in the book goes a bit differently. there's like a literal cliff hanging. This is way better than what happens in the book. But Frank is presumed dead in the book.

Like even Jackson Lamb thinks he's dead. So the fact that they're like, no, we're going to make it very clear that we have filed Hugo weaving away for a possible future on the show, I think is pretty interesting. As they should. And I thought this episode more than any of the season kind of highlighted where Frank is and kind of what's narratively interesting about him at this point, which is like, this is. is like, this is a dude in a full-blown existential crisis, right? It's like, what is the point of all this? Even if I know what the point is, am I cut out for it anymore? He's got the broken ribs.

He's got shot in the leg. Like, he's just looking so haggard by the end of this. Prostates acting up. To be fair, this whole situation went sideways in ways that I don't even think he's necessarily accustomed to. Like, everyone is bleeding out and like about to pass out, basically. Like Louisa's fighting for consciousness. Rivers like drifting in and out in the bathroom.

Frank's just like limping around out here trying to get the job done and being like, why am I still doing this? All for a kid. Apparently. All for a kid. And then get called off at the last moment. Anything else you want to say before we get to the funeral seat? One last note, Joe, before we kind of get away from the slumber party and the vacation

house and everything that's going on there. I was also struck with Emma's death, the reminder that like the only reason she is dead, the only reason she is here is because of Diana Tavern. And so it's like because Diana implicated herself in the first place and then tried so desperately to cover it up by shoeing Emma Flight away. You can't do that because she wouldn't be there if Jackson Lamb hadn't come to her apartment. I guess that's true, but it's like, I mean, look, it's Diana, yes. It's also Jackson Lamb. It's also like, and in the book, the Lucas character, the teen that they're sort of like protecting, he's like, he's thinking about it.

He's like, he met Emma Flight last night and if he had never met Emma Flight, she'd still be alive. Like, you know, he's blaming himself for it. And so, like, I think there's a lot of dominoes here. I think some of those other dominoes should blame themselves less and maybe look at the first desk, you know, leader who in theory maybe shouldn't have taken the big bag of rubles? I mean, absolutely. I'm just saying, I'm just saying of a flight would be at home in her athlete,

or hate watching the news. She would be. And Jackson hadn't come calling. But, but look. And no matter what, her job was always like, it's not like she's, you know, someone who doesn't go out there in the field with guns. guns shooting around her all the time. It's true. Danger is baked into the equation.

It just struck me as we get into the full-on ass covering that Diana gets to do at the end of this episode, pinning everything on Peter Judd, as is hilarious to watch, getting a little shiv with Nash on the way out. Mostly just for fun, but also for some political points. Like, she gets off fairly scot-free. But I think it's a very... In the London rules, sort of cover your ass meeting that she has here,

I love a couple things that she does. One when she sort of like tries to make... Judd into as big of a threat as possible. Yeah. Oh, I don't think he's just coming back for his old job. Like, maybe he's coming for your job. You won't rule the world. Yeah.

Implicating Oliver as she does. But we know not only were they chummy at the funeral, but Judd in the previous episode, when Judd has a meeting with Damien Cantor and he's like, right off I fuck, right, that meeting. He said, my sources tell me. So, like, I do think that Oliver was backchanneling information to him, which I think is why Diana's like,

my people are right now ready to move. Like Oliver can't get to the phone and warn Judd. Like my people are ready right now. Do I have your go? Give me the okay. Yeah, yeah. And the fact that she's in a position to ask for that because of the earlier accountability meeting

where she was like, what am I supposed to do? Pick up a phone and call you and we want to do a Russian assassination. Now it's like, this is your chance to prove we can move quickly. Yeah. And she's right there to push the button. So, I mean, I mean, is this curtains for Judd? I hope not.

Yeah. Poisonous little toad as he is, I really hope not. So we want Reese to join the slow horses. Yep. We want Judd just back in the political mix. You can put him in prison. He can be an informant. Hannibal Lecter.

Like, let's just lector Peter Judd. Okay. Judd and Lecter mode. Diana has to go to him for advice and whatever's happened to her next season. And anything else that you're hoping for? I want Louisa back on the show, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen. Cut to the funeral, right? She's like, I'm not back. I'm just here for the funeral.

So they have this drink, right? River has brought a delicious vintage to this funeral. We've been to this place before. Too many times, unfortunately. It's for Co. Emma doesn't get a mention in this moment. She's not a slow horse. Was she not spiritually a slow horse?

Look, she obviously deserves it. Did Jackson Lamb not, like, show up, drag her into this? And then she died to. literally defending them and they're like for co and like fuck you emma she obviously deserves to be part of the funeral proceedings especially it's not like emma flights getting a park funeral in the way that david cartwright did you know like that's not really in the cards for her a transportation department transportation funeral we could only be so lucky but yeah like she's clearly being mourned here even if she isn't being mentioned here i just think someone should mention her roddy at least should have

mentioned her um anything else you want to say about this funeral scene lamb says that being in the Sohorses is not Hotel California. But isn't it Hotel California? You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Like, if Hotel California is purgatory, isn't Slough House the purgatory of the services? I mean, I would say you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

That applies to Kay White and Struen-Loy and like all the people who are, you know, Sid Baker, Moira, who is only there for like a week. Yeah, no, I'm just saying. You get looped back in every time? It is Hotel California. Yeah, absolutely. So I disagree with his premise.

Yeah. I feel like whoever wrote that line does not understand what the warm smell of Kalita's rising up to the air is. Anything else you want to say? Well, do we want to get into anything else about next time on slow horses? Yes, I do.

All right. So the trailer is focused on two people, especially, I would say. Shirley. Thrill. You love Shirley. Love Shirley. Well, I had been led to believe, you would know better than I would, Joe,

but there are some books that are maybe not entirely Shirley-centric, but more surely prominent. And I wouldn't say that's the show we've been watching yet. We also thought we were going to get more of a Shirley season last season, right? It sort of started very Shirley-focused, and we thought that was going to be the energy, and it turned out it was not. I'm just running at that football, and Slow Horses is pulling it out every single time, but I'm going to keep doing it for my girl Shirley.

She's in so much trailer, though. Yes. And it's yet another new haircut, which is how you know. It looks great. She keeps figuring out. I'm going to need to see it in action. I'm mixed on it. I love it.

And then Diana Taviner. In the field. In the field. Thrilling. Putting on disguises. Come on. I'm really excited about this. The wig potential alone.

Like I want her in a funny fake nose, some fake glasses. Like let's really do, let's Americans this thing if we're going to do it. So the premise seems to be that Vasily, who gets mentioned a lot in this season, has come to the UK to to cause some mischief. Mayhem. And he is all over the trailer as well, played by an actor I'm not really familiar with. I don't believe.

I did recognize Joshua McGuire from our shared fave, Love Sick, among other things. He's just a great little weasley guy. Or punching bag, whatever you prefer. Yeah, I mean, like, he's actually quite endearing in Lovesick, but, like, in general, he can play a Weasel quite well. And Diana hates him for whatever. I think he's the sparrow.

character where she's like, I'm going to, like, you know, I'm going to fuck that sparrow up or whatever it is she says and cut to his little face. So I'm really excited for him to be here. But we don't get the usual sort of like, oh my God, they're in this season. Oh, my God, they're in this season. Yeah. They haven't announced who's in this next season of slow horses. As you mentioned, River Cartwright, nowhere to be seen. To Baker, nowhere to be seen. So questions about that. Well, can we start with that part? I mean, for one, do we think slow horses will actually have a riverless season, that Jack Laude will not appear in Series 7 of Slow Horses.

Do you think that's the thing that they would actually do? I don't know how to answer that because I know too much. Fair enough. I find it hard to believe that they would get to that point. And I'm not sure that they could pull it off even if they did. Not because I don't love... Do you feel like people would be like, I didn't sign up for a Shirley season?

I want a Jackson... I always want River Cart right here running. Not even that so much as I think the strength of slow horses is his ability to decentralize the carriage. of the plot and the carrying of the missions. And, like, you just need more people, and there aren't enough slow horses to do all the things that you would want to happen in a series of slow horses. Right.

So it's Roddy and Shirley and Jackson and Catherine. That's, like, it that's at Slow House. And I guess if Moira gets sent back, but I don't think that's happening. She's not really in the trailer, right? And then Diana. Yes. And then whatever's happening with, like, Vasili. I'm like, I'm not Vasili.

I'm not, like, that interested. So I hope they get me interested. There's got to be something. Yeah. So Josh McGuire. And then there's a woman that I'm wondering. You want to float your theory? We have tried to freeze frame Mahoney this and we failed.

It's inscrutable. But it's inscrutable for a very fair reason, I would say. Okay. So there's a figure in a motorcycle, a female figure in a motorcycle helmet who seems to be like another Terminator-esque, you know, figure. Yeah. She's just like run around and like kicking and punching people. She looks very scary. Whoever she is, we don't know.

The helmet doesn't come off in the trailer so we don't know. But there is another shot of a brunette woman who is backing up a car and sort of snarling as she's doing it. And based on like almost bangs alone, I'm wondering if this is Natasia Dimitru, I think that's how you pronounce her name from what we do in the shadows. And we're not sure. We're not sure. It's not been announced. But nor has Josha McGuire been announced, and he's definitely in the trailer.

But we can see his face very plainly. We only see this one bangs and snarl look, which is her. Like, she does bangs and snarl a lot on what we do in the shadows, but no vampire teeth, which makes it very hard to disturb. She looks very different when she's not in her what we do in the shadows and makeup. Strikingly different. So, and this person has, like, very little makeup on their face at all. So, like, usually even in her day-to-day, she has a bold lip.

this person does not. So like, it could be her. I can't wait for Reddit to laugh at me and say it's obviously this person. But I was just sort of like, I feel like this is a shot of a person that I should be excited about or recognize. I can't tell who it is. This is my best guess. See, I'm not going to laugh at you.

But if it turns out not to be the case, I am going to be mad at you. Because you're just dangling. Like, I'm a nogic guy. She's appointment viewing on what we do in the shadows. Nodges of this. And so if it's like. What if it's not her, but what if it's not her? but what if it's the doll?

I mean, the doll would also be, honestly, Jackson Lamb meeting with the doll, that's the crossover I need and didn't know. Okay. So, yeah, please let us know for our mailbag episode if you can identify this actress or if you have found out somewhere on the dark web, whether or not,

or if at that time they have announced who's in the next season, I will be either vindicated or disappointed while there are no in-between. Anything else you want to say about this trailer? No, I mean... Looks very action-packed. Very action-packed.

I think Tavernor in the field is kind of the top line takeaway. And that's what, look, the idea that someone of her stature or Vasili's stature would be in the field is kind of like incomprehensible based on the way intelligence services actually work. It's like how they want to explain that stuff. I'm eager to see it. But also, to be honest, I don't really need that much explaining. The people come to slow horses and are like, I need this to make literal real life sense. Right. I would urge you to let go with the wheel a little bit and just kind of enjoy the ride.

Do you think Jackson Lamb telling Shirley she needs to go to rehab? Does that feel like in character for him in terms of like too much care at a certain point, you know? I can't imagine him being a pro rehab person. Right. But then again, don't we always project our own limitations and insecurities on other people? Is there a possibility that she's not going to rehab because of substance abuse, but like as undercover? Oh, yes, yes, yes. And it's like you're going to rehab to like track this person or whatever?

That's the read. That's, you know, to find the source, to squeeze somebody. Yeah, yeah. And who better to send then Shirley? I love it. All right. So that is slow horses. This series, slow horses, it flew by, as it always does.

Can I put one button on an award that we did not get to, at least for my pick, for the most British moment of this episode. You already laid out yours. And to be fair, it's also the end of this episode. But I think River coming home to find his will-they-wont-they-crush waiting for him, up in the bedroom, waiting. And his first thought is like, I got to get the removed right. Let me make some tea. Cut a lot. Come on. He does second guess it, but that's the first, that's the first instinct.

That's not how I take foil off a wine bottle, personally. Just the rip. It was aggressive. Foil cutters exist for a reason, and he's just sort of like ripping it off. Just yanked it off. Yeah. I mean, maybe it was a power move. I don't know who he's doing it for other than himself, but do you think he's been to Davy and Candor Somalia class? I don't think he has.

Yeah, I don't think he has at all. But we all need our chief thrills and maybe ripping off that foil in one go is his way of doing it. Okay. So your nomination. for most British moment of the episode is River Putting the Kettle on. My nomination for most American moment of this episode is the time that Rob used a flamethrower at a Rambo movie screaming in Texas. God bless America. God bless America.

Thank you to our team. Jacob Cornett, Kai Grady, Devereignaldo. Always. You, Rob Mahoney. Thank you, Joe. Thanks to Slow Horses. Thanks to Slow Horses for coming back every year with another season. Thanks for already having filmed this season.

Thanks for being, thanks for already working on the following season. We'll see you around this time next year, I guess, for the next series of Slow Horses. Bye. If that happens, then we can finally do the Supranas rewatch. A charity bazaar is never just a charity bazaar. It's about access. It's about privilege. It's about flexing power in this community.

I just don't think you can be so trivial about it. That's why legally we can't do a mailbag episode again. Let me tell you about Ligma. That's the last straw. Can't believe you really live like this with this new movie before they got do you know who they got? I heard it was the new

Oh no, I heard it was but he had to drop out because he's running an illegal international What? Somehow, Frey Benzos returned. Well, yeah, we ordered the meaty puts. Wait, I thought you put this here. You're sickos, and you know it.