Dhruv Trivedi
‘Slow Horses’ follows a group of disgraced British secret service agents relegated to the Slough House branch. Under the leadership of their ill-tempered boss, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), the agents take on some truly lackluster assignments. Most of the agents are content with no future prospects, with the notable exception of Sid Baker. The bright young agent proves her mettle in the opening episode and even seems to impress Jackson Lamb from time to time. However, she quickly meets some pretty disastrous circumstances, leaving her fate in the balance. So is Sid Baker dead or alive? Let’s take a look at what we know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Is Sid Baker Dead or Alive?
Sidonie “Sid” Baker is arguably the brightest agent at Slough House and seems to be the only one that Jackson Lamb can stand. River Cartwright, who is also ambitious but doesn’t get the same favor from their grumpy boss, is often jealous of the fact that Sid gets (relatively) more glamorous assignments than him. However, during a scouting mission, when the two are stalking a right-wing journalist called Robert Hobden, Sid is shot by an unseen intruder. The injury, which is to the head, is a serious one, and from the second episode onwards, Sid is in a coma, hospitalized.
In episode 5, Diana Taverner, the head of the MI5, drops a bombshell when she tells Jackson that Sid is dead. Though the former doesn’t elaborate, she seems to hint that Sid succumbed to her injuries. Considering Sid is Jackson’s favorite Slough House agent (if he can, in fact, have favorites), this is a serious blow to him. Or at least that’s what Diana thinks.
Surprisingly, Jackson doesn’t seem too perturbed by the news of Sid’s death, and this could be because he doesn’t want to appear weak during his standoff with Diana. However, it could also mean that he suspects the MI5 boss is trying to bluff him. Here, context is crucial, and Diana drops the news of Sid’s death right after she threatens to poach all of Jackson’s agents from Slough House by offering them positions at the MI5 central branch.
Thus, Diana is essentially trying to make Jackson feel powerless in an attempt to get him to sign a false confession that would clear her own name. Unfortunately for her, Jackson isn’t so gullible. However, it is also worth considering the possibility that Sid has actually died. Her injury is, after all, life-threatening, and there has been no news about her condition improving. Even when River checks in on Sid in episode 4, she is completely immobile.
Interestingly enough, the fact that she is alive when River pays her a visit is quite revealing. The show’s narrative takes place over a very short period, meaning that very little time (possibly an hour or two) has passed between River seeing Sid alive and Diana claiming that the injured agent is dead. This further seems to hint that Diana is most likely bluffing about Sid’s fate.
Ultimately, Sid is most likely alive, and there are quite a few reasons why. For one, despite hiding it, Jackson does care about his agents and will therefore react more violently if Sid, his favorite Slough House agent, was actually dead. Secondly, River has seen Sid alive a relatively short while ago.
Finally, Sid has been stationed at Slough House to keep an eye on Jackson, meaning she is possibly one of the few people that actually knows Jackson’s backstory and why he is relegated to Slough House himself. Thus, Sid seems to hold a crucial part of the story, making it all the more likely that she is alive and will make an appearance at some point in the story.
Read More: Who is Catherine Standish in Slow Horses? Who Plays Her?
