Aahana Swrup
Dennis Gimball and Zafar Jaffrey’s political rivalry has so far remained a foundational pillar of season 5 of ‘Slow Horses.’ The inciting mass shooting incident, which spirals out of control in the following days, has connections to the campaigns of both mayoral candidates. Once this event requires correspondence between the First Desk Director General, Claude, and Gimball, it leads to a petty rivalry between him and the latter’s wife, Dodie Gimball, a journalist with the means to make her enemies’ lives uncomfortable. However, the narrative surrounding the political leader becomes all the more intensified once Coe’s theory regarding the potential destabilization strategy at play as a foreign attack begins to take hold. After all, if the agent is correct, the next phase of their enemies’ plan would involve the assassination of a relevant political figure. Thus, Gimball and Jaffrey unwittingly become sitting ducks at their own personal rallies. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Gimball’s Death Arrives as an Unfortunate, Unintended Accident
As soon as Lamb realizes Coe’s theory has some credibility to it, he acts fast and assigns his agents to run undercover security at the mayoral candidates’ respective rallies. Since he believes Dennis Gimball is more at risk of becoming their faceless enemies’ target, he sends River and Coe to his event. Meanwhile, Shirley is delegated to Jaffrey’s rally with Standish as the dubiously helpful backup. However, what was only meant to be a precautionary measure ends up being the real deal as the latter duo find themselves dealing with an assassin. On the other hand, the biggest threat Coe spies Gimball to be in the back alley of his event venue is in the form of Bowman, Jaffrey’s security guy. Jaffrey’s son, Irfan, had recently been involved in some damaging climate crisis protests, which caused gridlock and ultimately led to the deaths of multiple people.
As such, Bowman has only cornered Gimball before the rally in an attempt to ask him to keep the young man out of his undoubtedly impassioned upcoming speech. Unsurprisingly, the mayoral candidate refuses the request and soon starts spewing racist nonsense at Bowman, which leads to a fistfight. River mistakes this fight for an assassination attempt and jumps in headfirst. Although he is no match for Bowman’s strength, his gun certainly helps in escalating the situation. By the time the latter has fled from the scene, Coe manages to make his way down from the dressing room, choosing to take the scenic route through the various construction accoutrements littered on the outside of the building. Unfortunately, one wrong step sets off a chain reaction of pulleys and levers, which results in a paint can hurling down with Gimball’s head as its target. As the can slams on the politician’s head, his head cracks open on the pavement, leaving him dead on the scene.
River and Coe Retrieve an Intriguing Device From the Scene of the Crime
At the time of his death, Dennis Gimball was in possession of an interesting item that promises to become a major plot point in the future. Earlier, the politician’s wife, Dodie, had found herself entering a rivalry with Claude Whelan, the Director General of MI5. Since the latter had asked her to exit a confidential conversation, she takes it upon herself to snoop out evidence of his extramarital affair with an escort. Afterward, she continues to threaten the Director General with insinuations that she will be running the story in her paper, ruining his reputation. Inevitably, this compels Claude to fire back with a threat of his own. Using his connections at the Park, he uncovers some worthy blackmail material on Dodie and her husband. As it turns out, the couple has a lot to hide in their pasts.
The journalist herself dated the chairman of a Marxist society during her college years. Not only that, but when the relationship ended up going south, she got him fired by planting cocaine in his possessions. While this is bound to cause havoc in her reputation as a conservative journalist, her husband’s past threatens to do even more damage. Apparently, Gimball’s birth name is Dennis Ozil because his father was a Turkish immigrant, Yusuf Ozil. The latter had entered the country illegally and, later in life, was imprisoned for grievous bodily harm. Thus, given Gimball’s prominent anti-immigration platform, this news promises to undo his entire career and reputation. While all of this helps Claude win this round, unbeknownst to him, the politician manages to record the former’s threat of blackmail. Later in the night, Coe pockets the device with this recording. Although he isn’t aware of its contents yet, it’s only a matter of time before the Slough House uncovers the truth about the device.
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