Slow Horses Season 6 Episode 5 Recap: Sayonara

The walls begin to close in from all sides in Season 6, Episode 5 of ‘Slow Horses.’ Diana Taverner continues to pay the price for her off-the-books fraternization with Judd and his investor, media tycoon Damien Cantor. Eventually, it’s only a matter of time before Jackson Lamb and the Secret Service’s oversight committee both uncover this link. However, while the committee set its sights on an internal investigation into the Head of the First Desk, Lamb, whose agents are actively in the line of fire, goes after Cantor. Meanwhile, River Cartwright goes after a recently abducted Sid Baker, leading to a face-off between the MI5 agents and their Russian enemy. However, in the aftermath, as Taverner’s agents arrive on the scene, the duo quickly realize that they’re no safer as allies of the MI5 than they were as enemies of the GRU. SPOILERS AHEAD.

River and Sid Walk Out of a Lakeside Showdown With Their Lives

After the GRU Agents, Jim and Jane, get the drop on Sid at the shopping center, they kidnap the MI5 Agent and drive away into the woods. River, who commandeers a civilian vehicle off the street, follows after but from a distance. As such, with no confirmation of whether or not someone is coming to her rescue, the former Slough House agent is left to fend for herself. From the backseat of the car, she attacks Jane with a novelty number plate hidden up her sleeve. This sends the car flying as it flips over on the side of the road, giving Sid an opportunity to flee from the scene. Unfortunately, for her, Jim seems to have survived the crash and isn’t eager to let her get away. Even after she manages to put some distance between herself and the car by running into the woods, the Russian assassin follows hot on her heels. Meanwhile, River manages to catch up to the others and finds the site of the car crash.

From there, the Slough House agent follows the tracks and makes his way into the woods. Jim also closes in on Sid, who puts up a fight, but ultimately gets dragged to the lake where the other tries to drown her. River arrives in the nick of time and attacks the GRU agent, saving his friend’s life. In the altercation that follows on the lakeside, Jim manages to gain the upper hand and almost chokes out the other agent. However, Sid recovers in time to bludgeon his head in with a rock and drags him back into the lake. In the end, both MI5 agents drown Jim in the water, terminating him as a threat. Finally, they’re able to take a breath of relief, free of the assassins on their tail. Soon enough, a search party of MI5 agents comes for the duo and takes him away from the location on Taverner’s orders. Yet, no one takes notice of the fact that Jane is missing from the car crash. From the looks of it, the russian agent has survived and won’t give up on her hunt anytime soon.

Diana Taverner’s Deceit Comes Into the Light

Lamb learns about the Kazan connection behind the attack on Slough House from River. As such, while Roddy, Flyte, and Reece regroup with Standish and the others at the safehouse, the department head undertakes a different detour. He visits Taverner again, this time with direct questions about Kazan. He seems to have figured out the framework of the disastrous plan and its fallout. The First Desk Head wanted to exact revenge upon Russian agents for a previous attack. However, the agency couldn’t fund the mission. Therefore, she issued an off-the-books mission using money she got from an outside investor. Since the mission was unofficial, her agent had to use a cover. Thus, Sid Baker entered the picture. Taverner allowed the former agent’s identity to be exploited for the mission.

Afterward, she ensured that all records regarding Sid Baker were wiped from the Park’s archives. In doing so, she ended up bringing attention to the Slough House, the agent’s last known department. Therefore, Vassily sent his agents, Jim and Jane, on an assassination spree, with the department’s stolen files acting as a hit list. On the other hand, Cantor, who was the real supplier behind the initial investment, emerged from the shadows to mold the situation to his own advantage. Diana is eager to keep both the mission and its funding under wraps. Therefore, she becomes an easy victim of blackmail. However, it seems the media interview she had given ultimately became her undoing. In light of the interview, the oversight committee correctly uncovers Diana’s mission and its breach of protocol. Yet, the director’s answer to the committee remains the same as it does to Lamb: a stubborn insistence that she had everything under control.

Lamb Snoops Into Cantor’s Schedule

While things devolve on the MI5 front, Cantor’s trajectory remains upwards. Having done everything that his mysterious potential clientele demanded of him, he has cemented himself as a reliable collaborator. Even though Harkness’s hunt for Reece still remains unresolved, it doesn’t pose any immediate danger to the media CEO’s plans. Therefore, in light of his successful streak, his contact, Natasha, finally reaches out with good news. He is invited to a dinner the following evening full of the who’s who of people Cantor is eager to get in business with. Notably, this seems to be setting him up on one specific path: securing the largest media distribution deal in Russian history.

After his visit to Taverner’s office, Lamb decides to go on another side quest. He calls up Roddy Ho and asks him to use the resources at Diana’s holiday house to look into Cantor. As such, he learns about the CEO’s biweekly visits to a ballet theater, where he frequents performances put on by a children’s class despite not having kids of his own. Consequently, Lamb realizes that something fishy must be going on during these recitals and arrives for a show himself. This is when he notices the presence of a strange woman, Natasha. Afterward, the Slough House leader continues to follow her and asks Roddy to look into her through surveillance footage.

Lamb Refuses to Let Sid Become Collateral Damage

After the lakeside confrontation, Sid and River are taken to another location by the MI5 agents. When this location turns out to be a military hangar rather than the promised Park, the two begin to get antsy about their predicament. Thus, River manages to get a phone call through to Taverner, allowing the other agent to talk to the superior she has bestowed her trust upon. During this phone call, the First Desk Head puts her cards on the table. She confesses that she had used Sid’s identity as a cover to protect another agent who is an asset. Furthermore, she now asks her to take one for the team by playing along with the upcoming handover. Taverner will trade Sid to Vassily for peace and work on getting the agent back later. In the end, surrounded by agents, the latter has no choice but to agree. During the eleventh hour, as the reality of what it would mean to board the plane dawns on Sid, she finds herself in an honest conversation with River.

The only reason he had come to him in the first place was that he was the only person she could trust. Eventually, the agents take her away to board the plane. Taverner is informed that the aircraft’s flight plan puts it on the path to Bulgaria instead of Russia. This means that Vassily can do whatever he likes with Sid since the trade wouldn’t be official. The director still greenlights the handover. Nonetheless, River realizes that he isn’t ready to let Sid walk into certain doom. Therefore, he decides to fight back against the agents and steals a car holding an explosive. Once Sid realizes what is happening, she follows his lead, and the two soon find themselves on the run from MI5. In the end, River makes a bold decision. He tells Sid to make a run for it while he stays back to buy her some time. The two part with a hasty kiss that might just have been a long time coming.

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