Tamal Kundu
Based on the ’Slough House’ series of novels by Mick Herron, the Apple TV+ spy thriller series ‘Slow Horses’ makes once more apparent that the showrunners have no problem killing off one of the most interesting members of the main cast of characters. In season 2 episode 3, titled ‘Drinking Games,’ as Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) tries to figure out what really happened to one of his agents, the show must go on for the rest of the team. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Slow Horses’ season 2 episode 3. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Slow Horses Season 2 Episode 3 Recap
Min Harper (Dustin Demri-Burns) had a gun to his head at the end of the previous episode, making us wonder whether he would survive. It turns out that he was meant to die, but not in that scene. Episode 3 opens with Min having a drinking game with Piotr and Kyril. A fourth person comes into the room and remains in the shadows. Min doesn’t get a look at his face, nor do the viewers. When Min asks his drinking buddies about the man, they seem evasive. The last time the viewers see Min, he declines Piotr’s offer to call him a cab.
Meanwhile, River (Jack Lowden) goes to Upshott, where Andrei Chernitsky stopped before apparently leaving for Estonia. He pretends to be a journalist named Jon Walker in the town for his piece on village life for the Times and stays at a bar owned by a local woman named Kelly.
River is a handsome man. With thin-frame glasses and a suit, he looks every bit the quiet and mellow journalist that he pretends to be. And it works; Kelly is clearly attracted to him and takes him on a plane ride from the flying club her father owns — the very place from where Chernitsky supposedly took off.
After losing the man who was both her professional and romantic partner, Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar) tries to let her work consume her. She goes to Lamb and insists that she should be kept on Webb’s job — a request that Lamb reluctantly grants. He also attaches Marcus (Kadiff Kirwan), the agent with a gambling problem, to the mission as a replacement for Min.
At Regent’s Park, there is predictably a fallout from Min’s death. Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) once again threatens Webb (Freddie Fox), reminding him that he should be more concerned about her interests than his own. Elsewhere, Louisa starts working with Marcus and meets with Arkady Pashkin, a representative for Nevsky, the oligarch who can potentially be the next Russian leader.
Slow Horses Season 2 Episode 3 Ending: Is Min Harper Dead? How Does He Die?
With Lamb identifying his body, it’s pretty safe to conclude that Min is indeed dead. The real question here actually revolves around the manner of his death. It is made to look like an accident. He was drunk and hit a moving car with his bicycle. Louisa, who probably knew him the best, accepts this explanation and deals with her frustration and grief by focusing on her work.
However, Lamb, the eternal skeptic, has his reservations and begins to look into the matter, eventually confronting the driver of the car mentioned above, Rebecca. Lamb finds an envelope full of cash in Rebecca’s purse and points out to her that whoever gave her the money will know that he has been there, so it was just better for her to talk and accept the protection he can grant her. Rebecca eventually reveals that she wasn’t the one who was driving the car, and Min didn’t die by getting hit by a car.
Min was largely an incompetent agent, but even he detected how Kyril’s English suddenly got better during their drinking game. Both Kyril and Piotr are likely Cicadas, Russian sleeper agents who have finally been activated. They must have been involved in Min’s death in some way, along with that fourth man in the room.
Who Is Duncan?
Toward the end of the episode, the Slow Horses figure out that Chernitsky never really left the UK. He dropped his phone into a bag belonging to a UK-based folk music group traveling to Estonia. Meanwhile, River is having lunch with Kelly and her parents. Just as Catherine (Saskia Reeves) informs River about their findings, Leo, a friend of Kelly’s family, walks in. River tries his best not to show any trace of surprise or fear on his face, but this is none other than Andrei Chernitsky himself, the killer of Richard “Dickie” Bough.
This leads us to wonder about who Kelly’s parents are. Her father, Duncan, doesn’t seem to like River; perhaps his training as a spy gives him some inclination about who River truly is. We know that Duncan and his wife used to live in the city before moving to Upshott. It’s pretty safe to assume he — and probably his wife as well — is a Cicada.
However, there is a possibility that Duncan is much more than that. Given his closeness to Chernitsky, he may be Alexander Popov himself.
Read More: Was Slow Horses Written by Actor Will Smith?
