Tamal Kundu
Based on the ‘Slough House’ series of novels by Mick Herron, ‘Slow Horses’ is a spy thriller series on Apple TV+. The plot revolves around the operatives of the Slough House, an administrative purgatory division of Mi5 where disgraced officers are sent in lieu of downright dismissal. In season 1, the plot begins with the arrival of River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) at Slough House. River works with the rest of the team to track down a British-Asian student kidnapped by an ultra-right-wing outfit.
In season 2 episode 1, titled ‘Last Stop,’ a former MI5 agent mysteriously dies, prompting Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) to investigate the matter. In episode 2, titled ‘From Upshott with Love,’ River follows the footsteps of the potential killer of the aforementioned agent and discovers that the man spoke to someone in Upshott before heading to Estonia. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Slow Horses’ season 2 episode 2. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Slow Horses Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2 Recap
The second season begins with Richard “Dickie” Bough, a former agent of the Mi5, as he spots a man from his past and begins to follow him. Bough has last seen this man when the Berlin Wall fell, but it was an encounter that he never forgot. About Forty years ago, he was still working with the agency when he was kidnapped and tortured. He survived the ordeal and vividly remembers every aspect of it.
Bough follows the bald man from his past and ends up on a bus. When the vehicle reaches its final stop, the driver discovers that Bough is dead.
When the narrative shifts to the main characters of the series, Slough House remains the worst place to work within the agency, and the employees continue to try to find a way to get out of the place. River meets a couple of executives for a job in the public sector, but the interviewers keep asking him about Lamb. Meanwhile, Min and Louisa are recruited by Webb to provide security for an upcoming meeting with a Russian oligarch who opposes the current regime in Russia.
As Lamb begins investigating Bough’s seemingly ordinary death, he finds the word “Cicada’ written on the dead man’s phone, which seems to convince him that foul play was involved.
Slow Horses Season 2 Episode 2 Ending: What Are the Cicadas?
As River learns from his grandfather, Cicadas are supposed to be Russian sleeper agents, named so because, like cicadas, they spent years underground before “hatching.” The MI5 concluded that they were a hoax in the 1980s because the spymaster who was supposed to be controlling them, Alexander Popov, turned out to be a bogeyman.
However, as River begins investigating Bough’s death, he quickly realizes that things might not be what they appear, despite what his grandfather told him. Years ago, Bough was fired from the agency after being gone for days and showing up drunk, claiming that he was kidnapped by Popov and one of the Cicadas and brandy was poured down his throat.
From the footage that Shirley recovers, it becomes apparent that the bald man Bough was tailing touched him, and it’s possible that this was how he administered the substance that killed Bough and made it look like a heart attack. In episode 2, Lamb learns from a Russian agent who defected years ago that he once heard Popov having a conversation with a person he knew, Andrei Chernitsky. From the description, this is the person Bough followed on the night he died.
Given that this is a sleeper cell that never has been activated, their possible involvement in the death of a former agent can only mean one thing: someone is planning to put them to work soon. For Lamb, River, and the rest, this is the biggest concern. River believes that the operatives belong to the KGB and not FSB. Although his grandfather dismisses the notion, the clandestine manner in which Bough was killed seems to support that.
Will Min Die?
Min Harper was originally sent to Slough House after he left behind a top-secret disk in a train. He is currently in a relationship with his colleague Louisa. In the season 2 premiere, Webb recruits the two of them to serve as security for a meeting with Arkady Pashkin, a representative for Nevsky, the oligarch. In episode 2, Min and Louisa meet up with their counterparts, the men in charge of Pashkin’s security, Piotr and Kyril.
Min has a tendency to forget about things, so Louisa reminds him of whom they are meeting. When Piotr and Kyril are not forthcoming with the name of the hotel they are staying in, Min tries to follow them to find out on his bicycle but loses them in the traffic.
Toward the end of the episode, he finds Pitor and begins to follow the man, only to lose him again. However, this time, he is ambushed by Piotr, who holds a gun to Min’s neck.
Min is likely to survive this. If Piotr wanted to kill him, he would already be dead. This upcoming meeting is probably connected to the Cicada investigation, but the Slow Horses don’t know this yet. It’s possible that the sleeper cell has become activated after all these years to eliminate the most significant possible challenge to the regime in Moscow, Nevsky.
Read More: Is Slow Horses’ Sons of Albion Based on a Real Extremist Group?
