Slow Horses – Season 1 Episode 4 “Visiting Hours” Recap & Review

Visiting Hours

Episode 4 of Slow Horses begins with Lamb collecting up the team’s phones and dumping them in the drains. They need to be ghosts now, and that comes from them heading off to coordinates over in Brixton. Louise deduces that the end-goal is to meet at Blake’s grave, and so off they go, narrowing avoiding Diana and her MI5 men.

So why did Curly kill Zeppo? Well, it turns out he actually spoke with Peter Simmonds just prior to this, who tipped him off after Hobden’s threats at his house last episode. Hassan is still alive but with this botched operation is spiraling out of control.

As Diana speaks to her ‘boots on the ground’, she learns that her man is dead and that the Slow Horses were there just prior to them. With Diana working for the First Lady, Ingrid, she tells Diana to clear this up. Part of that comes from clearing the streets and stopping the Slow Horses.

Louise, Min and Cartwright find themselves at a crossroads – both figuratively and literally. While driving, they contemplate whether to turn themselves in or follow Lamb’s plan. With Diana tracking 35 different cars that could hold Hassan, the Son of Albion deliberate over what to do regarding their hostage – and the heat about to consume them in their own personal inferno.

All of our characters begin playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse, with our gang split into duos, scattered about London and trying to evade the MI5.

River Cartwright picks up Roddy, who doe some research into Alan Black (the undercover man who was killed) but Cartwright takes a detour and ends up driving to the hospital, intending to check on Sid and make sure she’s okay. Of course, after seeing that she’s still alive but in a rough shape, Cartwright is forced to flee, hurrying down the corridors through the hospital to safety while the MI5 are hot on their heels.

Meanwhile, Lamb hides out at Catherine’s place but unfortunately on the way out, they’re stopped by Diana’s goons – fronted by Nick – who happen to be outside.

As they bring Lamb into the car and start driving, Catherine suddenly brandishes a gun – thanks in part to Lamb distracting them with sneezing and asking his associate for a tissue.

With the goons gone, and Cartwright still on the run – along with the Sons of Albion still deliberating over what to do with Hassan – everything is left wide open for the next episode.

The Episode Review

Essentially this episode feels like one big game of cat and mouse, with Diana trying to stop the Slow Horses while they themselves try to uncover the truth. Not only that, they’re also trying to track down Hassan, who spends the whole episode in the trunk of a car while his captors bicker relentlessly about what to do with him.

Ultimately this sums up the whole episode – two sides bickering at one another – as we’re left with 40 minutes of running around, as the group are split up and find themselves on the run.

After last week’s chapter, this one seems to have taken a bit of a backseat as it were, not really propelling the story forward but instead leaving us here for the ride. The run-time is dragged out a bit (something we all know Apple is notorious for with its TV shows) but there’s enough here to whet the appetite and tune in next week.