Slow Horses – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Follies

Episode 6 of Slow Horses begins with Cartwright and Lamb on a stake-out while the rest of the Slow Horses work to track down the Sons of Albion.

They’ve got a ping on the petrol station and remain determined to try and find Hassan before it’s too late. They also find Lamb and River too, courtesy of Roddy originally leaving a tracker under the car.

Why does Diana visit Hobden?

Meanwhile, Diana heads over to see Peter Judd, pointing out his meeting with Hobden and demanding an explanation before the kettle boils. If not, then she’s gong to call the dogs in and get him arrested.

Eventually he calls her bluff as Diana speaks plainly. She wants him to use his far-right contacts to get in touch with the Sons of Albion. Peter decides to play his final card – the Frontline Club and what Hobden overheard about her plan – and suggests an alternate play – get rid of Robert Hobden.

Do the Slow Horses catch up to the van?

Before that happens though, all our characters reconvene outside Peter Judd’s house. Louisa and Min are on the hunt for the van, having followed the petrol station tip. Only, he runs out of petrol thanks to thinking too much about having sex with Louisa.

The pair are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Louisa is understandably angry but Min explains his actions. He’s never had someone looking out for him before and he’s found kinship with her.

Meanwhile, Curly continues to act erratically after killing his own man at the end of the last episode. Hassan manages to convince Larry to help him, suggesting that Curly is likely to kill him just after beheading Hassan as a way of going out “in a blaze of glory.”

With an axe in hand, Larry swipes at Curly, who fires in retaliation. Both Hassan and Larry run in opposite directions, but it’s Hassan who comes up short. He’s left without a vehicle and stranded in the middle of the woods. Eventually he’s found though, and held up at gunpoint.

Does Sid survive?

Lamb and Cartwright drive together, but on the way the latter receives news that Sid has passed away in the hospital. River is pretty torn up about it but Jackson reminds him that death is just part of the job and he needs to get used to that.

The pair pass a stranded Louisa and Min, eventually picking them up when they hear from Roddy that the van has stopped at a lay-by 5 miles back.

The First Lady arrives in London and organizes traffic, moving the troops in on the Sons of Albion van. Larry is captured but as he reaches around and holds his back (where he was shot by Curly of course) the soldiers open fire and take him out.

Why do the Slow Horses protect Curly?

Curly holds Hassan at gunpoint and walks with him through the woods to some ruins. With a camera rolling, Curly looks set to kill him after shooting Hassan in the arm but when Cartwright shows up, he serves as a big enough distraction for Hassan to hit Curly with a rock. Eventually he’s knocked out.

Curly is still alive and the Slow Horses decide to save him from the oncoming helicopter. Given Diana and her men just want to kill Curly and cover everything up, the Slow Horses protect the killer, deciding justice should be done and he should stand trial.

Is Sid still alive?

On the back of this, the Slow Horses reconvene and pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Lamb talks them down though, pointing out how awful they were at their jobs. Eventually Lamb walks away. When he does, Min and Louisa decide to drink together.

Roddy does some research on Sid and learns that she doesn’t actually exist in the system. It would appear that she may still be alive but using her real name, whatever this may be! So technically Lamb’s mention of her being dead isn’t a lie per-se but more a fabrication of the truth.

Determined to wrap up loose ends, Robert Hobden is run down by a truck outside, as Lamb and Diana meet outside again.

With Alan Black’s name kept out the press, Diana has paid off Hassan to keep his mouth shut, wiping his student debt and donating to his comedy club. Lamb scoffs at the fact Diana has managed to get away with this and come out on top, but as promised, he does receive the Standish File.

What happened to Charles? What is Lamb hiding?

That night, Lamb pores over the files but Katherine shows up and questions him about Charles’ death. It turns out Lamb actually gave him the gun originally because he asked for one.

They were friends, and following his death, Lamb decided to hitch up in Slough House where he could make sure no one got hurt and he could run out the clock. But is that really the truth?

As we see from a flashback, that’s not how it played out. Lamb was the one who showed up with a gun and a black glove, shooting Charles in the bath and making it look like a suicide. He was hired by none other than David Cartwright.

At the end of the episode, there’s a preview for next season, but we discuss that more in our renewed or cancelled article HERE!

The Episode Review

Slow Horses bows out with a really solid finale, one that wraps up all the big plot points this year while closing the Sons of Albion journey in suitable fashion.

Seeing Larry killed by touching the gunshot wound from Curly is a poetic way to end his life while the big twist at the end involving Charles is actually a solid twist that many people are unlikely to see coming.

Whether Sid is still alive or not is left up for debate, while each of the characters here get a solid ending and a nice conclusion to close out their journeys. It’s almost hinted at that Lamb was the one responsible for River Cartwright coming to Slough House – given that end flashback -but it’s not confirmed entirely.

Slow Horses manages to add a nice combination of thrills, twists and surprised along the way. This has been a really solid drama from start to finish, and a great addition to Apple’s growing library of shows.