Slow Horses – Season 4 Episode 1 “Identity Theft” Recap & Review

Identity Theft

Episode 1 of Slow Horses season 4 starts with Roddy in bit of a pickle. He shows up at Chickadoo ready for the Christmas party… but nobody shows. It turns out Jackson has been playing him all this time and there is no Christmas do. When Louisa confirms the bad news, he leaves the shop… and an explosion in the distance rocks London.

MI5 are right on the case and they have it on CCTV that it’s a suicide bomber, who drove straight into the shopping center and blew the place sky-high. Apparently, the hire-car was hired under the name of Robert Winters, a 28 year old freelance IT consultant. They’ve chEcked the address; there is no Winters and his neighbours haven’t heard of him. With this guy an apparent ghost, is this a one-off… or the start of something much bigger?

River and Louisa discuss this very fact together in the pub, and even toast to not being in Slough House in the next year or so. As they sit and talk, River is worried that his father is losing his mind. David has been sleeping with a gun by his bed and the last time he saw River, he had no idea who he was for the first 10 minutes of their meeting. Louisa urges him to go see him that night.

David is clearly growing more paranoid by the day. After Falling asleep on his chair, David hears pounding at the door. Apparently it’s River, but the guy hides his face and hurries upstairs immediately to use the toilet. David checks the mantlepiece, looks at a photo of his grandson, and then grabs his shotgun. David heads upstairs and shoots the guy. When he sees his face, David is shocked and wonders what he’s done.

Jackson Lamb arrives at the scene, where Emma Flyte introduces herself as Nick Duffy’s replacement. Lamb sees the state of the place, with blood spattered all up the bathroom. It would appear that the panic button pressed was by the kitchen table. As for the deceased, they were shot twice; once in the chest and once in the face. The guy who showed up was definitely carrying River’s ID and wallet. and Lamb is certain that this is River. But is it really? You can never tell with this series!

Lamb leaves the crime scene after some banter with Flyte and sets out to try and find David Cartwright, who is AWOL right now. He gets in his car, eats a Jaffa cake, and contemplates his next move.

In the morning, Diana shows to see Claude in his office. He wants some help given this is his first COBRA meeting and he’s very clearly out of his depth. Diana rattles through some quick tips about politics before informing him about River’s death. Now, the wo incidents are apparently unconnected, but there’s a bigger problem here. The bomber responsible for the shopping center releases a video online, promising that there’s more to come and they will “hear from his brothers” in the future.

MI5 trace the video back to a flat and send armed guards in to apprehend him. However, the place is empty, seemingly devoid of any evidence, with a single pair of clothes ominously folded by the sofa. However, there’s also a passport inside, matching the description of the bomber.

When forensics turn up, they open the curtains… and realize the place is rigged with grenades. They go off, and the entire flat blows. Diana is shocked and immediately calls for the block to be evacuated completely. Claude is there, and he’s rattled. Diana sees his fear and tells him he needs to shoulder this and take responsibility. Man, this guy is a wet blanket, he’s definitely going to be a liability going forward.

Over at Slough House, Roddy starts taking River’s computer after nonchalantly telling the others about the guy’s death. With the team reeling, Lamb shows up to see Catherine at her place. After a bit of back and forth, Lamb breaks the news that actually, River is still alive and his car is outside her house. David, as it turns out, happens to be in Catherine’s room. And River? Very much alive and in a taxi, seemingly in France.

Episode Review

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Slow Horses over the years, it’s never to trust what you see. That is very much the case surrounding “River’s death” because we never actually saw his face, nor did we see him talk to David before bursting upstairs and fiddling around with something by the toilet.

It’s clear that this bomber and “his brothers” are part of a larger network and that’s bad news for Lamb and the team, as they’re going to have to work out what connection this bombing has with David and River. 

The same style, wit and tone of the previous seasons carries over to this opening chapter though, which is good to see. It definitely helps that this show is filmed with two seasons back to back, as it means the series never loses that flair to help this crime drama stand out. And of course, Gary Oldman absolutely kills every scene he’s in.

With River seemingly off in France and the case just starting to heat up now, everything is left wide open for next week’s follow-up. If this is any indication of things to come, this should be quite the wild ride.