These Box Set deconstructions contain spoilers and should be read after you’ve watched the episode.
“Slow Horses” is one of those series that has a hidden skill — it makes the audience want to guess about things, and not just puzzle-solving.
In “Uninvited Guests,” three things were prime guessable situations.
As we had guessed, save for a feint toward Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), it’s pretty clear that Dame Ingrid (Sophie Okonedo) is a devious snake who can’t be trusted. What this episode showed very clearly is that, uh-oh, she’s connected to an MI5 killing and, ta-da, that killing brings us right back to rogue agent and rogue tiger Sean Donovan (Sope Dirisu).
What’s less clear, but got me guessing of course, is two-fold: How soon is Taverner going to gum up the works in a possible epic interior battle with Dame Ingrid? (And yes I’m going to say Dame Ingrid all the time now — dame straight.) And really, what the hell with the “clear the board” killings of MI5 agents from Dame Ingrid? After all, the episode ends with Duffy (Chris Reilly) saying, “Everybody who went into that facility is coming out in a body bag.” How evil is this woman and how long is “Slow Horses” going to let this play — only this season or longer?
OK, I lied about there only being three things I’m guessing about because I have to wonder if the slightly off kilter Douglas (Sion Daniel Young) — eccentric guardian of the filing system and storage area, aka the facility in question — is just odd enough to muck things up for the Dogs and Guardian. I would love that. His behavior has been a bit of a flag so if he acts out the motivation will have been there all along.
One of the other main questions to guess at, only partly answered here, is whether Shirley and Marcus are really fired (if so, as an aside, Marcus has lost yet another pointlessly big bet). I’m of two minds here — if one’s a drug addict and the other is a gambler, it’s going to be hard to save them from the ax, which was emphatically swung (again) by Lamb as he was about to go on his joyride with Ho. This certainly gave the impression they’d be fired, or double fired, but I sense that maybe there’s something redemptive from them that might save their asses. Structurally, if they are just summarily dumped, you have to wonder what their point was as characters. In any case, we’ll need to see them definitively fired.
Well I guess that Webb is definitively dead. That’s official.
Another of the formerly big three nagging wonders — and a reader made clear in the comments that at least in book form River is a character that seems to constantly end up on the wrong side of things despite his talents — is whether “Slow Horses” is just going to use “Have River do it” for rogue MI5 agents who need their dirt work done (or more accurately, need a dupe). He definitely went into the storage files with the tiger team (although, let’s be clear — that’s a sad group) and the tiger team lead by Sean Donovan pulled the old and predictable “that’s not why we’re really here” thing about the Grey Books. Donovan wants proof that MI5 murdered his girlfriend Alison Dunn now he’s in position to find out, partly thanks to River opening the door with his badge (while Loiuisa’s didn’t work). Maybe River should just block all calls coming in from the Park.
Aside: I do like the Dunn children rallying for justice for their sister, but they are very much in over their heads. I mean, if you’re going to shoot a gun at a person you’re chasing into the woods, you’d better hit them or be more careful where you barrel yourself into. Through the hedgerow you go!
Molly (Naomi Wirthner), the OTHER eccentric filing manager, is rolling her wheelchair into more and more scenes and I’m here for it. She’s great — the kind of curt “no” that speaks at least some form of truth to power. I kind of like that she trusts almost no one.
“Uninvited Guests” — although the guests do seem to be invited — is an episode that succeeds, amongst the propulsive thrills, to keep building character depth. I loved showing the ultra stressed and conflicted River dealing with his grandfather David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), as we get a dementia/Alzheimer’s storyline. If River is going to continue to be duped and used, we should at least like him and pull for him. Plus, in his own clumsy way, River managed to bond a bit with Louisa and in turn that scene allowed Louisa to vent about the frustrations of losing someone and, in her existential bleakness of the moment, discuss the futility of life. It was played for emotion and also for subtle humor and both worked very well.
Louisa continues to get off, along with Lamb, the best one liners. I loved her early exchange with River, who was excited to be tapped by DAME INGRID to do a solo mission, which Louisa smartly overrides and says she’s coming along as back up. “You can make yourself a little sheriff’s badge before we go if it makes you feel tougher.”
As I keep mentioning, the greatest strength of “Slow Horses” is that it remains impossibly entertaining. It moves quickly, is smart and nuanced and is marvelous at keep you on the hook.
Thoughts on this episode? Take your dame time.
Ever thought about upgrading to paid? Maybe think of it as a present to yourself. Oh, and me. Almost forgot.
Ever thought of getting some of your holiday shopping down for fellow TV lovers? There’s a very deep archive to keep them entertained on countless shows:
I highly recommend the book series. As many other have said, the show complements them very well, brings the characters to life, and takes some of the plot & character arcs in new interesting directions.
RIP Spider. Now I’m hoping / praying Judd gets taken down/exposed.