Season 3 of Apple TV’s Slow Horses was back, and this time, it adapted Mick Herron’s novel, Real Tigers. Gary Oldman, Jack Loudon, and the rest of Slough House are back. Once again, we’ve got six episodes on a weekly release schedule that follow the Slow Horses as the rejects of MI5.
Now, this time, they’re drawn into an op that has a bunch of twists and turns and puts more than one of them directly into harm’s way. Almost all the episodes end on a cliffhanger, which I think can be frustrating, but it also works to whet the appetite for the next weekly installment.
Gary Oldman continues to crush it in his role of Sloughhouse leader Jackson Lamb. I’m not even sure that they’ve given Oldman dialogue; I just told him to be as crass, crude, and grumpy as possible and insult everybody that he comes into contact with. It’s funny to watch a dude with so little regard for anyone else go about his business, especially when he’s almost always the smartest person in the room.
I love the dynamic that he has with all of his team because amidst all the outward contempt that he has for them. When they accomplish something smart or clever, he has this tiny twinge of pride, showing that he can see the true value and worth of a team member despite what he might outwardly say.
Finale Explained
Slow Horses Season 3 Finale was titled “Footprints,” and River was out, cold in the Episode. Sean fills in for Louisa so she can check on her partner. Fortunately, he is still alive, but they must escape. They’re surrounded, but Sean knows what he’s doing and manages to dispatch many soldiers, providing them enough of an escape route.
When Fenwick shouts for more backup, Duffy curses, and their narrow window of chance for escape opens. Because there’s a hatch at the end of the tunnel, the three of them rush along. However, as a result of this, Sean is shot.
He’s still alive, but he’s dying. He is distraught by Ben’s death and begs River and Louisa to assist him. He eventually wants to be stopped, realizing that he is bleeding out and that fleeing is pointless. Instead, he’ll buy them some time.
The door is blown open, and an echo can be heard down the tunnels. Louisa and River accelerate while Sean struggles to keep up. He begs River and Louisa to get out there the files while cradling his revolver.
Do River, Louisa, and Sean Make It Out Alive?
Of course, Marcus and Shirley are higher up and under fire from a swarm of troops on the perimeter, unbeknownst to everyone else. Sherley decides to flank them, but she’s unskilled, and her rifle jams. A cat and mouse chase ensues, but she maintains her calm and kills the soldier with the sharpness of a seedy.
Sean is shot dead in the tunnels for his troubles, while Shirley saves Marcus. Unfortunately, Marcus is held at gunpoint by Duffy, who arrives armed with his weapon. However, the gun chamber is empty, and the two exchange blows.
Shirley crashes into the soldiers outside and manages to dispatch all three. Shirley opens the Hatch and frees River in Louisa, which couldn’t have come at a better time. With the files in hand, Louisa urges River to hurry out and retrieve them. Marcus is still trapped within, and Louisa saves him before it’s too late.
What Goes On At Sarah’s House?
Meanwhile, Jackson plants explosives around the house to buy time for his men. He also places Pringles up the stairs as a makeshift noise alarm while Catherine is forced to hide in the closet.
It’s like a scene from Home Alone when the two troops set out to find Jackson and instead encounter a slew of traps. Following this, Ho arrives with his party bus, which he has hotwired, and says that the “Ho sold cavalry is on its way.”
Sarah strangles one of the soldiers while Jackson Lamb delivers the killing blow to the other. Catherine was baked the entire time. They eventually make their way outside, just in time for Ho to slam his bus through the front door, but it’s too late. Sarah isn’t thrilled that her house has been damaged, but at least she and her family are still alive.
Is River Leaking The Files?
In the aftermath of this upheaval, Ingrid is determined to distort the tail to her liking and keep it hidden from the public. Diana, on the other hand, mocks her, pointing out that she hasn’t heard from Duffy or the others, implying that something is wrong. Diana is confident that’s not the case, but we all know things aren’t going well.
Diana tells Ingrid she’s lost and needs to take it like a woman as news of what happens spreads online, so she goes out and buys a bottle of booze to drown her sorrows.
River returns to his granddad with the file at the same moment. His grandfather dismisses it as a story, although he gets the details wrong. Tierney’s reputation will be ruined if this becomes public, and security services will follow suit. River assures that this is the correct thing to do, despite David’s insistence that Alison’s death is simply gossip.
On the other hand, David decides to burn the files to protect himself. River departs his grandfather’s residence with the real files in his car as Ho and Jackson drive back the other way. He expected his granddad to do this and had a backup plan.
Ending Explained
Jackson encounters Diana and the pair, and their bench vanishes. Instead, the two go out for ice cream, and Diana thanks him tentatively for leaking the file and getting it out. It wasn’t Jackson’s fault, but rather River Cartwright’s.
Diana is now at the first desk, but she has a tremendous mess on her hands. She washes her hands of the fatalities, but now she’s in charge, and she’ll be held responsible for everything. Catherine has left, and Jackson appears to be preparing to take over Slough House without one of his most valuable. Will he make it?
There’s lots to look forward to, and River’s decision will have far-reaching effects in the seasons ahead, continuing the story that this one has begun.
Pandora’s box is officially open, and no one knows what effect it will have on everyone else. Meanwhile, there’s been some fantastic drama throughout. And while Sean died in the end, he did achieve his objective by getting the papers where they needed to be.
Sean effectively served as a martyr for a higher cause, and his final touch to Allison is a pleasant one. With everything on the line, the preview for the next season looks quite exciting, and it’ll be interesting to see where this one goes next.
Character Dynamics
I appreciate that this story also incorporates more of the Slow Horses team, allowing us to get to know the players even more and get a taste of their shortcomings, quirks, and strengths.
Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley and Kadiff Kirwan’s Marcus have a great segment together. Using biting comedy along with some awesome action moments to create good camaraderie. We get to know some more of why they’re relegated to sloughhouse. This, for me, made them even more endearing because we’re showing their value beyond their flaws.
I also get to see more of Roddy, and as consistently abrasive as he is, he does have some scenes that make me chuckle because of his decisions. Christopher Chung, who portrays him, has just done an excellent job at crafting a character who is excessively self-assured, smarmy, and then rude. But somebody who we’re still able to see, the scared little kid who’s dying for approval inside.
I’m still really digging Jack Lowden as River, especially when he’s exasperated by Lamb. The frustrated looks and the mumbles that he utters they’re just hilarious. In this season, well, he’s an equal player among the cast. He gets the brunt of a lot of the action and excitement.
Somebody who joined the cast this season and had me excited with Sope Dirisu. So he looks like he just walked right off the set of Gangs of London and onto the set of Slow Horses. But it completely works because of the character that he’s portraying and the conflict that his character brings to the plot.
