Cicada
Episode 4 of Slow Horses Season 2 starts with Lamb learning more about Rebecca’s story. She received a call to head over to a parking lot, where she noticed Min from afar. She saw one of the Russians holding him up, another choking him out before a third run him over, crushing him against the wall. Miraculously, Min was still alive but in a rough way after all this, until one merciful jab to the neck, spiking him with something from the guy’s ring. The same ring that could have been used against Dickie. As we soon find out, this guy was Andrei Chernitsky. When Jackson leaves, he drops off a number for Rebecca to call, imploring her to ring and ask for a number 7. Of course, this is his takeaway and when Lamb walks down the street, he grins knowingly before heading back to see Nikolai. Once there, he receives a call from his old friend, who happens to be outside in a car. It turns out Nikolai has been working with the cicadas all this time, having received a call to make sure his gaze is turned away from the real crux of the issue. Lamb hurries back to Slough House, where he feeds back to the others about Min’s death, and how Pashkin’s security detail were the ones who killed him. Meanwhile, River finds himself staring into the jaws of death, with “Leo” and Duncan together at the dinner table. Things are awkward but River does manage to survive, despite a bit of a scare with Chernitsky, who claims River is undercover and bringing up the bus situation. River heads out and rushes through the village, hightailing it away when the opportunity presents itself. Lamb arrives at the Import/Export business – the same one Min passed on his bike – and immediately questions the receptionist about the package taken by the Russians. He rattles the poor guy and has him search the records for the parcel. It appears there’s no record of exactly what was inside this box, but it could be the key to what’s going on. Lamb heads to Nevsky’s house next, the one with tight security, and realizes something is awry. Breaking in, two security guards happen to be dead and another is pumped full of radioactive material, explaining a Geiger counter on the side. It would appear that the package the goons picked up was passed through the ports unseen and Pashkin is the culprit that killed Nevsky, for a reason I’m sure we’ll find out later on down the line. Catherine heads out to see Victor, knowing that he’s connected and manages to get a signature. She’s also offered a drink but is quick to turn that down, pointing out that she used to be an alcoholic and that her boss helped. The same boss that we know was killed. Victor claims that he’s known Pashkin for years but wont go into details. Lamb is quick to point out that this is a lie, given Nevsky has been killed -and very likely by Pashkin’s goons. Lamb encourages her to head home. Louisa meanwhile, meets with Pashkin and knows he’s hiding something, including a fake watch. Thankfully Marcus saves her that night and stops her from going gung-ho and trying to kill him, with Lamb giving her instructions to head to the Pashkin meeting and keep her cool. That’s not easy, given their connection with Min, but Lamb is on the hunt to find out exactly who’s really behind all this. He wants to know just how far up the chain of command this goes. Meanwhile, River stupidly tries to get the jump on Chernitsky at the airfield but in doing so, walks right into a trap. Alex happens to be there and she gets close enough to taser River, knocking him down and forcing him into submission. She’s the sleeper agent!
The Episode Review
So River walks right into that trap, which is revealed to be Alex and not Duncan after all! That part was certainly unexpected and it leads to a tense ending where anything could happen. The drama continues to intrigue with Louisa serving as a real loose cannon and Lamb working to try and figure out what’s really happening here. Quite why Nevsky and his goons were killed remains a mystery but it seems that he and Pashkin have fallen out about something. And what was in that package? Either way, Slow Horses is really starting to heat up and these final two episodes should be an explosive affair.
