Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 4 Review: Missiles

Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 4, “Missiles,” sets the stage for the final two episodes of the season. It’s a slower episode, but by no means is it a boring one.

Our favorite spies aren’t seen for a good chunk of the episode, which is a bit of a letdown, but there are pieces the show needed to put into place before we could follow River, Coe, Shirley, and Standish as they scoped out Gimball and Jaffrey’s political rallies. 

Standish being out in the field has been an unexpected joy of the season. While she isn’t qualified to wield a gun or take down an assassin, she has been quite beneficial to Shirley and the case. 

Shirley has needed someone in her corner, and Standish is honestly the only one qualified for that job. River and Coe aren’t exactly equipped to be decent partners or supportive coworkers.

River is at the center of yet another Slough House screw up, although this time it isn’t his fault — a miracle in and of itself considering his track record.

Only Slow Horses could make you laugh while a man dies.

The whole thing is just hilariously absurd. Coe and River are there to protect Gimball, ensuring that the bad guys aren’t successful in implementing the next step in the destabilization strategy: killing Gimball.

Their intentions are pure, but Coe ends up setting into motion a paint can tumbling off a ladder, which kills Gimball.

Talk about a poorly timed, freak accident. Jackson is going to have their heads, and I cannot wait to see them break the news to him on Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 5, “Circus.” Like Jackson said to Flyte, his agents only screw up on an epic scale.

The fact that it is all recorded adds another level to this mistake. Somehow, that recorder is going to come back into play. If not to the detriment of River and Coe, then it will be to the detriment of Claude.

There’s no way that what Claude did was legal. He used his position and MI-5 intelligence to blackmail a political figure, and now that guy is dead. If this scandal doesn’t result in Diana getting the job (finally), I don’t know what will.

Claude is a baffling character, which is partly by design. He’s clearly not meant to come across as a great boss who is good at his job. He’s a bit of a buffoon.

Slow Horses Season 5 has followed him as he deals with the Gimballs, which hasn’t been the most exciting of storylines. Hopefully, the end of the season will prove that it was worth it to spend time watching him make poor decisions and engage in a blackmail-off with Gimball’s wife.

Stray Thoughts

• Tara potentially liking Roddy back is a surprising development.
• Knowing who the bad guy/assassin is ahead of time actually proves to be beneficial in this episode.
• Jackson vs. the Park is always highly entertaining.

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New episodes of Slow Horses air on Wednesdays on Apple TV.

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