Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 2 Review: A Stranger Comes to Town

Critic’s Rating: 4.6 / 5.0

4.6

Whoa, did Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 2 fly by or what?!

Just when things were getting juicy — bam, it’s over.

There are so many tangled threads to unravel in this whole Robert Winters mystery that waiting for Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 3 to drop will be pure torture.

But despite “A Stranger Comes to Town” leaving us with a million unanswered questions, it was another stellar episode: Taverner and Whelan, Lamb and Moira, David and Winters, and, of course, River botching yet another attempt at playing “hero.”

River really needs to drop the whole “hero” spy routine and leave it to someone more experienced — like Lamb.

But let’s be honest, “hero” is the last word anyone would use to describe Jackson Lamb.

Lamb’s a seasoned pro, though, and he knows the game inside out. He could see River heading straight for trouble long before River realized it himself.

And River probably doesn’t even know what kind of trouble he got himself into yet, because he’s knocked out in a stranger’s truck.

But that’s the thing about Lamb — he might be gruff and sarcastic, and he constantly berates his team, but deep down, he’s got their backs.

No matter how much he insults them, they’re his “joes,” and every one of them matters.

You have to wonder, though, if he ever thinks about quitting the game. The constant clean-up of MI5’s messes and navigating the treachery within his own organization has to be exhausting.

Maybe he thrives on the challenge, but there’s no denying it must take its toll.

The Secrets of Lavande

Someone is clearly looking out for River in France.

Maybe it’s Lamb. He might’ve had a contact in Lavande keeping tabs on River while he puts all the pieces together.

It doesn’t matter what he said to his team; he always has more irons in the fire than he lets on, but this time, it seems more like a diversion tactic.

Or it could be Taverner, trying to protect MI5’s secret about “Robert Winters.”

I’m still unsure whether “Robert Winters” was a fake identity for David, but the way Diana quickly buried the evidence pointing to MI5 creating it suggests that this could be the direction we’re heading in.

The real question is whether Diana knew about “Robert Winters” after the Westacres bombing or if Giti’s revelation prompted her to dig deeper.

The fact that she tricked Whelan into signing off on destroying the evidence, making him look complicit if it ever comes to light, hints that she probably already knew the truth.

Either way, Diana’s not trying to protect MI5’s reputation — she’s protecting someone within MI5. And that someone might just be David, whether he’s “Robert Winters” or not.

Lamb, of course, isn’t buying David’s dementia act, and he may be on to something.

In the flashback, River questions his grandfather about what he found on Adam Lockhead’s body (we later learn the guy’s real name was Bertrand), and David doesn’t want to answer any of it.

I’m not saying David’s faking all of it, but it feels like he knows his mind is slipping and uses it to his advantage when it suits him. Adam Lockhead, Lavande — David’s hiding something.

Speaking of Lavande, it’s a strange little town, the perfect place for keeping secrets.

River walked into it completely blind, and whatever spy instincts he had (if he ever had any) vanished the moment he stepped into Lockhead’s house.

The bearded man (we don’t know who he is at this point) was waiting for him, likely tipped off by either the shop owner or the mysterious guy sitting inside when River stopped in to ask questions.

There’s no other way he would have known River was headed that way.

And although it did seem likely at first, it definitely wasn’t the man in the car watching River as he chatted in the shop.

River’s lack of awareness was mind-boggling. He didn’t check his surroundings, didn’t even sense someone lurking nearby.

And after the fire started, you’d think he’d be on high alert — fires don’t just start themselves. But no, the bearded man surprised a totally unprepared River, who’s once again lucky to be alive.

Would the bearded guy have killed him? We’ll never know for sure, but luckily for our “hero” agent, the guy in the car stepped in and saved him.

Of course, that guy might not be a friend either since he clocked River after getting him out of the burning house, but maybe it’s for his own good.

Whatever secrets that house held, including the photo of “Robert Winters,” were lost in the fire. Someone wants those secrets gone.

But why did they wait until River Cartwright walked into the place to destroy those secrets? There’s something deeper at play here.

The Old Guard and the New

While River was off playing spy hero in France, Diana and Lamb were both busy trying to outmaneuver Whelan, each in their own way.

Diana has zero patience for Whelan. He’s like a mouse, and she’s the cat toying with him before eating him alive. Whelan has no idea what he’s doing, and Diana is taking full advantage.

She can say all she wants to Whelan about not wanting his spot, but we know that’s exactly what she wants.

But you have to give her credit for her brilliance in pushing back at Whelan’s attempts to make MI5 transparent. What kind of spy agency wants the public peeking behind the curtain?

Despite his bravado, Diana completely intimidates him. Too bad Whelan won’t realize how badly he’s being played until it’s too late.

Even Lamb knows the game. Whelan sent Moira to clean up Slough House, or so she thought, until Lamb opened her eyes.

Despite Moira’s overblown sense of importance, Lamb convinced her she got played by Whelan. But it’s really Lamb doing all the playing by manipulating her to dig up the info he wants on David’s time in France.

Really, he just wants to keep her busy and out of his hair. The look on his face when he saw what she did to his office was priceless.

There is no doubt Lamb knows exactly what’s going on with David, France, and “Robert Winters.”

That’s what separates the old guard — David, Lamb, and Diana — from Whelan and his crew. The old guard knows how to play the long game, keep secrets, and manipulate the pieces as they go along,

For all we know, Diana and Lamb could be working together to bury the “Robert Winters” secret.

I doubt David’s in on it, but he’s still a spy through and through. He’ll play dumb forever, even if part of it is due to dementia.

One thing’s for sure, though: David isn’t the bearded man’s only target. There’s another old man he wants dead, someone who worked for David, and all signs point to Lamb.

But as we know, Lamb is always ten steps ahead of the game. So, good luck with that.

Over to you, TV Fanatics. What did you think of “A Stranger Comes to Town?” Let us know in the comments below!