Slow Horses Season 4 Premiere Review: Identity Theft

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

David Cartwright may be suffering from the effects of early dementia, but the old spy’s still got it.

It didn’t seem that way at first on Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 1 when he grabbed his shotgun to confront the “stranger” drawing him a bath upstairs.

And since I have not read any of Mark Herron’s Slough House novels (Slow Horses Season 4 is based on the fourth book of the series, Spook Street), I really did think David did the unthinkable.

He was paranoid while walking up the drive to his home.

He greeted River when he opened the door, even though we didn’t see River’s face.

And Louise did tell River to visit his grandfather.

So it all fell in line perfectly and was a perfect setup for the audience.

Even when David looked at the photo of River, it seemed to be part of his early dementia setting in once again.

When Lamb went to Cartwright’s house to identify River’s body, he hesitated before confirming.

That set off a slight tingling in the back of my mind that there might be something else going on.

After all, would they really kill off River? Anything is possible on Slow Horses.

Full of Surprises

Several main characters have already been killed off in previous seasons, but River is, well … River.

Aside from Lamb, he is Slow Horses.

But the other thing that convinced me River was dead was Lamb’s reaction.

Sure, he spouted off his typical smart-ass replies to Emma Flyte, but he seemed taken aback by what he saw in that tub.

Of course, we now know Lamb was just trying to make sense of it all before he brought his team into the conundrum.

Plus, he wanted to keep it close to his vest, the smartest thing to do when you’re a member of MI5, even one in charge of the “rejects” — especially when you’re in charge of the “rejects.”

Always the Rogue

River, always the rogue (he reminds me of Jack Bauer from 24), consistently thinks he can outsmart Lamb.

It’s mind-boggling that he continues to think this way.

But maybe this time, he knew Lamb would figure it out immediately, which is why he took his grandfather to Catherine’s house for safekeeping.

Catherine also had to know immediately that when Lamb showed up at her place, it wasn’t for a social visit.

Still, she wanted to play dumb until Lamb couldn’t take it anymore.

Honestly, after all these years of working with Lamb, you’d think the people on his team (or formerly on his team) would know better.

After Ho dropped the bomb about River’s demise, the rest of the team initially didn’t believe it.

They knew Lamb well enough to question whether he was serious.

But because Ho was removing River’s computer, slowly, it started to sink in.

Louisa took it the hardest, of course.

She blamed herself because she was the one who told River to visit his grandfather.

And also because she’s still reeling from Min’s death on Slow Horses Season 3.

It wouldn’t be shocking if she did quit the spy game, but she definitely won’t do it until after the team joins River in his quest to find out who Robert Winters really is.

And you know that’s how it going to go. Slow Horses may be tight with how they do things, but there’s still an expected formula on how they go about it.

While Lamb was unraveling the puzzle of River, Diane and the rest of MI5 were working on the bombing at Westacres shopping mall.

Why isn’t Diane on First Desk?

I thought for sure she’d secure the position after her battle with Tearney last season.

Instead, we have Claude Whelan, who is clearly a figurehead because he has no idea what he’s doing.

At least Duffy’s replacement, Emma Flyte, has some balls to her.

Maybe it’s a woman thing on this show.

Winters is a sly villain because he seems to be everywhere and nowhere at once.

I have a sneaking suspicion he was a former spy.

Why else would he have sent someone to David’s house?

And why is he leaving his passport everywhere for MI5 to find?

Flyte doesn’t know a passport was left at Cartwright’s house yet, but River does.

And soon enough, Lamb will know as well if he doesn’t already.

Whoever Winters is, he has to be important; otherwise, David wouldn’t have been as shocked as he was at shooting an intruder.

He wouldn’t have exclaimed, “Oh, God, what have I done?” either if he didn’t know the guy, which is why I initially thought he did kill River.

Slow Horses is always full of twists and turns and the Slow Horses always show they’re better spies than the others.

Booby Traps in Every Corner

A case in point is when the forensics unit went in to search the flat they thought Winters was in.

Does anyone think that Lamb’s team wouldn’t have been overly cautious and scanned the room for boobie traps before touching anything of significance?

If the unit wanted some light in the room, they should have turned the light on (after checking that it wasn’t booby-trapped either) instead of throwing open curtains the way they did.

Not only did they not think about booby traps, but what if Winters or a cohort was across the way waiting with a sniper rifle to pick off the “dogs” when the opportunity arose?

Clearly, the curtains were closed for a reason.

And I saw that one coming a mile away. Silly boys.

We still don’t know whether or not Diane and Lamb have been in communication about River.

It seems likely that Diane will use all of her conniving self to undermine Whelan (not hard to do) and make herself the star of the show, even at the expense of Lamb and his “rejects.”

There’s a reason she doesn’t want Flyte on the Westacres case right now.

Either she sees Flyte as a formidable foe, or she wants to keep tabs on Lamb’s activities, or maybe both.

She’s a smart cookie, too, and she knows Lamb well enough to know he is up to something.

Over to you TV Fanatics? Did you enjoy Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 1?

What are your theories on Robert Winters?

Does Lamb already know what River is up to?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.