'Slow Horses' Season 3 Recap - What To Remember Before Season 4

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Slow Horses

For a group of MI5 agents who are not good enough to represent Her Majesty's intelligence community, the misfits at Slough House end up solving all kinds of sinister plots and schemes against the British government, don't they? In Season 3 of the AppleTV+ hit show Slow Horses, the boozy, unkempt, and misanthropic Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) leads his merry band of espionage rejects through the most turbo-charged season yet; this time, the threat lies within their own government.

What Is Season 3 of 'Slow Horses' About?

Saskia Reeves and Jack Lowden in Slow Horses Season 3

When Slough House's motherly office manager, Catherine Standish, is kidnapped by a group of operatives headed by the mercurial operative Sean Donovan (Sopé Dirisù), her comrades immediately get to work to ensure her return unharmed. Lamb circles the wagons and delegates the assignments. Along the way, he begins to recognize how much he and the rest of Slough House take her kindness and calming influence for granted. After searching almost every square inch of London, there is still no sign of Standish, and Lamb is getting antsy.

Then, we see Standish bound and gagged in a remote safe house on the outskirts of the city. Why would anyone want to harm the mild-mannered Slough House administrative assistant? Something doesn't add up, and Lamb's suspicions are confirmed when he discovers that she has been abducted by what is known as a "Tiger Team." River gets confirmation via a photo text of Standish with a gun to her head and a mysterious meet-up phone call to meet with a former MI5 agent named James "Spider" Webb (Freddie Fox). To get her back, River has to retrieve a top-secret file.

A Tiger Team, as the season reveals, is a squad of trained specialists hired by the British government's higher-ups to conduct covert operations on the agency to expose any weaknesses in MI5. But when the drill is complete, Donovan doesn't return Standish per his instructions and goes rogue. He has his sights set on the Grey Books, which contain not only the most classified secrets (some of which may or may not be conspiracy theories) of the British government, but also those of many other countries, including the United States. This means that now Catherine Standish is a real hostage, and Lamb is hot on Donovan's tail.

Diana Scrivener and Jackson Lamb Play Spy Games in 'Slow Horses' Season 3

Someone respectable from MI5 has to supervise the ham and egg operations at Slough House, and in Season 3, that is Diana Scrivener (Kristin Scott Thomas). A seasoned espionage veteran, she and Lamb have a terrific cat-and-mouse game going on in the latter half of the season. They initially come together over Donovan to gather information on the Grey Books. Oldman and Thomas have a lovely chemistry that only comes with years and years of brilliant stage and screen work. Their relationship is fun but deals with a serious threat — and Scrivener is pulling all the strings like a marionette.

James "Spider" Webb was working as chief operations officer at the security firm that put the Tiger Team together, and the audience is led to believe that he has pulled a fast one on his old nemesis, Cartwright and Slough House. Still, Spider is in deeper than he thought. When he meets with Donovan to pay him and call off the drill, Donovan gives him a solid right hook and kills him after Spider won't give him the Grey Books. Even though he didn't mean to kill him, he is now a murderer on top of a rogue operative on the lam from Lamb, the Slough House team, the Chieftain's Office, and MI5, who have to make sure that their messy situation doesn't go public.

Sean Donovan Is a More Complicated Villain in 'Slow Horses' Season 3

Donovan is driven by the loss of an MI5 agent named Alison Dunn (Katherine Waterston), with whom he was shown to be in love in the show's opening sequence. He is almost sympathetic as he explains his predicament to Standish, who is always a good listener. Donovan believes MI5 caused Alison's death and can't be convinced that she committed suicide. He has to know what was in the file that she was hiding, and in the final few episodes, Donovan becomes less of a ferocious killer and more of a misunderstood man with a broken heart.

As we approach the final episodes of Slow Horses, a lot is happening. River and Louisa are assigned to bring Donovan and his colleague back to a satellite records room so they can exchange the Grey Books for Standish. Simultaneously, an MI5 team heads there so that River, Louisa, and Donovan can all be eliminated in the basement record room. The plan is to kill Standish, too. Acting Director Ingrid Tierney (Sophie Okonedo) is in over her head and going scorched earth, willing to put the blame on Slough House and the Chieftain's Office. Meanwhile, Lamb is headed out to the safe house with Danny Ho to save Standish himself. Shirley and Marcus come to assist their fellow agents, Cartwright and Gay.

Where Are the Characters Heading Into Season 4 of 'Slow Horses'?

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb looking off into the distance in Slow Horses Season 3.

Ultimately, the whole season is a Machiavellian play orchestrated by Diana Scrivener, who sets up the dominoes to fall one by one. It's a power grab so she can get out from under Tierney and reclaim the top spot in MI5. The Grey Books were just an excuse for Donovan to discover the truth about Alison. By the time Donovan finds the file he needs, he is working together with Louisa and River, providing cover fire. Donovan suffers a mortal gunshot wound and dies, pleading with River and Louisa to expose the cover-up.

Hobbes (Chris Coghill) and another MI5 goon are sent to eliminate Lamb and Standish at the safe house, but the wily veteran outsmarts the two, along with some late help from Ho and a double-decker bus. At the same time, River, Louisa, Shirley, and Marcus are still neck-deep in gunfire, battling their way out of the records facility against Nick Duffy (Chris Reilly). Marcus kills Duffy in a two-minute slugfest, and all four Slough House agents leave alive. Diana and Ingrid sit tensely at MI5 headquarters, sipping scotch while waiting to see who wins the coup d'état. Naturally, Diana wins.

River takes the file that Donovan and so many others died for to his grandfather, David (Jonathan Pryce) for advice. David tells him that the file doesn't prove anything and that River needs to be tougher if he wants to be a real MI5 agent, before throwing the precious file into the fire to burn. Jackson and Catherine have a brutal heart-to-heart, where he disavows her romantic notions about what they and MI5 do. Standish walks more than 20 miles home.

Finally, Lamb and Scrivener stroll through the park, hashing out who did what and what they did for each other. Lamb licks an ice cream cone, while Scrivener is the only one who can give Lamb some lip and get away with it. Season 4 looks to involve a bomb exploding somewhere in London, with a bearded Hugo Weaving figuring into the debacle. What we also know is that Lamb, Scrivener, Cartwright, Gay, Dander, Longridge, and Ho are all set to return. Apple TV+ is clearly banking on a solid Season 4, having already given the greenlight to a fifth season.

Slow Horses is currently available to stream on Apple TV+, with Season 4 premiering on September 4.

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