Slow Horses (Season 4) Episode 2: Recap & Ending Explained - What does River Learn at Les Abres?

With how “Slow Horses” begins its fourth season, the chances of the intrigue and stakes being raised only grow higher. However, I can’t help but notice a similar pattern to season 2 in how River Cartwright shuffles off to investigate his lonesome in a remote village. Still, the momentum in this season, along with the overall urgency, is significantly higher this time around. In this article, I will take a dive into “Slow Horses” (season 4) episode 2. Please note the episode consists of spoilers; the reader’s discretion is advised.

Slow Horses (Season 4) Episode 2 “A Stranger Comes to Town” Recap:

How does River manage to extract his grandfather safely?

The episode opens with River arriving at his grandfather’s cottage, rain pouring heavily. He calls for his grandfather and opens the door, only to hear a thud upstairs. As he makes his way up, he comes face to face with a rifle aimed at him by his grandfather, who is standing in his bathroom after having shot the man who had entered his cottage pretending to be River. The confused David is still unable to reconcile his grandson standing alive and well, albeit terrified of a gun being shoved at his face, and River can only convince him of his identity by letting David ask an anecdotal question about meeting his KGB counterpart back in 1982—a story that only River would have known.

Convinced and shaken by what had transpired, River tries to allay his grandfather’s fears, though he does know that the imposter did look a lot like him. River then tries to bring his grandfather to an even keel by allowing him to brief the events in order, through which we learn that David had been suspicious because the man had called him “Gramps” rather than “Granddad.” Meanwhile, River goes through the pockets of the deceased, taking the stack of money, finding a pack of Diazepam that the man was planning to dope David with, and then a return ticket to France and a location of a cafe La Blanc Russe in the village of Lavande in France.

When River asks his grandfather about any details regarding France, the village, or the deceased’s passport containing the name “Adam Lockhead,” David starts becoming confused again. In the process, he presses the panic button again, which leads to a heated argument between grandson and grandfather, where David reveals his confusion once again when, in his anger, he calls River his son. River does, first by blasting a bullet at the face of the impostor to help with the misidentification. When he calms down, he gives River leave to proceed, arguing that this is “his op.” Then he makes arrangements to leave for Standish’s place before embarking on a secret op of his own.

What secret was Taverner planning to cover up?

At MI5, Diana Taverner comes to know, through one of her “kids,” Giti Rahman, that Winters’ passport had been apparently legitimately renewed over the years by the passport office, with the added fact that MI5 had apparently assigned the passport. That pricks Diana’s ears, and while he instructs Rahman to work at Diana’s office and only reports to her with details about this, we also see her instruct Flyte to sequester Rahman immediately. Taverner takes advantage of Whelan’s inexperience and rule-book-following nature to aid him in giving feedback on his speeches. In return, he manages to make Whelan sign a couple of important documents.

The next time we witness Rahman is at Flyte’s cottage, where she is contacted by Taverner, who we see walking towards the library. She manages to convince Rahman that MI5 has nothing to do with Robert Winters, citing a glitch in the names in the system. All the while, we see Diana walking with the passport and allowing Winters’ name and any paper trail to be shredded from existence. Once that is done, Taverner instructs Flyte to let Rahman go and get back on the Cartwright murder investigation, much to Flyte’s chagrin at being used like a babysitter for Taverner’s sequestered work.

Slow Horses (Season 4) Episode 2 — Jack Lowden in “Slow Horses,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Taverner finally reveals the true extent of her cover-up in a conversation with Whelan on a public bus: Robert Winters is a ready-made identity or a cold body that other assets would take on the moniker, as it is a legal identity with a bank account, passport, credit rating, etc. Nowadays, it could be done online, but at the tail end of the Cold War, this had been a state-of-the-art “forgery.” And, of course, Taverner has ensured that none of this comes in the open, even as that strongly goes against Whelan’s agenda of introducing transparency within the MI5.

If Whelan pushes the questioning by reporting to the PM, an inquiry would be raised as to how a mass murderer had access to a cold body identity; thus, Taverner unwittingly had Whelan sign a document implicating him in the shredding of the documents by painting him as the one who had signed the order in the first place. As postulated before, putting an inexperienced newbie at the top allows Taverner to have more freedom than expected, even exercising her authority and playing espionage games with no impunity.

What is Jackson Lamb investigating?

As it turns out, though, London Rules are being played even in this case. Lamb now feels caught up, having learned from Standish where River is going and that he is carrying Lockhead’s passport as well as Standish’s phone which he would only use in emergencies. Lamb had lied to Flyte because he had already figured out Cartwright’s “batshit” plan, but he is not going to blow a joe’s cover. But as with Oldman’s depiction of Lamb, we see a strong streak of loyalty that Lamb has for his joes, to the extent that he is open to interrogating the “old bastard,” even though David tends to get confused and is ultimately of not much help. But Lamb is convinced that whoever had incited this attack could be traced back to David’s espionage career in France.

His return to Slough House gives Lamb his share of benefits and irritations. On the one hand, he manages to irritate all his team members by giving them emotional whiplash and by informing them about River being alive and currently knee-deep in an op. When Louisa, the most distraught of all of them, asks what they could do to help, Lamb dissuades them all because, in his own words, if he wanted their help, River would have asked. But even as Lamb is letting River gallivant off on his own, Lamb is deep into his investigation.

Plus, he is not a man who likes his place being tidied, and thus he invites Standish’s replacement Laura out for lunch, where, while having a drink, he categorically points out that no one is sent to Slough House unless they have mucked up something quite badly or they have pissed something off. Considering that Moira has done neither, except work as a marker of transparency for Whelan, Lamb instructs her to go back to the Park, but on the condition that since she had been one of the “Queens”—officials within the assistant pool who could coordinate between offices efficiently and thus had knowledge about trade secrets—she can furnish information about David Cartwright’s illustrious career back in France.

What does River find out in Lavande?

Finally, in France, River finally reaches the village of Lavande, though he isn’t doing a very good job of not standing out in Lavande village. While his French is quite good, it’s still not fluent enough for him to pass off as a local, and thus, he comes under notice within the small, sleepy town of Lavande anyway. When he finally reaches La Balnc Russe cafe, he asks the barista, without any hint of pretension or subterfuge, that he is looking for his doppelganger.

The barista too, without batting an eye, responds in the affirmative before informing River of the location—Les Abres, three kilometres into the woods. As River walks out of the cafe (without even drinking the coffee he just ordered, proving that he is a terrible spy), he is unaware of being watched across the cafe by an old man seated in a jeep calling and informing of River’s arrival.

Slow Horses (Season 4) Episode 2: Recap & Ending Explained — Gary Oldman in “Slow Horses,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

It begs to be noted that we also know who the chief antagonist of this season is, at least the actor essaying the role (Hugo Weaving), even if we have no idea about his name. But we see Weaving’s character talking on the phone with an unknown man. That man was currently near David’s cottage, and through small talk, he realized that David was still alive.

He fixes a camera behind the garden wall before getting into his car and voicing his doubts as to whether the young Cartwright or their comrade Bertrand had been killed, to which Weaving’s character informs that Bertrand’s passport had been pinged when it entered France. So he is expecting company. He then tells his subordinate to hit the second target, “another old man,” who we can reasonably assume is Jackson Lamb.

Slow Horses (Season 4) Episode 2 “A Stranger Comes to Town” Ending Explained:

What does River learn at Les Abres?

River walks through the woods and across a grassy knoll before finally coming to the Les Abres property. Upon realizing the front gate is chained shut, he climbs over the walls and walks over the hedge-overgrown entrance towards the mansion and its property. As he enters the mansion, he feels as though he is unable to pinpoint the feeling of being watched as he explores the mansion. He finally climbs up a series of stairs and enters the room on top to find it trashed—glass broken, wires askew, and hard disks broken, so no information could be extracted.

In the kitchen, he finds an unopened can of milk and a pot of tea that is still hot, indicating that someone had been there very recently. He climbs up a flight of stairs again to explore the abandoned rooms on the top floor, snapping a photo of a painting that interests him. Finally, he enters what looks like a training room, with gym bags and shooting targets attached to the walls. As he goes through the papers strewn about and the books on the shelves, River finds his first real clue—a photo of four hunters posing with an elk they had just shot. He recognizes one of them—the Westacres bomber Robert Winters.

Suddenly smelling something burning, he looks downstairs to find somebody setting the ground floor on fire. As he rushes below to escape, he is ambushed by Weaving’s character, who, while older than River, is quite strong. River barely manages to take the knife that he had taken off the kitchen shelves to arm himself with and point it at his attacker’s temple before he suddenly hears a shot being fired.

As his attacker moves off him, River realizes that he doesn’t know the man. The man pushes him out of the burning mansion, but before River can thank him, he knocks him out before driving away. We, the viewers, are aware of the man’s identity in that we recognize him as the man keeping watch over La Blanc Russe and calling someone to inform them of River’s arrival. But if he is not in cahoots with the camp led by Hugo Weaving’s character, which side is he on? The mystery is only deepening.