Chris Connor reviews the fifth episode of Slow Horses season 5…
Slow Horses’ fifth season heads into its endgame with all sorts of questions circling: will Coe and River face repercussions for Gimbell’s death? The bad actors appear splintered but are succeeding all the same. What is their ultimate endgame?
We open with one of this season’s shorter pre-credits sequences, our antagonists discussing the failure to kill Jaffrey but discovering Gimbell’s own demise, something they can work to their advantage. The Park interrogates the so-called “Tara”, playing the innocent, but is she as oblivious as she seems. A particular highlight is Flyte discussing her relationship with Ho, making her story have more holes in it.
Coe and River continue to be a delightful double act. Their dressing down from Lamb brings some of the episode’s funniest moments and once again strikes the sweet spot between comedy and drama. We are subsequently treated to our first interactions between Lamb and Claude Whelan, two characters most certainly not cut from the same cloth. Claude, appearing smooth as silk and trying to be unflappable, Lamb a feral animal.
For a penultimate episode, the first half allows breathing room and for the plot to move forward, rather than needless action. This helps to build stakes and set the stage for the series’ climax. There are some departures from the source material, ‘London Rules‘ that mean book readers are oblivious to some of what’s to come.
‘Circus’ cleverly dials down the action after the shocking events of last week’s episode, allowing the audience and characters to catch their breath, ahead of what promises to be a breathless finale. The plot against London and MI5 is beginning to come into view, and it is now a race against time to stop further bloodshed.
There are still more than a few unanswered questions for the show to answer, and it promises to be the end of an era in some respects, with the finale marking showrunner Will Smith’s final contribution to the show.
Chris Connor
Originally published October 22, 2025. Updated October 23, 2025.
