Slow Horses season 3 episode 4 recap: clear the board

What a difference a dead body makes. After Home Secretary Judd (Samuel West) played the big man in the opening scene of episode 3, Spider’s death puts the power back in Ingrid Tearney’s (Sophie Okonedo) hands in Slow Horses season 3 episode 4, "Univited Guests." Though Tearney would enjoy letting Judd flounder in the political and financial mess he has gotten himself into, she wants to clean up MI5's failings from the incident, so she says she'll take care of it. However, she has no intention of being the one caught holding the bag.

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At Slough House, Lamb (Gary Oldman) continues his search for Standish (Saskia Reeve). He looks at the picture River got and spots Standish indicating the names of Alison, Sarah and Ben on the wall, so he tells Ho (Christopher Chung) to find houses that had kids with those names. Lamb also informs River (Jack Lowden) and Louisa (Rosalind Eleazer) that Spider was killed, but he has bigger things to worry about, like a meeting with Tearney.

She tells him they plan to let Sean (??p? Dìrísù) have access to the Grey Books and wants Lamb to escort him into the facility. But Lamb says no, recognizing she just wants to use him in case things go wrong. Lamb, as usual, ends up being right.

Secrets revealed

Sean returns to the house where they're keeping Standish. While Ben (Charlie Rowe) is concerned about Sean killing someone, Sean says the only thing that matters is getting justice for Alison, afterward he'll take whatever punishment comes his way. However, to do that he needs a key bit of info from Standish.

He tells Standish they picked her because she can identify where a file is in the new facility that Sean believes will prove MI5 was responsible for killing Alison. With his threats not working, he opens up to her, revealing the struggles he told her about in the cafe following Alison's death were true. He says Alison was going to leak a file, something that made her turn on MI5, though he doesn't know what is in it. Standish is confident MI5 wouldn't do that and refuses to give him the information. Sean says they have a source in the Park that has told them it is all true.

The conversation gets interrupted when a commotion is heard. The Chieftan operative was able to overpower Sarah (Eliot Salt) and make a break for it. Ben and Sean give chase, though the operative eventually gets the jump on Ben, causing him to drop his gun. Sean arrives, picks up the gun and gets the operative to release Ben, but he keeps running and is able to make it to the road and get in a car to take him back to London.

Meanwhile, River is conflicted about Spider's death, but another issue comes up. His grandfather (Jonathan Pryce) is causing a scene at a club where they say he is no longer a member. River knows what this is about and heads down to the club. Once there, he explains to his grandfather that he had previously decided not to renew his membership and stopped paying his dues, but he had clearly forgotten. River's grandfather is distressed by this news. River gets another call though, this one from Tearney, who is offering him the mission of escorting Sean at the facility in exchange for a clean slate.

Back at the house, Standish overhears Ben and Sarah arguing, revealing the operative escaped and Sean could be captured or hurt, which jeopardizes their chances of getting justice for their sister. Standish signals for them to come upstairs and then hands them a piece of paper with what she tells them is the info they're after.

Teaming up

Ho has identified the house he believes Standish is being held at, so Lamb decides to take him with him as they go investigate. Before they leave, he makes sure to give his team his typical put downs. He tells River he already turned down the mission Tearney offered him, but he can do what he wants. Then when Marcus (Kadiff Kirwan) and Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) get back he confirms they are both fired for disobeying his orders about not going into Sean’s flat (subsequently losing Marcus a grand as he bet Shirley it was only her being fired).

When Sean returns to the house, he reveals the Park is letting him into the facility, so Ben gives him the info Standish provided. Ben also convinces Sean to let him join. River, deciding he is going to be Sean's escort, also gets an unexpected partner when Louisa insists she be his backup, bringing a gun along for extra protection.

Then, on Tearney's orders, Duffy (Chris Reilly) and Hobbs (Chris Coghill) go to Chieftan. After insulting them for getting into a mess of their own creation, they tell everyone they are going to work for Duffy on this mission, where they will capture Sean as soon as he exits the facility and confirm Standish's release.

Tearney calls an audible

When Duffy calls Tearney to inform her everything is set up, he also gives her some background info on Sean. He tells her he was previously stationed in Istanbul and had a relationship with Alison, who was MI5. This raises an alarm for Tearney, who checks files on her computer that seem to indicate MI5 has key information on Alison's murder. She follows up on this by visiting the filing department at the Park, and asking Molly (Naomi Wirthner) about a specific batch of files that was supposed to be disposed of. Molly tells her someone made a change, and now those files are at the facility Sean is on his way to.

At the facility, as they wait for Sean to arrive, River and Louisa have a heart-to-heart about how she is still grieving over Min. River admits he can relate, as he is losing someone he loves, but before he can tell her it's his grandfather, Sean shows up. Sean is actually complimentary of River about getting into the Park. That's more than he or Louisa gets from Douglas (Sion Daniel Young), the facility manager, who gives them a few jabs before letting them in and giving them the info to find the Grey Books.

However, when they arrive at the room where the Grey Books are stored, Sean and Ben keep walking. Louisa tries to stop them, pulling her gun, but they tell her they've come to get something else and if she wants to stop them she'll have to shoot them in the back. Louisa balks and she and River follow them.

Duffy, now outside the facility waiting for Sean and company, gets another call from Tearney. She tells him Sean isn't after the Grey Books, but something that could be damaging to MI5, so everyone Sean has been in contact with in the facility has to be eliminated. When Duffy asks her to confirm, she says he wants him to "clear the board." With these new instructions, Duffy tells his men everyone in the facility is coming out in a body bag.

New episodes of Slow Horses season 3 release Wednesdays on Apple TV Plus.