Slow Horses season 5 episode 4 recap: Shock Dennis Gimball moment and Tara's return
Did anyone see that one coming?Slow Horses season 5 episode 4 might just be the best episode to date, with a finale that no-one saw coming.
Anticipation and anxiety ran high as the Slow Horses headed out to stop the incoming assassination attempt, part of the destabilisation strategy the terrorists were following.
Missed any moments or want to relive it again? Here’s our detailed recap of the latest episode, breaking down the return of Tara, Claude’s revenge and that dastardly Dennis Gimball.
Slow Horses season 5 episode 4: Recap
The episode opened with a lovesick Roddy (Christopher Chung) listening to a voice recording from his MIA fake girlfriend Tara (Hiba Bennani). Still in the interrogation room at MI5, top dog Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley) tried to reason with him. She pretended to relate to Tara, having fallen in love with someone while working undercover previously. Flyte convinced him to call her back and keep her on the line so they could track her location and he agreed.
On the call, Roddy initially played along, before hanging up and telling her to escape as she was being tracked. Flyte wasn’t bothered though, as they’d already managed to track her location from the call.
It wasn’t just MI5 who were looking for Tara, either. Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) did his own snooping and stumbled upon the right flat, with Flyte walking in on him shortly after. Tara was long gone though and Lamb told Flyte where she was now: Roddy’s flat.
The Gimballs vs. Claude
Back at the Park, first chair Claude Whelan’s day went from bad to worse. He received an email of the soon-to-be published tabloid piece by Dodie Gimbell (Victoria Hamilton) with pictures of him making out with an escort.
An MI5 agent provided Claude with classified files on both Dodie and her husband Dennis Gimball (Christopher Villiers), who was also running for Mayor of London. He resolved to “play dirty” like the couple and paid them a visit at their house.
During the meeting with the Gimballs, Claude revealed secrets from their past that they’d rather have kept hidden. It turned out that far-right politician Dennis’ biological father was Turkish and an illegal immigrant who spent time in prison. Similarly, wife Dodie had a relationship with someone with Marxist affiliation during her university years. Both pieces of information contradicted their political views and public persona. Claude subsequently threatened to leak the details if Dodie went ahead with the exposé in the press.
Slow Horses on the ground
Next, we saw the terrorist leader moving forward with their plan to assassinate a populist leader. In episode 4, the Slow Horses deduced that Zahar Jaffrey or Dennis Gimball were going to be shot at their upcoming political rallies, being the next step in the destabilisation strategy. Equipped with what he needed for the shooting, the terrorist left the white van, leaving his comrades behind – but which politician was he targeting?
Supporters started arriving for the Dennis Gimball rally, among them Slow Horses’ Coe (Tom Brooke) and River (Jack Lowden). The two had been deployed by Lamb to seek out any incoming threats on Dennis. At the venue, they split up with Coe headed to Gimball’s dressing room and River checking out the theatre.
Meanwhile, Flyte arrived at Roddy’s flat ready to take Tara in. But Tara was on the lookout and saw their arrival, making a run for it. One step ahead as always, Lamb waited for Tara to run past him and hit her with his car door, detaining her for the dogs. In exchange he wanted to be present at her interrogation at the Park.
The assassination attempt
Arriving at the other rally location, this time for Zahar Jaffrey, were Shirley (Aimee Ffion-Edwards) and Standish (Saskia Reeves). The two surveilled people as they entered the venue and Shirley identified someone wearing the same combat boots worn by the culprit who tried to run Roddy over.
It was the terrorist leader, posing as a maintenance worker, who convinced security to let him through to fix a light in the women’s toilets. Shirley let him be as he cleared the security search. However, later, queueing for the ladies bathroom she noticed the lights were working fine.
Shirley sprang into action trying to track down the terrorist. As Jaffrey (Nick Mohammed) took to the stage to give his speech, Standish noticed a shadow in the plant room and alerted Shirley to his whereabouts. Minutes went by as Shirley tried to catch up with the terrorist. And, as he got ready to aim the gun at Jaffrey, Standish created a distraction by throwing a water bottle on stage. Security personnel immediately escorted Jaffrey off the stage just as Shirley attacked the terrorist. The two fought and he managed to escape, with Shirley running after him outside. Unfortunately, by the time she caught up he was back in the white van which drove off into the distance.
Who died in Slow Horses season 5 episode 4?
The action then returned to Coe and River who were surveilling Dennis Gimball. He had arrived at the venue outside and was pacing up and down the street rehearsing his speech. Coe positioned himself on some scaffolding so he could get a better vantage point on Gimball. He then informed River where he was.
Minutes later, Jaffrey’s campaign manager Tyson (Abraham Popoola) arrived to persuade Gimball not to use Jaffrey’s son’s recent climate stunt against him. Gimball refused and made a racist comment towards him, infuriating Tyson and leading him to strike out. The two began punching each other as River arrived. Misreading the situation, River started attacking Tyson. Coe then started precariously climbing down the scaffolding to help – knocking objects as he went.
Amid the brawl, Tyson ran off. Dennis Gimball went to thank River for his help in fighting off Tyson, just as a paint can from the scaffolding fell and hit Gimball on the head. The heavy blow killed him instantly on impact and River and Coe were stunned.
“Yeah, he really is dead, isn’t he?,” River said to Coe as they looked down at Dennis Gimball’s lifeless body.
Next to his body, Coe retrieved Gimball’s dictaphone which had recorded their conversation. The two then quickly departed the scene.
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