Summary
Slow Horses concludes its third season in fine form with “Footprints,” an action-packed and brutal finale. There’s plenty of tense editing and nail-biting shootouts from the final episode, with numerous plot twists to enjoy.
Slow Horses Season 3 comes to an almighty ending with another action-packed installment. The series concludes its third season run with Episode 6, “Footprints.” In this entertaining finale, viewers are thrown right back into the middle of the shootout at the storage facility as the Slough House agents attempt to escape the Cold War bunker with the precious document and their lives.
This is exquisite storytelling, as Apple TV+ brings more cinematic wonder to the small screen once again.
Slow Horses Season 3 Episode 6 Recap
The finale opens mere seconds after the previous episode’s cliffhanger ending. Louisa and Sean are still in the midst of the shootout, but River is unresponsive. Louisa manages to wake her colleague as Sean holds the Chieftain soldiers off. The trio escapes, but Sean is hit.
River and Louisa carry Sean to safety. He is in agony though, realizing that his injuries are more than likely fatal. Sean passes River the all-important document and asks him to leak it to the press. River and Louisa leave Sean to fend off the ensuing soldiers as he bleeds out in a shadowy corridor.
Meanwhile, Shirley and Marcus are still in the midst of their own shootout at the other side of the storage facility. They split up and tackle their enemies separately. Outside the facility, Duffy panics, sending in further troops, and then as the numbers dwindle, he takes matters into his own hands.
Who kills Sean Donovan?
Sean fends off a few more soldiers but is shot dead by Fenwick, the Chieftain’s leader. Louisa and River make it to the only exit but find themselves shot at as they try to flee. There is no chance of escape. Duffy then enters the building, getting into a fistfight with Marcus.
Back at the farm, Jackson sets traps as they prepare to fend off their ensuing attackers. The mystery car belongs to Hobbs, who is joined by Sturges. They are tasked with killing Catherine and any other rivals found within the farm’s building.
Hobbs hesitates to enter, but Sturges is eager to be done with this assignment. He is instantly set on fire by one of Jackson’s contraptions though as he tries to enter the farm. Hobbs is then injured by Jackson’s devious traps on the stairs. It’s a little like if Home Alone was shot by Guy Ritchie. Then Roddy shows up to save the day. He hears the gunfire inside and dives into a nearby double-decker bus.
Sarah Dunn battles Sturges on the stairs, whilst Jackson uses Catherine as bait to kill Hobbs in the bedroom. With both enemies killed, Roddy ends the scene by driving the bus through the farm’s front doors. It’s a hilarious end to this tense sequence as Jackson is nearly left speechless by Roddy’s stupidity.
How does Shirley save River and Louisa?
There are further crashes back at the storage facility. Shirley takes Marcus’ car for a spin and plows into the Chieftain operatives guarding the hatch door. This helps Louisa and River to escape the bunker before Fenwick and his colleagues can kill them. Shirley then hurls a grenade into the bunker, offing Fenwick and the remaining soldiers with ease.
River thanks Shirley and then drives off, hoping to leak the document before he is stopped or it is too late. As River drives away, a helicopter circles overhead. Louisa re-enters the bunker to save Marcus. She knocks Duffy out with a concrete slab to the head, just as he is about to stab Marcus to death.
The helicopter is the press, filming the fallout of the showdown. Diana and Ingrid see the aftermath of the shootout on the news from the safety of Regent’s Park. Ingrid has lost this battle, she is done for.
After the shootout, Shirley and Marcus flee in Marcus’ battered car. Shirley phones Catherine to update the other Slough House agents about the team’s safety. Shirley informs Catherine that everyone is alive and the file has been secured. Sarah is then ditched at a nearby hospital.
Jackson drives Catherine and Roddy home. Roddy announces that 18 people have died at the storage facility, Sean and Ben being among the dead. Catherine airs her grievances about the whole debacle, dismayed by MI5’s methods. She mentions the former Director-General, Charles Partner, whom she worked alongside, saying that he would have never let things get this out of control. This sparks an argument between her and Jackson.
Jackson reveals that Charles was no hero, he was a traitor. He spent the last ten years of his life selling secrets to the Russians. Jackson then adds that Charles only kept Catherine on because she was an alcoholic. He wanted someone close by who wouldn’t suspect his crimes and then he was planning on pinning it all on Catherine in the end anyway.
Why does Catherine quit her job?
Catherine is heartbroken to hear the truth about Charles. Deep down she believes it, but she is still hurt by Jackson’s flippancy regardless. She announces that she is quitting the agency. She is dismayed by MI5 and enraged by Jackson’s words, she can no longer work for either of them. Catherine then decides to walk home alone, leaving Roddy and Jackson at the petrol station.
How does Slow Horses Season 3 end?
River takes the document to his grandfather’s home. David Cartwright reads through the files. David defends MI5, stating that River has no proof of the scandal, just hearsay. The grandfather then throws the documents into an open fire.
It’s later revealed that River had made copies of the documents, thankfully the files can still be leaked. The series then ends with Jackson Lamb and Diana Taverner discussing the aftermath of the shootout. Diana thanks Jackson for leaking the document, but Jackson admits it was all River’s doing.
Diana then talks about the fallout of the Istanbul debacle. Ingrid has resigned and Diana has been given the top job at MI5, she is now the Director-General. Jackson can’t believe that Diana would have so many people killed just so that she could take the top position. He says that she has no one else to blame now but herself. Concluding that he is much happier than her, which is saying something, as he’s miserable at Slough House as it is. Diana may come to regret her power play in the long term.
What did you think of Slow Horses Season 3 Episode 6 and the ending? Comment below.
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