Review: Slow Horses, "Daddy Issues" | Season 6, Episode 2

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“Not everything’s about you and your daddy issues.”

In the moments leading up to the end of this episode, it honestly feels like we have too much clarity on the lay of the land. We know that Andrew Nesmith was fired by the park for being in the records room, and we know he was there to steal the Slough House files for right wing news peddler Damien, and we know that Damien hired Frank Harkness to kill Nesmith for trying to blackmail him. We still don’t know why Slow Horses are being killed, and even the assassins killing them are confused why they’re being tasked with taking care of such lame targets (RIP Moira), but Lamb has seen enough to convene everyone at Blake’s grave to go dark.

Like I said, though, it all seems too clean, and so when the episode sends River on a mission to discover the source of the mysterious call Roddy tracks to his grandfather’s house I immediately pegged this as the moment of disruption. Whatever we think the season is, and wherever this story seems to be headed, this will be the moment that takes it in a different direction. We know that he’s not going to find Frank Harkness there, but whoever he does find will be the lynchpin to whatever comes next.

I was fully prepared for the answer to be River’s mother, who he invited to the funeral in the premiere, and who would offer a counterweight to the titular “Daddy Issues” and offer another spin on River’s ongoing psychodrama. The actual result, though, goes further in its disruption, seemingly throwing our understanding of everything we thought we understood into chaos.