Episode 2 of *Slow Horses* Season 5 kicks off with a chilling scene: the sniper from the white van arrives at Roddy’s apartment building. Equipped with a silenced pistol, he stealthily positions himself, lying in wait with lethal intent.
Meanwhile, Roddy makes his way home, his ears catching the faint creak of footsteps above. Suspicion sparks, and he grabs one of his oversized vintage swords, hoisting it over his shoulder with dramatic flair—reminiscent of Cloud Strife from *Final Fantasy VII*. But the intruder is no foe; it’s Jackson Lamb, arriving to check on Roddy. Jackson, ever the pragmatist, warns that the real threat isn’t lurking in the shadows—it’s Tara, the young woman who’s shown an unsettling interest in Roddy.
Deciding to err on the side of caution, Jackson settles in for the night, while Shirley stations herself outside as a lookout. True to form, trouble arrives. The assassin, armed with a stolen key provided by Tara, slips inside—only to find Roddy and Jackson already primed for confrontation.
What they *don’t* anticipate is the white van’s sudden return. A second masked man emerges, unleashing a hail of suppressing fire that allows the assassin to escape. The attackers’ accents hint at Arabic origins, but Shirley wastes no time pursuing them.
In a bold but reckless move, she confronts the gunman alone. Despite landing a needle strike and delivering a brutal beating, the man proves too formidable, overpowering her and knocking her unconscious. The assassin, meanwhile, flees to the van and speeds off into the night.
Their initial operation—a ruse to draw MI5’s focus onto Roddy—was merely a distraction. A grander scheme looms, one far more catastrophic than the Abbotsfield incident. With the assassin now compromised, his comrades coldly decide to silence him, strangling him to death rather than risk exposure.
The pair then rendezvous with a trio of cunning, uneasy-looking youths—climate activists turned unwitting pawns. They hand over a canister loaded with instructions: sabotage the refinery plant, poisoning the petrol reserves to plunge the city into chaos. As the kids prepare to execute their dangerous task, the Arabic operatives dispose of their fallen ally’s body, erasing all traces of their ruthless efficiency.
As for Roddy and Jackson, they make their way to a lavish, high-end hotel—the last place anyone from The Park would ever dream of searching for them! Jackson instructs Roddy to jot down every detail he can recall about Tara, while he slips into the restrooms for a stealthy cigarette break.
Word of Roddy's whereabouts filters back to River, who then dashes off with JK to join the fray, pursuing the lead Tara had given Roddy regarding her apartment. They endeavor to locate the elusive woman, but as expected, the address provided is a dead end. Unbeknownst to them, she's actually stationed across the street, observing from a neighboring flat.
That night, Diana receives an unexpected visitor at her doorstep. Peter, it seems, can assist in tracing the weapons utilized in the Abbotsfield massacre. The weapon in question had vanished from a security equipment arms fair in Docklands a month prior. He hands over a list of stolen armaments to aid in the search—though Diana, understandably, remains wary of his intentions.
Upon her return to MI5, Diana passes the list to Emma, who then fills her in on the incident at Roddy Ho's flat.
The Slough House crew regroups at the hotel (providing ample time for River to endure Lamb's withering critique of his mental state), where Lamb decides to hand Roddy over to MI5. Lamb is convinced that Roddy has been compromised, but he's not alone in this suspicion.
The next morning, an investigative journalist named Carl catches up with Claude and dredges up a past incident from Copenhagen. It appears Claude had an affair, and he's now on the verge of being publicly scrutinized for it.
Back at Slough House, Diana bursts in, flanked by armed guards, but, as usual, the premises are clear. Diana confronts Jackson, informing him that the bullets discovered at Ho's flat originated from the same firearm used to execute the Abbotsfield shooter.
Slough House is placed under lockdown as Roddy is escorted into The Park. However, the following morning descends into utter chaos when it becomes apparent that climate activists have tampered with the petrol at a local refinery. Consequently, cars begin exploding randomly on the streets.
