Fiasco

**Fiasco** is the fifth episode of the first season of *Slow Horses* and the fifth episode of the series overall. It aired on April 22, 2022 on Apple TV+.

## Summary

*The Slow Horses must disappear to avoid capture by MI5. Lamb and River head to The Park to outwit Taverner.*

## Plot

Min and Louisa climb over a fence and walk through a cemetery, while Catherine and Lamb walk in as well. Catherine asks about Charles' death, but Lamb tells her that it was not the best time to talk about it. Louisa tells Lamb that the Dogs got to Loy before they did. Ho reaches the group and tells them that Cartwright had tried to see Sid. Lamb tells them that they need to leave, since Taverner and Black had a plan and now that it had failed, she would try to play it as Slough House gone rogue. Louisa asks about Hassan, who Lamb says would be dead soon. River makes it to where the group is and tells Ho that he is a dickhead.

River tells Lamb that he remembers where he saw Black and Taverner together, saying that he had seen them talking at her gym café when he followed Taverner secretly. He says that he was following her for surveillance training, so he took a photograph. He says that he might have a copy, but Min says that that is hopeless. Lamb tells the group that he usually does not do speeches, but recognizes that it is a big moment and might not see them again. He tells them that they are useless and that working with them has been the lowest point in a disappointing career, telling River to follow him. Louisa says that they could try to save Hassan in the meantime, but Lamb says that that would be a sure way to get him killed, so he instructs them to hide in a toilet somewhere.

Curly, Larry, and Zeppo still moving in a car as the radio says they are being looked for. Zeppo is concerned that everybody thinks they are going to do something they will not. Curly say that Black's body had already been found, but it was not announced because they wanted to bury it along with them, since there was an MI5 agent involved in a kidnap plot. Curly tells them they will die avoiding arrest, so they might as well have some fun, which scares Hassan.

Lamb asks River if he left the lights on, but he does not remember. They walk back into the Slough House, where Lamb tells River to walk in alone and tell him if Dogs were there.

At a café, Catherine, Ho, Min, and Louisa sit as Ho eats. Min wonders how he even has an appetite, to which Ho responds that he should relax since the Dogs were nowhere near them, having hacked their comms. He tells them that the Dogs were outside their homes and waiting for them. Min realizes they are screwed, but Ho says that he is not because he is a digital ghost. Catherine tells them to remember Lamb, but Min tells her that Lamb does not care about them, and as soon as whatever he has planned goes south, he would forget about them. However, Catherine tells them that Charles always told her that if somebody hurt Lambs' joes he would never stop going for them and he would not want to lose against Taverner.

Catherine asks how they knew Alan Black, and Ho says that he was taken to Slough House for sleeping with the Venezuelan ambassador's wife while undercover. Min adds that Black always moaned a lot and never brought biscuits, Louisa says that he was lazy and Catherine says that he was undercover with the Sons of Albion so there would have been a birth certificate, passport and credit cards. Catherine says that he could have used an old ID, so they ask Ho to look information on what that could have been. After a few minutes, Ho finds Dermont Radcliffe, who was Alan Black's undercover name. He reads all the info available on him to his workmates.

At the Slough House, River walks past Moody's body and finds an old phone. He also grabs a box and takes Moody's clothes off.

Duffy tells Diana about what happened with Catherine and Lamb, which surprises her. However, her attention is drawn towards a woman who found information on Curly, Zeppo and Larry, who they are currently tracking.

Curly tells Larry and Zeppo that they are nearly out of gas, but he says that his plan is to drive until they ran out of gas at which point they would chop Hassan's head off, which Larry and Zeppo oppose. However, Curly says that if they do not do it, they would be a joke and they needed to be feared and respected. However, Zeppo loses it and points a gun at Curly, saying he has had enough. Curly tells him that if he would rather spill his blood than Hassan's then he is a traitor. Hassan starts choking, so Larry checks on him while Zeppo orders Curly to pull over.

Once Curly pulls over, Zeppo tells him to get out of the car and lift Hassan up. Once they remove Hassan's tape off his mouth, he vomits. Curly asks Zeppo why he is not threatening Hassan, but Zeppo tells him not to push him. Curly asks what the plan is, so Zeppo says they would get some gas, get to the boat and let the kid go. Larry asks who would get out of the van since they are all covered in blood, so Zeppo says that Hassan would be the one to do so.

Ho tells the group all the information he has on Black. Catherine leaves and goes to a telephone booth, while Min and Louisa ask him how long it would take to gather Black's registration number. Since Min keeps bothering Ho, he tells him that he could quickly tell him what porn he looks at. While he does that, however, Catherine comes back with the registration number. She tells them that they need to let the Park know that they need to focus on that specific vehicle. Min wants to know how they could do that without the Park knowing it was them, so Catherine wonders if they could track it themselves.

Lamb drives in a van into the Park, where he is immediately stopped. Lamb says that he does not want to get out of the vehicle since it is comfortable, wanting the security guard to fetch his boss and tell him that he had brought the car back, but they need to go over the damage waiver.

Zeppo tells Hassan that if he helps them get gas, they would let him go as Curly drives. Hassan agrees as Curly says that they need to kill him since he had seen their faces. Zeppo asks Curly why he is not taking him seriously and Larry supports the latter. Hassan says that he could say he never saw their faces, telling them that his uncle is rich and could help them out with their escape plan. However, Curly loses his temper until Zeppo calms him down. Curly asks where his uncle is and Hassan responds that he is in Islamabad, Pakistan. Zeppo tells Hassan that they would give his idea a shot, but he needed to stay with them until he had the money.

Lamb keeps singing in the car when Duffy shows up and tells him to get out, saying that he had pointed a gun at him. However, Lamb says that he delegated that and she had pointed the gun at his boy. Lamb finally gets out of the car and hands Duffy his gun.

At a gas station, Zeppo tells Hassan to fill up the van so they could leave. Curly tells him that if he tries to make a run for it, he would cut a woman's children's heads off and then his. Larry hands Hassan some money and Zeppo tells him to not fuck up. Once Hassan is outside, he shakily tries to fill the van up, but he is approached by the woman across the gas station, who asks him for help. She wants him to help her with her petrol cap, so Hassan suggests that maybe the attendant could help, but she insists until she sees who he is with. She says that she would work it out until Curly tells him to help the woman out. She says that she thought he looked like Hassan, but Hassan says that maybe she thought that because they all look the same to people like her, so she apologizes and he says he was joking. He helps her and heads back to the van, paying for the gas after that. Once the woman leaves, Larry realizes that there was nothing stopping him from running. At the cash register, on the TV, news about his capture are on, so Curly gets out of the van. They all get back in and Zeppo tells him he had done a good job.

Diana tells Lamb that Alan Black's body had been found and he pretends to not know who she is talking about. She tells him he was involved in capturing Ahmed and Lamb says that he remembers her telling him that she had a man on the inside. She tells him that she has a statement from someone who saw him and Black meeting after he had left Slough House. He wonders if Struan's word stacked up against his, but she says that Standish would show and turn when she knew why he is at Slough House. She tells him that Sid is dead and tells him that she would make him an offer, which he says make sense because she needs to have everything wrapped up before Tearney lands and he could blow the whistle on her, which she says he does not have. He says that he is not sure her career would survive the death of Ahmed and tells her to make her pitch. She tells him to sign a statement that matched Loy's and that would be the end of it, but Lamb knows it would be the end of him. However, she tells him that he would be fired, but with no charges and a good enough pension. Lamb asks when Tearny would get back because he would love to run all that by her, but she says that they could also just wait for the Slow Horses to walk in and accept a job back at the Park while he festers in the basement. He says that the deal sounds wonderful and asks for her to print the statement, but suddenly remembers that he was going to tell her that the car he brought in has a bomb. Diana moves and tells Duffy to take a look.

Duffy inspects the car Jackson had brought back in, seeing the bomb is a fake, but realizes that there is an intruder as River walks into the building.

As Webb walks into his office, he is held at gunpoint by River, telling him to get him the file, which Webb pretends to not know about. He orders him to tell him where the photo was at because he knew that Taverner wanted him out because she knew that he had taken a photograph of her and Alan Black. Webb says that Taverner probably had many reasons for wanting him out, but River says that he knows it was all a setup. He tells Webb that he knows Taverner probably asked him to delete the photo and he probably kept a copy for insurance, but Webb says that he lost him. River hits him in the face and knocks him out, starting to look for the photograph himself.

Duffy and his team move forward, looking for River as he keeps looking for the file. He thinks of the word "Fiasco " and finds a file. Duffy's team enters Webb's office and pin a man down.

Diana walks into her office and hands Lamb his fake bomb, also saying that Duffy and his men were sweeping the building, thinking it is probably Cartwright who was smuggled in. However, he says that it is to test her security because her guys are not very good. Diana gets a call and asks for someone to be put in the basement next to Loy. Lamb says that if his men were as good as hers, they would be hers. She offers to have him sign the confession while he asks who she had sent to the basement as River walks into the office. He tells her not to call anyone and hands her the Fiasco file. She tells them that she could have a dozen guns pointed at their heads in seconds, but Lamb knows she would not do that because she would not want anyone to see her with Alan Black. He tells her that he now has evidence and hands her the confession, saying that it now had her name. She says that meeting with an ex-agent means nothing, so River says that she probably would not mind if they sent the photos to Tearney, everyone else at the Park, and River suggests that they could even send it to Hobden, but Lamb says that news desks would be better. Diana asks them what they want and Lamb says that he wants Ahmed found and alive, but thinks her attention has been split between finding the boy and burning him. Diana tells Lamb that there were three cars they were targeting, and they had lost all three. Lamb says that she could do more, since it turns out that Hobden had called someone when it all went to shit, so he tells her to pay that person a visit.

As Curly, drives, Zeppo asks Hassan how much money they were talking about, and Hassan tells them to name their price because his uncle has a lot of businesses and investments. Hassan insists that the money would be there and Curly tells him to shut up, agreeing to give him the benefit of the doubt, saying that Hassan could go with them, but only if he makes him laugh, which Zeppo and Larry find weird. Curly says that Hassan is supposedly a comedian and they all tell him to make them laugh after that. Hassan makes a joke about the Sons of Albion, wondering if Albion is married to his first cousin, which they find rude, but Larry says that is the point. Hassan makes more jokes, which make Larry and Zeppo laugh and suddenly, he is able to make Curly laugh as well. However, Curly suddenly grabs Zeppo's gun and shoots him in the head with it, which he says he finds funny.

## Cast

### Starring

* Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb
* Jack Lowden as River Cartwright
* Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner

### Guest-Starring

* Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy
* Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish
* Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho
* Dustin Demri-Burns as Min Harper
* Freddie Fox as James “Spider” Webb
* Chris Reilly as Nick Duffy
* Bally Gill as Agent Singh
* Antonio Aakeel as Hassan Ahmed
* Stephen Walters as Zeppo
* Brian Vernel as Curly
* David Walmsley as Larry
* Steven Waddington as Jed Moody

### Co-Starring

* Anita Anand as Herself
* Melissa Suppiah as Mrs. Fatima Ahmed
* Lesley Harcourt as Agent Owen
* Bronwyn James as Young Mum
* James Anthony-Rose as Petrol Attendant
* Miles Yekinni as Lead Dog
* Lucy Ford as Liz Montague

## External Link(s)

* Watch Season 1, Episode 5: *Fiasco* on AppleTV+