Zeppo

**Zeppo** is a supporting character played by Stephen Walters in Season 1 of Apple TV+'s *Slow Horses*.

## History

Alan Black, Larry, and Zeppo prepare to drink tea. Curly wakes up from his nap and joins the men, saying he would like to a PlayStation. One of the men says that he served his country and has killed men before, saying he has killed 5 at least, but maybe 9 more. The men celebrate that they got over 1,000,000 views on the news. They go to check on Hassan Ahmed, who they are holding hostage, telling him that he would remove the tape off his mouth so he could ask them for things if he needed to. The man asks to be let go, but the man says that he is dangerous and would cut his head off like Afghans allegedly do and are experts in.

The kidnappers watch the news, saying that the whole world was looking at them. One man tells another that they could never speak a word of it when they were done. He says that they would pretend they did not know one another and were never there. He says that he is proud of what they are doing for their country. He goes upstairs and uses a phone, which he hides once he is finished using it.

The kidnappers watch television as Hassan tries to escape by taking apart the wooden door, making the least amount of noise possible.

The kidnappers wonder how Hassan could sleep knowing what would happen to him in the morning, but they also know that he had not slept at all since they caught him. Hassan is almost out, but one board in particular is stuck. Hassan uses all his strength to rip it open, which causes the men to see that he had made a lot of noise. They jump up and go towards him. Hassan tries calling out for help, but the men reach him and drag him out of his hole.

The kidnappers say that Hassan is a slippery guy, who almost managed to get away. The men say that they should have some fun and start playing with a deck of cards.

The kidnappers wonder if Hassan can breathe with the mask on and he says that he can. As they keep playing cards, Curly walks downstairs with the men, who ask if he wants to play cards with money involved. Curly asks Moe what regimen he was in when he was in the army and the man tells him that he was in the marines, who do not have regiments, he explains that they have battalion units known as commandos. After that, he grabs the axe, telling Moe that he likely has not used one before and all it would take to kill someone would be a swing. He is told to put the axe down before he fucked everything up, which Curly finds odd. Moe tells him that in the end, he could report to Simmonds, telling him he is a good soldier or he could have his spine broken by his boys. After that, Curly puts down the axe, but when Moe turns around, he swings the axe.

As Curly, Larry and Zeppo escape, Curly says that he did what he did because Moe was a traitor who would still be waiting with them for the cops to show up. He explains that they would be in jail, but Larry says that that makes no sense because he organized everything, but Curly says that they were being set up. Zeppo says that they were not supposed to see it through and he killed him while they were playing cards. They discuss whether to let Hassan go, but Curly does not want to. He starts saying their names, which causes the pair to get mad at him.

Curly tells the men that they needed to focus because there is only one way out, which was on a boat. Curly says that Simmonds wanted them to take no action, which scares all the men. They all wonder what they would do without Simmonds as Zeppo suggests that they leave the kid. Curly agrees to use the boat after that.

Curly is guided by Larry as they move and plan where to leave Hassan. Zeppo apologizes for what he had done to Hassan, which angers Curly since they were not sorry when they killed their troops and raped their women. Curly decides that he would kill Hassan and says that it all comes down to whether or not they have the balls to stop him.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.