Lamb says this to Standish when he takes a second swig of whiskey at St Len’s in honor of Coe. Only later did I realize that he was acknowledging Catherine (and maybe the whole group?) as a fellow Joe. It’s maybe the nicest thing Lamb has ever said to Standish.

Also, where is the plaque for Coe? To go next to Mins?

Also loved the line from the Home Secretary to Taverner saying that her handling of the off books killing/exposing Judd showed extremely good strategy and an appalling lack of judgement. Later I realized the strategy was all Lamb. Lack of judgement was all Diana.

What did the Home Secretary say? Brilliant strategy and an appalling lack of judgement. And with one well timed comment with just the right tone of doubt…she takes a shot at her adversary AND gets approval for immediate moves on Judd. Master class right there.

Read that Jack Lowden is amongst finalists for new 007…rooting for him

Adam Randall will be back directing Slow Horses in S8

Do you really expect me to believe that Sid found a memento in the mall (the license plate thing)… that says River on it? 😂 They’ve even had a character joke about it in the show before about ‘who names their child f***ing River?’ Welp, the manufacturers of those mementos didn’t find it unlikely apparently! What are the chances! Not upset at this, just find it funny lol

Edit: it’s also extra funny to me because I’m one of those people who knows I’ll never find my name in a memento section

James Bond finalists to screen-test for role this week – reports
Actors in the mix to play 007 in Denis Villeneuve’s installment include Callum Turner and Jack Lowden
The search for the next James Bond may finally be nearing its end: according to reports, a very select group of actors will screen-test to become the next British agent 007 this weekend.
According to the Hollywood Reporter and Variety, citing several sources, a group of actors reportedly including Callum Turner and Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden, will appear in front of cameras as the secret agent this weekend in London.
The tests supposedly include three elements: stunts, camera presence and dialogue. Reports vary that between three and five actors are finalists for the role, which was vacated by Daniel Craig after 2021’s No Time to Die. Despite speculation to the contrary, Sinners’ Jack O’Connell and Wuthering Heights star Jacob Elordi are not testing, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

During the time in the safehouse Moira suggests they eat together to "boost morale" multiple times and is shut down by everyone who keeps arguing.

But then when River arrives everyone does sit around him and eat. I like the idea that River is the unifying connection that brings Louisa, Shirley and the rest of them to eat together at the table

To learning of Coe's death was one of the best parts of the whole season.

We already know he cares about his Joes but seeing him visibly shaken if only for a second was really something.

He's someone who has seen, done and been through a lot and he's cauterised his emotions somewhat because of it but that small crack shows just how much he's holding in. I think being alone in the moment let him do that for himself.

He would laugh at and berate Shirley for the terrible advice she gives to Reece about pushing your emotions down but he couldn't say he hasn't done the same.

I'm trying to think of another example of a TV series going from great to magnificent in a SIXTH season. Or a season finale that so rapidly hit the viewer, alternately, with heartbreak, mayhem, and hilarity in such rapid headspinning shifts...that work. There was so much genius in this season that I don't want to single anything or anyone out, but I will. This season was a triumph for Jack Lowden.

And the last episode called “Judgment day”

Am I the only one lol

Interesting interview!

Just watched the Fifth Step and heard Lowden’s accent there and thought it was unnatural.. only to know that his natural accent IS scottish, that he is born and raised in Scottland, and that his brittish accent in Slow Horses was learned / fake 😭

This made me think he is indeed a good actor

If its any consolation niky you were really fucking good. Am only at the statt of s 3 though

Just as a reminder, series 5 took place from the morning of Friday 11 May 2018 through to the morning of Monday 14 May 2018.

As established below, the main action in series 6 takes place from Monday 4 February through to Wednesday 6 February 2019.

Series 6:

Episode 1:

The date of Struan Loy's death in the prologue is unknown as far I can tell.

[on edit: I missed that Flyte tells Lamb that Loy died "five days ago" - (timestamp c21:05) - so that means, depending on whether we are including the day of the murder or not, possibly Wednesday 30 January.]

Day one:

At episode timestamp c20:13, River gets his phone out. The date is Monday 4 February (so it must be 2019). The time is 10:14am

Episode 1 continues into Monday evening, and then we're into the day of Cartwright's funeral.

Day two:

We know this takes place on Tuesday 5 February because during the earlier scene in Taverner's office, reference is made to the funeral "tomorrow".

Episode 2

The episode starts just after the funeral on Tuesday 5th Feb. Harkness tells the former dog that he was at the funeral "this morning".

Later, after her TV interview, Taverner's phone shows the time: 16:07, and confirms the date to be 5 Feb.

The rest of the episode takes us further into Tuesday evening.

Episode 3:

Still day two, Tuesday evening. Louisa's meeting takes place quite late. It's hard to make out, but it looks like the meeting chair's watch seems to read either 9:15pm or 10:15pm.

When we next see River and Sid, the time on the PC reads 11:13pm:

Episode 4:

There are some times on display on the wall of the MI-5 control centre at timestamp at 21:44, but I can't make out the placenames.

Episode 5:

Day three

When the episode begins it's getting lighter, so we must be into the early hours of Wednesday morning, 6 February.

Episode 6:

Still day three, Wednesday 6 February, when the episode starts and up to the events at Taverner's holiday home.

After that, we lose track of time. It it is unclear when exactly Taverner's interview with the home secretary and the church visit take place. It seems like a couple of days later at least.

It's evening when River heads to his grandfather's house, date unknown.

After reading so many comments with surprisingly utterly wrong conclusions I think it’s better to clarify things for non book readers.

Correct me please if I’m wrong at some moments, although I rewatched and reread everything to be sure.

What happened to River?
River ends up NOT with a heart attack, stroke, panic attack etc.
He is poisoned with Novichok, Russian nerve agent that was briefly mentioned in S6E1 by Lady Di to Cantor, Judd and the others at MI5 HQ.

Was it Sid?
Sid has nothing to do with this. The nerve agent has been applied by Jim, Russian assassin, in S6E3 at River’s house on the crowbar he brought from his car. It’s a brief moment but it was in the recap for the last episode.

How much time has passed between aforementioned action and the poisoning itself and how did Novichok not expired yet? Approximately, 1-2 weeks. I’m not an expert in healing and abdominal gunshot wounds but Louisa needed enough time to came to the church. Also River’s hand is healed enough too but bruises and scratches are still there on his and Roddy’s faces so my suggestion it’s 1-1,5 weeks between these events at best.
Some types of Novichok are resistant for quick expiring and can be activated for weeks. As far as I understood especially oily types that River touched. We can see him rubbing his fingers and before losing consciousness he realizes what happened.

Why Sid is at his house, how long she’s been there and never touched the crowbar?
The message Catherine mentioned about River’s “neighbor” and the light indoors for 3 days is a code for River by Sid. There’re no neighbors. My guess she hasn’t been there for three several days and came right before River, we can see her in the window likely preparing for sleeping there for the first time and then she goes to the bathroom. That’s why she didn’t touch anything yet, including the crowbar. Anyways, it’s not her house and she’s not allowed to tidy things up there.

Why didn’t she just call him and where has she been?
I haven’t been thinking about it yet, tbh. Maybe it was done for romantic purposes, for cinematic, for safety. Many options. Where has she been, doing her business. She has enough things to be done without River.

Why he hasn’t been at house for so long if he lives there?
I think he doesn’t live there all the time, he stayed there before funerals, it’s a personal moment and preparations too. In general he lives in London as usual.

How much time does he have for a help? Will he survive? Will she be poisoned too as he touched lots of things? What happens to the house?
Spoiler: he survives and almost fully recovered in 9 book/8 season
If we listen carefully, water pouring stops a few seconds after he collapsed when we already see the black screen. That means she hasn’t been in the bathroom for a long time and finds him in a few minutes already unconscious as she’s been waiting for him that evening.
In the book she gets a little dose of Novichok too but not critical
In the book the house is demolished after all

When we get the answers if he survives?
In Bad Actors he’s still in coma and mentioned 3 times by the others. We don’t know for sure if he survives eventually. He appears in the following Christmas novella “Standing by the wall”, coming to the office to say hello. Lamb sends him back to Sid until his sick leave is over. He’s on sick leave for 6 months and fully comes back in Clown Town/S8. Will he be in S7? Really a question. If they follow the book then no, he’s only mentioned. Maybe they will add the novella. There’re rumors Jack had been on set for a short time before going to Berlin for filming Bernie Gunther series

That’s it I think

UPD: Why didn’t River wash off the odd substance immediately with water and would it help to reduce the dose?
Water doesn’t help with sticky oily stuff so he wiped it with everything he had on his way. But he could’ve used water and a scouring pad but didn’t do that in a rush.
Some articles say washing off can absolutely reduce the effect

UPD2: it’s 00:10 on his iphone, so she definitely will notice his car in the window before going to bed and find him downstairs

I’ve been watching and reading the discussions around this series for the last couple seasons and it seems like every season the issue of the errors that characters make arises. Some people would call it dumb writing or that they’ve lobotomized the characters. I’m not here to change that opinion, I get it. I’m just bothered by it less than others.

I do however feel like dwelling on the believability of the choices certain characters make has distracted from the point of the errors themselves. I see a lot of people (myself included) defend those errors through context in the show or through the idea that “all the slow horses are fuck ups of course they’d make mistakes”. I think those arguments miss the point as well.

I haven’t read the books so I can’t really comment on how true this is to them, but to me the incompetence isn’t just quarantined to slough house. Everyone in the show is incompetent in one way or another (except for like Lamb). Slow Horses as a show to me functions as a deep criticism/satire of bureaucracy and how in a post-imperial Britain, most of the threats facing the horses aren’t from foreign powers, they’re domestic. It’s usually Diana getting the horses caught up in a mess of her creation, or Judd’s political scheming. Usually a mix of both. The system is creating its own problems. I’d call that systematic incompetence. It’s just the horses are the only ones who get blamed for it.

I think this incompetence really comes through in the characters that work in the park. Duffy is a blood thirsty psycho who let his rage send him into a coma. Flyte was principled and honest but she also wasn’t built to handle the realities of the job. Anytime she found herself in combat her brain short circuited and got herself KO’ed or got shot and died. Whelan is a true proper moron who through politicking and bureaucracy magically waltzed to the top job despite not knowing a single thing about spy-craft. Diana is competent and smart but she also lets her ego and ambition get the best of her and it leads her to make mistakes that get people killed. Same with Tearney before her.

These are the people who the system rewards. These are the people the system promotes: Idiots and opportunists. It’s no surprise that the only people who do their job consistently well and are shown to get shit done are the ones who have largely disconnected their work from the bureaucracy of the park (Molly and Lamb/the horses). I think that by looking at this show as an ultra-realistic spy drama, people have missed the satire that functions as the base of the show.

I’ve often seen people refer to slow horses as “realistic” but I don’t think it’s realistic in a literal sense. I mean the park isn’t a real thing and neither is slough house but the way these structures function are very real. The way idiots and opportunists are upheld by systems of power is very real. The petty squabbles of people in power do send the people below them into danger and death. That’s the realest shit in the world.

I just think the discussion around the show has gone down an unproductive left turn into the world of believability and credulity and nitpick-y plot hole hunting. I completely understand the frustrations. I’ve had issues this season with some choices as well. I just think all these complaints stem from a refusal to engage with the larger themes and concepts of the show. This is a show about idiots who do stupid things. At all levels. It’s not competency porn, I’d argue it’s effectively the opposite. If that isn’t your thing I one hundred percent understand but the errors and mistakes are encoded into the DNA of this show.

Would love to hear any other thoughts on this. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot these last few weeks on here.

I’ve devoured all 9 books in the span of a month, a bit like the cookie monster given a plate of cookies *(bookies). Faced with the long wait for book 10/ series 7, I’m seeking recommendations from my fellow horses fans for similar book series to distract myself from reality in the meantime. Previously I mainly have been a fan of fantasy so new to the crime/spy genre :)

**edit: cheers to everyone for the recs so far, I’ve got a sizeable reading list forming already!