SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Season 6 of “Slow Horses,” now streaming on Apple TV.
“Slow Horses” Season 6 ended with plenty of bangs and groans, as a key character appeared to take his last breath.
First, the death toll: Over the course of the season, the Slough House team, led by Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, lost the psychotic but endearing Coe (played by Tom Brooke) and the honorable Slow Horse Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley), while many of their enemies also met a difficult end, including two Russian assassins and a few British workers who ended up on the same job.
Season 6 also saw the return of Olivia Cooke’s character Sid Baker, presumed dead after season 1 (even though fans of the book had long awaited his return), and the blossoming of his romantic relationship with River Cartwright (Jack Lowden).
But given that “Slow Horses” has yet to feature a functioning romantic relationship beyond Lamb’s love of fast food, viewers knew not to expect Baker and Cartwright to have a night of passion much less a happy ending. As told by Season 6 director Adam Randall Variety Below, the actors shot a happier ending for the couple, which ultimately wasn’t used.
Instead, Cartwright returns to his deceased grandfather, delighted to see that Baker has managed to escape both Russian assassins and MI5’s own rabid dogs. While Baker showers upstairs, Cartwright fusses in the kitchen, debating whether it is better to woo her with tea or wine, before suddenly collapsing, having been poisoned. The episode ends with him on the ground, struggling to breathe.
A teaser for the already-completed season 7, in which Lamb refers to Cartwright as sending a postcard from “the afterlife”, fueled rumors that Cartwright had been killed off, especially with Lowden reportedly in the running for the next James Bond. But as fans of Mick Herron’s book series now know, things are rarely what they seem when Slough House is involved.
To break down the explosive final episode, director Adam Randall, who also returns to direct season 8, spoke with Variety to talk spoilers, rumors and more.
What was it like filming those climactic scenes on the beach?
It was difficult. Trying to make sense of the geography on screen was the main thing. This all sounds great on paper, and you’ll never be able to find a place that fits and makes sense like someone’s imagination can. So we had to rewrite the sequence depending on the location. But even then, you get there, and you’re still like, “Well, I don’t understand, because Frank would surely see them there, and why are they hiding in a pipe over there?” And there are all kinds of complications that come with that.
So there’s a lot of these issues that were fixed through a lot of different tricks and then some visual effects. We ended up having to put in cliffs and add a lot of tall grass and things like that, because I just had to figure out why they weren’t running away. Why doesn’t anyone actually escape? Why are they stuck there? And actually, Moira falling off that hill and ending up with a sprained ankle, either that morning or the day before, (we) suddenly thought about that, thinking, “I really need to slow them down.”
To slow down the Slow Horses even more…
Exactly.
There were some really nice scenes with the camera filming inside the pipe overlooking the beach. How did you get the cameras in there?
We created this pipe, so that was another little trick. You’re very, very limited in how you can shoot inside that pipe, because you can only really shoot in and out of it. It’s very difficult to make a cover in there. The other thing is that the sun is constantly moving, obviously. So when you look out, the way the light hits the beach in front and the way the light hits the pipe changes so dramatically that it really forces how you’re going to shoot it and when you can shoot it.
Was Diana Taverner’s (Kristin Scott Thomas) house real or was it a set that you trashed?
It’s a real house. We spent so much time trying to find this house because not only did we need a house, but we also needed the whole environment around it. So we looked all over the country for this house and then we did a lot of work on the house. We changed a lot of interiors. We brought all our own furniture. We obviously replaced the glass so we could break it.
This may not have been the wisest hiding place for the Slow Horses, considering the number of windows it has.
It always felt like Lamb was getting revenge for everything she’d done to send them there, put the Slow Horses there. As for the glass, it was partly about finding a good location, and partly about how cinematic we could make it. I remember getting there the first time, and as I was watching it, I loved that kind of dollhouse (look), because you put all these characters in there, and a lot of our experience in that house is just watching the Slow Horses tear each other apart before anything happens. You know, there’s a version of this story where no one comes, where no bullets are fired, and they kill each other anyway because they’re all so frustrated with each other, and so I really like that.
It was just a great place for a setting. Sometimes it’s kind of the logic versus the cinematic side and it’s a struggle.
One of my favorite scenes this season was the scene at Shake Shack, where Lamb and Reece (Lenny Rush) manage to escape from Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving) by accusing him of being a child molester. What was it like filming?
This was actually one of the most difficult sequences to film, because it had to create such a sense of chaos that it was completely understood that Lamb and Reece could just get out of there. And that was based not only on Gary being brilliant and kicking things off, (but) then it was “OK, well, we need more chaos.” I remember talking to Lenny and saying, “Why don’t you shout certain things?”
Luckily, that day, a couple of our writers were there, Mark (Denton) and Jonny (Stockwood), and I asked them to write a list of pedophile slurs, and I gave them all to Lenny, and I said, “Pick your favorites,” and he was launching into those. And then the SAs (supporting artists) who were eating at the restaurant, they were just amazing. Gary would approach them and shout in their faces, and they would all shout back. So it was just kind of a slow ramp. You had this beautiful, long dialogue scene with two incredible actors, very calm, and then it was like, how high can we turn this up? How much chaos can we cause?
Another notable scene this season was Coe’s death. There was some discussion about why he would go solo armed with just a knife to confront a Russian agent (Kyle Soller). Have you considered other ways to kill him?
I don’t know if there were other options. In the original book, which is in a completely different location, he has a conversation with one of the hitmen, and then they have a knife fight. It’s very similar that way. There was never a question about “Why would (Coe) follow him?” » Because I think it’s a brave thing to do. He will try to stop this bad guy who is relentlessly stalking them. But I love Coe, and the hardest part was that now the show wouldn’t put Coe in it, which seems like a shame. I think in season 8 – I wish Coe was there, because he’s such an interesting and unique character. I had so much fun with Tom.
When Coe and I were arguing, I had this thought: “Would it be interesting to intercut this with Jack eating a sandwich very slowly?” » It seemed like a rather “Slow Horses” way of doing it. So rather than doing the “Mission Impossible” kind of toilet fight, (while) most of the fight is going on, you’re actually with River trying to open a packet of sandwich and a packet of chips. So the editing did all those things, but still tried to make sure Coe got the ending he deserves, and I’m really proud of that. Tom was really emotional watching it and he was really happy. A lot of the little gems that come out of it come from Tom. The smile when Jim said, “Is that a push knife?” And I think the plan was for Coe to die in the toilet, and Tom was like, “Please don’t let me die in the toilet, please.” » So it was like, “OK, fine, we’ll find somewhere else for you.”
There was also discussion about the scene in the church, where the surviving Slow Horses bring a drink to Coe and not Flyte or their other deceased colleagues, and then Lamb takes a longer drink. Was Lamb’s a subliminal reference to Flyte or are fans reading too much into this?
Originally in the storyline, they made a drink for each fallen horse, and this continued for centuries. In fact, we didn’t even film it. We got there and it was like, “What, Lamb’s going to have like eight shots?” It was just a bit ridiculous. And then we said it’s not about naming any of them. It’s about: It’s a drink, and it was actually in post-production where I felt like Shirley should say “For Coe,” because she had built this relationship with Coe. But they don’t specify “this one is for Coe”, they do it for everyone who fell. I mean, that’s what they say (in the scene). And then Lamb obviously experienced more of that than the others. He saw a lot of death and loved whiskey a lot.
But Flyte’s death was also horrible, because he’s such a great character, and Ruth is so brilliant…
Gn entert
