Up until Slow Horses season 5, the British spy show had shown MI5 boss Claude Whelan as an incompetent bureaucrat, who often gets outmaneuvered by his subordinates, but that changes in a hilarious, high-stakes confrontation in episode 4.
Released today – October 15 – on Apple TV, the latest chapter sees the spy boss take the gloves off – and his shoes, literally – as he challenges Dodie Gimball, a ruthless journalist who's been blackmailing him since the first episode.
As the wife of David Gimball, a right-wing politician running for Mayor of London, Dodie's clash with the new First Desk of MI5 takes the spotlight from the fourth episode's main storyline of this season, which was adapted from the pages of Mick Herron’s ‘London Rules’ novel.
Titled 'Missiles', the episode marks a turning point for Claude, who rarely takes charge of situations. This new arc gives the character a chance to show that he might (almost) be able to fill the big shoes of MI5 leadership.
It's a change of pace that James Callis (Battlestar Galactica; Castlevania), who plays Claude, says is part of his character's storyline in this installment. "In this season, it’s like, no, I’m in charge now – let me give it a little spin of the wheel,” he told TechRadar.
What happens in Slow Horses season 5 episode 4?
Spoilers follow for Slow Horses season 5 episode 4.
With six episodes in Season 5, Episode 4 is just past the halfway point, but it shows no signs of slowing down.
The first three chapters have seen London in crisis following a violent public shooting and a bomb detonating at London Zoo. With the help of the exiled 'Slow Horses', MI5's top agents, who are known as 'Dogs', are on the hunt for the terrorists, which they're beginning to think are also connected to Roddy Ho's mysterious new girlfriend.
At the same time, Claude has been juggling a crisis of his own. In the first episode of season 5, we see him meet David Gimball with his opposing candidate, Zafar Jaffrey, at an electoral campaign meeting to tell them to increase security amid the heightened threats to the city.
It's here that Whelan first meets Dodie, who immediately makes it clear that she has dirt on him. In the remaining two episodes, the dynamic between the two escalates when she requests that another journalist threaten to file a column with pictures of Claude cheating on his wife.
This all brings us to episode 4, where Claude pulls up his socks and decides to take matters into his own hands by confronting Dodie Gimball at her house with some intel of his own. But when he walks into the living room expecting to see Dodie on the back foot, Claude finds himself on the defensive.
In a subtle display of dominance, Dodie forces Claude to remove his shoes, revealing a pair of socks covered in tiny purple seahorses, but this does not deter him. Even after seeing Dodie and David still wearing their shoes, Claude still manages to turn the tables around by exposing that she once got her Marxist boyfriend kicked out of university and that he is the son of illegal immigrants.
The scene marks a huge shift from what we've seen of Claude's character so far, but does that mean he'll be able to step up to save the city from the next imminent attack? Fans will have to wait and see.
Let's just hope that Claude does it with the same style that we've seen so far because it's this light humor that's a key part of the show's charm. Like Callis says: "We’re not always laughing with the Slow Horses, we’re laughing at the Slow Horses… and certainly we have fun at Claude not being so comfortable."
The fourth episode of Slow Horses season 5 is streaming now on Apple TV.
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