Do The Slow Horses Stop Tara’s Team? What Does Lamb’s Final Foot Scene Mean?

The penultimate episode of Slow Horses Season 5 ends with one of the series’ most exciting twists and a BIG mess for Slough House’s finest misfit MI5 agents to clean up in the finale.

After Tara (Hiba Bennani) escapes custody, blinds First Desk, and helps her team hack MI5’s systems, Season 5, Episode 6, “Scars,” sees the Slow Horses racing to stop the bad guys from carrying out the final step in their mission: a mass killing at a place of worship.

Written by Will Smith and directed by Saul Metzstein, the Season 5 finale closes the London Rules chapter of the story and tees up Season 6’s adaptation of Joe Country and Slough House. But first, Claude Whelan (James Callis) gets his comeuppance, River (Jack Lowden) learns his grandfather (Jonathan Pryce) still has a few tricks up his sleeve, and Lamb (Gary Oldman) reveals more of his soft side — and his haunting past.

Looking for a detailed Slow Horses Season 5 finale recap? Decider’s Slow Horses Season 5 ending explained article has you covered. We’re breaking down the biggest moments in Season 5, Episode 6. Just be warned, massive finale spoilers lie ahead, so read on at your own risk!

Slow Horses Season 5 Ending Explained: Slow Horses Season 5, Episode 6 Recap

As Whelan spirals over the realization that Tara played him just like Ho (Christopher Chung), an hour-long countdown appears on MI5 screens and he gets a call from the Libyan Ambassador, who’s held at gunpoint by Tara. She hops on the phone, embarrasses him some more, and asks for Diana (Kristin Scott Thomas) before revealing her demands: safe passage out of the country, £100m in a Cayman Islands trust, and everything kept under wraps. If the demands aren’t met? The group attacks a place of worship on Sunday morning in London.

Taverner — as always — takes charge and phones Lamb, who fell asleep at Molly’s house reading Whelan’s MI5 file. With over 5,000 potential targets in London, Lamb advises MI5 to pay the fee. When Whelan refuses, Taverner puts her own plan into motion. Despite the long list of targets, Lamb tells the Slow Horses there’s only one place of worship that would occur to a complete and utter psychopath. Naturally, J.K. Coe (Tom Brooke) catches on immediately! They’re planning a second Abbotsfield at Abbotsfield, where Mayor Zafar Jaffrey (Nick Mohammed) is set to commemorate lives lost with community members.

As Taverner prepares to pay Tara, she makes a jaw-dropping discovery about their offshore Cayman Islands group: Former Home Secretary Peter Judd (Samuel West) is the treasurer. After Tara promises the attack will be called off, Taverner authorizes the transfer, but when Tara calls her team to deliver the good news, the group’s leader refuses to call off the attack and everyone’s plans spiral. Tara realizes she’s on her own, and a fed-up member of the trio in the field breaks free from the group, leaving just two men to attack Abbotsfield. Lamb correctly assumes there’s no way Tara is running the show, her men aren’t coming back, and she was never in control. So he sends Standish (Saskia Reeves) in to lure Tara out, predicts her escape route, and catches her before MI5 does…again! As he turns her over to the Park, he screams some encouraging words: “I’d take prison any day over dating Roddy Ho!” Iconic.

Before the gunmen arrive, River, Coe, and Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) clear out most of Abbotsfield. But Mayor Jaffrey refuses to believe there’s a credible security threat — especially after Whelan claims there won’t be an attack because they paid the group off. Ugh! As always, Lamb and the Slow Horses are one step ahead of MI5, and bullets start flying as the Slough House trio works together to protect themselves and a rattled Jaffrey. After another impressive action sequence, out-of-the-box thinking and Coe’s tiny knife from earlier in the season save the day. Or so we think…

With everything seemingly back on track, River finally visits his grandfather, who he spent the season ignoring while struggling to accept his mental decline. Lamb reminds River that David Cartwright was one of MI5’s sharpest minds, and though River is reluctant to take advice from his granddad this season, in the end, he proves he still has crucial skills to share. During River’s visit, David recalls the unwritten rule of destabilization: “If ever we were dealing with some really tricky buggers, we’d hit them when they thought it was over. That’s what we call a sting in the tail to let them know who’s boss.” River thinks back to Shirley’s original photo of Roddy’s hitman, which showed three pairs of boots, AKA four men, including the driver. And since they only caught three, he realizes the attacks aren’t over!

Lamb knows that part of Tara’s mission in dating Ho involved her getting MI5’s file on Whelan, so River races to find the MI5 head, who’s jogging in the park. After killing Whelan’s driver, the final member of the terror group targets First Desk, and River barely gets to them in time. A shaken-up Whelan hugs the Slow Horse in immense gratitude, and River thinks maybe, just maybe, he earned his ticket out of Slough House. Only first, he has to run it by Lamb…

“You don’t want me here, and I don’t want to be here. Suits us both!” River explains. “I shouldn’t be in Slough House, because I’m really fucking good and you know that.” Lamb does know River’s worth, which is why — despite putting on a brave face — he’s visibly disappointed over the idea of him leaving the team. He doesn’t want to hold him back, rather he knows he has a lot to learn at Slough House and won’t have to play by MI5’s rules, which would likely be a rude awakening. Still, he tells River that he’ll ask Whelan, who’s waiting in Lamb’s office, about a transfer if it comes up. River wastes no time whipping out his phone and calling Louisa to leave a voicemail: “Hey, it’s me. I know I’m supposed to be giving you space or whatever, but I actually don’t have anyone else to call. Cause it looks like I’m leaving Slough House, too.”

Shortly after Lamb meets Whelan in his office, the First Desk announces he’s shutting Slough House down and cutting the team, except River, who deserves a second chance. But don’t start crying about River’s departure, just yet! When Lamb asks if Whelan and Judd teamed up to blame Slough House and save their own asses, Whelan replies, “checkmate,” so Lamb whips Gimball’s recorder out and starts playing damning audio of Whelan blackmailing him hours before he was killed. As expected, a mortified Whelan says, “I was probably a tad premature when I said checkmate.” He agrees to leave Slough House alone, rehire Molly Doran, and reinstate Ho. In the spirit of “London Rules,” aka “cover your arse,” Lamb threatens to release the recording unless Whelan takes full accountability for his actions, so at long last, Taverner is First Desk, and Season 5 ends with a phone call between her and Lamb, plus a subtle, albeit major reveal.

During their call, much to Lamb’s delight, Taverner says she’s not taking River back to MI5. As the two chat, Lamb tapes up a worn pair of socks, with one bare foot propped on his table. In Season 5’s final scene, we see that the bottom of Lamb’s foot is brutally burned, scarred, and scaled; proof that he was, in fact, the tortured Spook he described in his Episode 3 story. In case you need a refresher, here’s the tale Lamb told as a distraction tool:

“Berlin was the ultimate lockdown. Spooks Zoo, they called it. No one ever escaped. I was a baby-sitter for fuck-ups, much like I am now. Except I had some charm and charisma, and overall sex appeal. The Stasi were the real deal, fucking monsters. Loved to torture people. Took pride in it. They had no rules, no conscience, no compassion. They picked up a Joe of mine, brought him in. To be honest with you, I think I’d rather be crucified than have to go through what he went through… They could turn anything into a weapon. Eastern Block budgets didn’t stretch to blow torches, so they made their own. They got an aerosol can and a lighter, and they burned all the skin off the soles of his feet, and then made him stand for days, made him piss into a bottle, then they’d pour it in his mouth, and if he didn’t swallow it, they’d beat him around the head with it. After three days, he’s on the brink of death, and the Stasis can see that that his body would give up before his resolve does. They’d have killed him, but then they wouldn’t have got what they wanted, which was a name in the poor bastard’s battered head. So they found his only weakness. He had met a woman. Local. It had gotten serious. Maybe not love, but the closest thing a Spook can come to it. It’s a fucking lonely life. Sometimes you just grasp at any spark of perfection. So I couldn’t blame him. They were shacking up together in a safe house. Got sloppy. Anyway, they brought her in and they worked her over in the same room as him so he could see it. But even then, he didn’t break. He refused to give them anything, even while they burnt all the skin off of that beautiful face he loved so much, even when they beat her in the stomach with a fire extinguisher, even when she screamed [“I’m pregnant.”] He begged them to stop hurting her. He pleaded with them, but he still wouldn’t give them the name. And it was only when the screams stopped, and the woman and the baby — their baby — were dead, the Stasi realized the only reason he wouldn’t give them the name was because he didn’t know the fucking name. Never had. And he was free to go…”

The literal scars in the Season 5 finale, aptly titled “Scars,” offer a rare peek into Lamb’s past and a window into why he is who he is today. He lost the closest thing he had to love and his child…all for the job. And though he hates to admit it and definitely tried to fight it, he’s allowed himself to get close to — and in my opinion, genuinely love — his fellow Slow Horses. So here’s hoping we keep exploring Lamb’s past and the team’s dynamics in Season 6.

Slow Horses Season 5 is now streaming on Apple TV.