Slow Horses Head Writer Talks About Season 6's Cliffhanger Ending [exclusive]

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This article contains spoilers for "Slow Horses" Season 6, Episode 6, "Judgement Day."

I watch a lot of movies and TV shows as part of my job, so consider myself a somewhat sophisticated member of the viewing public. But I have a confession to make: I didn't immediately understand the ending of "Slow Horses" Season 6 when it happened. 

When River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) takes that tumble in his grandfather's kitchen and then the episode just ... ends, I thought the show was taking a big swing to conclude on such a mysterious note without giving the audience the necessary information to piece together what happened. But I was plagued by a nagging feeling that I'd missed something, and after scanning back through an episode earlier in the season, it quickly became clear exactly what happened to River. The writers had made the decision to trust that its viewers would get it, and because I'm so used to watching things that don't put that level of trust in the audience's hands, their decision caught me off guard.

So when I caught up with the show's new head writer, Gaby Chiappe, who took over for previous head writer Will Smith for Season 6, I had to ask her about how she and her team arrived at that choice. It turns out they discussed a very different approach to those final moments, but ultimately stuck with a path that aligned with author Mick Herron's novels on which this season is based.

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Talk about a bait and switch. After lots of death and carnage, the "Slow Horses" Season 6 finale seems to be heading toward a storybook ending as River deduces that Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke) is waiting for him at his grandfather's house, and the two are poised to consummate their brewing romance. But things take a very different turn when he touches a crowbar that was poisoned by Kyle Soller's "Jim" character much earlier in the season. I asked head writer Gaby Chiappe if she had any conversations about including a flashback to that previous moment to help clarify the situation:

"We talked about it, definitely talked about it a lot, and how to make it land kind of as it does in the novel, because that is the end of 'Slough House.' Again, the breadcrumb trail back to the Novichok, I guess, is laid very lightly. So you're so shocked by what you are reading anyway, and then you're thinking, 'Wait, how did that ... oh no, no, I see. It's the...' — in the book, it's a doorknob, but it's the crowbar in [the show]. I think a lot of care went into that, and I think it's kind of ... [director] Adam [Randall] has calibrated that just right. So you do think, 'Wait a minute, what's happening?' And then think, 'Oh.' Yeah, I think people will be going back to just double-check that that was what they think it was."

I feel slightly foolish because I didn't immediately pick up on the connection Chaippe was hoping I'd make as a viewer. Still, the fact that the show didn't hold the audience's hand makes me appreciate it even more. It's rare that TV shows give their viewers this much credit, and I applaud any approach that values our interest rather than one that rewards the impulse to barely pay attention while second-screening something.

"Slow Horses" is streaming on Apple TV.