Slow Horses Head Writer Explains That Big Character Death In Season 6, Episode 4 [Exclusive]

This article contains spoilers for "Slow Horses" Season 6, Episode 4, "Lost and Found."

Though there's secretly some heart beneath the gruff exterior of some of its characters, "Slow Horses" has never been a sentimental show — especially when it comes to bumping off its characters. Killing supporting cast members is something the Apple TV plus series does better than arguably any other spy show, and in fact, a major plotline in Season 6 centers on a mysterious pair of assassins who are systematically murdering former agents of Slough House. (RIP Struan Loy, you goofy idiot.) But now another one has bitten the dust in "Lost in Found," and it's a death that hits a little closer to home: J.K. Coe (Tom Brooke), the quiet, eccentric, Slow Horse suffering from PTSD, has met a brutal end — in a bowling alley bathroom, of all places. 

I recently spoke with Gaby Chiappe, who took over as the head writer following previous head writer Will Smith's exit, about the unexpected location. "It's quite British," Chiappe told me of the bowling alley that serves as the centerpiece for the action of the episode. "It does not feel like an American bowling alley. It's got that slightly Slow Horses-y sense of failure about it as a bowling alley, the staff. But it's also, there's places to run, places to hide, places to attack from. It just feels like a really exciting environment."

I also spoke with her about Coe's death scene, and she revealed her hopes for how viewers feel about it.

"Slow Horses" has a bit of a "Mission: Impossible" moment in this episode when Coe and Jim face off, recalling the brutal hand-to-hand bathroom fight in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." Naturally, though, things aren't quite as slick in the "Slow Horses" world ... and they certainly don't end as well for our hero as they did for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, who at least managed to escape with his life. As Gaby Chiappe explained:

"That scene between Coe and the character that we call Jim — though I'm not sure that he's ever given a name in dialogue — but that scene in the bathroom before they fight to the death, I find so moving and so beautiful, so beautifully played by both of them. There's no real animosity there. There's no judgment. They both know what they have to do. They know that this is a fight to the death, and they sort of show interest in each other and a little bit of camaraderie. I find the whole thing very, very moving. [...] I think I was hoping that [Coe] would make it and then you come in, River finds him, and he really hasn't. But I think he's such an interesting character and he's so brilliantly played by Tom. I hope that death will count for people. I think it will."

The death certainly counted for me. I've grown fond of Coe over the past couple of seasons because I greatly enjoyed the mixture of competence and potential sociopathy that he brought to Slough House. The best spy show on TV continues to be merciless when necessary, and with momentum building, I can't wait to see what happens in the final two episodes of the season.

"Slow Horses" is streaming on Apple TV.