[lock her up for sixty days, change her hair, change her name]
It's always so painful to think that Catherine, until the very end, considered Charles a hero and her savior. That Catherine, so clever, so good at seeing people, refused to believe until the very end that everything she knew was a lie. Just because Charles was the first person who she thought had treated her like a living being. And she was ready to give him her eternal devotion for that. And grieved for him even when she learned the truth.
I’ve had a thought about Catherine and Jackson and Charles Partner after watching the Season 5 finale and I need to post about it or I’ll lose it.
Below you will find spoilers for the Slow Horses Season 5 finale, London Rules (Book 5) and my theory about what’s happening in that funeral scene in the teaser for Season 6, so please don’t read any further if you want to remain spoiler-free:
*
*
*
*
*
SO.
I was right. Diana is the one to tell Catherine that Jackson killed Charles Partner. I formed this theory after Gary appeared on a podcast where he mentioned her finding out at the end of book five and said “I won’t tell you who tells her”. It could only really be one other person, and I was therefore waiting for it at the end of season five…
…but it never came, and I’ve been crashing out about it with @catherinestandishstits ever since. We’ve gone through the five stages of grief and cursed the writers for the last 3+ hours really, and hoped and prayed that that whole reveal and whatever subsequent fallout comes as a result (I haven’t read book 5 or book 6 yet, I only know that she starts buying alcohol again and that there are some scenes coming with Lamb that will probably end me but I don’t know anything else!!) isn’t completely left out.
And then I rewatched the Season 6 teaser, and focused in on the funeral scene and why my shayla is falling over, and a thought struck me. Bear with me. I’m freaking out and I’ve made extra slow gifs to illustrate my delusions point.
Lamb and Catherine approaching Taverner at what is, presumably, David Cartwright’s funeral. Which would, presumably, be very well attended by many former and current members of MI5 who knew David. And Charles Partner. And Catherine, when she worked for him, and when she was an alcoholic.
This part of the trailer has Lamb’s saying ‘we’re running out of time’ and Taverner saying ‘what?’ and then him saying ‘it’s a bloodbath’, but I’m not sure exactly how much of that is from this scene. Looking at Diana here, she does say what. She then looks to her left, where Catherine is presumably standing. She might’ve just said something to her. I don’t know. But, if this is David’s funeral, and everyone is talking about him, maybe they’re also talking about Charles. Maybe, given this is the first time they’ll have properly seen each other (minus that glare in S5) since Catherine came back after leaving at the end of S3, Taverner can’t resist saying she’s surprised she came back, or some other cutting remark. And maybe, at this service funeral, she can’t resist saying something about Catherine going back to Slough House after finding out about Charles.
My shaylaaaa 🥺 Here, she looks from Jackson to Diana, as if one or the other has just said something and she’s struggling to believe what she’s just heard. If you squint, you can see Jackson looks deadly serious, and Diana is smiling, maybe even laughing? Echoes of ‘That is not a can of worms you want to open’ from S1 when she mentions secrets coming out on that park bench. But focus on Catherine again. She looks shocked, a little confused, possibly like she’s trying to comprehend what she’s just heard. And she’s backing away from them, maybe as a natural reaction, and then she stumbles :(
And she falls over :( and everyone reacts :(
Everyone, like I said, who is presumably service and presumably remembers her being an alcoholic, is now looking at her years later falling over at the funeral of one of the service legends, and probably wondering if she’s sober, and that’s going to really really stick with her. Lamb barely reacts. Is Diana smiling?
More reaction. Once again, Lamb barely moves. Maybe he can’t believe what’s just happened? Like a weight just dropped. Maybe he’s realising that Catherine now knows what he did and his body just doesn’t know what to do or how to respond to that, let alone her falling over in front of him. Diana looks… almost gleeful. It’s kinda shock, but it’s the kind of gasp that would precede a laugh, or a joke about Catherine’s drinking/falling off the wagon. She looks from where Catherine is, back to Jackson. She’s definitely about to say something. Could it be ‘Oh, you never told her?’
So yeah. In conclusion
BECAUSE
If the writers don’t address it and cut it out of Catherine’s whole arc, then I’ll be fuming.
If the writers DO address it, whatever way they do it, my shayla is going to be sad and (if they’re following the books, which they’re NOT) start buying alcohol again and (seeing as they’re NOT following the books) potentially drink it :(
My brain has fully locked into this being exactly what’s going on in this scene and if it’s not I’m going to combust.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for coming to my delusional ramblings Ted talk.
Season 4 is sooooooooo fascinating for Jackson Lamb character analysis bc it’s just like ok. You hate the guy who made you do vile things to people you liked even though they did some pretty awful things too and to other people you care about now (that maybe you didn’t as much back in the day… but you *did* at least respect their good heart and dedication and judgement even though they were a bit naïve about some things like that’s such a rare thing to have in your line of work that you actively uphold the pretense they have for years). And you spend decades beating yourself up and letting yourself go and run yourself into the ground just hoping you’ll die faster so it can just all be over and the guilt can’t kill you, all the while being forced to still be the Top Agent There Ever Was because the motherfucker’s GRANDSON is such a wannabe and you kindof hate him too for it. But then? The motherfucker just forgets. Keeps forgetting. Going back to old places and old faces that are no longer there, dead wives, buried secrets, and it’s double edged because you’re angry that *he* gets to forget it all and live in the good pieces of his life and not remember you or the terrible things you did but YOU DON’T GET TO FORGET!!!! No matter how much you drink and smoke and shit yourself trying to shovel yourself into an early (ish) grave. But on the other hand… oh god that’s where your train is going to stop too isn’t it? You’ve had a terrible time of trying to run out the clock and what’s worse now is that you care. You care a LOT especially about this guy’s grandson who you hate but he’s YOUR JOE NONETHELESS!!!! And he can’t remember him!!!! And now come to find that actually of all the defacto father figures he could have had even though you’re a miserable fuck you’re actually the best because! It could have been that this kid could have been raised as a child soldier by this fucking maniac who does not see failure as an option and whose kids he did raise know nothing but violence as a result but you!!! You’re the king of fuck-ups and losers! And he’s a loser! And thank god he’s a loser because that keeps him safe and makes him a good kid even though it makes him overzealous at times but god damnit!!! And the guy you hate who is losing his mind to time is just forgetting all of that!!! And he protected him from that!!! But he’s fucking gone!!! And now YOU have to protect him from that!!! And the best you have after learning all of this at the end of the fucking day is letting him sit at the bar with you for a drink which he will pay for his own goddamn self in complete silence because there are no words for how you’re all he has now. What a beautiful day to be Jackson Fucking Lamb at MI-Fucking Useless!
+I hadn’t made the connection between Lamb’s specific; ‘Joe shot in the face in the bathroom because of David Cartwright’ trauma before reading this fantastic fic, so full credit to the author for inspiring this set!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
