Slow Horses Season 6 Shocks Fans With Sidonie Baker’s Return in Episode 2 “Daddy Issues

Apple TV+ has delivered one of the most talked-about moments of Slow Horses Season 6, as Olivia Cooke’s Sidonie Baker makes a dramatic reappearance in the season’s second installment, “Daddy Issues,” now streaming on the platform. The short-lived “slow horse” — who appeared in just three episodes of the original Season 1 — surfaces with a cryptic “hello, River” line just before the end credits roll, reigniting a web of unanswered questions about how she survived, why she has been living in hiding, and what her role in the season’s central conspiracy might be. The twist, however, was not entirely a surprise, as the show’s own promotional trailer had already tipped off viewers to the character’s return.

While the reveal may have been telegraphed, the impact of Baker’s comeback is undeniable for a fanbase that has grown to love the enigmatic figure. Baker’s return adds a final flourish to an episode that was already gripping, and it raises a host of narrative questions: How is she alive? Why has she been in hiding? Why was she playing the spoof-call “triangulation” game with River? And what is she doing in the house of his late grandfather? The most pressing question, though, remains why Apple TV+ chose to spoil the return in the trailer in the first place.

A Beloved Character Returns, Even If It Wasn’t a Surprise

It is tough not to imagine how much more of an impact Sid’s return would have had if it had been saved for a jaw-dropping tag at the very last second of the episode. Regardless, it is a welcome comeback for a beloved character, despite her only appearing in literally three episodes of Season 1. As one slow horse enters the picture, another one leaves — poor Moira (Joanna Scanlan) was crossed off the list of the mysterious killers, played by Kyle Soller and MyAnna Buring.

Moira may have escaped Slough House, but the asterisk on her file would never be deleted. Though viewers still know very little about who this duo is and why they are taking out agents who might as well be dead to the Park, something is obviously off. “Seems too easy,” says Buring’s character. “Are you sure we have the right list?” At least now Coe (Tom Brooke) and Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), in their unlikely yet effective team-up, have picked up the pair’s scent after investigating the house boat of their dead colleague.

As One Slow Horse Enters, Another Leaves

Even though viewers are supposed to hate this horse-murdering pair, their brief characterization across these two episodes has done a lot to up their intrigue points — details like Buring being picky about the goopy soup she’d burn on Moira’s stovetop to cover up the murder, and Soller holding Moira’s limp hand as he clicks through TV channels. This entire episode is packed with moments like that, from Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) barking at River to River mimicking shooting a projectile in the back of Roddy’s (Christopher Chung) head, and Roddy talking about how bitcoin is about to “pop off.” Lamb teasing the Park archivist, Molly (Naomi Wirthner), about her slay-queen, glam-rock outfit is perhaps the most memorable.

Actually, this episode was especially stuffed with zesty Lambisms. Taking these extra beats to add a punchline to deeply serious situations is part of the Slow Horses appeal, and Season 6 has again demonstrated that this is the house style — not something that left with show creator Will Smith after Season 5.

“Seems too easy. Are you sure we have the right list?”

MyAnna Buring’s character, Slow Horses Season 6

Speaking of deeply serious: viewers now know that River’s dad Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving) is maybe at least somewhat involved with the Slough House erasure at the Park, commissioning — and then killing — the Dog who nabbed those files from the records archive. He has left a witness, presumed to be a kid, to the murder and has the go-ahead to take care of it. Meanwhile, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) is not having the best time as First Chair now that she knows where the money she accepted from Peter Judd (Samuel West) came from and was blackmailed into a sit-down TV interview with the “very slightly right-leaning,” as Judd undersells it, news outlet Talkpoint.

Looking Ahead

“Daddy Issues” is yet another Slow Horses episode that makes spinning a bunch of carefully managed plates look easy. But with Season 6 already two episodes in, all of these blank spots need to be filled in so that this web of intrigue doesn’t end in a jumbled mess. As the season progresses, the show promises to keep digging into its many mysteries, characteristically punctuating its high-stakes moments with punchlines. For now, fans can stream the full Season 6 on Apple TV+, where the return of Sidonie Baker and the death of Moira set the stage for the battles to come.