A Stranger Comes to Town

The episode returns to David’s house and reveals the missing part of the previous night. The real River arrives after the shooting and finds his grandfather frightened beside a dead stranger. David had realised that his visitor was an impostor when the man used an unfamiliar form of address. River searches the body and finds items supporting an attempted murder: sedatives, travel documents and a receipt pointing towards France. The resemblance has been deliberately exploited, and David’s response has prevented the intruder completing his plan.

David has triggered the alarm, leaving little time before the Service arrives. River substitutes his own possessions for the dead man’s and damages the face with another shot. He takes David to Catherine before following the stranger’s French trail under the name Adam Lockhead. Lamb recognises what River has done. His conversation with Catherine confirms the refuge, but questioning David produces no straightforward account of the past. The old man’s confusion protects secrets without providing Lamb with a reliable way to separate genuine memory loss from avoidance.

At the Park, Giti Rahman finds that Robert Winters is connected to an identity created by MI5. Taverner immediately treats the discovery as something to control rather than celebrate. She denies the significance of Giti’s finding and has records removed. Whelan wants openness when she tells him about the identity, only to learn that he has already signed paperwork implicating him in the response. Their discussion on a bus reverses the power implied by their job titles. Taverner has prepared a decision; Whelan discovers that his signature helped authorise it.

Lamb returns to an office that has been rearranged by Moira Tregorian. He tells the team River is alive, then takes Moira to lunch and makes a practical bargain. If she uses her contacts to investigate David’s connection with France, he will find out why she was sent to Slough House and help get her back to the Park. Meanwhile, Marcus proposes an alarming answer to his debts: sell a gun, gamble the proceeds and buy the weapon back with the winnings. Shirley recognises the risk in a plan built around another supposedly certain bet.

River follows the café receipt to Lavande and is directed towards Les Arbres. Inside the deserted house, evidence of children and military training sits uneasily together. He notices a painted nursery scene and finds a photograph linking the men associated with the house to the Westacres bomber. The clues have finally joined the French journey to the London attack, but River has walked into danger to obtain them. Fire begins consuming the building and an assailant attacks him. A man with a shotgun intervenes, removes River from the immediate threat, then knocks him unconscious. River has escaped one trap and entered another person’s custody.