The shocking final moments of Slow Horses Season 5 have given fans a long-awaited answer about their favorite slovenly spymaster. A quiet, powerful scene revealed the brutal truth behind Jackson Lamb’s scarred and deformed feet, confirming a dark story from his past that he had previously brushed off as a lie.
The season’s finale, titled “Scars,” ends with Gary Oldman’s character taping up a hole in his sock while on the phone. The camera then slowly pans to show the bottom of his bare foot, which is covered in severe, brutal scars. This visual confirmation connects directly to a horrifying story Lamb told his team earlier in the season about a spy who was brutally tortured.
The Story Lamb Told His Team
In Season 5, Episode 3, Jackson Lamb shared a detailed and chilling story with the Slow Horses to distract them during a lockdown. He described a British spy, referred to as a “joe,” who was captured by the Stasi in Berlin during the Cold War.
Lamb recounted that the spy was tortured for information he did not possess. His captors, who “loved to torture people,” created makeshift blowtorches to burn all the skin off the soles of his feet. When he still refused to break, the Stasi brought in the German woman he loved, who was pregnant with their child. The torturers then beat her to death with a fire extinguisher in front of him.
After this story, Lamb’s colleague, Catherine Standish, asked him if the “joe” in the story was actually himself. Lamb flatly denied it, claiming he had made the whole thing up. The finale’s reveal of his scarred feet proves that at least the part about the foot torture was true, confirming that the story was, in large part, about his own traumatic experience.
What The Scars Actually Mean
The revelation of Lamb’s feet is more than just a visual shock; it recontextualizes his entire character. The physical scars are proof of the extreme torture he endured while protecting state secrets. He sacrificed his own body and watched the woman he loved and their unborn child be killed, all without breaking, because he was loyal to the service.
This traumatic experience explains many aspects of his behavior that have defined him throughout the show:
- His Hatred for MI5: His bitter line in the finale, “Look what the service has done to me,” now carries immense weight. He gave everything for MI5 and was left physically and emotionally scarred.
- His Protective Cynicism: His constant insults and his mission to get his agents to quit are not just about apathy. They are a form of protection, born from his knowledge of the devastating personal cost that loyalty to the service can demand.
- His Physical Demeanor: The show has often hinted at Lamb’s unseen pain. He winces when moving, rarely takes off his shoes, and avoids field work. The scars provide the clear, physical reason for this behavior.
The show’s creator, Will Smith, explained that Lamb is a “walking backstory.” He said, “You look at the character and you go, ‘What happened to you?’… He’s a walking backstory that you want to unpack.” The foot reveal is the show’s biggest step yet in unpacking that history.
How The Reveal Came To Be
Interestingly, this pivotal character moment was not originally in the script. The idea came from Gary Oldman’s wife, Gisele Schmidt.
“I’m pretty sure it was Gary’s wife, Gisele, who was later like, ‘Hey, what if we saw his foot at the end and he was scarred?’” Smith recalled. “Me and Gary were immediately like, ‘Oh my God, that’s amazing.’”
The creative team decided the reveal should be for the audience alone, rather than having another character like Standish discover the scars. Director Saul Metzstein shot the scene with a slow, drifting camera movement that ends on Lamb’s foot, creating a powerful and shocking final image for the season.
A Finale of Leverage and Loss
The reveal of Lamb’s feet capped off an eventful finale where he outmaneuvered MI5’s First Desk, Claude Whelan. When Whelan tried to shut down Slough House and pin the season’s terrorist attacks on them, Lamb played a secret recording that incriminated Whelan in a blackmail scandal.
Lamb used this leverage not to gain power or prestige, but simply to demand that his team be left alone. He forced Whelan to resign and allowed Diana Taverner to retake the position of First Desk. In a telling moment, Lamb also insisted that River Cartwright remain at Slough House, despite River having just saved Whelan’s life and believing he had earned a return to MI5 headquarters.
This act, which seems cruel on the surface, is seen by the producers as a mix of Lamb’s desire to both torment and protect River.
“It’s partly torturing him, but partly saving him,” executive producer Will Smith said. “River’s going to learn more from working for Lamb than he will working for Taverner.”
Gary Oldman added that Lamb sees potential in River but would never admit it, partly because he wants to save him from the same life that left Lamb so broken.
The scars on Jackson Lamb’s feet are a permanent physical reminder of the trauma that shaped him into the cynical, foul-mouthed, yet deeply loyal leader of the Slow Horses. This revelation confirms that his rudeness and indifference are a shield, protecting both himself and his agents from a system that has already taken everything from him.
Also Read: Slow Horses Season 6: 7 Big Questions After the Shocking Season 5 Finale
