'The Night Manager' Is Still Good After a 10-Year Break
A not-so-quiet luxury show
I didn’t get around to The Night Manager when Season 1 was released in 2016 (though I did watch the next BBC/AMC John le Carré adaptation, 2018’s The Little Drummer Girl; highly recommended). I caught up with it this fall in anticipation of Season 2. The thing that drew me to it this time is the nearly decade-long gap between seasons. I’m always curious about how shows return from extended breaks, especially when they were originally conceived of as limited series, like The Night Manager was. What hits different when the world has changed since it was last on? When The Night Manager premiered, Tom Hiddleston hadn’t even dated Taylor Swift yet.
I’m happy to say that The Night Manager Season 2 doesn’t hit much differently at all, at least through the three episodes currently available on Prime Video. There’s a timelessness to the show’s take on the spy genre. I’ll never get tired of watching well-dressed people execute elaborate schemes in glamorous locations. Watching The Night Manager is a luxury experience. The show has Aesop soap in its bathroom.
It helps The Night Manager’s timelessness that Hiddleston hasn’t aged. He looks like the same Jonathan Pine we met a decade ago, but his mind is older. Now known as Alex Goodwin, Pine is working as a midlevel intelligence analyst, managing a team that monitors surveillance footage. It’s a quiet life that keeps him under the radar — until one day, he spots a mercenary who used to work for Dickie Roper (Hugh Laurie), the posh, evil arms dealer he vanquished in Season 1. This leads Pine to Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), a Colombian arms dealer who has taken up Roper’s mantle and has ties to the upper ranks of MI6. Unable to trust the agency, Pine once again sheds his identity, takes on a new one, and goes undercover to take down a man who relishes his role in making the world a worse place.
The plot is very similar to Season 1, but this isn’t a bad thing; Pine is going back to the old him, now with years more experience as a spook. The repetition gives the story a frisson of sadness; no matter what the good guys do, the bad guys will always find a way around them. The faces change, but the story of corruption and violence stays the same.
The only thing that isn’t totally working for me is Camila Morrone’s performance as Roxana Bolaños, a Colombian American associate of Dos Santos who becomes Pine’s entry to Dos Santos’ world and dangerous romantic interest. Morrone looks the part of a Bond girl, but doesn’t sound the part. Her voice lacks distinctiveness. An arms-trafficking Latin American femme fatale should sound like Salma Hayek, not a USC sorority girl. She’s good other than that, but I just wish her voice was huskier.
Some critics had trepidation going in about Season 2 not being based on a le Carré novel, but creator David Farr does an admirable job of keeping the late espionage legend’s spirit alive. A lot of that is from the way he doesn’t stray far from the Season 1 template, but he also understands what makes these stories work: the elite collision of glamour and corruption. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the season and the in-the-works third season.
I reviewed the new Game of Thrones prequel series A Night of the Seven Kingdoms for TV Guide. I seem to be an outlier in my dislike of the series, but I stand by my opinion that its small size — a single location, minimal special effects — is a bad thing. Other critics watched the same show as me, they just liked what they saw and I didn’t. Apparently they enjoy seeing shit spray out of a man’s ass, which happens in the first scene. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I’m turning on paid subscriptions next week. For $5/month or $50/year, a paid subscription will get you a monthly bonus post of mini-reviews of everything I watched that month. I hope to add more perks in the future, but for now, consider it a token of gratitude for your support. If you enjoy what I do, please consider upgrading your subscription.
I’m enjoying the return but need Olivia Colman to show up soon! I know she’s very busy though. It was also giving me a little Slow Horses in the first couple episodes.