If you missed last week’s first episode, then you can catch up with it here.
Last week we got our first glimpse of Susanne Bier‘s take on John le Carré novel The Night Manager and audience were wooed by the brilliant Tom Hiddleston as the charming Jonathan Pine. With a big cast and a promising premise, Bier’s got us hooked and it’s with bated breath we waited for the second episode of our new Sunday night show!
We start with a closer look at Roper’s (Hugh Laurie) seductive lover, Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), the glamour of her morning routine enticing us in to her character, the sultry way she applies her make up, the delicate lingerie she adorns herself with. So interesting then that we next get a glimpse of a shocking vulnerable side, a difficult call to her mother leads to tears, but soon we find her playing the glamour game once again in Roper’s presence; this time they’re in glorious Spain.
Luxury is the key theme whenever Roper is on screen, the speedboats, private islands, expensive wines and glorious surrounding; all a constant reminder of his wealth and, in connection, his absolute power. He’s terribly charming though, especially seeing him with his young son, a stoic father figure. As the light dims and the mason jar tealights fill the island with soft glows, we quite happily allow ourselves to be seduced by their lifestyle. We could get used to this, couldn’t we?
It’s a clever ploy by Bier to blur our vision and look-upon Roper and his group with sympathetic eyes as they find themselves held up at gun point, the lure of glamour immediately broken. Roles have been reversed and all of a sudden our key bad guy is now a victim and when Roper’s son is taken hostage, our confused sense of empathy pulls towards his panicked eyes.
Six months earlier and we’re back in Switzerland, Pine (Hiddleston) and Burr are getting to know each other as she cleverly susses out Pine’s true talents, skirting around what she really wants to ask. Finally she proposes her idea, her intention to send Pine into Roper’s company to bring him down once and for all. Olivia Colman already impressed in the first episode but it’s again quite clear just how enjoyable she’s going to be to watch. Her general likability mixed with natural talent creating an audiences dream.
Pine flies to London with his acceptance of the job and it becomes frightfully clear just how dangerous this task will be. All we’ve seen from Pine is his heroic nature, impeccably manners and all round nice guy routine and to imagine him acting out on Roper’s level is a bewildering but endearing thought. This could really shape up to be an incredibly opportunity for Hiddleston to show a very nasty side to his acting talents.
We’re in Devon and Pine, now under the alias Jack Lindon, rents a small cottage on the cliff-side. Walking in on two young lovers, Pine quickly kicks them out but takes the opportunity to follow the young boy and scope out the local criminal activity. His demeanor is immediately different. He’s harder, tougher and colder. So when he quickly squeezes a cable round a junkies neck, forcing him to inhale drugs; it’s becoming easier to accept his new role as Jack Lindon.
He quickly catches the attention of the young woman who helps rent out the cottage and she begins to attempt to find out more about his new Lindon persona, but indeed we find out much more about her young child and its absent father. Mystery surrounds all of the characters so far and it’s incredibly enjoyable to watch, knowing out initial niggling questions will eventually be answered. Before we really get to know anything else about Jack Lindon it appears he’s been mysteriously murdered and the police know full well his true identity.
We’re back where we started at the very beginning of the episode and Pine has been badly beaten in saving Roper’s young son, an incident we now know as having been set up by Burr. Roper begins to sniff around him; his intentions now entirely known and again we’re reminded of his chilling nature with the words; “we’ll take care of you”. It’s imperative that Roper believes Pine to be the multi-alias criminal that he’s pretending to be so when it seems as if he’s crossed that bridge of deception, Burr can breath a very big sigh of relief; as can we.
Roper’s doctors take care of Pine and they move him to his lavish home. Jed sits by his side, assuring Pine that Roper is away on business but will return soon, eager to speak to him. Tom Hollander makes a brilliant second in command as the smooth, if not slightly sarcastic, Corcoran. There’s something incredibly menacing about him and, even though he’s reacting exactly the way Pine wants him to, we can’t help but still feel on edge by his sneaky interrogation. Pine is in for a real rough ride with this group of baddies.
What’s so great about spy thrillers like this is that it can be so easy for audiences to get themselves caught up in the deception, it becomes so tense to the point where we’re really not sure how safe Pine is. From both Roper and the seemingly corrupt agents. This being said, it’s a difficult to task for director Susanne Bier to keep some sense of narrative correlation, not leading us too far up the garden path and it becomes a chore to decipher. For the time being she’s doing a brilliant job, but as the series goes on there’s the worry that it won’t quicken it’s pace as the tension rises.
In the mean time, we’re getting a closer look at some really great characters and David Far has does a brilliant job in creating some wonderful dialogue. With the hope that the pace will quicken now that Roper and Pine are officially together, we can only hope for more drama!
Verdict
It’s not Jonathan/Jack who is presumed murdered in the cottage, it’s the other agent who was sent in to appear to be Jack’s drug running partner.
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