![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
joblo_feedPlot: Picks up eight years later with Jonathan Pine living a quiet life running a surveillance unit, but a chance encounter with an old mercenary pulls him back into the world of arms dealing to confront the charismatic Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos, Roper’s successor, leading Pine into a dangerous plot to destabilize a nation, involving a new ally and deep conspiracies
Review: Ten years ago, the quality of television was as high as it had ever been. With anthology and limited series gaining traction thanks to big-screen stars appearing on the small screen, sophisticated entertainment was firing on all cylinders. The BBC/AMC series The Night Manager, based on the novel of the same name by John Le Carre, nabbed Marvel star Tom Hiddleston right between Crimson Peak and Kong: Skull Island and made an impressive case for the actor’s potential to lead a James Bond-esque franchise. At a compact six episodes, The Night Manager was a self-contained story that updated the source material to the Arab Spring in the Middle East and featured an impressive cast, including Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman, who everyone hoped would return for a sophomore run. While AMC opted to pursue another Le Carre adaptation in the Park Chan-wook-directed The Little Drummer Girl, starring Florence Pugh, The Night Manager began to fade away. Then, a few years ago, buzz mounted for a second season of The Night Manager, which is finally here. Following the New Year’s premiere in the UK, North American audiences are now getting the first three chapters of the new season in what is an eerily prescient follow-up to the acclaimed first season.
Set eight years after the first season, The Night Manager returns with a story that shifts the narrative from the Middle East back to the South American locales featured in the original novel. After a flashback shows Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) and handler Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) identifying the body of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), we find Pine is now working as the leader of an MI-6 surveillance team called The Night Owls. Pine has opted for a quieter life after the former military officer, who was embedded in Roper’s inner circle, became involved in a romantic connection with Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), Roper’s girlfriend. Despite professing to therapist Dr. Kim Saunders (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) that he is fine, Pine is still struggling with the memory of his time with Roper. Before long, Pine discovers someone he encountered in his previous life in London, which leads him to inform his superior, Rex Mayhew (Douglas Hodge). Before the first episode is even halfway done, Mayhew is dead in a murder made to look like a suicide, and Pine is connecting with informant Roxana Bolanos (Camila Morrone) as they head to Colombia to try and take down Richard Roper’s protege, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva).
Unlike the UK debut, Prime Video has opted to premiere the first half of The Night Manager‘s new season on the same day. Dropping three episodes at once is a nice opportunity for audiences to get reacquainted with Jonathan Pine and his story, but it feels like a deliberate attempt to convince audiences to stick with this slow-burning series. Like all of John Le Carré’s novels, such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the espionage is layered and deliberately paced, rather than emulating the action-oriented James Bond or Jason Bourne books. Indebted to the first season, you don’t need to have watched the first six episodes of the season to follow, as these first three chapters are jammed with flashbacks and references to Roper. There are appearances from season one characters, though not Debicki, and we are constantly reminded of how Pine’s experiences with the arms dealer were so traumatic that he has cut himself off from field operations because of it. The death of Mayhew forces Pine back into the field, which also means he reconnects with Angela Burr. Seeing Olivia Colman return, even in a limited capacity, is a welcome reminder of her exceptional acting abilities and how well she and Tom Hiddleston complement each other.
The chemistry between Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Debicki in the first season is eclipsed by the connection shared between Hiddleston and Camila Morrone. Pine, as a character, is unable to keep a professional distance from those he is monitoring or pursuing, and the romantic entanglements he shares with Roxana Bolanos are the definition of sultry. The back and forth between Pine and Roxana, along with her connection to Teddy Dos Santos, keeps the momentum moving, but it does take several episodes before The Night Manager begins to chug along. There are parallel narratives this season involving Pine infiltrating Teddy Dos Santos’ operations in Colombia, along with Pine’s colleagues, Sally Price-Jones (Hayley Squires) and Basil Karapetian (Paul Chahidi), as they investigate the off-the-books involvement that MI-6 has with the South American arms dealer, which propels this season forward. The core of what makes The Night Manager so watchable is Tom Hiddleston’s performance as a man who cannot help but try to right the wrongs in his path, and yet cannot extricate himself from the danger he puts those closest to him in. The layered trauma Pine carries this season is heavier than we saw before, and it adds another layer of interest to Hiddleston’s already brilliant performance.
The timing of The Night Manager‘s return could not have been timelier, as the return to the Colombian setting of the original novel and the plot involving a foreign government involved in regime change in a South American dictatorship strikes incredibly close to the current events happening in Venezuela. When The Night Manager debuted on New Year’s Day, the operations undertaken by the American government had not yet occurred in Venezuela. With last night’s premiere of the episodes on Prime Video, North American audiences are likely watching this season unfold through a much different lens. David Farr, who scripted the first season, returns to write all episodes of this season. Georgi Banks-David has taken over as director from the acclaimed Susanne Bier, maintaining a cinematic scope that elevates this from feeling like a small-screen production. The location shooting for the series distinguishes The Night Manager from shows like Slow Horses, which is consistently anchored in London and other parts of England, but the series’ compact run of episodes makes every chapter feel vital.
WithThe Night Manager already renewed for a third season, I do not anticipate the narrative in these six episodes to wrap cleanly but rather serve as the first half of a twelve-episode arc. The fact that we waited a decade for Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman to continue this tale does not register when you watch the new season of The Night Manager. Operating as a continuation of season one, The Night Manager‘s sophomore run is a fully self-contained season that can be enjoyed independently of what came before. Both seasons work together thanks to Tom Hiddleston’s quiet and understated performance, which is effortlessly cool yet intricately layered. The psychological tension and the sexy factor are amped up this season in a story that pays tribute to John Le Carré’s novels and characters. Despite his passing in 2020, I feel confident that Le Carre would have approved of this continuation of his work. Here’s hoping the next season will not be the last and that if we ever get a fourth that it won’t take ten years to get it.
The first three episodes of The Night Manager are now available to stream on Prime Video.
The post The Night Manager Season 2 TV Review: Tom Hiddleston reprises his acclaimed spy thriller ten years later appeared first on JoBlo.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
