Summary
The Night Manager Season 2 continues to indulge in the usual tricks of the trade for most of Episode 3, but a late reveal changes things.
I’ve had some pretty rough hangovers, but I can’t imagine how Pine is feeling in Episode 3 of The Night Manager Season 2. Then again, considering he was miraculously able to maintain his cover story despite being drunk, drugged, and lovingly nursed by a dangerous gun-runner, he probably has quite the constitution. Even his pillow talk is on mission. The shipments apparently contain under-the-table British weaponry, but Roxanne’s word isn’t good enough. He needs proof. And hence we have some espionage to do.
This, needless to say, is the show settling into its classic rhythm. I already pointed out that the second season was doing its best to emulate the shape of the first, and that continues here, but the raw tension value of these trademark elements is tough to argue with. There’s a very nice one early in Episode 3 when Pine agrees to go into business with Teddy and has to sign a document that includes a $20,000,000 donation to Teddy’s “charitable” endeavours. Pine has to call his “bank” in Belize — really just Sally, trying to shuffle money from the Roper slush fund — and is instructed by Teddy’s lawyer, Juan Carrascal, to put the call on speaker phone. It’s all nicely effective.
Money Trouble
And this vibe continues. Until the money is transferred — Sally says it’ll take 12 hours thanks to strict new banking regulations in Belize — Teddy sends his man Viktor to keep an eye on Pine and Roxana, who have to clandestinely cavort along the beachfront while exchanging secret information about the layout and security systems of Teddy’s premises. You don’t need me to tell you that Pine sneaks in, almost gets caught, and makes off with some new intelligence.
The money transfer makes for a nice ticking-clock device. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue in theory, but back in Blighty, Mayra discovers Rex Mayhew’s secret account and deliberates with Basil on how to proceed, temporarily pulling the transfer. This is bad news for Pine, since his overconfidence in the transaction going through causes him to take a risky approach with Teddy, interrupting their lavish, slightly sexy dinner to reveal what he knows about the stuck shipment. He’s playing the long game, trying to furnish the character he’s playing with a bit more detail, but it makes him look suspicious, and when the money hasn’t landed in the allotted timeframe, he’s on the cusp of being dumped over the side of Teddy’s boat, tied to an anchor. In true spy show fashion, the money arrives in the nick of time, winning Pine Teddy’s trust. But it’s a close-run thing.
The Love Triangle
I mentioned “sexy” above, which I should perhaps elaborate on. The Night Manager Season 2 is still really pushing the angle of legitimate sexual chemistry between Pine and Teddy, and Episode 3 really commits to the bit, with a three-way dance — it’s a love triangle, see? — between these two and Roxana. I’m not sure how well this angle would work with a different cast, but Diego Calva is an extremely compelling screen presence, at once able to portray a kind of charged sexuality and a latent sense of danger in just about equal measure. He hasn’t had any “big” moments yet, but he’s remarkably good in this role, and the homoerotic angle is only working because of him. Hiddleston — though it’s really Pine, unsure of where the dynamic is going — looks a little lost.
Richard Roper Returns
If the tension in this episode comes from the money stuff, the surprise comes from the connection to Season 1 becoming even stronger. In the previous episode, it was teased that Richard Roper was Teddy’s father, which felt like a pretty decent way of tying the two plots together. But here, that connection takes a more dramatic turn. Pine overhears the name “Giberto Hanson” and instructs Sally to look into him, which she does, learning that he supposedly died 17 years prior. A fake identity assumed by somebody else, then. No big deal. But that somebody else turns out to be Richard Roper himself, whom Pine discovers at the very end of the episode.
Now, considering we saw a very bearded Hugh Laurie dead on a Syrian mortuary slab in Episode 1, this is quite the twist. How did Roper manage to fake his death so convincingly? Was Angela Burr, who identified him alone, potentially in on it? These are big questions, and it’ll be up to the rest of the season to answer them satisfactorily. As a midpoint turn to liven things up, though, this will certainly do the job.
