Summary
The Night Manager Season 2 subverts expectations with an ending that allows Roper a real victory, radically altering the game board for the already-confirmed Season 3.
Isn’t it funny how, when Season 2 began, nobody really expected or wanted a sequel to The Night Manager, and now that it’s ending, the already-confirmed third season feels like a nice reassurance. The BBC’s John le Carré adaptation was never the beginning of a franchise. It’s just that a decade later, through force of will and Prime Video involvement and an ever-evolving TV climate, it has become one, all the same. And Episode 6, the grand finale as much, in a roundabout way, as the Season 3 premiere, operates on this basis.
It’s satisfying on its own terms, of course, as well it might be after hitting its build-up peak during the penultimate outing. It’s high tension from the very beginning, with Pine and Teddy trying to reroute Roper’s arms shipment without anyone realising that Teddy is playing both sides. But the certainty of another season allows for a subversion. The bad guy can win this battle, if not the war overall, without that feeling too disappointing. And so it is.
Roxana Turned After All
One of the big developments of the previous episode was Roxana seeming to shift sides, surrendering herself to Roper and agreeing to help him take down Pine. This was the advantage he needed, since Teddy had cemented his face turn by texting Pine all the details of the weapons shipment so that he could intercept it and prevent the Cabreras – and indeed the British government – from igniting a civil war.
It was a little unclear what Roxana was playing at here, whether she had really turned or was playing a long game. Well, the finale gives us our answer. While Martin and Jonathan are following the plane, Roxana calls him, doing a very good impression of a damsel in distress. Since Pine can’t resist running to the aid of a beautiful woman, he delays to go and pick her up, not realizing he’s walking right into a trap.
Luckily, Teddy calls Pine to tell him that he’s waiting with Juan at the meeting location, but also strongly implies that Pine shouldn’t waste his time meeting Roxana. Pine takes this as the tip-off that it is, and gives Roxana incorrect information about where he’s waiting for her. As soon as he sees the armed men turn up and pepper the car with gunfire, he knows she sold him out.
Teddy Kills Juan
As mentioned, Teddy is waiting around with Juan while this is going on. But Juan has become increasingly suspicious, wondering whether Teddy really called the Cabreras – he didn’t; he called Pine – and what he’s really up to. Teddy realises he’s rumbled, so takes his first opportunity to jump Juan. He doesn’t initially intend to kill him, but Juan won’t take no for an answer, and since he’s quite happy to reveal that he knew about Roper’s plans to leave for England and abandon Teddy, he catches the bullet he deserves.
When Pine arrives, he helps Teddy dump the body and then poses as his prisoner in order to infiltrate the camp of Jose Cabrera. More on this in a minute.
But just a side note here to acknowledge how much everything seems to be going against Roper. Mayra wants to call the operation off, but he blackmails her into continuing – with the fact she ordered Rex Mayhew’s death, so she’d have to go down with him – even though they’re both at risk. Roxana’s plan didn’t work, and Roper believes she sold him out. Pine and Teddy are still in play. All this is smart because it creates the impression of a more traditional finale than this one ends up being.
Pine and Teddy’s Double Act
Pine and Teddy’s plan to manipulate Jose Cabrera works a treat. Teddy presents him as a prisoner, using the photo of him dining with Roper to imply that they’re cooking something up together. During the subsequent interrogation, Pine withstands the torture for long enough to sell the idea that he’s being broken into given up the truth. But the truth is, as ever, another lie.
Using a doctored version of various conversations Roper has had, including a recent one with Pine, he creates the impression that Roper is planning to turn on the Cabreras and disappear to England a hero, with special forces arriving to wipe out the entire camp. He buys it. Granted, Pine gets badly beaten in the process, but that’s mostly just an excuse for Teddy to patch him up in the deeply homoerotic way that has characterised this entire season. If it weren’t for all the armies of child soldiers knocking around, this could have been quite romantic.
Angela Burr Finally Gets Involved
We haven’t seen much of Angela this season, outside of a brief scene in the premiere and a return in Episode 4, but when Sally calls Basil to let him know that she has extracted Supreme Court justice, Consuelo Arbenz, it’s Angela who picks up the phone. She’s finally in play.
Angela leans on Sandy Langbourne with threats of a pretty hefty prison sentence if he doesn’t provide concrete evidence linking Mayra Cavendish to the Colombia operation, which is the only thing she’s missing. The next we see her, Angela is sitting down with Mayra with a photo of her and Roper together, years prior. So, it’s safe to say Sandy came through.
Angela has Mayra right where she wants her and has all the evidence compiled against her. Now, they just need to wait for Pine to pull off the double-cross in Colombia and take Roper out of play. The smartest touch of The Night Manager Season 2’s ending is that none of this actually happens.
Roper Was A Step Ahead
Of course, Roper – mostly through Roxana’s sincerity in not having tipped off Pine, I think – was one step ahead the entire time. Anticipating the double-cross, he had the weapons shipment swapped to a different plane. The one Sally is waiting for drops a container containing only a red rose. Cabrera gets the EMP device, as promised.
And this arrives in the nick of time, since Roper was in the middle of being confronted about the supposed double-cross he had been setting up. Teddy has him at gunpoint, ready to pull the trigger, and even gives him a cool closing monologue (Diego Calva is so good in this show. He should win something.) But it’s too little too late. The standoff is interrupted by the arrival of the shipment. Cabrera’s trust in Roper is renewed, and by extension, Angela’s case against Mayra falls apart.
Roper has won. And for good measure, he executes Teddy right in front of Pine. It’s only thanks to Martin that Pine survives, able to flee into the jungle, badly wounded, though he can’t do anything to stop what’s coming. Martin is subsequently caught and killed by the Cabreras.
The Stage Is Set For Season 3
And just like that, it’s over. The good guys have lost, and lost thoroughly. The closing scenes of this season are just an example of how badly things went.
For one thing, Angela calls someone at MI6 with her theory that there is something much bigger at play here, something that doesn’t stop with Roper, and then she steps outside and is shot dead by an assassin, to be found by her poor daughter.
Roper returns to England after all and picks up Danny to take him on a tour of their sprawling new Oxfordshire estate. He’s even contemplating getting a few dogs. On the radio, we hear that the civil war in Colombia is well underway.
See what I mean about Season 3 already being confirmed feeling pretty reassuring? Imagine having to wait another decade to see how Pine plans to get his revenge.
