"The Night Manager" is a British-American television serial directed by Susanne Bier, based on a novel of the same name by John le Carré. It tells the story of former British soldier Jonathan Pine (Tom Huddleston) who is recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), an intelligence operative. He is tasked to navigate Whitehall and Washington, D.C. where there is an alliance between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. He must infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), Roper's girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), and associate Corcoran (Tom Hollander).
The first episode opens up with blazing firecrackers, blasting gunshots, bricks up in the air and cars burning up in flames; and immediately you already know that this show is all about action. We meet Pine as he emerges fearlessly through all the drama in that scenario; but no, he is not part of the protest. He is on his way to work at the Nefertiti hotel as the night manager. He walks through like it's all nothing; cool, calm and collected. He is the perfect British hero. Unlike American heroes, Brits are more smooth, polite, charming, confident in the most humble way and mysterious (Oh, they are hella good looking too!). Tom Hiddleston fits into the Jonathan Pine character like a glove. The way he talks, the way he walks, the way he is blonde and toned (practically like Daniel Craig in James Bond). I like how he is also very decent; everything he does, he does with decency. A personality trait that may easily go hand in hand with being a good manipulator, yet Pine's storyline in the show proves him as an honest man.
Jonathan Pine is romantically linked with Sophie Aleka, who is the hotel owner's mistress, Freddie Hamid. Sophie gives him some secret paperwork for an arms deal between Hamid and businessman Richard Roper which Pine shows to the British embassy (I did mention earlier that he is an honest man). Sophie's life is now in danger, so he takes her to a safe house out of town.
Sophie is a beautiful woman who, even though she comes to Pine for help to take down her boyfriend's wicked business partner, she is the least vulnerable person I've seen and much more of a seductress. She is quite upfront and vocal about her desire to sleep with Pine and gets him to have sex with her while in hiding (how insane! Who wants to have sex while on the run? In a safe house?). And even though she is part of the 'good-guy-team', something doesn't sit well in my soul with her and I certainly don't like her for Jonathan. I guess it's not all bad that she quickly gets murdered.
The plot then fast-forwards to four years later where Pine is now working at another hotel (Meisters). He meets Roper for a second time when he and his men come to stay at the hotel. Hugh Laurie plays the best villain as Richard Roper. He is very demanding and pretty much a bully yet not in a way that's too much and annoying. His return into Pine's life evokes anger and motivates him to once again seek the help of British agent Angela Burr to help him. Colman is brilliant as the no-nonsense Burr. She is determined and driven by the desire for justice, though she faces multiple challenges from the government and M16.
Even with its many similarities to the Bond movies, "The Night Manager" still works. It does not seem too cliche or even too familiar. You will still want to see it. The war makes a great back drop for all the action in the beginning. The plot carries a fine balance of drama and action, serious but not too serious. However, like most TV shows in 2016, it was almost inevitable that it got all sexed up. From Pine's affair with Sophie to Roper's love interest, Jed, whom we hardly ever see with her clothes on in eepisode 1.
Watch "The Night Manager" on AMC (DSTV channel 140) every Mondays at 10:00pm
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