The Night Manager: Episode #1.1
April 28, 2016 12:19 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

Ex-soldier Jonathan Pine, the night manager at the Nefertiti hotel in Cairo, is approached by Sophie Alekan, a guest who is the kept woman of businessman Freddie Hamid, and who asks him to copy some documents for her.
posted by kanewai (9 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
This was much better than I thought it would be.
Not fast paced and not flashy. Yet, at least.

I like how they wrote the story into modern Egyptian history.
posted by Seamus at 1:10 PM on April 28, 2016


I'm not familiar with the book, but as a newcomer to the plot, I wouldn't have known the plot had been updated and moved to Egypt if I hadn't read about it before watching.

I liked it a lot, and I especially liked that it was slow-paced, taking the time to establish the characters, delaying the introduction of the main villain, etc. There was one glaring annoyance, though: the subplot of the meeting of Pine and Sophie, them having sex, and she dying was the tiredest, most textbook example of fridging, and I wish they would have updated it so that Pine's motivation didn't hinge on a woman's death.
posted by snakeling at 1:34 AM on April 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


I agree about the fridging of Sophie, and its predictability— when Pine promises he'll get her to safety I almost yelled at the screen, "no you won't because she'll be dead!" and when he gets the message from London and rushes to her room, I knew she was already dead.

Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie are reminding me very much of Ralph Fiennes and Bill Nighy in the film of The Constant Gardener, but I suppose that's not exactly terrible.
posted by ubiquity at 6:39 AM on April 29, 2016


Is this to be show-only or books included?
posted by filthy light thief at 9:05 AM on April 29, 2016


It's hard not to talk about the book when discussing the series, but since the book and series are somewhat different, and the series is in six parts, spoiler management might be difficult. Since this purports to be an episode-by-episode discussion of the series, I'd ask that any discussion of the book not spoil what is to come in future episodes, please.
posted by ubiquity at 12:38 PM on April 29, 2016


I absolutely adore the aesthetic of this. It's so beautifully shot and paced and so well-acted.
posted by biscotti at 8:12 AM on April 30, 2016


I just rolled my eyes at Sophie's character. She was like something out of a manly adventure novel from the 50s.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:18 PM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


I just started watching this mini-series and just wanted to drop a note here in the first thread to say the whole series is really good. This first episode starts a little slow but as the story moves along it all comes together for some rewarding TV.
posted by Nelson at 1:03 PM on July 17, 2016


I'm glad to hear it gets better. At the end of E1 I had the same question as Angela: why is Pine doing all this? There are many things I'm liking so far, but I just cannot at all buy Pine's motivation for this.

Also, he's so stupid! I felt like there needed to be another 2 episodes exploring his relationship with Sophie and the reasons--beyond just having been an Iraq war vet--that would account for why he would make such a series of stupid, stupid, stupid decisions in the first place.

It's gorgeously shot, though, and John LeCarre mini series have a lot of credibility with me to lean on, so I will press onward.
posted by MoonOrb at 12:55 AM on November 25, 2016


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