The Night Manager: Episode 1.6
June 3, 2016 2:47 AM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Series finale. Roper and his team return to Cairo for the deal, reuniting Pine with an old enemy. Pine risks it all to put his plan in motion. A discredited Burr makes one last stand.
I have mixed feeling about the ending. I appreciated the plot twisty way that Roper gets served justice, but happy endings seem out of character with the realism of a le Carré work. Indeed, in the book he ends up escaping thanks to his CIA & GHCQ connections. This version felt a little bit too Hollywood.
posted by volt4ire at 2:32 PM on June 4, 2016
posted by volt4ire at 2:32 PM on June 4, 2016
I agree about the insanely happy ending. It is exceeding rare for le Carré to leave all of the good guys standing, let alone happy, at the end of a story.
posted by ubiquity at 11:18 AM on June 8, 2016
posted by ubiquity at 11:18 AM on June 8, 2016
We watched this after watching The Americans finale. The happy ending was kind of a relief. Now, what happened to that $300 million?
posted by Ber at 9:40 PM on June 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Ber at 9:40 PM on June 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Months late, but we just finished this. I'm a big fan of le carre books, and whilst this was entertaining, we did feel it was mostly mutton dressed up as lamb, relying on on its stylishlishness to give the quite cliched - and at many points nonsensical - plot a veneer of intellectualism.
Laurie was terrific, but neither Hiddlestone, nor the writers did enough with his character. They needed to show more how similar he and Roper really were (ie psychotic, extreme), and how much he coveted Roper's life and found it attractive and wanted to possess/own it (the only rationale for boffing the mistress that would be remotely plausible). The white knight stuff was completely unbelievable.
Le Carre's - let's be honest - slightly funny, if not bewildered attitude towards women came through the lens of mass entertainment with an unmistakable patina of misogyny applied, I thought. The female characters barely existed with the exception of Burr (who was a man in the book), and where they did exist it was purely as a plot device.
The ending was pure Hollywood - completely undermines the thesis of Le Carre's entire oeuvre. Oh it's okay to do the extra-judicial killings and torture when it's bad guys okay? Very James Bond.
For all that, we were entertained, it was well put together, but just a few tweaks here and there and it could have been excellent. They needed to watch The Tailor of Panama, I think, as an example of Le Carre adaptation done right with a similar feel.
posted by smoke at 5:35 AM on July 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Laurie was terrific, but neither Hiddlestone, nor the writers did enough with his character. They needed to show more how similar he and Roper really were (ie psychotic, extreme), and how much he coveted Roper's life and found it attractive and wanted to possess/own it (the only rationale for boffing the mistress that would be remotely plausible). The white knight stuff was completely unbelievable.
Le Carre's - let's be honest - slightly funny, if not bewildered attitude towards women came through the lens of mass entertainment with an unmistakable patina of misogyny applied, I thought. The female characters barely existed with the exception of Burr (who was a man in the book), and where they did exist it was purely as a plot device.
The ending was pure Hollywood - completely undermines the thesis of Le Carre's entire oeuvre. Oh it's okay to do the extra-judicial killings and torture when it's bad guys okay? Very James Bond.
For all that, we were entertained, it was well put together, but just a few tweaks here and there and it could have been excellent. They needed to watch The Tailor of Panama, I think, as an example of Le Carre adaptation done right with a similar feel.
posted by smoke at 5:35 AM on July 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
We watched this right on the heels of A Perfect Spy, and it's tantalizing to imagine Laurie and Hiddleston and the production values of TNM transported into the deliberate, slow burn of APS.
This was a slick, well-acted, beautiful mini-series that had plenty of suspense ratcheting up to the last episode and then just kind of left me feeling...Huh? at the end of it.
Comparing it to APS made me feel as if there's an expectation that audiences today just don't care to see truly character-driven productions in this genre. This should have been one, yet we had this weirdly pat ending with all of this shit blowing up, to boot.
I haven't read the novel, so I can't say where the fault lies here, but this feels so out of step with the Le Carre that I was previously familiar with.
posted by MoonOrb at 1:28 PM on November 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
This was a slick, well-acted, beautiful mini-series that had plenty of suspense ratcheting up to the last episode and then just kind of left me feeling...Huh? at the end of it.
Comparing it to APS made me feel as if there's an expectation that audiences today just don't care to see truly character-driven productions in this genre. This should have been one, yet we had this weirdly pat ending with all of this shit blowing up, to boot.
I haven't read the novel, so I can't say where the fault lies here, but this feels so out of step with the Le Carre that I was previously familiar with.
posted by MoonOrb at 1:28 PM on November 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Finally got around to this. Very good, but not excellent. Echoing several other statements here, basically. Casting was a big strength. I just never understood the mistress relationship. If Sophie's death was his big motivation, why would he get involved with Jed? He knows where that leads. Why risk the exact same thing happening again? Sure, her help is vital in getting the evidence that puts Roper away, but he doesn't know he'll need that at the time. Plus he had Corky suspicious from the start.
Entertaining, but problematic.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:30 AM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Entertaining, but problematic.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:30 AM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I like how Youssef and his buddies were able to be involved.
Yes, where *did* the money go? I was thinking to Jed's son, but I'm not sure.
I didn't particularly *like* Pine as a person. I was not cheering him on. I was certainly cheering on Burr as she was phenomenal. I did not realize her character was a man in the books. Interesting! I loved her and Steadman working as a team and Steadman's obvious deep love for her. I would totally watch a buddy spy series with just those two.
posted by jillithd at 12:04 PM on July 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
Yes, where *did* the money go? I was thinking to Jed's son, but I'm not sure.
I didn't particularly *like* Pine as a person. I was not cheering him on. I was certainly cheering on Burr as she was phenomenal. I did not realize her character was a man in the books. Interesting! I loved her and Steadman working as a team and Steadman's obvious deep love for her. I would totally watch a buddy spy series with just those two.
posted by jillithd at 12:04 PM on July 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
Just finished watching this and although I found it entertaining, it had some...uh...holes.
I had a hard time buying Jonathan’s immediate, undying love for Sophie. Didn’t he only know her for like four or five days?
Loved Olivia Colman. We just finished watching all of Fleabag so it was a bit funny to see her as such a different character here. But this was much more like the Colman of Broadchurch, smart, passionate, principled. Except less tormented and more hard headed. She was great. Except I kept thinking, good lord woman, on this timeline you’ve got to be like eleven months pregnant by now. How are you getting on airplanes and flying to Cairo without giving birth mid-air?
Hiddleston was a bit meh, but I don’t find him that charismatic most of the time anyway. I guess his Loki was pretty good but I didn’t find him appealing, so I was a bit like “Huh?” at his ability to send everyone into a swoon with his very presence. And oh my god he and Jed were so bloody careless with all the meaningful looks and the risky rendezvous. They were so obvious it drove me to distraction.
I assumed the 300 million went to Ahmed’s rebel group for helping with the explosives.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:26 AM on August 30, 2020
I had a hard time buying Jonathan’s immediate, undying love for Sophie. Didn’t he only know her for like four or five days?
Loved Olivia Colman. We just finished watching all of Fleabag so it was a bit funny to see her as such a different character here. But this was much more like the Colman of Broadchurch, smart, passionate, principled. Except less tormented and more hard headed. She was great. Except I kept thinking, good lord woman, on this timeline you’ve got to be like eleven months pregnant by now. How are you getting on airplanes and flying to Cairo without giving birth mid-air?
Hiddleston was a bit meh, but I don’t find him that charismatic most of the time anyway. I guess his Loki was pretty good but I didn’t find him appealing, so I was a bit like “Huh?” at his ability to send everyone into a swoon with his very presence. And oh my god he and Jed were so bloody careless with all the meaningful looks and the risky rendezvous. They were so obvious it drove me to distraction.
I assumed the 300 million went to Ahmed’s rebel group for helping with the explosives.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:26 AM on August 30, 2020
I figured that the $300M went back to the buyers. I presume they still want a refund, and if Roper can't produce it, why wouldn't their attention shift back to Tradepass and Mr. Birch? The idea that he absconds with $300M to live happily ever after is a bit much.
Hiddleston as Bond would only work if they decided to go back to pretty-but-still-lethal 007, something along the line of Pierce Brosnan, but maybe the franchise has moved on too far from that now? He's almost too good looking, if you get my meaning.
On the whole we liked it; a nice bit of escapism spread out over several nights. Looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Debicki in the next season of The Crown, too.
posted by jquinby at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2021
Hiddleston as Bond would only work if they decided to go back to pretty-but-still-lethal 007, something along the line of Pierce Brosnan, but maybe the franchise has moved on too far from that now? He's almost too good looking, if you get my meaning.
On the whole we liked it; a nice bit of escapism spread out over several nights. Looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Debicki in the next season of The Crown, too.
posted by jquinby at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2021
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Stuff even blew up, though considering Sarin gas was possibly among that "stuff", part of my brain was wondering why no one was dying or at least coughing.
You also have to sort of wonder how "noted philanthropist billionaire Richard Roper disappeared/was found murdered in Cairo" would play out in the press.
This series has set me against the idea of Hiddleston as the next Bond, unless they're going to change Bond to be more like Pine. Pine's a good man who was pushed to do horrible things to prevent greater evil. Bond's a smarmy womanizer who enjoys everything he does. I think that concept has run its course generally, and Hiddles can do amoral smarm, but Loki in a suit with a vodka martini is not a compelling draw for me either.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:00 AM on June 3, 2016 [2 favorites]