TV Review: THE NIGHT MANAGER: Season 1, Episode 2 [AMC]

AMC’s The Night Manager Episode 2 TV Show Review. The Night Manager: Episode 2 really sets the game between Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) and Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) as the two men end up crossing paths again after their first encounter in the first episode. Pine must bring out his inner psychopath in order to make his way into Roper’s inner circle. Keep in mind that we are only in the second episode, and yet, the acting remains utterly brilliant and beautifully shot in exotic and isolated locations.

Living the luxurious life isn’t what it’s cracked up to be when we see Roper’s wife Jed (Elizabeth Debicki). She appears to feel lonesome living by herself with Roper’s son while the arms dealer is out on business. Jed doesn’t seem to be happy spending her life with Roper. Even her own mother doesn’t approve her relationship and living arrangements. The opening scene shows us Jed’s typical day in the life of being a war criminal’s wife, and it appears to be a very lonely one. Jed fills the emptiness of abandoning her child by caring for Roper’s son Danny.

Everything seems to be calm when we see Roper spending time with family and friends at a resort by the sea in Mallorca, Spain. Roper is being shown as a family man despite his dangerous profession. He appears to be kind and sincere, something that we don’t expect from ‘the world’s most dangerous man’. Even Jed seems to be happy with her life, but that’s probably due to the pills we saw her take during the opening scenes. Whatever was going through her mind during the start of her day has all seemed to disappear after we see her acting friendly with everyone. Everything is great for Roper’s friends and family, that is, until the party gets some suddenly gets some unwanted guests.

Soon, their little party ends up getting crashed by two militants who kidnap Danny for ransom. Roper tries to negotiate by giving them money, but when he doesn’t have available funds available at the moment, the two men make haste and take Danny away. Roper doesn’t seem that phased by what’s happening, perhaps because he’s been around guns enough to know when a situation gets dangerous. Jed is the only one who is worried about what might happen to Danny after the kidnappers take him away.

What was great about this first half of the episode was that we got to see Roper in his world. We see that Roper lives a lavish life and spends it throwing parties for family and friends. But, there’s also a part of him that is surrounded by darkness. So much of his character is pretty complex, which Hugh Laurie manages to pull off really well in the miniseries.

This scene was really high on tension and gripping to watch. The two men almost manage to get away, but luckily Pine happens to be in the area ready to save the day. So how did he end up there? Well, six months ago, he agreed to an unsanctioned mission by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to get evidence on Roper in order for MI-6 to capture him and stop his plans. Burr continues to wow us with her convincing performance. She brings some grit and rawness onto the screen, much more real and down-to-earth than the perfect Roper. She hates Roper as much as Pine does, so she uses Pine to get what she wants. Burr has a gut feeling she has found the right man for the job, but the question remains if Pine can go through with it.

Pine agrees to help in Burr’s crusade in stopping Roper, so his mission begins in Devon, England. Pine travels back to the homeland in order to build up his profile as a criminal. It doesn’t take long for him to make himself the most dangerous man in that small village. Showing no remorse, Pine gets things done without wasting anytime. Pine manages to pull in a great performance, very much like what Burr needed.

Tom Hiddleston brings in a fine portrayal as the multilayered Pine. Hiddleston manages to show us Pine manages to turn his humanity on and off as will. It’s interesting watching him pull of this performance. There’s so much that we don’t know about Pine, so here’s hoping we get to learn a little more about him in the rest of the series. After building his profile, it’s time for Pine to head over to Mallorca to pose as a sous chef to get close to Roper. Pine plays hero, ending up saving Danny but gets himself beaten up. It may have been a plan by Burr to get Pine to gain Roper’s trust, but Pine certainly took the plan a bit too far than she had hoped.

Perhaps Pine had it all figured out on what to do without going on script. After seeing Pine’s face, it was surprising that Roper managed to figure out who he is. Despite all that, Roper decides to nurse him back to good health. It makes us question what Roper’s real reasons are in taking Pine in. The only one not too happy about it is Roper’s right hand man Corcoran (Tom Hollander). Corcoran gets the background info on Pine’s criminal activities thanks to some tinkering from Burr’s end, but he remains unconvinced on who Pine is and what his motives are. Pine now has to stay on his toes while Corcoran keeps an eye on him.

The second episode really sets the stage for what may be the most dangerous game of cat and mouse between Roper and Pine. Pine has entered the evil lair, but it will now be the question of whether he can get out of this alive. Hiddleston and Laurie continue to play their parts well, as we discover how much more complicated their characters are on both ends. Even the female characters bring in the same amount of intrigue as the males as we continue to invest in these important players in this miniseries.

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