1x06 Episode 6

[7.4/10] This was a far more conventional ending than I was expecting from a show that seems much more steeped in complexity than the average Bond film. But we got all the usual tropes here. The good guys won. The bad guys suffered. The hero saves the girl. There's not much of a price to any of it here, just triumph. It left me feeling a little empty, to be honest. Nothing here is bad. It’s all solid meat and potatoes spy movie stuff. But it felt like The Night Manager was aspiring to more, and we never really got it in this finale.

The one unique thing about the finish here, which I did appreciate, was how it ended up being the people who lived and worked in the communities that Roper was using as a toy box and cash register who made the difference. Pine is able to make his scheme work not just through gumption and cleverness, but because he made a connection with the kitchen staff when he worked at the Nefertiti hotel.

Sure, Pine pushes the button that blows up Roper’s trucks, but it’s the local freedom fighters who do the work to make it happen. Pine doesn’t collect his money, but sends it to the people whom it was used against back when he was in Cairo originally. And it’s not MI6 or the CIA who bring Roper in, but rather Egyptian authority who ultimately arrest him, and competing groups from within the country who feel insulted and taken advantage of who seem ready to treat him like he treated so many of them.

There’s some real poetry in that. It’s a bit of a cheat, since all of these people were barely characters until this episode, and are barely characters now. But it’s still Roper getting beaten with the help of the very people’s revolution he helped quash, punished by the instigators he was arming for financial gain. I like that part of it quite a bit, even if the regular Bond movie stuff that surrounds it left me cold.

Still, even there, the episode features a few nice moments. Pine telling Burr that he’s glad to be doing this because he was living “half a life” before makes for at least a brief grace note for his motivation. Burr getting her wry confrontation with Roper after all she’s been through was satisfying. And even Roper’s blasé attitude about the whole thing, with a wink and a smile, turning to panic when his former business partners (whom he demeaned in racist terms) take over is a fun transition.

There’s just too much of what you’d expect: poorly thought out plans that nevertheless work out, the would-be Bond girl having a rough go but ultimately being saved, and big explosions and confrontations that feel much larger than life than tense and intimate. The near misses and beatings and whatnot are fine, but even the crew’s ability to box in Dromgoole feels like it happens too easily.

Hell, I was even pretty surprised that Roper wasn’t working Pine and Jed for longer than just the halfway point of this episode. He seems like something of a dope for not picking up on it sooner given that he’s supposedly such a smooth operator. And Pine and Jed could hardly have been more obvious. The show hinges a lot on their romantic connection, and I was never as invested in the two of them as the show seemed to be.

That said, The Night Manager was still a well-acted, beautifully-shot, oft-engrossing watch. The ending did not capitalize on the potential of the performers or ideas or premise. I think my big complaint is that in the end it didn’t have much to say, about its themes or its characters. There’s not much deeper to the show, despite a few good speeches and some strong talent in front of and behind the camera. Still, as a glossy, prestige spy show that knows how to manage tone and build tension, this worked. It was good prestige pulp, and not everything has to rise above that level. The Night Manager just seemed like it had aims to do so.