The Night Manager [AMC/BBC] [** Spoilers **]

errlloyd

squonk wrote: »

I think I'm starting to jump onto the Hiddleston Bond bandwagon too. He looks made for the part really.

He plays charming rogue way too well. It's outrageous.

I can see myself spoiling the ending of this by speed reading the novel. Sat down in pretty foul humour last night, and loved every minute of it.

bnt

It's a bit more than a catfight. We've yet to see the full scope of the problem in London, assuming they follow the book, but we do know that Apostoll is dead because Mayhew let slip to someone from River House (MI-6) that a lawyer was informing on Roper. Apostoll wasn't mentioned by name, but that was enough to get him killed quickly.

The TradePass arms deal included "consulting" payments to two people, "Halo" and "Feilx": I'm pretty sure the former is Drumgoole, the Director of Intelligence, or (less likely) Raymond Galt (his assistant), which suggests there's corruption at the highest level. The latter is "Langley in London" i.e. the CIA liaison to MI-6. So we have two high-level players in UK & USA intelligence in Roper's pocket: their links to Roper's business are somewhat indirect, so what else is going on ..?

errlloyd

Edit: never mind.

Mr.Prodston

That was as fine an hour of television I've seen in quite a while.

errlloyd

Yeah I enjoyed that quite a bit. Next week should be good craic.

Harry Palmr

Awesome stuff! Has Roper twigged that Pine is actually the mole and was happy enough that he killed Corky so as to allow Pine to think he is in the clear? I suspect the American of shady doings as well....

bnt

Reportedly, the whole series - including the last episode - has been leaked online. Whether or not you decide to wait until next Sunday for the broadcast, can I politely request no spoilers until then? I've read the book, but the series has deviated so significantly from it that I don't know what's going to happen. :cool:

Aenaes

bnt wrote: »

I've read the book, but the series has deviated so significantly from it that I don't know what's going to happen. :cool:

Ooh. I've also read the book but haven't started the series yet. I'll probably start watching Thursday.

squonk

I've just finished episode 5. A show that was already very high quality just took a huge jump up in the quality stakes. It really was one of the best hours of TV I've seen in a while. I really thought Laurie absolutely shone. The ease with which he moved from smarmy and affable to menacing, devious and dangerous was just breathtaking, and frightening. The show is just getting better and better.

Harry Palmr

If Hiddlestone is the next Bond then Laurie has to be the next Bond baddie.

errlloyd

Apparently there is a second series of this coming. Obviously not sure how the fate of the characters is going to work out.

But if this does turn into a sporadic TV BBC spectacle (like Sherlock) then I can't see Hiddleson becoming Bond. The novelty of his charm will have been used up, and quite frankly, it'll have been used up on something better.

Tristram

That was excellent! Did not expect there to be a second season. If so I would imagine different set of characters.

squonk

Not sure if I picked up the leaked episodes but I finished the series last night even though the episoe isn't due to be aired til Sunday.

Episode 6 Spoilers:

I liked the show an awful lot but in the end I thought it felt a little rushed. I know normally we complain about plots being dragged out but, in this case, I think they had a great setup and plenty of potential intrigue that they could have stirred up. Some pieces just felt a little too rushed. Turning the screws on Hailo, robbing the safe, killing Freddy, blowing the hell out of Roper's shipment, all in one episode. I'd have liked even a 9 episode run to allow more time for the viewer to exist in the universe and to appreciate the great acting on display.

I'm guessing Season 2 will have a different protagonist? Laurie was fantastic. I'd find it hard to transfer to somebody different but we'll see. Simon has burned his bridges with Roper now so it'd be hard to see how he'd be back. I presume also that it was the chef's brother's people who took Roper at the end?

errlloyd

Serious spoilers above mate. I've also finished it, but some of the posters on here who haven't seen the leaked episode requested that the thread use spoiler tags from here in.

Just edit your post and [SPOILER*] [/SPOILER*] (without the Asterix) on either side of the stuff that relates to the final ep.

Aenaes

Wow, not cool. I've read the book and I still don't want to read any spoilers, ffs.

Watched the first episode there now. It's really well done and a nice touch to set it during the Arab Spring.

bnt

There's a finale preview in The Telegraph here, discussing why the series deviates from the book, without spoilers. The fact that they've changed the ending is not a spoiler: the book ending was a bit of a damp squib anyway, it needs a bit of "sexing up". :pac:

bnt

Well, that was different. The first reviews are coming in already e.g. this from the Daily Express and this from The Guardian, both with spoilers. Is it OK to resume the spoilers in this thread tomorrow?

Patty O Furniture

errlloyd wrote: »

Apparently there is a second series of this coming. Obviously not sure how the fate of the characters is going to work out.

Hopefully they won't suffer from second season syndrome or maybe different actors, but considering i read that this was directed by an Oscar winner Susanne Bier, (as i only knew her from the film Serena)

But maybe it's me, but was this ep a bit rushed? considering most of it was slickly paced,

as Burr & her colleague were about to get shipped out & then her colleague threatens Halo, if Roper contacts him?

But it was highly enjoyable & to see Hugh Laurie as a baddie, afaik 1st role since House? & to get such a big cast, although it maybe a while considering all have different projects coming up inc Colman in Broadchurch s03 afaik

But if this does turn into a sporadic TV BBC spectacle (like Sherlock) then I can't see Hiddleson becoming Bond. The novelty of his charm will have been used up, and quite frankly, it'll have been used up on something better.

I Didn't realise Brendan Rodgers was doing a bit of acting as Frisky & where was he at the end, i didn't see him arrested

Certainly would make a better Bond than Henry Cavill, as i'd heard he got to 2nd place last time!

pickarooney

Am I the only one who can't stand his unctious grinning and think he'd be an awful Bond?

bnt

pickarooney wrote: »

Am I the only one who can't stand his unctious grinning and think he'd be an awful Bond?

The thing about Bond is that the films work around the strengths and weaknesses of the actors, so anything annoying would be toned down. I personally think Hiddlestone is a bit weedy to be James Bond, but on the other hand he'd be a better fit to Ian Fleming's original vision of the character as someone cold and ruthless with a slim build (not a bodybuilder like Sean Connery was).

I was amused to see some folks on Twitter and elsewhere claim to have spotted a continuity error: after Pine visited Freddy Hamid's house, where he waded in the pool

while drowning Freddy Hamid

, his trousers were dry as soon as he walked back in to the Nefertiti hotel. But that would only be a problem if the house was near the hotel, and we don't know how far away it was. I'd go so far as to day they're fairly far apart: the hotel in central Cairo, and the spacious house (with pool and gardens) in a posh suburb. So I'm thinking at least 1/2 hour's drive away, plenty of time for the trousers to dry off in a hot climate, even at night. :cool:

errlloyd

That is one of the weakest continuity errors I've ever heard, they clearly would have had time to dry, and if they didn't he probably would have intentionally dried them so as not to arouse suspicion

StringerBell

I'd echo the sentiments of the rushed feeling of the ending, little bit too much crammed in to the final episode, overall an excellent series though. Really looked forward to it each week, though having said that I won't mind if they just leave it at the one season either. I wish they had left True Detective at one season too!

Patty O Furniture

Premieres Tuesday, April 19 10/9c on AMC

bnt

Jed's short hairdo is influencing hairstyles, according to the Daily Mail, prompting one of their writers to try it for herself.

(spoilers again)

There were a few complaints from domestic violence activists about the torture scene, where Jed was held underwater by Frisky. I don't know - it could have been a lot worse. They didn't show how she got those cuts on her face, for example. It's the point at which we finally get to see just what calibre of absolute s#!t Dicky Roper really is. It's one thing to gaze approvingly, from a distance, on bombs being dropped on dark-skinned people. It's another to order your girlfriend to be tortured right in front of you. (Or is it?)

There wasn't even a real reason for him to do that: he already knew about her and Pine, and still thought he was safe from any legal consequences due to lack of evidence. (Don't forget - this is why he used "signers" such as Corky and "Birch": his name wasn't on any of the paper trail, not even the document that Jed borrowed. Roper came a cropper at the hands of his Egyptian clients, who didn't require written evidence to cart him off, just the knowledge that they'd spent $300 million for some fireworks. :eek:

enjoyed this but just couldn't buy into the fact really that Roper brought Pine so quickly and trusted him so quickly and was happy to get rid of key members of his gang so easily. Undoubtedly it was very entertaining however. one other point is that I wasn't a fan of the giant stork girlfriend Jed. They really could have gotten someone sexier.
any yes, as others have said if Hiddleston is to have a chance at being bond then he really needs to elminate that Cheshire cat grin malarky from his acting repertoire.

Crazyteacher

Series Already available for purchase in tesco. Talk about fast. I think Olivia Coleman is brilliant no matter what she does.

smilerf

Hugh Laurie shone for
I never ever thought he could make me hate him

NyOmnishambles

glasso wrote: »

one other point is that I wasn't a fan of the giant stork girlfriend Jed. They really could have gotten someone sexier.

Personally I thought she was gorgeous, she is stunning in The Great Gatsby too

bnt

glasso wrote: »

enjoyed this but just couldn't buy into the fact really that Roper brought Pine so quickly and trusted him so quickly and was happy to get rid of key members of his gang so easily.

It wasn't all that quick, though - I made this point a few pages ago, that Roper didn't have to fully trust Pine to make use of him. It was only after Pine "burned" the agents in the Istanbul hotel that Roper seemed to overcome his reservations. Even then, he still pulled the "shell game" with the trucks without telling Pine. I'm not convinced that Roper really bought Pine's story about Corkoran, but by that point it was too late to scrap the deal and start again.

And as for Jed - well, here's another who thinks that not only are you not right, you're not even wrong. I've been watching Elizabeth Debicki's career with interest ever since I heard about the unknown 6'3" Aussie actress nabbing the crucial role of Jordan in The Great Gatsby, then the baddie in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Next up on her resumé, the Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel.

bnt

bnt wrote: »

It wasn't

And as for Jed - well, here's another who thinks that not only are you not right, you're not even wrong. I've been watching Elizabeth Debicki's career with interest ever since I heard about the unknown 6'3" Aussie actress nabbing the crucial role of Jordan in The Great Gatsby, then the baddie in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Next up on her resumé, the Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel.

I wasn't saying that she was an unknown - just think that she wasn't great for the part - she is a decent actor but imo not the sort a billionaire arms dealer would go for!
Don't know how they managed the Great Gatsby where she wasn't towering over Di Caprio in the movie - she's almost 4 inches taller than him - he must have been the one wearing heels!