When “The Night Manager” first aired back in 2016, the series felt singular. Spy thrillers weren’t yet often seen on the small screen to the degree that they are now, which allowed the series to stand tall as one of the first of its kind. Now, ten years later, shows like it are a dime a dozen, with each new one feeling more like an imitation of the others. It’s hard to find a series like this, one that carves out a unique place for itself among its peers. Unlike most shows that are delayed a significant amount of years, season two continues to do just that.
Four years after the events of season one, where Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), a former military officer and hotel manager, was recruited by task force agent Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate and take down arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), what initially seemed like a self-contained story has proven to be anything but. Haunted by what took place in the first season, Jonathan has assumed the identity of Alex Goodwin and been given a new job as the leader of a unit tasked with monitoring suspicious activity in hotels. While it may sound dull, the job quickly proves to be just as dangerous as his previous one.
Yet the danger at the center of this season isn’t simply external. Instead, the series quickly makes it clear that Jonathan’s mental health may be at stake. During a mandatory check-in with MI6’s therapist, he’s asked if there is anything keeping him awake at night. Of course, Jonathan answers no, but it quickly becomes clear that in his time with Roper, Jonathan lost a part of himself. His memories at times force him to come undone, sometimes to his detriment, yet other times we watch him unspool before unexpected, albeit sympathetic, foes.
When Jonathan’s boss, Rex Mayhew (Douglas Hodge), dies under suspicious circumstances, the death appears to be connected to a group of Colombian traffickers. At the helm of these traffickers is Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), a spry and suave antagonist who is quickly drawn to Jonathan, now posing as millionaire Matthew Ellis. On his travels, he meets Roxana Bolaños (Camila Morrone), a businesswoman who offers to help him get close to Teddy. This is where season two of “The Night Manager” proves itself once again to be a diamond in the rough, at times allowing the espionage to take a backseat to a thrilling and alarmingly tender relationship between three very different people.
Hiddleston and Calva are a match made in heaven. Their chemistry is electric, each of them employing sharp glances and heady gasps to fully convey that although these two are at odds with one another, they can’t help but be further drawn into the other’s orbit. Morrone infuses a much-needed fierceness into the relationship, with Roxana’s desperation to stay alive causing cracks to appear in her already thin partnership with Jonathan. Throughout the 6-episode season, these three characters each find themselves as the cat and the mouse in this globe-trotting chase, which unfolds into a thrilling and undeniably sexy examination of personhood and survival.
While season one ignited a television genre that isn’t going anywhere—for better or for worse—season two allows the eroticism that has been missing from espionage television to take center stage. In cinema, the spy genre has never lacked sex or romance, yet in series like “The Night Agent” and “The Agency,” this has always felt secondary to the politics and narratives at the center of these shows. Jonathan is a protagonist who can’t help but get attached to the people he’s trying to infiltrate, and this blooms into one of the series’ most fascinating narrative threads. Instead of adopting the same function of more recent spy thrillers, “The Night Manager” is masterfully directed by Georgi Banks-Davies and William Oldroyd, who peel back the gaudy reputation of this genre and revel in the inherent eroticism of deception.
The series forces its protagonist to take center stage over the ins and outs of its espionage, allowing Hiddleston to deliver a magnetic performance as a man whose desperation to do good threatens to upend the lives of everyone around him. Even when things seem to go his way, Jonathan never appears in control. Instead, he comes across as someone wound unbelievably tight, with his resolve threatening to break not only under the weight of this new mission, but under the weight of his attachment to his friends, MI6, and his adversaries. This fantastic character work allows “The Night Manager” to feel even fresher than it did ten years ago.
All six episodes were screened for review.
