The Night Manager Season 2 Review | The Cult Of Jonathan Pine Continues

The Night Manager Season 2 returns a stupendous ten years later with the confidence of a show that knows what its audience expects. But there is the expected anxiety of still living in the long shadow of John le Carré. A decade after the original, this season, released on Amazon Prime, largely attempts to replicate its own winning formula. It ticks off the usual boxes: covert operations, femme fatales in distress and a sleek moral universe, where Western intelligence agencies remain the default arbiters of order.

Season two opens in Syria, with Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine accompanying Angela Burr to identify the body of Hugh Laurie’s Richard “Dickie” Onslow Roper. There is the suggestion of closure, but the question hangs in the air almost immediately: is Roper really dead, is Pine being haunted by a ghost? This ambiguity sets the tone for a season that thrives on misdirection, fake deaths and the familiar pleasures of the espionage genre where the world is burning, but the spy looks fantastic.

After a series of time-skip arcs, the story moves Pine from the cosy familiarity of London to the risqué, sun-drenched shores of Colombia. The shift in geography signals a shift in stakes. The chaos in Cairo from the first season is replaced by the volatile terrains of Colombia, where alliances are fluid and danger is dressed up as glamour. Double-crosses, red herrings and shadowy intermediaries abound because the series embraces its genre nods without irony.

The primary new antagonist is Eduardo Dos Santos, played by Diego Calva, who delivers adequate amounts of menace, swagger and ultimately neutered displays of power. Eduardo styles himself as a “true disciple of Roper,” a hotheaded acolyte attempting to inherit both the empire and the mythology of his predecessor. He is now running the illegal arms trade Roper did, but there is something bigger at play this time.

The Colombian subplot is bolstered by a strong supporting cast. Diego Santos’ Martín Álvarez, an ever-resourceful private detective, and Alberto Ammann’s spunky prosecutor Alejandro Gualteros leave a definite mark. Paul Chahidi is also a welcome addition as Basil Karapetian, a senior MI6 official who feels refreshingly close to what an actual intelligence operative might be like: absolutely unassuming, quietly perceptive and fiercely intelligent.

Hiddleston, meanwhile, parades through the season in a succession of perfectly tailored suits and aggressively fitted shirts—some so tight you wonder how his concealed weapon isn’t immediately clocked by his enemies.

The James Bond comparisons are inevitable and the show does little to discourage them. Through Jonathan Pine, Hiddleston gets to live out his Bond fantasies, with Olivia Colman’s Angela Burr positioned as an almost-M-like figure. Sadly, there is very little of the inimitable Colman this time around, despite what the trailers promised, and even Indira Varma’s role feels frustratingly curtailed. There is also, notably, no le Carré cameo this season, following the author’s passing.

Hugh Laurie, however, is still sharp as a tack. Though visibly older, he is still chillingly effective as a co-conspirator attempting to overthrow governments. Anyone surprised by Laurie’s ease in villainy has likely forgotten—or misjudged—the psychopathy he once brought to House, M.D (2004). His scenes with Hiddleston are less about open hostility and more about the brittle tension of old frenemies circling one another with barely hidden glee.

The show makes a visible effort to depict Medellín—a city perpetually framed through the spectre of Pablo Escobar’s global crime empire—with some balance, acknowledging that Colombia is more than poverty, crime and desperation. But it ultimately sinks under the weight of familiar motifs that have long defined Western portrayals of Latin America.

Viewed against contemporary politics, the discomfort becomes harder to ignore. At a time when Trump’s US openly invades a foreign nation like Venezuela to overthrow its (admittedly despotic) leader, The Night Manager season 2 continues to peddle a white saviour narrative—albeit an exquisitely produced one. It is worth noting that the UK has had a long history of supporting regime change in Venezuela as well and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to openly condemn Trump’s actions has drawn widespread criticism as a tacit form of support. Thus, as a British series about a covert intelligence operative, The Night Manager second season’s framing is hardly surprising. It ultimately reinforces the fantasy of a few good (white) folks attempting to “save” the downtrodden of the world.

If all that analysis feels like too much real-world baggage, the show offers ample distraction. Hiddleston and Camila Morrone—who plays the Roxana with undeniable oomph, despite a thinly-written backstory—are exceedingly easy on the eyes. Their chemistry crackles, and one sultry dance sequence involving Pine, Roxana and Eduardo generously caters to viewers ready to embrace a full bi-panic moment. Add to that the bluest Colombian waves and an itinerary of exotic locales, and the series delivers the visual opulence a prestige spy thriller demands.

le Carré’s singular brilliance may not carry over into this season, but, The Night Manager season two remains a solid entry in an overpopulated genre crowded with self-sacrificing, loyalty-evoking, white (male) spies. The illustrious cast and uniformly strong performances elevate it above much of last year’s commercial fare. For that—and for Hiddleston’s undeniably sexy back—we look forward to season three, which has already been greenlit by Prime. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take another ten years to arrive.