shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2016-03-07 07:34 pm
shallowness) wrote2016-03-07 07:34 pm
Swiss uncles and Mallorcan vistas
The Night Manager episode 3
Pine was busy stirring the pot with Burr’s support for most of this episode, which was certainly gripping although I had a few queries. The daughter’s suicide was never really explained – was it really because her daddy worked with arms-dealers or thought that boasting that her gift was the most expensive necklace wasn’t anything short of tacky? Sorry, that’s flip, but my point is that there wasn’t really an explanation for something pretty major other than it was a plot point. Moreover, why did things come to a head between the married couple at Mallorca just then apart from suiting the plot either? I didn’t get the feeling from the missus’s conversation with Pine that things were going to go so bad imminently.
We (and Pine) found more stuff out – we probably know a little more than him – such as that Billy is Jed’s son, and Roper knew. Of course he did. Actually, with Jed filling a stepmother’s role for Danny, it isn’t really clear why she wasn’t upfront about from a twenty-first century perspective. I’m wondering if it was a hangover from the earlier date of publication of the book? She trusted Roper until she found out he was a callous arms dealer – eh, I suppose she didn’t want to burden him with ‘another man’s child’ or make him feel like he had a competitor for her attention when they first met and then thought she couldn’t reveal the truth? Basically Jed is sympathetic, although she’s the latest in the string of women Pine is interested in/involved with (they’re getting away with it because of the actor, but it is very much Bond/male wish fulfilment territory, to the point when the missus said at the poolside that she didn’t want to sleep with him, I was ‘ARE YOU SURE?’ because of both narrative drive and the actor. Ahem).
Despite his being a bad sort, I almost felt sorry for Corky, being squeezed out for being rightly suspicious of Pine. And the thing is, he knows too much, so they aren’t going to let him sail off Mallorca, presumably.
Pine’s relationship with Danny was brilliant. As he’d been ordered to by Roper, he took an interest in the kid – basically filling a paternal void, while using him ruthlessly. We had another flat-out lie about the phone and the way he used Danny to pass on info to Angela at the ice-cream place was pretty good (he kept using ‘Danny,....’ all the time, which was an interesting verbal tic.) There was a lot of Pine the amateur being a pretty good intelligence-gathering operative to enjoy as well as Pine finding his place in ‘the family’ and around Roper.
Meanwhile, we were a step ahead with what the men at MI6 were up to. Their attempt to threaten Rex, who stood up to them brilliantly in the office (his boss seemed a little wet in comparison) and then the bribe – loved, loved, loved how it was phrased. In fact a lot of the dialogue was a pleasure in this episode. And now we know why – they’re in cahoots with Roper, suspicious of ‘Limpet’ (heh) although they’re mainly buying the cover story Mrs Burr sold them, so the goodies are getting away with it, for now. Should I feel sorry for Tobias Menzies getting another villainous role when, if it weren’t for the Hiddlestone, he might have hoped for playing Pine?
Anyway, I enjoyed the glimpses of Mrs Burr’s backstory, although I wondered when she said ‘We keep our promises’ if she can really deliver on that.
The way they shoot Mallorca et cetera continue to be absolutely gorgeous.
Pine was busy stirring the pot with Burr’s support for most of this episode, which was certainly gripping although I had a few queries. The daughter’s suicide was never really explained – was it really because her daddy worked with arms-dealers or thought that boasting that her gift was the most expensive necklace wasn’t anything short of tacky? Sorry, that’s flip, but my point is that there wasn’t really an explanation for something pretty major other than it was a plot point. Moreover, why did things come to a head between the married couple at Mallorca just then apart from suiting the plot either? I didn’t get the feeling from the missus’s conversation with Pine that things were going to go so bad imminently.
We (and Pine) found more stuff out – we probably know a little more than him – such as that Billy is Jed’s son, and Roper knew. Of course he did. Actually, with Jed filling a stepmother’s role for Danny, it isn’t really clear why she wasn’t upfront about from a twenty-first century perspective. I’m wondering if it was a hangover from the earlier date of publication of the book? She trusted Roper until she found out he was a callous arms dealer – eh, I suppose she didn’t want to burden him with ‘another man’s child’ or make him feel like he had a competitor for her attention when they first met and then thought she couldn’t reveal the truth? Basically Jed is sympathetic, although she’s the latest in the string of women Pine is interested in/involved with (they’re getting away with it because of the actor, but it is very much Bond/male wish fulfilment territory, to the point when the missus said at the poolside that she didn’t want to sleep with him, I was ‘ARE YOU SURE?’ because of both narrative drive and the actor. Ahem).
Despite his being a bad sort, I almost felt sorry for Corky, being squeezed out for being rightly suspicious of Pine. And the thing is, he knows too much, so they aren’t going to let him sail off Mallorca, presumably.
Pine’s relationship with Danny was brilliant. As he’d been ordered to by Roper, he took an interest in the kid – basically filling a paternal void, while using him ruthlessly. We had another flat-out lie about the phone and the way he used Danny to pass on info to Angela at the ice-cream place was pretty good (he kept using ‘Danny,....’ all the time, which was an interesting verbal tic.) There was a lot of Pine the amateur being a pretty good intelligence-gathering operative to enjoy as well as Pine finding his place in ‘the family’ and around Roper.
Meanwhile, we were a step ahead with what the men at MI6 were up to. Their attempt to threaten Rex, who stood up to them brilliantly in the office (his boss seemed a little wet in comparison) and then the bribe – loved, loved, loved how it was phrased. In fact a lot of the dialogue was a pleasure in this episode. And now we know why – they’re in cahoots with Roper, suspicious of ‘Limpet’ (heh) although they’re mainly buying the cover story Mrs Burr sold them, so the goodies are getting away with it, for now. Should I feel sorry for Tobias Menzies getting another villainous role when, if it weren’t for the Hiddlestone, he might have hoped for playing Pine?
Anyway, I enjoyed the glimpses of Mrs Burr’s backstory, although I wondered when she said ‘We keep our promises’ if she can really deliver on that.
The way they shoot Mallorca et cetera continue to be absolutely gorgeous.
no subject
(When Roper went to help cut her down, I couldn't help but think that it was Gregory House in that moment, not Roper.)
As for the Langbournes' very public confrontation, I wish that was explained better as well (did they cut too from the actual filming to make it fit into hour-long episodes?). Maybe she finally caught him and the nanny doing something she couldn't possibly deny this time around.
Didn't like Corky that much either but I did feel a tiny bit sympathetic since he clearly has no clue that's he'll soon be no longer part of the family. And no emotion from Roper about it either; to him it's all business and the only people he cares about are his son and his girlfriend.
Anderson disappointed me when I found out they were all in on it with Roper. And heh, Tobias Menzies plays evil, sleazy villains just so darn well. I can't really remember seeing him in a role where he was the good guy.
Was it implied that Jed snuck into the secret office when Pine confronted her about the strand of hair he found? Perhaps we could give her a little more credit than just being a trophy girlfriend? I can't see her as the type to go about sneaking in (and not get caught) the way Pine did... I suppose she did that after the Missus presumably told her the truth about Roper's business?
I heard that there were changes between the book and the series (excluding updating the setting to contemporary times). I'm curious about the book now but want to wait till after the series is over before I find out more so I won't end up getting spoiled.
no subject
Yes, I agree that she seemed to be feeling objectified and that her father's attempts to show that he loved her were making her miserable. But suicidal?
I can't really see him as exposing her to the true side of his business unless she found out accidentally.
Which they should have shown. What we had was Angela suggesting that this was somehow the case - how would she know? It was more than her playing on the father's guilty conscience. It all didn't add up to a sufficient explanation. Perhaps there were cuts for lengths as you suggest as a rationale for the Langbourne blow-up.
Anderson disappointed me when I found out they were all in on it with Roper.
I wasn't disappointed exactly. A little suprised because in most shows like this they'd have been working for someone else who was working with Roper and the reveal would have taken time to come.
Tobias Menzies plays evil, sleazy villains just so darn well. I can't really remember seeing him in a role where he was the good guy.
He was a goodish guy in The Honourable Woman.
My understanding was that Jed did indeed sneak into the office and I think that it was to confirm what she'd been told about the real nature of Roper's work. (She could yet turn out to be an operative or trying to get to Roper for her own reasons, but I'd be really surprised if she were.)