The Night Manager Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Whatever it Takes
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Pine is taking his quest to be the second worst man in the world pretty seriously.
On The Night Manager Season 1 Episode 3, Pine befriended Danny to find out important information about Roper, schemed to take Corcoran's place, and set the stage for an affair with Jed.
Though there were a couple of times when I questioned the believability of the events of the hour, most of the time it had me on the edge of my seat.
After Elena killed herself, I wondered how many times that very thought crossed Jed's mind. It's already been established she's not very happy in her current situation, but would she be willing to take that final step to escape Roper's hold?
I don't know why she thought she could keep her son a secret from Roper, especially if she's transferring money to her mother for his care. Obviously he would see the bank statements, so it was sort of stupid for her to think that way. And wasn't it kind of risky for her to keep a picture of her son in her drawer?
Roper isn't about to share his secrets with her, but I give her credit for at least expressing frustration on that part. Thankfully for the Langbournes, she doesn't know that Carol knows everything going on thanks to her own big mouth husband, because if she did, I'm sure that she would have let it slip during that moment before she hung up on Roper.
And even though it wouldn't have been done out of spite, it would have certainly caused lots of problems, and probably even the elimination of Sandy, Carol, and maybe even their kids.
But it didn't turn out that way. What's interesting is that the one guy who really is looking out for Roper and his interests is the one guy who's being eliminated from the circle.
And this is one of the parts I have a hard time with in regards to believability. Roper is a smart guy. He's known Corky forever. He knows he likes to drink and knows about his antics and Roper has never questioned it.
But, now, this new guy comes in and plants a seed of doubt about Corcoran. Sure, Apostol voicing doubt and concern about Roper's cocky right-hand man didn't help either, but wouldn't Roper think it at least a little odd? Especially after he gets a warning from Galt that something's amiss?
None of this even was even a concern until Pine came on the scene.
I also think it's odd that Carol would just vomit so much information about the arms deal. How did she know Pine wouldn't go to Roper? How does Pine know that Carol wasn't just feeding him bogus information?
There's so much game playing going on, and I can't decide who's the better player right now. Part of me wants to believe that Pine is up one, but the other part of me thinks that maybe it's Roper after all. Maybe he's the one doing all the playing, and is just taking Pine and the gang for a long, dark ride.
I'm not sure how I feel about Pine using Danny to get information about his father. I guess in that situation, you have to do what you have to do. And Pine can't afford to have a moral compass, so it makes sense for him to do what he did with all the questioning. Doesn't mean I have to like it.
I was on the edge of my seat during that whole alarm scene. Pine really took a huge risk going down into The Citadel. I seriously thought he was going to get busted more than once, but things just work out perfectly for this guy. It certainly can't last long.
Jed knows more than she's letting on. If she's nosing around Roper's secret office, she knows exactly what he's doing. Is she gathering information to use against him at some point? Right now, I think she sees Pine as her escape.
There's a definite attraction between the two. Why else would he think about her naked swim while he was in bed. This is the same road he went down with Sophie. The guy definitely has a Bond affliction when it comes to women.
I feel bad for Corcoran. The way his cockiness did a slow fizzle from the beginning of the hour to the end when he knew he was on the outs was brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hollander. Is he really going to be on the outs, or will he be able to save face if he gets that missing volume of information his buddy is trying to find about Pine?
We're halfway through the series, and things are tightening up in Roper's world. Will Pine win the game, or will Roper elude again?
I can't wait to find out!
What did you think about "Episode 3" of The Night Manager? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you need to catch up, you can watch The Night Manager online right here via TV Fanatic.