Genre: Spies and spying
Platform: Amazon Prime
Time : 6 x 1 hour each
Director: Georgi Banks-Davies
Cast: Tom Hiddleston (Jonathan Pine). Olivia Colman (Angela Burr). Hugh Laurie (Richard Roper). Indira Varma (Mayra Cavendish). Camila Morrone (Roxana Bolaños). Diego Calva (Teddy Dos Santos)
Plot: Jonathan Pine and Angela Burr go to a remote outpost in Syria and positively identify Richard Roper’s dead body. Eight years later Pine, now Andrew Birch, is part of MI6’s night surveillance team called Night Owls, who are doing sterling work, identifying threats. Pine’s immediate boss Mayhew calls him for an anniversary party where he glimpses a mysterious South American woman. After his boss Mayhew dies mysteriously, Pine identifies the woman as a Colombian , Roxana Bolanos. He follows her to Colombia , with a small support team and soon identifies that there is a large “regime change” plot underway, financed by his superiors . And who is the middleman who is responsible for all the arms and weapons to be supplied for the regime change? Who else but Richard Roper, now seemingly resurrected from the dead and also having an illegitimate son Teddy, from a Colombian woman, as his front man…
By episode 3, Roper’s identity as the supplier is revealed and so there are no large “spoilers”. We know what will happen with all the backstabbing and intrigues that are common in le Carre’s novels. The British “Establishment” is always found wanting in its greedy patronization of all that is bad in the world just because they want a “seat at the head of the table”. That has been more or less le Carre’s themes , in his 21st century “non spy” novels where heroes are dime a dozen and inevitably caught up and ground to dust by the larger forces, that they are supposed to fight against, but who are supported by the Establishment.
So what could be wrong with the TV series if it is very much in the le Carre Universe of deceit , conceit, Corporate Greed and Wrong Doing ? Simple. Reviving Roper smacks of desperation and an idea to continue the series forever – somewhat like Jaws 2, Jaws 3 and so on. Here, Pine is hardly a “night manager” – he is a full-blown MI6 operative. Burr is now retired but called back one last time to support Pine which has its own consequences.
In Roxana, there is probably the most complex character, who at first aids the British, then works against them, then for them – till we wait for her cinematic comeuppance and we are surprised at how she gets away with it all. Perhaps we are supposed to wonder at the oh-so-clever writing here but hardly. Every time Roxana does a flip flop, there is a “here we go again – what next?” feeling. Even if motivated by her sheer survival, she is hardly a credible character. Whenever she does a flip flop with, she lands on her feet and is believed. We wonder why the gang didn’t shoot her out of hand and be done with her.
Roper’s illegitimate son Eduardo – aka Teddy – has a streak of conscience , which is manipulated by Pine, to the extent that Teddy goes against father. A criminal with Daddy issues ? What is this ? Shakti or Analyse This ?
To a large extent, the final episode E6 redeems the first five episodes’ downward spiral and conforms to le Carre’s world view that the Establishment always triumphs and crushes the common man, the ordinary Joe on the street, as there are often “larger interests” at stake. A Season 3 has been announced and I wonder what they will do to “revive” the series.
All this evil is done in very posh locations, hotels and establishments, lending a “James Bond without explosions” type of atmosphere to the series.
Funding a civil war in Colombia ? Setting the action in Medellin ? Thats the MacGuffin ? Aren’t / weren’t the cocaine dealers of Medellin doing that ?
Watch it with caution – if you must.
Script – 4 out of 5
Story – 3 out of 5
Direction – 3 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 3.5 out of 5
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!