#002 The Night Manager
Hello, everyone. Jack Cameron here again. The idea is to have these things come out every Sunday, but my move to Outpost Doghouse took a lot of my time. And this was something that fell by the wayside. So it’s going to be a short one in which I gush about a show I watched this week.
It’s only six episodes long, but with just one writer (David Farr) and just one director (Susanne Bier), it feels like a six-hour movie. I went in knowing only that The Night Manager stars Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie and it’s based on a John le Carre novel. Any one of those things would get me interested in the show. With all three, I’m not sure how it’s taken me three years to get around to watching it.
Tom Hiddleston plays the title role of The Night Manager of a hotel in Egypt during the Arab Spring. Through a series of events he encounters Hugh Laurie, a billionaire international arms dealer.
For both of these actors, this is easily my favorite thing they’ve ever done. Anyone wondering why Hiddleston’s name is being shopped around as the next James Bond need only watch this to see why. He is at times suave, deceptive, and brutal. And Laurie plays the arms dealer as simultaneously gracious, arrogant, pompous, and deadly.
In terms of quality, this show reminds me most of the first season of True Detective where everyone is at the absolute top of their game. Even the production value makes it feel like a movie. If you’re like me and you enjoy a good spy story with plenty of intrigue and just the right amount of action, I can’t recommend The Night Manager highly enough. It deserves the three Golden Globes it received.
The Night Manager can be found on Amazon Prime.
- Jack Cameron