The Night Manager? Anyone?

Author
Discussion

sooty61

688 posts

172 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
quotequote all
Doofus said:
I still don't understand why Birch needed to be present at all the sales demonstratons. All the buyers knew Roper and Sandy, so why was Birch there?

Surely the point of having the name of an unconnected party on all the official paperwork is that he is unconnected.
Because Birch was the MD of Tradepass so it was "his" company. Roper had made him MD to protect himself

MiniMan64

16,937 posts

191 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Who else was yelling at Angela to put a second bullet through Frisky's head for Chrissakes!!!
Or even pick up his bloody gun!

Doofus

25,832 posts

174 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
quotequote all
sooty61 said:
Because Birch was the MD of Tradepass so it was "his" company. Roper had made him MD to protect himself
I know that. That's in my post already. It doesn't explain why Birch had to meet the buyers, given that both the buyers and the sellers know they're acting illegally, and given the buyers already know Roper, and that it's Roper with whom they are dealing.

It would make more sense if Roper didn't show up at all, thereby keeping himself out of the spotlight. But given that he does show up, and that all the grunts work for him, and the buyers know him, what exactly is Birch doing there?

If Birch was to get nicked, then he couldn't plead ignorance, of course, but any surveillance would have placed Roper there too, so pinning it on Birch would be a bit pointless. In the final episode (possibly a spoiler alert), Roper told Birch "You'd better do a good job of this sale", after which, apart from using his iris to authorise the bank transfer, Birch was actually required to do nothing. He didn't tell the truck drivers to start their engines, he didn't phone the bank to begin the authorisation process either.

In fact, if Roper used a fictitous person to head up Tradepass, and used his own iris as the bank authorisation, then he'd never need to introduce anyone else that may turn out to be untrustworthy.

Loved it, incidentally; just not sure if the programme was clever than me, or I than it. smile

Blackpuddin

16,555 posts

206 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
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I wasn't sure why Roper didn't immediately disable Pine's ability to transfer money.

Doofus

25,832 posts

174 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
quotequote all
Blackpuddin said:
I wasn't sure why Roper didn't immediately disable Pine's ability to transfer money.
Until that point, it wasn't clear that he had the authority, as Sandy always did the detail stuff. Birch was just there to provide the iris.

kev b

2,715 posts

167 months

Sunday 27th March 2016
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The first few episodes were excellent, a bit far fetched regarding fake IDs etc but still engrossing,I looked forward to next weeks episode.

The finale just seemed rushed and unconvincing, in fact the last few episodes had too many plot holes and eventually were beyond my ability to suspend disbelief.

One redeeming factor was despite being partly USA funded the final scenes did not culminate in a Hollywood style car chase, explosions and fireball ending.

popeyewhite

19,948 posts

121 months

Monday 28th March 2016
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Finished it tonight. Lavish production. Reasonable acting from Hugh Laurie. Terrible screenplay and some sections made the suspension of disbelief almost impossible. The last scene in the police van was a straight rip off of The Long Good Friday , but was done appallingly.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

206 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
My thoughts on the Night Manager.

It started off very well - it had excellent cinematography and production values, first impressions were very good indeed. I even forgave it some early plot stretches as it was enjoyable TV.

As it went on I wanted a bit more going on, which never arrived albeit it still continued to be very easy on the eye. I felt it plodded through an easy storyline with no twists or complications. As it drew towards its conclusion this theme continued and ultimately I was disappointed as it seemed like a lost opportunity. The high production values were let down by a weak, formulaic plot which unfortunately I think is largely unmemorable in its blandness.

This will go down for me as typical British Sunday night TV, too afraid to take any risks. I know I'm being critical but after such a great opening I had high hopes however I think it fell a long way short.

Smollet

10,609 posts

191 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
I enjoyed it up until the last episode when I got the impression everyone wanted out of it ASAP. Not unlike the last episode of Falling Skies in that respect.

Sharted

2,646 posts

144 months

Monday 28th March 2016
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It was cool that they added a 'ringing in the ears' sound after he trucks exploded.

r11co

6,244 posts

231 months

Monday 28th March 2016
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mattyn1 said:
Watched it again tonight - still not convinced he is right to be Bond.
So, did you spot the pitch?! drink

Otispunkmeyer

12,606 posts

156 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Who else was yelling at Angela to put a second bullet through Frisky's head for Chrissakes!!!
Oh my god yes! It would make life so much simpler wouldn't it. Instead of leaving the bad guys to come back for you. Granted some films would be about 5 minutes long if they all took that route.

Halmyre

11,211 posts

140 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
Otispunkmeyer said:
Halmyre said:
Who else was yelling at Angela to put a second bullet through Frisky's head for Chrissakes!!!
Oh my god yes! It would make life so much simpler wouldn't it. Instead of leaving the bad guys to come back for you. Granted some films would be about 5 minutes long if they all took that route.
Not that we saw Frisky again anyhow. Shame, I was expecting a Pine/Frisky showdown.

Never did find out why Jed's hair was in Roper's secret room. Or the back-story about her child that seemed vaguely significant.

redlancer

100 posts

166 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
r11co said:
So, did you spot the pitch?! drink
Glad he didn't say shaken not stirred.

Blackpuddin

16,555 posts

206 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
My thoughts on the Night Manager.

It started off very well - it had excellent cinematography and production values, first impressions were very good indeed. I even forgave it some early plot stretches as it was enjoyable TV.

As it went on I wanted a bit more going on, which never arrived albeit it still continued to be very easy on the eye. I felt it plodded through an easy storyline with no twists or complications. As it drew towards its conclusion this theme continued and ultimately I was disappointed as it seemed like a lost opportunity. The high production values were let down by a weak, formulaic plot which unfortunately I think is largely unmemorable in its blandness.

This will go down for me as typical British Sunday night TV, too afraid to take any risks. I know I'm being critical but after such a great opening I had high hopes however I think it fell a long way short.
Can't we blame at least some of that on the original book though? Adding new complications to the original text would open the BBC up to accusations of over-adaptation.

Black can man

31,841 posts

169 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
I was waiting for Frisky to pour CocaCola down pines hooter .


Thoroughly enjoyable but not nearly as menacing in the end i felt,


Still bloody good though.

eastlmark

1,654 posts

208 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
I think he entered that compound in the van, loaded with 4 blokes barely hidden in the back somewhere, a bit too easy. Surely one of the guards would have opened the back doors.

Edited by eastlmark on Monday 28th March 13:30

popeyewhite

19,948 posts

121 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
Doofus said:
Until that point, it wasn't clear that he had the authority, as Sandy always did the detail stuff. Birch was just there to provide the iris.
Yes that always puzzled me. Why did they let him into the inner circle? They had no need to at all and if they hadn't the whole story wouldn't have worked (not that it did).

Trevatanus

11,125 posts

151 months

Monday 28th March 2016
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Really enjoyed that. Even down to the last episode, it could have literally gone in any direction. Loved the scene with Roper being driven off, reminded me of the last scene with Harold Shand being driven off in The Long Good Friday

hedgefinder

3,418 posts

171 months

Monday 28th March 2016
quotequote all
I think to sum it up for me... could have done a lot better, and a lot of potential wasted....
I watched it all, but mainly due to it being the best of a bad bunch,
which isnt exactly a glowing report is it?