HOLLYWOOD—The long anticipated premiere of AMC’s “The Night Manager” has finally arrived! Based on the book by author John Le Carre and starring Hugh Laurie, “House”, and Tom Hiddleston, “The Avengers”, it is a show that left me clenching my notebook in suspense. I will be going over the entire episode, so here is your SPOILER ALERT.
Hiddleston plays Jonathon Pine, the night manager at the Nefertiti Hotel in Cairo Egypt, which is where our show starts. A revolt against the president of Egypt is happening all around Cairo, and Pine is seen assuring guests that he will help get them to the airport, playing the cordial hotel manager.
We meet Sophie Alekan, mistress to Freddie Hamid, who is staying at the hotel. She throws glances at Pine and later asks him to sit with her. Future love interest, perhaps? We find out a little more about the Hamid family of Cairo: owns half the city and Freddie is both rich and corrupt.
Sophie asks Pine to copy some papers for her personally. He agrees, but is shocked when he sees that the papers are receipts for some heavy weaponry sold by Iron Last Limited. Why would Sophie ask a hotel night manager to copy such sensitive information? In case an “accident” happens to her, he can give it to his buddy from the army.
Pine, worried about the papers he now has in his safe, asks his friend Youssef about Freddie Hamid. Youssef says it is better not to pry into the Hamid family. Then the TV broadcasts that the president of Egypt has resigned, and the whole city celebrates, except Pine.
After impersonating a friend of Hamid’s over the telephone he finds out about Richard Roper, played by Hugh Laurie, and watches an interview of Roper. He finds out that Roper is connected to Iron Last Unlimited, so he brings the weapons paperwork to his old army buddy, telling him to send it off and say it came from an anonymous source.
Now, let’s meet some another main player by visiting the International Enforcement Agency. Angela Burr receives the Cairo papers and says that Roper is at it again. Interesting that this seems it is not the first time Roper has caught some bad attention.
Unfortunately, Pine sending off those papers did not turn out too well for Sophie. Hamid had paid her a visit giving her a black eye after saying Roper canceled the weaponry deal. When Pine finds out he packs up Sophie’s things planning to rescue her and barely avoids getting caught when Hamid returns to the hotel.
I knew it! After Sophie and Pine make it to a makeshift safe house, she analyzes him by telling him he has many selves. They make love and cuddle in the morning. He vows to help her get to England and asks her what Roper is like. She describes him as charming and that he sells destruction while laughing.
Back to Angela’s story at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Angela is not pleased with Rex Mayhew as he seems to be avoiding pursuing the Cairo papers and Roper. He says that there is a Joint Intelligence Committee meeting in a week to discuss the possibilities of how to handle the situation.
It now seems that every possible plan to help Sophie is not panning out. She can’t go to England, because Hamid has friends there and that would look like she is admitting guilt. After Pine breaks the news to her she returns to the hotel with a new cold attitude towards him.
The JIC meeting got cancelled by Mayhew, and Angela is furious. Apparently investigating Roper and the Cairo papers would not be productive at this time. So, Angela gets ahold of Pine and tells him to get Sophie out. Pine runs to her room to find her dead with her blood everywhere including on her dog. The police merely say that they do not know the Hamid family and it was “clearly” a crazy burglar who murdered her. Obvious cover up.
Flash forward to four years later and Pine is the night manager at a hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland, where coincidentally Roper vacations. After meeting the somewhat charming and somewhat abrasive Roper, along with his not so shy lady friend, he has flashbacks of Sophie causing him to vomit after the meeting.
He searches through their garbage after dark and finds computer chips prompting him to call Angela. He says he doesn’t want to be involved, but Angela says what happened to Sophie has caused all of them to be involved. What is Pine willing to do to avenge Sophie and possibly stop one of the most evil men in the world? We shall find out next week!
