‘The Night Manager’ premiere review: Jonathan Pine enters strange new world

We are one episode in now to the BBC’s ambitious new series “The Night Manager,” and we’d say that there is one word to describe it: Intriguing. While not all of the series premiere on the BBC Sunday night was pitch-perfect, we feel like there was ultimately enough in here to make us believe that this is something worth watching for a few more weeks.

The real selling point at the moment is Tom Hiddleston, who is doing everything he can here to play both sleek and smooth as Christopher Pine, the former Arab Spring officer who finds himself working as a night manager (natch) before getting some key information that could thrust him into more of a world of espionage. This in so many ways feels like a classic Jason Bourne spy story, with a man with a high-octane past getting thrown back into a world he once new. We find it for the most part gripping, with Hiddleston commanding the screen every second that he is on it.

Does this mean the rest of the series is perfect? Far from it. Hugh Laurie frankly did not have enough to do in the premiere as presumed villain Richard Roper, who is intriguing enough but you feel like his evil is still underneath the surface. Olivia Colman shines bright as the woman responsible for roping Pine into this business in Angela Burr. She is one of the more complex characters thanks to her history with Roper, and everything that she is willing to do in order to ensure that Pine is aboard.

In the end “The Night Manager” is the perfect series for anyone who wants a little bit of action in their Sunday night programming. We just hope that this foundation leads to some epic payoff down the road. Grade: B.

If you are interested in getting some other news on “The Night Manager” right away, be sure to head over to this link to see what could be coming up next! Also, sign up over here in the event you want some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: BBC.)