The Night Manager Season 2: The Perfect Thriller

There are many shades of blue in the second season of The Night Manager. The light blue of actor Tom Hiddleston’s eyes. The cerulean blue of the waters they show. The Mediterranean blue of Hiddleston’s crisp linen shirts. It has the ability to put everything in sharp focus in a show where the hero utters lines like ‘deception is in our DNA’.

Ten years after the first season ended, Season 2 uses Hiddleston’s considerable charms to uncover yet another arms racket. Memories of Hugh Laurie abound until a shocking twist makes his threat all too real. This time Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine is up against a Colombian drug lord and a woman who may or may not be his ally. Great locations, spiffy accents, sunlit wine-soaked afternoons, late night assignations, including one with homoerotic undertones, and lots of subterfuge. There is no John le Carré text to guide this season but the playbook is almost perfect.