[spoiler]He was pretending to give him CPR for show when the guards were looking his way, then pounding on him when they weren’t. He definitely didn’t want to be seen actually killing him rather than capturing him, but he also couldn’t chance him living. So he made it look like he tried to save him, but the fight just took too much out of Corky.
That was my interpretation, anyway.[/spoiler]
Ah, that makes sense. I’m looking forward to the finale. I have a couple of ideas on what’s going to happen, but won’t speculate.
OK, seen the finale, which I thought lived up to the rest of the series. However, I did have a question about Roper’s final scene: did I understand it right? … that he thought he was being arrested by the corrupt police, and his friend Mr Hamid Sr will pull him out in a couple of days. Some ambiguity since he doesn’t know Freddy Hamid is dead, and Elder Hamid may blame Roper. However, he’s instead abducted by the terrorists whom he had just insulted – and who think he’s cheated them – who won’t be open to standard political corruption. Is that right?
According to Wikipedia, this is very different from the ending of the book. Roper gets away with it all, Pine and Jed are effectively ransomed and live in a quiet small village in England.
That’s basically it, althoughit’s not just that they’re not open to corruption; it’s that they’re very powerful, very nasty, very violent men who are very, very angry with him about both the insults and the loss of $300million (and/or weaponry). Mr Roper is therefore in for quite an uncomfortable time in the immediate future if he can’t placate them..
Discussion are underway with John le Carré about a sequel, although whether it will include Roper is yet to be seen.
And speaking of John le Carré, keen-eyed viewers may have spotted him as the offended older gentleman in the restaurant scene where Corky kicked off.
Neat! Until I just read that I had assumed le Carré had passed away years ago. Don’t know why. But I’m glad he is still around to enjoy his adaptations.
I thoroughly enjoyed this mini-series and am a bit sad that it’s over. Loved Burr overcoming her pregnancy hormones and letting her tradecraft kick in at the hotel. I’d happily share a foxhole with that woman any day!
The ending was clearly not Carre’s, but was enjoyable all the same.
I hope something else equally worthy of my viewing hours comes along again soon.
Just watched the finale. Pretty good show. Satisfying conclusion.
Best line in the whole series:
Two seconds after the trucks blow up-- “I want my money back, Mr. Roper!”
By my reckoning, The Night Manager was only been the fourth best BBC drama production of the year so far.
No the best line was 30 seconds later when Roper ( who hasn’t stopped staring at the back of Pine’s head since the explosion ) said “Oh, you beauty” when a panicked Sandy indicated that the 300 million was missing :).
Very enjoyable. I was dead tired last night by the time it came on, and determined to watch it live, I stayed up. But I dozed off a couple times, so I’ll need to rewatch this weekend. Still, the whole thing was great TV. And I love that it was only 6 episodes and you didn’t have worry about the writers going off the rails in Season 4 or something.
I felt like it all wrapped up just a little bit too neatly.
For instance, this new document that they got from the safe, unlike all the previous documents, is so massively incriminating that its existence singlehandedly provides enough leverage to keep that corrupt guy silent? It was all just a little bit pat. But then, that’s been true of most of the series. Overall very well done, excellent acting, but all just a little hollywood-y in how the story pieces all nicely fit together.
Still, definitely enjoyed it, would watch more of the same.
That was a good one, too. But when the guy said the obvious (“I want my money back”) I just laughed out loud and shouted, “NO FUCKING JOKE!”
I would like Jed to put on about 10-15 pounds and start wearing underwear and clothes that don’t fall off her body. Maybe that’s just me.
After Angela picked up the envelope and got in the elevator and put her hands on her stomach, I thought, “Holy shit- she’s gonna have that baby right now.”
I was surprised overall that Roper came to trust Pine so readily. Yeah, he saved the kid, but Pine was quiet and secretive, he always seemed to be hiding something and he never seemed trustworthy to me.
Why did Roper make Pine the iris-identifier person instead of using his own eyeball?
How do you rate Ripper Street?
Part of his plan to insulate himself by having Pine be the paper head of the company, a job Corcoran had apparently previously filled. Only really safe if you can trust/sufficiently terrify the other guy, though.
No kidding.
I just finished watching the final episode. I loved it. I watch very little fiction on TV, but I`m glad I tuned into this one.
Fortunately I can watch it On Demand.
Roper was my favourite guy. The kind of villain you almost admire. The world needs more businessmen like him. So long as they are selling farm equipment that is.
Corky was my second favourite. He was the kind of villain that you love to hate. It wasn`t until the second or third episode that I realized he was gay, or maybe he was bi.
Pine was probably showing his inexperience or lack of proper training when he got too involved with Jed. He definitely doesn`t have a poker face.
It took me a couple of episodes to warm up to Burr. Maybe I was expecting someone like M.
As for Tom Hiddleston, I`m not sure about him being the next Bond. He looks a little too small and skinny. But he did play the role of Pine very well.
I hope there are more series like this coming on AMC.
Mark Kermode, discussing Hiddleston in his role in High Rise, made a comment about how Hiddleston has the kind of face and demeanour that allow him to play protagonists in a way that leave you unsure whether or not he’s actually a good guy.
As for the “next Bond”, I think they need to let the franchise rest for a while until they can think of something better to do with it. So many of the last several films have been terrible, regardless of who was playing Bond.
My wife and I finally watched this. At one point we both commented that we were eager for the end to find out how it ended, but it was so good that we didn’t want it to end. Can’t remember the last time we felt that way about a TV show. Interested to hear what the other poster feels were the clearly better BBC shows, because we sure missed them. This was - hands down - the best T we’ve seen in a long time.
My one question - who exactly did Pine transfer the $300 mil to? Himself? Jedd? The Red Cross? 
So, we are to assume at the end that not only does he escape with his life, buut he’s filthy rich as well? Kinda adds a different twist to it, that he was (at least in part) in it for the money.
Didn’t bother me at all that it got “wrapped up neatly.” Not sure what alternative for which actors would be better. Thought it a neat turnaround at the very end, going from “Will Roper get out through his connections” to “He’s a dead man.” So quick - but so consistent with what had been set up until then.
Jedd did wear plenty of undergarments - just weren’t very often UNDER any other clothes! Found it a tad odd that she seemed to don a lot of lacy lingerie, but then take it off when putting on her clothes!
And, just to be a superficial jerk, I didn’t find Jedd all that attractive. I mean, of course she was beautiful, but not (IMO) life-or-death beauty. And didn’t see all that much to her personality either. Thought Freddie’s GF who died in the first episode or 2 far more exotic and attractive. But my being a pig who objectifies female TV roles did not in any way detract from my enjoyment of the show.
It’s been a good year for BBC drama, actually UK tv drama imo.
Happy Valley - start from S1. Totally outstanding.
Then look at Line of Duty: BOOM!
Which, again, just has me imagining him as the all-new all-different James Bond: a charming and well-connected guy who, sure, plays safecracker to learn where to play sniper to recover the stolen prototype for Queen and country – but who pockets some loot along the way, and splits it with Felix Leiter, because, hey, connections don’t come cheap, but they’re why 007 is so effective, which is how he keeps lining his pockets.
“It says in your after-action report that you were captured and strapped to a table.”
“Yes, sir. Yes, that is totally a thing which seems to happen to me, sir.”
“Well, you accomplished the mission – but who stole the jewels?”
“I don’t know, sir. But I hear that guy is awesome, sir.”