The Night Manager Recap Season 2 Episode 3: The Chief

Richard Roper was Angela Burr’s ghost before he became Jonathan Pine’s. It was Angela who spent years trying to nail his slippery behind for something, with no success, until she met Jonathan. Jonathan slithered his way into his world. He got close to Roper’s son. He slept with and turned Roper’s girlfriend. Things became very, very personal between Roper and Jonathan, but before all that, what brought them together was a relentless intelligence officer who wanted to smack the smirk off Roper’s wealthy, entitled face. 

Would said intelligence officer have made a mistake in identifying his body?

The return of Richard Roper was set up from the moment Angela and Jonathan went to identify his body. Why did it matter how many people went in to identify a corpse? A gentleman like Jonathan would have given way once the guards insisted only one of them could come in; Angela hunted him longer, of course he said she could go ahead and identify Roper. Whether Angela made an honest mistake, or there was something else going on here, we don’t yet know. Notice, however, that neither Angela nor Jonathan brought swabs for DNA testing, which should be routine by now. Also, did that throwaway line in the first episode about Angela retiring to France seem like an Angela thing to do? 

In any case, the secret was out; just as Corky used to call Roper the ‘Chief’, so did Teddy in his current identity as Gilberto Paredes Hanson. And, as happy as I am to watch Hugh Laurie in anything, the return of Richard Roper inevitably raises the question of the necessity of a second season, if the story (arms smuggler hiding behind a charity, supported by members of the British government) and the villain (Richard Roper) was just going to be the same. Allusions to the first season that go with the ghosts theme is one thing; a retread down a previously successful path is quite another. So far, and even with Roper and season one callbacks all over the first three episodes (before the big reveal at the end), the writing, some new characters strategically placed, and Tom Hiddleston’s performance has skillfully avoided making this season feel like a retread. So, I am sticking a pin on this for now, we will revisit once we have seen the rest of the season. 

Jonathan as Matthew Ellis signed two documents for Teddy – a 20 million donation to his charity Aurora, which was purportedly set up to look after the young victims of the many years of violence in Colombia, and a share of ownership in a new company which would pay him a dividend in three months time. Basil had transferred the 20 million to a Belize account, but to give Jonathan more time with Teddy, they made up a banking rule that held the money for 12 hours. Juan was visibly stressed when he heard this; they needed the money that very night. Teddy remained calm and declared that Jonathan would remain their guest until the money cleared. 

What Jonathan needed was the shipment list that the prosecutor Alejandro Gualteros could use to override the military and open Teddy’s shipment. Whilst he and Roxana pretended to be lovers doing lover things in his hotel room, Jonathan broke into Teddy’s office using Roxana’s access card and the CCTV serial numbers she got for him. The shipment list was not in the briefcase as Jonathan expected, and he returned to the hotel furious. He did overhear Teddy on the phone and got an important name, which he immediately sent to Sally to investigate: Gilberto Hanson.

As much as Juan and Teddy wanted and needed Jonathan’s money, they were not comfortable with having him around. Juan handed him a ticket and told him to leave for Paris the next day. With Alejandro under constant surveillance and growing increasingly restless, Jonathan was badly in need of the shipment list. He joined Teddy and Roxana on the dance floor in a scene that has been all over Twitter since this episode aired. People kept comparing it to Challengers, which I haven’t seen; what it reminded me of was Y Tu Mama Tambien, but they did not go as far as that movie went. 

Jonathan has been pretending to be a drunk since this operation started. Desperate, he took on the persona of a belligerent drunk. He loudly declared that he was a fraud, that he knew about the shipment, that he had done deals with the MOD boys and that he knew about the weapons. Juan took Roxana to the office to check the safe and make sure there was nothing missing whilst Jonathan was marched to a boat and to a waiting, furious Teddy. 

Jonathan had his story ready. He claimed the file Teddy read about him was incomplete; he worked in military intelligence and had the skills to target Teddy. He insisted the money was real, he simply needed a way to clean it, which was why he came to Colombia.

The trouble was, Mayra found the account with the 300 million untouched over the past nine years through a recovered deleted email from Andrew Birch (Jonathan's season one alias) to Rex Mayhew, and she hauled Basil to her office to gain access to it. Basil had to pull the 20 million that was supposed to head to the Aurora account to prevent Mayra from knowing that the account had been touched and was being used in an operation she knew nothing about. With the full amount intact, Basil suggested trying a dummy transaction to an ops account in Belize; if someone queried it, they could trace where it led them. Mayra left to discuss that suggestion with someone else, leaving a few tense minutes of Sally freaking out over the money not being there and Teddy having his man Viktor prepare to toss Jonathan into the sea. Mayra finally gave the go ahead, and 20 million dollars was transferred to the Belize account, and then into the Aurora account. 

Roper’s first season girlfriend Jed (played by the luminous Elizabeth Debicki) once asked Jonathan who he truly was, and commented how everyone was attracted to him. Jonathan possessed a certain magnetism that even with Teddy intent on sending him out of the country, even with Teddy prepared to kill him had the money not been in the account as he promised, Teddy still felt the pull of Jonathan’s ‘genetically dishonest’ orbit. Teddy took Jonathan to a church where the two of them got communion, then to lunch, where Teddy spoke briefly of his life – Mexican mother, English father, raised by priests in a monastery. He claimed he was creating an army of soldiers for hire. That was what Aurora was about. Those kids who were serving drinks at his party were being trained to fight. Teddy then took Jonathan on a helicopter ride – he saw and memorised the chopper’s ID – and dropped him off at his hotel, where they hugged as though one of them did not just almost murder the other the night before. 

I had hoped we would see private detective Martin Alvarez again, and was happy that it was him Sally had consulted as she tried to look into who Gilberto Hanson was. Hanson was an arms smuggler who supposedly died in a helicopter accident 17 years ago. Jonathan and Sally were stuck with no shipment list and a very limited time window before Jonathan needed to leave the country, when Roxana showed up at his hotel. Whilst Juan was distracted at the office, she faxed the shipment list somewhere she could access, and gave a copy to Jonathan. Jonathan and Roxana have been bickering all episode, of course we reached the point of an almost romance. 

Jonathan gave Sally the shipment list and the chopper ID, then joined Martin in his car as they tracked the helicopter from the road, with Sally guiding them. They ended up in an isolated area with only a large house, La Estancia, registered to Gilberto Hanson, and a restaurant a mile away.

Jonathan left Martin with the car and snuck into the restaurant grounds. Teddy was there, and he welcomed a general and a politician, Jose Cabrera. They talked about dealing with the prosecutor the next day, and that they would be able to fly the inventory in time for the anniversary. Then the mysterious Mr. Hanson came into view, and it was Richard Roper.

Rating: B+

Strays

🌳Roxana had repeatedly told Jonathan that she worked with Teddy for the money, but Juan hinted at more, at something related to her father. Roxana’s story was that when she was six years old, her father was kidnapped for refusing to pay local guerrilla protection. Her mother expected a ransom note, but got her father’s body instead. She mentioned how her mother still owned the summer house where her father’s body was dropped, though they had never been back; we would probably see this house at some point in the series.

🌳Jose Cabrera was accused of paramilitary activity against the government and was considered a fugitive. 

🌳Someone was watching Alejandro’s house all the time. 

🌳Whilst Jonathan was hidden in Teddy’s office the night that he tried to steal the shipping list, he watched as Teddy took a clip and used it on his arm. We could not clearly see what he was doing, but it looked like self harm.

🌳Jonathan pouring bottles of champagne down the sink to sell his cover was a nice touch. 

Episode Writer: David Farr

Episode Director: Georgi Banks-Davies

Original Release Date: January 11, 2026

You can access Recap Lab's ongoing coverage of The Night Manager via this link.

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