Little Drummer Girl anyone?

[IAmBeyonceAlways]

Anyone watching? Cant see another thread!

Guys, the director is considered an auteur, so we're all wrong about it being shit.

He may indeed be great at directing films in Korean, but whether he's so great at directing a TV series in a language he does not speak is another question entirely.

I reckon it might just be a slow burner.

So slow it's in danger of extinguishing itself!

We're a third of the way through. If it hasn't shown promise by now, it's unlikely it ever will.

Ohh god no Holiday
I'd forgotten by 2 minutes past 10 😆

Not denying it is slow. But the book also does a very gradual reveal.

I don't think it's spoiling it from what we have seen so far to say that Israeli Intelligence have recruited Charlie (because she is an actress and a radical activist) to build the fiction of a relationship with Michel/Salim so she can infiltrate the Palestinian terrorists. Joseph/Jose/Gadi Becker is her handler and is playing the part of Michel to establish the fiction both for her imagination and for anyone wanting proof that she really is in a relationship with Michel, and did drive through Greece with him, etc.

As to why she agreed to it, in the book it is a combination of being attracted to Joseph who won't sleep with her, wanting to do something to bring peace, using her acting skills, and then just the sheer excitement of working with the intelligence services. There's a great line about “to the uninitiated, the secret world is of itself attractive. Simply by turning on its axis, it can draw the weakly anchored to its centre.”

I feel everyone should go and read the book, really. 

There's actually a good précis on enotes.com, which I've screenshot below. I've blacked out a slight spoiler but if you prefer things to remain completely opaque, don't open it.

Ok, I'll back off now. 

None of my smileys are appearing.

Ok, I am confused about the terrorists and brothers.

Presumably it is the real Michel they have in the cell being interrogated? And Jose is impersonating him, wearing his green jacket / driving his red Merc?

And they haven’t got Salim? Did they photograph the real Michel when he was unconscious and then show him the photo telling him it was his brother?

Yes, they have the real Michel (whose real name is actually Salim) and Joseph is impersonating him in a loose way - i.e. he's not trying to pose as Michel for those who would actually know him but in order to help build the fiction for Charlie to remember later.

The older brother who is the bomber mastermind is called Khalil and they have faked a picture showing him captured in order to persuade Michel to give up and tell them everything. I think the pictures of Michel they took are to help with the fiction at some point but are not the same as the Khalil photo.

Joseph/Jose/Gadi Becker is her handler and is playing the part of Michel There I was thinking he was Peter

Gosh, yes Peter too. I could never be a spy, because I couldn't keep my aliases straight.

I will read the book, but have given up on the TV version.

Melamin, he introduced himself as Peter when he first met Charlie and friends in Greece.

Yes, but it was the morning after at breakfast - he was named Joseph during the evening by Charlie. then in Athens, he became Michel, who was really Salim. But he is Gadi (I think)

OK, I've watched episode 2 and am enjoying it even more. It's cleverly put together - I love the way the flashbacks show the story that Gadi is constructing as if it really happened.

Watching it again, in preparation for tonight's instalment

Not starting til 9.30 tonight?

Alex Skarsgard looked HOT in that black polo neck.

And that's about the only good thing I have to say about this pretentious twaddle.

LadyPeterWimsey I will read the book

I am still SO confused.
So the two they blew up are the ones that did the original explosion in Ep 1?

But why is Gadi impersonating him? With the same green jacket etc? And if impersonating him, how come Charlie is being his girlfriend when the real girlfriend is blown up?

And who will ‘come for Charlie ‘?

Why were they all so shocked and traumatisec about the fake crash
assassination? What else were they ever going to do with them? Or did something go wrong?

ElenadeClerment - excellent! My work here is done.

The impression I am getting is that audiences were expecting The Night Manager, which was glossy and accessible, and instead they have ended up with a intricate period piece, directed by an auteur who gives no quarter when it comes to understanding the plot. I'm not really surprised that there is a fair amount of negativity out there. (I wonder if the political setting of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict makes it less easy to find the good guys and the bad guys than it was in The Night Manager.)

I'm loving it. I love the sets and the costumes and the camerawork and the pacing, and even though Charlie and Becker are not quite as I imagined them, I've been won over by her gorgeous voice and his allover dreaminess.

But you should all read the book anyway.

Gadi was Salim until Charlie went back to England (Salim being held in the padded box, then Salim met up with the other girl, and they crashed. This accounts to Salim's group for his whereabouts whilst captured.

I don't think they had intended to kill them originally but they did not get what they wanted out of the girl so there was no point handing them over to anyone, and they do not want to alert Salim's group to what they have been doing.

It is probably going wrong. It usually does.

I thought the Night Manager was verging towards James Bond, which JLC usually isn't. The stories are usually darker, more mundane and don't always go well.

I love this. Have started reading the book but am behind (was surprised by how much Alexis is there is in the book - barely noticed him in the TV series). At the end of tonight's episode, I'm wondering if Charlie is going to turn (not that she's committed to the cause in the first place).

I had to watch last episode again before tonight's. I'm back on it now. Bloody hell, its sooooo good!

What's the significance of the scene observed by salim in the munich park, twice, second time in reverse (girl skipping rope and children running)? The shot of the team after his relevation is the same one as just before as well. I wondered if this was him cracking during interrogation: reported reason (to charlie?) vs real reason ??