The third episode of The Night Manager Season 2 ends with a twist that changes everything for Jonathan Pine. After narrowly surviving a tense standoff with arms dealer Teddy Dos Santos, Pine follows him to a secret meeting, only to discover that his old enemy, Richard Roper, is not dead. Roper is alive, well, and operating under the identity of a dead man named Gilberto Hanson. This revelation confirms that the death everyone, including Pine and British intelligence, accepted years ago was an elaborate trick.
The episode does not give a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how the trick was pulled off. Instead, it uses key scenes to show that the official story of Roper’s death was built on a single, unreliable piece of evidence that could have been easily manipulated. The faked death was not just a magic trick by one man, but a strategic move likely supported by a network of people with power, allowing Roper to vanish and operate with complete freedom.
The Official Story of Roper’s Death
At the start of The Night Manager Season 2, the show presents the death of Richard Roper as a confirmed fact. In a flashback scene set years after the events of the first season, intelligence officer Angela Burr is shown in a Syrian morgue. She examines a corpse identified as Roper’s, even checking for a pulse, and officially confirms his death. Jonathan Pine was present but remained outside; only Burr entered the room to make the identification.
This scene was powerful and direct. The audience was shown a body on a slab, a trusted character confirming the death, and then years of narrative moving forward under the assumption that Roper was gone. The show intentionally closed the door on his return, making the eventual reveal in Episode 3 all the more shocking.
The Critical Weakness in the Confirmation
The most important detail about the death confirmation is that Angela Burr performed it alone. In the world of spycraft and high-stakes intelligence, a single-source verification is a procedural weakness. It creates a “choke point” in the system that can be compromised.
If someone wanted to fake a death, they would not need to deceive the entire world. They would only need to control or manipulate that one critical moment—the identification. This could involve a bribed official, a switched body in the morgue, or forged documentation that led Burr to the wrong corpse. The show suggests that Roper, a master manipulator with vast resources, exploited this exact weakness. As one analysis notes, in spy storytelling, “When the villain manages to survive a thing that is airtight, the container was not airtight; it was made to leak”.
The New Identity: Gilberto Hanson
The key to Roper’s new life is the identity of Gilberto Hanson. Throughout Episode 3, Pine hears Teddy and his associates mention this mysterious figure. When he asks his MI6 colleague Sally to investigate, she discovers a crucial fact: the real Gilberto Hanson died in a helicopter crash 17 years ago. His death was kept quiet, meaning his identity was clean and available for someone else to assume.
Roper did not just choose a random name. He took on the identity of a man whose death was not widely known, effectively becoming a ghost. This allowed “Richard Roper” to be legally dead, ending any manhunts or investigations, while “Gilberto Hanson” could move through the world of international crime and politics without being traced back to his old life. The pseudonym was the practical reward for successfully faking his death.
A Conspiracy, Not a Solo Act
The final scene of Episode 3 shows that Roper’s return is part of a much larger operation. Pine watches from the bushes as Teddy meets with Hanson. The meeting includes a Colombian general and a politician, indicating that Roper is still working at the highest levels of power. He is not hiding in fear; he is actively running a new arms operation through his son, Teddy.
This context is critical to understanding the scale of the deception. Faking a death convincingly enough to fool MI6 requires more than just a swapped body. It suggests a network: friendly assets within systems, purchased silence, and forged documentation. The fact that Roper can immediately resume business with powerful figures implies he never truly lost his connections or influence. His “death” was a strategic pause, a way to reset the board while his enemies believed the game was over.
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What This Means for Jonathan Pine
For Jonathan Pine, the reveal is a personal and professional nightmare. He is forced to accept that he was deceived years ago and that the victory he thought he had won was incomplete. More troubling are the new questions it raises. If Angela Burr confirmed the death, was she deceived, or was she somehow involved in the trick? The show has already planted seeds of a deeper conspiracy within British intelligence, with MI6 chief Mayra Cavendish showing suspicious connections to Teddy’s operations.
The twist opens up a Pandora’s box for Jonathan Pine. Discoveries reveal something deeper and bigger than he had anticipated—the deceit started back in Syria.
Pine now faces a more dangerous and personal fight. He is up against not only Roper but potentially the very intelligence service he works for.
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