Deceit and betrayal are the currency of his characters, but though he trades in the same economy, Pine is that rarest of creatures, a genuinely good man. Temptation awaits him at every turn, as does mortal danger. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always moral sophistry. Somehow, he remains impervious to it all.
In one of the most powerful scenes here, Pine is offered a piece of the action. Your father’s values are dead, he is told; come join the party, take your $50 million cut, and be on the side of the gods, reaping the rewards of the chaos we have sown. It’s Trump and Musk wooing their acolytes. It’s Harry Lime (Orson Welles) talking about “ants” in The Third Man, Carol Reed’s masterful 1949 noir thriller (written by Graham Greene, whose concerns are echoed by le Carré). It’s Christ being taunted and tested and tempted by Satan in the desert.
Pine finds a complicated arrangement with Roxana Bolanos (Camila Morrone) and Tedy Dos Santos (Diego Calva). Credit: Prime
Not everything in this season works. There are times when it strains at credulity, when it seems Pine is being recast in the mould of his MGM stablemate James Bond, and when the tangled motivations of the Colombian characters Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), a sort of neo-Roper, and his friend Roxana Bolanos (Camila Morrone) become tangled beyond comprehension.
Stick with it, though. The ending is so good – and so thoroughly in keeping with the spirit of le Carré Carre – that all will be forgiven, even as the world itself is damned.
