The Night Manager season 2's shock return is a frustrating twist that could do real damage

**Warning: major spoilers for The Night Manager season 2 episode 3.**

Do not adjust your set: the wild, yet grimly predictable, resurrection of Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) really just happened. If you don't know how to feel, join the club – we have biscuits.

Tonight's episode of The Night Manager saw Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) delve deeper into the murky affairs of his latest target, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), who he'd already learned is the secret son of his late nemesis.

As if that wasn't a strong enough link to season 1, screenwriter David Farr tightens ties to the point of near-strangulation in episode 3, when it emerges that Teddy's business partner is, in fact, dear old dad himself.

Operating under the stolen identity of Gilberto Hanson, who died many years earlier, Roper is still up to his old tricks – and emphasis on 'old', as his modus operandi seems not to have changed even slightly in the decade since.

It speaks to a lack of ingenuity that, I'm afraid to say, also permeates the scripts, which were already feeling overly familiar prior to this bizarre twist. Suffice to say, Roper's return seems unlikely to generate points of difference.

Of course, an inability to allows stories to end or characters to rest is endemic in today's pop culture landscape. It's why you see the same exhausted film franchises continuing to limp along, or once-celebrated TV shows painfully outstaying their welcome.

But if The Night Manager season 2's very existence was questionable, its prologue seemed like a step in the right direction.

We saw Roper's corpse laid out on a slab for Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to identify, in what then appeared to be a powerful statement of intent. The definitive end of one chapter, and the start of another.

In light of Laurie's spritely return at the tail-end of episode 3, it now plays like the cheapest of misdirects; one that will presumably be hand-waved away, perhaps by some kind of pulse-slowing tranquilliser or other cartoonish deception.

Much like Disney's depressing Star Wars sequels sap any joy from Return of the Jedi's ending – stop celebrating, guys! – this unnecessary addendum nullifies all satisfaction from The Night Manager season 1's final moments.

Watching Roper's smugness devolve into panic as his police van is hijacked by aggrieved clients, seemingly intent on torturing and killing him, unlocked a little sadism in us all (albeit, only a small sliver of what the wicked crook himself contained).

We basked in Angela's triumph over the man that had caused untold misery to innocent people around the world – and cast such an ominous shadow over her own life. Alas, we can do so no longer.

The revelation that Roper not only survived, but restored his status in the illegal arms trade, devalues The Night Manager's first season – and perhaps even more frustratingly, it points to a lack of confidence in the show's new antagonist.

As mentioned in my review, the electric chemistry between Calva and Hiddleston has been one of the most intriguing things about The Night Manager season 2, presenting an opportunity for Farr's derivative sequel to really blaze its own trail.

Now though, there's good reason to worry that Teddy will be relegated to a secondary position as the prodigal father returns. After all, Pine obviously isn't going to just shrug off the reemergence of his most bitter foe. Suddenly, this is a rematch.

If Farr wanted to have his cake and eat it too (i.e. keep Roper around, while maintaining Teddy's position), it would have made more sense to restrict Laurie's role to flashbacks.

After episode 2, things seemed to be heading in that direction, as we caught a glimpse of Teddy's father visiting him as a boy, but the camera ultimately stopped short of revealing a younger Roper.

Still, it's a period that seemed ripe for revisiting in scenes that could give Laurie time to shine as his charismatic menace, while also enriching Teddy's backstory and fleshing out the nature of their father-son relationship.

Of course, the BBC doesn't have the money to digitally de-age actors as Hollywood now prefers, but switching up Laurie's hairstyle and shooting from creative angles would probably have been enough to hold these scenes together.

Instead, simply cutting and pasting Roper into season 2's present day storyline – and doing so more or less exactly as we remember him – is infinitely less interesting. Unfortunately, it seems poised to undercut Teddy, rather than elevate him.

That said, it's important to note that these doubts are, admittedly, only a knee-jerk reaction to this development.

I haven't seen any more of The Night Manager season 2 than you have, and it's quite possible that Farr will justify this return in a blistering second half. In which case, I will happily eat my proverbial hat.

But it's also valid to be sceptical about an entertainment ecosystem increasingly dependent on recycling old ideas, perpetuating intellectual property and whipping out well-known stars in their most beloved roles.

At this point, we've done this dance many times and it often ends with toes being stamped on. Hopefully, The Night Manager season 2 can move as gracefully as its leading man.

The Night Manager season 2 airs on Sundays at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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