Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow return in the much different and more intense second season of the spy thriller series.
Plot: Former CIA agent Dan Chase and former FBI Assistant Director Harold Harper set off on their most important mission to date — to recover Emily Chase after she is kidnapped by Faraz Hamzad, a powerful Afghan tribal leader. With all three men claiming her as their daughter, Emily finds herself in an identity crisis that has dire implications.
Review: The first season of The Old Man was a unique take on the espionage drama, pitting the great Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow opposite one another despite not sharing the screen until the final episode. Truncated by Bridges’ cancer diagnosis and recovery along with a bout of COVID, the first season of The Old Man concluded with three episodes less than originally intended. Still, the series presented two of our best acting talents, complemented by solid performances from Alia Shawkat and Amy Brenneman, as the series set up an even more exciting sophomore run. The second season of The Old Man is a vastly different series that still boasts a unique take on the genre while keeping the tone and format that set the first season apart from other shows. With an even more engaging plot and Bridges and Lithgow sharing every episode together, season two of The Old Man is better than the first.
In season one, The Old Man follows former CIA agent Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges), who is on the run and being hunted down by former friend Harold Harper (John Lithgow). Teaming with love interest Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman) and his dogs, Chase’s backstory unfolded over the first season, revealing his friendship with Harper during the 1980s in Afghanistan, where they befriended Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban). As an asset, they cannot let loose; assassins and killers are deployed to track down Chase, who can thwart them with his particular set of skills despite being of advanced age. As the first season unfolded, we learn that FBI agent Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat) is actually Chase’s daughter, Emily. The finale dropped the bombshell that Angela/Emily is not Chase’s daughter at all but the child of Hamzad. Kidnapped by her biological father, Chase and Harper finally meet and decide to head across the Atlantic to rescue Angela/Emily from Hamzad.
While the first season flashed back and forth between the younger versions of Chase and Harper, played by Bill Heck and Christopher Redman, the bulk of the season was spent trying to determine how the secret life led by Chase and his romantic entanglements with Abbey/Belour Hamzad (Leem Lubany in flashbacks, Hiam Abbass in modern scenes) led to his current predicament. There was a chess match in Harper trying to find Chase while secretly protecting his friend, and Chase and Zoe avoided hitman Julian Carson (Gbenga Akinnagbe). Season two opens in Afghanistan as Chase and Harper show that even if they are decades past their prime, both men have field expertise that makes them viable operatives even in their golden years. This also greatly alters the narrative direction of the second season from the first, as Harper and Chase are now openly allied in their quest to rescue Angela. Chase has been able to use his skills more than Harper has, but both men are not to be trifled with. Over the five episodes made available for this review, the duo has multiple obstacles, both overseas and in the United States, which further complicate the allegiances of everyone involved.
I wanted nothing more than Bridges and Lithgow to share more screen time this season, and I definitely got my wish. The pair are virtually in every scene together this season and are both more than up to the task as veteran operatives. Bridges shows no slowdown after recovering from cancer but plays Dan Chase as susceptible to the ravages of age. Lithgow has long been one of the best actors working, and his transformation from suit and cell phone boss to field agent this season is impressive, to say the least. The supporting cast is all very good, especially Alia Shawkat, who has much more to do this season than before. The entire supporting cast is excellent, including Jessica Harper as Harold’s wife, Cheryl, and Janet McTeer as Harold’s ex. Amy Brenneman gets more to do this season as well. The other big supporting actors this season include Navid Neahhban, Rade Serbedzija, and Joel Grey, all adding more dimension and menace to this story as it evolves from a spy on the run tale to a rescue and revenge narrative.
While the first season featured Jon Watts helming the first two episodes, the second run does not boast the Spider-man: No Way Home filmmaker behind the camera nor the skills of directors Greg Yaitanes or Zetna Fuentes. Jet Wilkinson, who directed the first season finale, returns to direct an episode of this season along with Steve Boyum, Uta Briesewitz, and Ben Semanoff. Showrunner and series co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg returns to script or co-write all eight episodes of this season alongside Hennah Sekander and Elwood Reid. Based on the standalone novel by Thomas Perry, The Old Man deviates significantly from the source material this season. Where the book had a concrete ending, Steinberg and his team expanded the scope of Dan Chase’s story beyond the original conclusion and took things in a distinct direction. This means there are several characters who do not factor into the series, which is designed to continue for multiple seasons. What we still have are flashbacks that shed light on character actions in past decades, which rear their head in the current story, intriguing opening title imagery that adds to the mystery of these characters, and a solid leading cast doing something special with what could have been a generic spy story.
By forging an original narrative that does not follow the source material, The Old Man deepens the relationship between Dan Chase and Harold Harper, giving us some of the best acting of the year between Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. The production values are stellar, and each episode is even more intense than anything in the first season. Alia Shawkat and Amy Brenneman are excellent, as they get a lot more to do in a season that feels better realized than the truncated first. The Old Man was a good show that took the leap to great and delivered a nail-biting run, which is one of the best second seasons I can recall. No one is safe in this story that sees a hefty body count while never being about violence for the sake of violence. The Old Man has grown beyond its title into something that embraces the age of the lead actors while not letting it define them. This is a story of the consequences of youth haunting you later in life, and I cannot think of better actors to overcome the challenge.
The second season of The Old Man premieres with two episodes on September 5th on FX.
