The Old Man Season Two Review

The following is a spoiler free review of the first 5 episode of Season 2 of The Old Man. The first 2 episodes are now available to stream on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally.

In 2022, television had reached an unspoken pinnacle where audiences, still within a post-pandemic era, were seeking entertainment at home. This collective desire allowed for such series as The Bear, Severance, Slow Horses, Andor, and Reacher to emerge among several others as peak TV/Streaming, once again giving the masses something to discuss around the virtual water cooler. The first season of The Old Man back in 2022 flew well below the social radar but managed to cement itself among the ranks of the aforementioned series, delivering one of the most surprising combinations of writing, cinematography, and acting that year. Two years later, The Old Man returns for a second season to deliver just as strong of a narrative punch as its first, albeit, in a slightly different way than what viewers may expect.

For those who recall, the first season ended with an equally gut-punching and exhilarating conclusion where Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Harold Harper (John Lithgow) are about to board a plane headed to Afghanistan in order to rescue Emily, Chase’s daughter and adjacent family member of Harper. Viewers already know, that Emily (Alia Shawkat) is not Chase’s real flesh and blood but rather, the daughter of former terrorist and friend of Chase, Faraz Hamzad (Navid Nedgahban), who was taken away by her mother and Chase as a child in hopes of a better life away from chaos.

Season two marks an interesting and unexpected shift for the series as it cleverly builds upon the world created in the first season, choosing to focus on Chase; his past, his motivations, and his relationships, but while this season is still very much Chase-centric, it expands its narrative focus beyond him and towards the supporting characters by making them the focal point, allowing for returning fans to fall in love with this series all over again. This progression unfolds onscreen as a natural evolution of a well-written series continuing to follow many of the plot threads it worked so diligently to weave together in previous episodes. However, there is something more subtle at play here, a more conscious decision to still retain pieces of what made the first season so interesting, i.e.; the unknown and the action, while shifting towards a season that is heavily dedicated on developing its characters further than the audience believed they were capable of.

This is on full display with Emily, now confronting the uncomfortable past that had been hidden from her for so long and who has willingly embraced what that may look like moving forward, and Harper, who audiences could easily fall victim to reducing to a stereotypical FBI Director figurehead in a spy-drama series, is freed to explore the consequences and futility of keeping his work and family life separated as each begins to blur throughout each episode. Another great example of the series’ maturity is through Hamzad who, like Harper, can be easily placed in a character box – A middle Eastern terrorist with motivations driven by money and power, but could as more information is discovered a very different picture of a man seeking resolution snaps into focus further complicating what we believed before be true.

Throughout this latest season, The Old Man continues to cleverly build upon the story which it has been committed to telling. While the first season focused heavily on action and dramatic spy machinations of what makes world powers operate and ultimately, the people that carry out and pay the price for these decisions. However, this season nimbly sidesteps a sophomore slump and leans into what has kept viewers so engaged from the very beginning, while adding more layers to a complex narrative that quickly pivots the moment they believe they may have it all figured out.

still courtesy of FX

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Critics w/o Credentials

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