[This story contains major spoilers from the season two finale of The Old Man.]
In the world of espionage, one could say nothing is ever as it seems. And that notion definitely proved true in the season two finale of The Old Man, which aired Thursday night on FX.
Episode seven found Emily Chase/Angela Adams’ (Alia Shawkat) father, former CIA agent Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges), and her surrogate father, former FBI assistant director Harold Harper (John Lithgow), gallivanting around the globe to avenge the then-believed death of their beloved daughter by Russian mercenaries who are part of an international cartel in Afghanistan trying to take control of a mega-wealthy lithium deposit owned by a small tribal community.
The community’s chief was a man named Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban), who happened to be Emily’s real father. Emily, now going by her birth name Parwana Hamzad, was taken away as a child by her mother to grow up in America after her mother fell in love with fierce CIA assassin Chase. When she grew older, Emily became known as Angela Adams and was also adopted into Harper’s family, as she trained to become a top-notch FBI field agent.
But Emily/Angela always sensed (and heard rumors, even) that she didn’t truly belong with the American families who loved her dearly. Something or someone was pulling her to the Middle East. In season one, she thought it was part of a mission to kill one of the deadliest terrorists known to the free world. But as viewers found out at the end of that season, and in much of season two, that believed terrorist was Hamzad pulling the strings, as much to lure back the daughter who was taken away from him many decades ago.
What season two of The Old Man reveals is that a loving, seeking and seemingly sensitive Emily/Angela/Parwana may truly have been a cunning wolf in sheep’s clothing. Having fallen in love with Afghanistan people, Parwana proved to be just as violent, vengeful and merciless as the old man when the enemy, or anyone, tries to hurt the ones Chase loves.
Ironically, both Chase and Harper end up in peril in trying to find out why their daughter was killed (not knowing yet that she survived her attackers). Chase is poisoned by an airborne chemical and his only solution is to be taken by his enemies, the Russians, who have the antidote. And Harper goes to Hong Kong to visit his former wife, a former British agent name Marion (played by Janet McTeer), who has selfish reasons for wanting to see Parwana survive an invasion of the deposit lands by Russian cartel leader Suleyman Pavlovich (Rade Šerbedžija) and Chinese members. Once she hears that Parwana is alive, she decides to hold her ex-husband hostage and use him as a pawn to draw out the new tribal leader. Parwana, however, won’t stand for that. And if she’s anything like her father, this could be the deadliest mistake Marion has ever made.
In the finale’s final scenes, Emily finds Chase, lets him know, in no uncertain terms, that she’s not the sweet daughter he once thought he knew; and that he needs to go the extreme and find Lou Barlow to help rescue Harper from the clutches of Marion. She doesn’t care how much blood is spilled.
The Hollywood Reporter recently spoke with the old man himself, Jeff Bridges, to talk about this shocking finale, what it’s like preparing for the physical challenges of playing a senior spy, the love between daughters and fathers and to ask: Who the hell is Lou Barlow?
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Jeff, no one is calling you an old man after watching your performance in these two seasons. How do you prepare mentally and physically for the shoots?
Well, the physical aspect, you know, I got to get in shape, do some exercises and that kind of thing. I work with Tim Connolly and Tommy DuPont, the two stunt guys on the show, to really work out the fights and stuff. They are physically challenging. I love that they’re challenging. But Tim, especially, he specializes in making it look very real.
The show is called The Old Man. So, you’ve got the old man fighting like an old man. He might have some fighting jabs and shit, but you know he’s an old cat. And a lot of times, well, you might see a little white in your beard there. You’re an old guy, sometimes you’re writing checks your ass can’t cash. You say, “Oh, I know that move.” But yeah you think you know it. Your body has forgotten it.
So, is it the lithium reserves in Afghanistan that has The Old Man‘s world leaders willing to break ranks from their countries to form a super-wealth conglomerate and become their own self-contained superpower? We are talking about rogue agents from Russia, China, Britain and the U.S., among others.
Well, it’s the future. It’s all those kinds of elements that you are going to need for all of the modern equipment. Computers, and you know about this quantum computer. I don’t know if you know about that, but just doing away with ones and zeros, a whole new kind of thing. I mean, everything is moving so fast now. And the guys who have the goods, they are going to be ahead of everybody. So, that is what the fight is all about.
In the reunion at the diner between Dan Chase, Zoe (Amy Brenneman) and Emily, Chase didn’t seem shocked that his daughter was not only alive (after he heavily mourned her), nor about her presenting herself as a formidable force and the new leader of her Afghanistan father’s tribe. Chase sees his daughter as fierce and willing to do whatever to get what she wants. Does he now see Emily as the monster he created?
I don’t think he has any idea. But I don’t think he’s a guy who spends too much time being shocked. These spies and CIA guys, they have something called OODA. This stands for observe, orientate, decide and then act. That’s a kind of a game that these spies play with each other. And the quicker you are doing that process of orientating yourself to, “What’s going on here? Where am I in this situation? What am I going to do?” and then act, that’s kind of where his mind is going. And, she’s pulled this fast one on him. I mean those cars are coming up, she’s totally turned the tables. Just like the episode where he decides, “I’ve got to let these guys capture me; that is where the antidote is, I can’t be running away.”
He’s pissed at his daughter for doing that. I got three girls of my own and I could be angry with them all the time and still love them. He can’t believe it. But he’s not one to show as much shock as somebody else might.
Did Angela/Emily, in the end, morph into the persona of all three of her fathers — Dan Chase, Harold Harper and Faraz Hamzad — as the vengeful Parwana Hamzad (all played by Alia Shawkat)?
Yeah, interesting, in my opinion. But I don’t think any of us really know who we are. We might think we know who we are, but life challenges really bring out who we are. And I think one of the reasons that Chase might not be so surprised is because he knows that he taught Emily everything he knows; so, he’s not that surprised with her being so facile and changing things around and working like that. That’s like playing a chess game with another great chess player. If he makes a good move, it doesn’t surprise you all that much.
So, Zoe saves Chase’s life and takes him to a place that is sort of like Shangri-La; yet there is still something not restful in his spirit. Why is that?
I don’t think he trusts that. He knows he wants it; he knows she wants it. But his wanting frightens him because he knows that he can get complacent with that. He’s made a profession out of being inauthentic, creating illusions of being all these different people. I don’t think he really knows who he is. And he longs to know who he is and have some authenticity, and that’s what draws him to Zoe so much. Here’s a person who starts to know more and more about him. And it’s wonderful when you’re lucky enough to have somebody who knows all different aspects of you, some not so flattering and some good aspects. And as the last episode indicates, he doesn’t wanna lay Lou Barlow on her, man! He’s not sure she can swallow that gag.
By the way, who do those dogs love more, Chase or Zoe?
(Laughs) That’s funny! Well, they’re kind of siding with Zoe. It looks like they break old Dan’s heart a bit. Who knows, we’ll see.
We have to talk about this Lou Barlow.
(Laughs harder) I ain’t telling you nothing! I’m glad you’re asking.
Lou Barlow must have made Dan do some terrible things.
So, Dan is Lou Barlow, right? I mean that’s what he says at the end, he admits it. I don’t want to bring him back, man!
I take it we are going to see a season three.
I don’t know, the show hasn’t been picked up yet.
Finally, did Morgan Bote (played by Joel Grey, the real “old man” who trained Harper and Chase) really love Dan and Harold? Do you think he cared for them, or just trained them to be killers for the love of their country?
Yes I do, but I think he also dug Zoe, man! (Laughs) I keep teasing Amy. I said, “I know you guys got it on.” She said “No no.” I said, “Come on!” Joel Grey was wonderful to work with, and he really adds a lot to the show, I think. I’m sorry to see him go.
The thing that really makes a project for me is who you’re working with, the different artists; that is one of the joys. It’s kind of a communal artform. Everybody is playing together and it all trickles down from the top: [FX boss] Joe Landgraf, [producer] Warren Littlefield, our showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg. All of those guys are creating a wonderful atmosphere for all the other artists to jam it.
Cinematography has been great; the directors. I was a little concerned about working with several different directors, but they’ve all been well cast. Casting, not only with the actors, but all of the guys you bring together. That’s the whole thing, basically. You get a top-notch cast to just go and do their thing. I think that’s where you get the best kind of stuff.
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The Old Man season two finale aired Thursday on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.
English (US) ·