FX Review: ‘The Old Man’ is Back with a Different but Equally Muted Think Piece in Season 2

In the first season of FX’s The Old Man, which aired over two years ago, Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) was a criminal on the run from Harold Harper (John Lithgow), the assistant director of the FBI, who had been tracking him for years. Watching the first season is absolutely critical to comprehending anything about season two, which trades in the distant cat-and-mouse game for a series of intimate conversations and daring survival attempts of unlikely allies discovering new understandings of each other.

The game-changing revelation from the conclusion of the first season sets the stage for a fascinating shift in character dynamics in season two. Emily (Alia Shawkat) was already torn between father figures, working undercover to help her birth father Dan as an FBI agent mentored closely by Harold. Her discovery that she is actually the daughter of Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban), who was an important figure in the initial relationship between Dan and Harold, changes her perspective entirely as she searches for meaning and wonders about what other lies she’s been told by the men closest to her.

Part of what made season one appealing was its deep, pensive mystery, with shadowy phone calls and an unknown sense of what was really behind these complicated relationships. The messages left by Emily, then known as Angela, were haunting, and there were hints of a friendship between Dan and Harold that evolved into a rivalry due to their places on opposite sides of the law. Dan also got off to a rough start with his landlord (Amy Brenneman), who became his unwitting accomplice after he put her into danger and only slowly revealed what kind of man he really is.

What the second season offers is something very different, still slow and deliberate in its pacing but with Dan and Harold in Afghanistan together looking for the woman who means the most to her. Their banter is both entertaining and rooted in something much more serious, providing a different type of insight into who they are and how they regard the other’s necessary activity that they view as either problematic or unethical. The way Faraz is portrayed also casts plenty of doubt on the voices leading audiences to conclusions previously, suggesting that there’s always more to the story than ever a few people can possibly summarize.

Oscar winner Bridges and six-time Emmy winner Lithgow continue to turn in extremely impressive work. Both now well into their seventies, they show no signs of slowing down, just as their characters are still keeping busy trying to stay alive and hunt down the bad guys, respectively, far past their theoretical retirement ages. Sharing the screen proves to be just as compelling as speaking on separate ends of a phone call. Shawkat, known initially for Arrested Development and more recently transitioned to more genre-bending fare like Search Party, is a standout of the cast, conveying a sincere sense of regret for what she’s done and how things could have been different if only she had more information. Brenneman, while somewhat underused, makes her scenes extremely memorable, ensuring that her character isn’t just part of the background.

Upping its episode count from seven to eight for season two, The Old Man isn’t a huge commitment, but its pacing does mean that viewers won’t likely be reaching for the remote to rush to the next installment. While FX is debuting the first two hours together, each one feels purposeful in its content and its coverage, designed to hone in both visually and emotionally on the specifics of each barren setting filled with treacherous elements. It’s not always riveting, but when it works, it’s exceptionally well-done.

Season Rating: 7/10

Awards Buzz: Bridges scored an Emmy nomination for season one along with cinematographer Sean Porter, and it’s possible that both will repeat. Lithgow and Shawkat could also contend if the categories don’t feel as crowded and voters are actually watching the show.