Slow Horses, Reacher, and Jack Ryan have recently proven that audiences still adore watching current-or-ex government operatives living the espionage-infused life that they are destined to continue, no matter what they would actually be preferring to do. Fortunately, there’s more Dad TV where that came from with the second season of The Old Man coming from FX and its streaming home, Hulu.
Clearly, much of The Old Man‘s audience must also be attracted to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone-tangential shows that are twists on Western-esque crime dramas. Bridges does come by that vibe honestly after the Sheridan-penned Hell or High Water and the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. He’s also picked up the Liam Neeson baton to portray the specific type of old hat who still has It when pursuers are dumb enough to come calling. Let’s talk about what’s to come for this show.
Plot
In The Old Man, Jeff Bridges stars in an intricate spin on the never-grows-old action trope of a former CIA agent who gets dragged back into the danger zone. The story’s based upon Thomas Perry’s 2017 novel, and John Lithgow portrays the ex-colleague whose role in a giant mess goes much deeper than initially imagined.
As viewers recall, Bridge’s Dan Chase is a Vietnam veteran and ex-CIA operative who went rogue. He was also living off the grid for decades while evading an Afghanistan warlord, Faraz Hamzad. Yet former operatives are never allowed to live the peaceful forever-life in TV and film, so the action resumed. A John Wick-esque attack puts him right back in the saddle, and John Lithgow’s Harold Harper is the FBI agent also in pursuit of Dan, with whom his shared past adds infinite wrinkles of complications. Meanwhile, Amy Brenneman portrays the unlucky landlord, Zoe, who becomes embroiled in Dan’s life while putting her own survival skills to the test. Also! Alia Shawkat picks up the role of Dan’s daughter, Emily, who has been operating under an alias (Angela) on Harper’s team.
In the midst of all of this personal and professional drama, those worlds grew impossibly intertwined. This is no straightforward cat-and-mouse game, and the first season finale not only ends with both Dan and Harper now running together, but Hamzad has apparently been pulling plenty of strings, and he’s not done yet. Furthermore, Dan’s relationship with Emily/Angela has revealed new wrinkles, and she has now ended up in Hamzad’s clutches, for worse or possibly (for her) better.
From there, the show leaves the view of Dan’s past actions in a morally grey place, which doesn’t simply represent the struggle of these specific characters but could impact and reflect the global stage at large. This put an interesting twist on what viewers learned about Dan’s past opportunity to take Hamzad out and his decision that put decades of consequences into motion for all parties involved. The motivations of multiple other players also remain unclear, including what Angela’s true goal was while she embedded inside the FBI under a false identity. And then there’s Bote, the ex-CIA honcho who has been calling many malignant shots, including the attempt on Dan’s life.
That leaves a lot of chaos that will flow right into the second season, but perhaps most tantalizingly, the season finale continues to twist the meaning of the show’s title into a mirror of several characters’ actions throughout the show thus far. “The Old Man” refuses to be defined thus far, and that intrigue will carry over into the second season. Most compellingly, the second season will ideally tell us exactly what Angela means to do now that she’s with her “true”/bio dad, and whether that blood tie means anything to her or if she will finish the job that Dan was meant to do.
Hopefully, motives will soon become clearer, so that momentum can continue to build after the fairly slow burn that piloted much of the initial story. And god only knows if Dan and Harper can stick together in the near future.
Cast
Jeff Bridges, of course, embodies the title role of Dan Chase with Bill Heck picking up the younger version. John Lithgow portrays Harold Harper, and the supporting cast includes Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Hiam Abbass, Navid Negahban, Jessica Harper, Pej Vahdat, Joel Grey, Kenneth Mitchel, and Rowena King.
Release Date
The first season of this Dad TV series arrived in June of 2022, so hopefully, Bridges and Lithgow will be back on FX together in 2024. Officially, however, FX has stayed quiet on the release plan, but dads everywhere (and the people who love them) wouldn’t mind an update.
Trailer
We aren’t lucky enough to have seen a trailer yet, but hang tight. The Dude will eventually abide.