FX apparently has not
gotten the memo that the era of Peak TV is over; so far in the 2020s, whether on
its original service or in conjunction with Hulu, it has been by far the most
consistent provider of extraordinary original programming of any network or
streaming service. This is going to become true to the world this weekend when
the network finally realizes its triumphs at the Emmys after more than twenty
years of original programming as it looks poised to join only HBO and NBC as
the only services so far to win Best Drama and Best Comedy in the same year. (I’ll
confirm that one way or another on Monday but spoiler: it’s already won twenty
two creative arts Emmys and broken one major Emmy record already.)
Ever since it broke
on to the original programming scene with The Shield FX has always been pushing
the envelope in every single genre and while every other service is slowing
down a bit in creativity, FX clearly isn’t. (One sign of that is Ryan Murphy,
who signed a record breaking deal with Netflix five years ago has returned to
the network that shot him to the forefront of showrunners last year and is
about to have his first original series in six years debut on FX.) And while
the more celebrated shows may be on Hulu (The Bear, Reservation Dogs) it
has never truly let up with its original programming. This became very clear in
June of 2022 when it debuted the incredible original series The Old Man.
It didn’t make my top
ten list of 2022 – there were a lot of great shows that year – but it did make
an honorable mention. I certainly couldn’t fault any aspect of it: the
incredible performances of the entire cast, the thrilling action, the brilliant
twists along the way and the many shocks we learned in the flashbacks. I wasn’t
sure if it would be renewed for a second season when I reviewed but I was
overjoyed when it was. I’ve now had to wait nearly two years since we left Bill
Heck and Harold Harper preparing to go into Afghanistan on what might well be a
suicide mission but it finally debuted its first two episodes last night. And
while nothing could be worth the wait, the writers clearly made up for lost
time.
Jeff Bridges made an
incredible return to television as Daniel Chase a black ops CIA man who has
been in hiding for more than thirty years when his cover has been blown. His
mind is not what it used to be, nor is his body but he is just as capable of
resourcefulness and unpredictability as he was when he was fighting the
Russians forty years ago. And it is that past that has come back to haunt him.
As we learned in
flashbacks throughout Season 1 Chase’s job was to do wetworks in order to help
a major mujahedeen defeat the Russian back in the Cold War. He quickly learned
that the power behind the throne was the leader’s wife and he became his
right-hand man helped him ascend to power and then planning to escape with the
man’s wife. His final duty was to kill the leader but he had a moment of
weakness: he couldn’t kill him in front of his baby daughter. He returned to
America and raised her as his own – but then in order to protect her he ended
up giving her a new identity and placing her in the FBI.
There she ended up
under the tutelage of Harold Harper (John Lithgow). Last season an old file
came up regarded the operation that he and
Chase were responsible for. That file led him to Faraz Hamzad who is now
the most powerful man in Afghanistan unrestrained by sanctions and protected by
the U.S. government. Hamzad clearly knows who Chase is and wants to find what
was taken from him – his daughter.
His daughter is
Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat in the most revelatory work of her career) Both Dan
and Harold have raised Angela as their daughter and both are absolutely
determined to protect her against her real father. But despite their best
efforts Angela was abducted by Hamzad’s men in the finale of Season One and is
now in Hamzad’s custody.
Chase spent most of
Season 1 heading on what he believed was a suicide mission to kill Farzad to
protect his daughter. Before he could stop it Harper emerged and insisted on
joining him to find her.
As Season 2 begins
the two old men are heading to Afghanistan with little awareness of what they
are doing. Throughout the first episode as things increasingly go wrong Dan
tells Harold he has to call ‘her’, something Harold doesn’t want to do. When
circumstances force both their hands Harold does so and the person he calls is
Miriam and its clear Harold is unsettled by her. With good reason. We later
learn that Miriam is Harold’s first wife who he hasn’t talked to in more than
thirty years and who he told his second wife was not to be trusted and
dangerous. (Miriam is voiced by Janet McTeer; it’s not clear yet if she will be
seen as well as heard.)
We met the old Hamzad
in the first season finale. He’s played by Navid Negahban. Negahban’s most
famous role prior to this was that of Abu Nazir, the Al-Qaeda leader at the
center of the first two seasons of Homeland. Negahban has covered some
of this territory before; one of the better parts of his work was using our
actions in the War on Terror- some of which were truly despicable – to show how
the ripples can be felt to this day. (They spoiled much of the character the
next season by turning him into a 24 type supervillain, capable of
thinking three steps ahead of the CIA and achieving his greatest triumph from
beyond the grave.) Considering that so much of the situation in Afghanistan
today is a direct result of our own interference as part of the Cold War, this
is familiar territory for Negahban and he is just as good at playing the human
sides of this warlord as the ruthless killer he is.
Chase has no illusions
of how this will end. At the end of the first episode he tells Harold to go
home because he is certain that Angela is dead and has been preparing himself
for that fact. Harold refuses to accept that even now and there’s a very good
chance that he might end up a casualty. Chase is still capable of surviving and
fighting but not even he knows why he came her and why he’s here in the first
place. As we see in a dream he has, he’s not sure why he’s truly come back.
Perhaps a part of him does feel guilt after everything that’s happened and he believes
his death will balance the scales.
The Old Man does something that I
had never seen yet: it’s an action and espionage thriller for seniors. Bridges
remains just as capable of being an action hero and bad-ass as he ever was,
capable of detecting lies but still having his blinders up. He thinks he’s
prepared for everything but he’s not prepared for his own mind. Lithgow, who
has been one of television’s greatest actors for nearly half a century,
continues to astonish in a role I genuinely haven’t seen him play in my
lifetime. He’s very good at playing killers or people uncomfortable in their
own skin, but to play someone who is far closer to heroic even at this stage of
his life is something I didn’t think him possible. Shawkat, who has spent the
twenty years prior to this being one of the greatest comic performers on TV (most
famously on Arrested Development) shows that she has a range we never thought
her capable of and gets to use her mixed race heritage to its full advantage in
a way most of her prior performance anywhere choose to ignore.
I’m still not sure
who else will see as we head into the heart of darkness. There’s nothing on
imdb.com that says that Amy Brenneman, who did some of her best work as the
unlikely companion to Bridges’s on his journey will return. I hope to see McTeer
make an appearance, in addition to being one of the most underrated film
actresses she’s been great the few times she works on TV (most recently as a
ruthless attorney in Ozark.) And one can’t rule out the reappearance of
Joel Grey as the retired agency head who was pulling the strings of both men
there entire lives and may well have turned over Angela to Hamzad. The show
loves to pull the rug out from under us (it did when we learned the identity of
Chase’s daughter the first time); it may do so again.
It may be premature
to start predicting next year’s Emmys before the second one of 2024 takes
place. But it’s hard not to think that The Old Man deserves to be among
the major contenders. Bridges managed a nomination for Best Actor for 2023; Lithgow
was a major possibility for Supporting and the show itself may well contend in a
field almost certain to be completely different from the one we see this week.
It does confirm that FX, like the lead of this brilliant series, has no
intention of going gentle when it comes to the idea that Peak TV is dead. It’s
going to keep fighting and making sure that it doesn’t happen and maybe it can find a way to win the battle
and the war.
My score: 4.75 stars.
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