Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Old Man Season 2 Episode 4.
To say Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges), Harold Harper (John Lithgow), and Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat) are really in it now would be a massive understatement. Yes, The Old Man Season 2 Episode 3 ended with the Taliban threat to Faraz Hamzad's (Navid Negahban) village dispersed, at least for now, but this is officially far from the simple extraction the old men were envisioning. Where does this leave them now? Let's dive in.
The Taliban Threat Continues in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 4
The episode doesn't actually open with Chase, Harper, or Emily, but rather with Khadija (Jacqueline Antarmian) watching Hamzad undergo surgery to remove the bullet from his gut, while her son Tarik (Amir Malaklou) tries to smooth things over with the Ministry, saying he doesn't believe Omar (Artur Zai Barrera) was genuinely acting on their behalf. While it's likely Omar was acting on the Taliban's behalf, at least to some extent, Tarik hands the ministers underlings the ready-made excuse to save face, but it's an excuse they aren't willing to take, and they hang up on him.
To make matters worse, Khadija learns that her brother's injuries are too severe to be overcome, a fact he seems to sense as well, as he asks his sister and nephew to have Parwana — aka Emily — brought to him, saying he wouldn't be here if not for her. Tarik finds her in the room where they're keeping Faruza's (Sara Seyed) body for burial, comforting Farouk (Michael Sifain), who didn't want to leave his mother's side. With the family now assembled, Tarik tells them they have approximately 72 hours to evacuate the village before the Taliban arrive to kill anyone who remains.
Outside the village, Chase and Harper wait by the chopper that is set to evacuate them, where Harper barters with an increasingly antsy pilot to wait just a little longer for Emily to join them. He's worried the soldiers will just leave them behind anyway, but Chase reminds him that Emily knows how time-sensitive their extraction is, and is confident she'll make it in time.Whatever worries Chase might have had for his daughter in the aftermath of her taking Omar's life soon turn into worries of a different sort, when she arrives at last to tell them she's staying behind. She explains that the government is breathing down their necks now that all the assets have dried up thanks to Morgan Bote (Joel Grey), who is furious his plan to get Chase to turn himself in didn't pan out. She begs them both to go speak to Bote and get him to get the village off the sanctions list, something both men insist is impossible. She does eventually win them over, reminding them of the men they really are, and they wordlessly agree to give it a try.
With all the chaos that's been happening over the past three episodes, we haven't really had a chance to see the three of them in conversation just with each other, and this scene is a nice reminder of the dynamics that really form the emotional backbone of the series. While Shawkat delivers her plea, Bridges and Lithgow do so much emotional heavy lifting of their own without saying a single word. Each character has a complicated, emotionally-charged past with the other, and this scene really illustrates how well this group knows each other, and knows that the others will always do right by the rest, even if that's not in any way the most sensible or safest course of action.
Chase and Harper Leave Emily Behind in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 4
Safely delivered to a military base in Uzbekistan, Chase and Harper finally have a chance to process their last conversation with Emily. Her killing Omar, not because she had to, but out of love for the people he was threatening, has changed her in some way, Chase says, and he's speaking from experience. The two men worry about how far into all this Emily's been drawn — with Harper hilariously citing Emily's new wardrobe of traditional clothes as an example of this, as though anyone would want to spend 3+ weeks in the desert in the same uncomfortable, office-appropriate pantsuit. Chase admits that he feels a part of his daughter is likely gone, with a new part rising to take its place, though where this will lead, he can't say. Harper assures him there's no need to mourn the changes in Emily, as long as Chase doesn't paint the changes like a catastrophe. Their ride home finally arrives in the form of a rickety old prop plane, and Bridges' disappointed reaction at not getting to ride the fancy private plane instead is a comedic gem in an otherwise serious scene.
Back in the village, Emily sits with Hamzad, and tells him that Chase and Harper are on the way home, prepared to speak to Bote as she requested. He, in turn, tells her that plans are underway to evacuate most people out of the village while some stay to defend it. He then tells Emily that while she absolutely belongs with them, he wants her to leave the village anyway, to support him in other ways. Outside Hamzad's room, she finally meets Tarik properly, and after a moment's hesitation on which identity to use, introduces herself as Parwana. She tells him that Hamzad ordered her to go back to the U.S. with Tarik to handle the business side of things, though it's really just an excuse to get her out of the country. Tarik in turn asks Emily if she'll use Hamzad's obvious care for her to try and convince him to let Tarik save his life.
Tarik tells Emily a bit of his past, saying he was sent to the U.S. as a child for school, ostensibly so he could become more than what the village offered, but that allegedly it was because he reminded Hamzad too much of Parwana. He adds that despite the psychological pressure that put on him, it also helped him find a purpose of his own, that purpose being to get his family out of the village. Emily tells him it doesn't seem like they want to leave, but he tells her they'd likely hear it differently given the current dangers they face, and especially if it was coming from Emily herself. Emily is reluctant to encourage everyone to leave their roots behind, but Tarik counters that it's unlikely the people buried in Hamzad's cemetery would have elected to stay if they had the chance to be safe elsewhere.
Emily tells him she had comfort and security, and it overwhelmed her, but Tarik says that the circumstances under which she had those things, namely as a result of a lot of deception, makes it completely different from the circumstances they now face. To Tarik, this wouldn't be the covert deception that brought Emily to America, but instead a chance for a whole family to move together and start over somewhere where their daughters have a chance at education and their sons don't have to fear conscription. Theirs is an interesting conversation in that there really isn't a "right" stance. Tarik is speaking from a place of love and desperation, as someone who doesn't want to separate from his roots but who also knows that the political climate is dangerous for anyone who chooses to stay. For Emily, someone who was forcibly torn from her roots, she is adamant that what happened to her not happen to anyone else, and her desire to fight for the past she lost manifests in the desire to support anyone else's desire to stay and fight. Tarik's appeal for Emily's help is interrupted, though, when Khadija arrives to tell them that Hamzad is dead.
Tarik tells them he'll leave the next morning after the burial. Emily is offered the same choice, to stay behind or to leave, with Khadija assuring her that either way, Emily bears no responsibility for the injury that ultimately took his life, even if she wasn't completely honest about said injury at the outset. What that decision will be, though, will have to wait for next week.
Chase and Harper Confront Morgan Bote — And Zoe Makes a Comeback in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 4
Chase's disappointment at their travel arrangements continues in the air as the two fly home in the uncomfortable cargo plane — and whichever direction they're flying in, east or west, without a layover, they're looking at at least 14 hours in the air. Harper is unamused, telling his old friend he's spent too long pretending to be a rich man, to which Chase counters that none of it was pretend, but adds that he only assumed his wealthy Henry Dixon persona a couple of weeks out of the year. Lithgow's reaction is about on par with where my own would be if a friend admitted they got obscenely wealthy by putting in only two weeks of effort a year. This moment of levity aside, the two strategize on what they'll do when they reach Bote's house.
Harper says he'll do the talking once they arrive, and muses on what Bote's true intentions are, as his reaction seems disproportionate to mere annoyance that Chase eluded him. Though Chase ostensibly agrees with everything Harper says, a passing comment makes Harper nervous, and makes him worry that Chase is going to resort to beating an agreement out of Bote rather than talking to him properly. Harper is livid, and can't believe that Chase would actually resort to torturing Bote when it has no chance of working — and I love that Lithgow got to bring his "barely hanging on to my sanity" energy into the rest of the season as well — while Chase maintains that rational conversation has no chance of working either. Both of them have very different reads on doing whatever it takes to help Emily, and in the end, Chase concedes that if Harper wants to talk to Bote, he had better do it fast.
At long last, the two make it to Bote's house — and without having changed clothes in days, they probably smell amazing. Maybe the plan is to get him to agree to release the funds on the condition they both go home and shower — and are brought face to face with the old man himself. Harper quickly catches Bote up on what happened while they were on the ground, omitting some details but keeping the core of it there. Bote tells them he knows all that, and adds that this could have been avoided had he known Emily's identity from the get-go. Despite this, however, he also outright refuses Harper's request that he unfreeze Hamzad's assets, saying that all of this is so much bigger than either of them realize. Chase loses his patience, just as Harper asks Bote to explain what he means, but all this is brought to a halt by the sound of some familiar barking.
In comes Chase's two dogs, followed quickly by Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman), who Chase is more than a little surprised to see. Chase is furious that Bote would involve Zoe, but Bote counters that it's Chase's fault she's involved, and that he is the one trying to fix things. Zoe tells Chase that after Morocco, she returned home, picked up the dogs and tried to return to normal life, but found that she couldn't forget everything, and so instead called Hamzad's lawyer to see if she could help get Emily and Chase freed. While Hamzad's lawyer never called her back, Zoe says that Bote did call her. Harper is very confused as to why Bote would get involved, wondering if it was the money that Hamzad's lithium deposit would generate.
Bote tells them it's not the money from the deposit, but the deposit itself that he needs access to, given the considerable amount of influence someone with that much lithium would have. He then reveals the other key player in all this, who was making a move for the deposit — Suleyman Pavlovich (Rade Serbedzija), the Soviet fighter Chase let go free all those years ago, who resurfaced in Season 1 as a major power player. According to Bote, the only person who can really get in Suleyman's way is Hamzad's lawyer, who at long last returns Zoe's call. The lawyer offers to continue the conversation over lunch the following week, but Harper rightly points out that waiting that long is simply not possible given how desperate the situation is.
Chase tells Bote that he did tell him Emily wasn't his daughter — kind of. From a certain point of view, if you will — and acknowledges that while his former associate can't walk back his decision completely now, there has to be something else he can do to help the people in the village, even temporarily. His passionate plea seems to get through to Bote at last, and he tells him to come back the next day to see if he's come up with something else. Chase takes this poorly and looks ready to deliver that beatdown Harper was so afraid of, but Zoe intervenes and pulls him outside. Harper manages to get one last jab at Bote before he leaves, and the oldest old man of them all finally admits that, at least in part, this is driven by his anger at Chase.
Outside, Chase begs Zoe to leave and not get involved, but she tells him it's too late for that, and at this point, Bote is more likely to help her than to help Chase, especially given how well they get along. She tells Chase to go, and tells him to leave the issue with her to take care of. As great a performance as Brenneman puts in, and as necessary as Zoe was in Season 1 to provide some context for the shadowy dealings that so occupied Chase and Harper,I find myself wondering what her deal is in this season. I keep finding myself waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to reveal herself as a double agent all along, or something along those lines. Yes, it's hard to go back to a mundane life when you've been outside the proverbial cave, but I just wish the writing would give her a reason to stay beyond curiosity and a desire to stay involved, neither of which seem strong enough for the parent of a teenager to essentially go off the grid to get involved with people they barely know.
Once Chase and Harper leave, Zoe heads back inside the house and goes looking for Bote. He correctly predicts that she's come to ask him to help them, and it sounds like he's on the verge of caving when Chase's dogs begin barking, and an intruder appears in the hallway. Bote manages to shoot him, but in trying to call out — either to Chase or the police, or a secret third option, it's unclear — he is shot and killed in turn. The gumnan is about to find Zoe when Chase arrives and orders the dogs to attack the gunman. He suspects Zoe and Bote got a little too close to Pavlovich's plans, a suspicion that proves correct when we see someone has sent the man in question a picture of Bote's dead body. But Pavlovich's interest doesn't stop there, as he asks his associate about the other two, the "real" targets, whose deaths will tie up loose ends.
The first four episodes of The Old Man Season 2 are out now. New episodes air on FX every Thursday and are available to stream next day on Hulu.
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