Yahoo Lifestyle The Old Man Season 2 Premiere Recap: Will Chase Survive This Rescue Mission? (Plus, Grade It!)
The Old Man is back on FX, and it hit the ground running with a pulse-pounding premiere that saw Chase and Harper team up to search for Emily in the far reaches of Afghanistan. We just hope Chase’s pulse was still pounding by the end of it, though.
Thursday’s premiere picks up right where Season 1 left off, with Chase and Harper being transported across the Afghan border in the back of a truck. Harper wants to know more about Emily to help him understand her better, but Chase tells him to stop being a cop: “We’re not trying to solve a crime.” He just wants to get Emily away from Hamzad safe and sound. Their truck stops, and they hear yelling outside — and then gunfire. Bullets rip through the back of the truck, and they take cover. Chase draws his gun, and when they emerge from the truck, they find their driver dead, with Chase finishing off a wounded man who’s still crawling. Harper scolds him (“Stop shooting people without asking me first!”), but now they’re stranded with no idea where they’re going.
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Harper recovers a satellite phone with a location keyed into it, so they head that way, although they don’t know how to identify their contact person. Chase suggests they call “her” for help, but Harper refuses. (Hmmm, who is this “her,” we wonder?) When they come to a fork in the road, Harper tells Chase to go left, but he turns right instead, insisting he knows the terrain. And sure enough, he was right: They arrive at the contact spot and get curious stares from the locals as they enter a building. Chase explains that they’re meeting someone, but a man decides they don’t belong there, and suddenly, they’re being held at gunpoint. A man arrives on horseback, though, and tells the gun-toting men to back off. His name is Omar, and he’s their contact person.
Harper promises Omar a “funding windfall” if he can help them locate Emily; they’ll need 20 men, plus transport and supplies. But Hamzad’s palace has a maze of hidden tunnels that would take weeks to untangle, Omar reveals — and Chase says they only have a couple of days. Omar also explains that Hamzad is in bed with the Taliban thanks to a massive lithium deposit he plans to exploit. (We learned about this deposit last season, you might remember.) Plus, we flash back to a young Chase and his wife planning how they will raise Emily in America: “You will be her father. The only one she will ever know.” His wife warns that Hamzad “cannot be allowed to find her,” and Chase vows to keep the girl safe.
Omar tells Chase he’s heard stories of an American who fought the Russians alongside the local rebels decades ago and was a terrifying killing machine: “Is that monster you?” Chase tells him that’s just a story. They hear Taliban patrols tracking them, and then they find a dead man hanging from a tree, along with an encampment full of dead people. “You need to call her. Now,” Chase insists, so Harper finally dials Marion (Janet McTeer), a government operative who is coordinating this rescue mission for them. She assumes they’re with a man named Ali — not Omar. So is Omar tricking them? Just then, Omar attacks Chase, and they get into a fistfight, with Omar pulling out a knife and stabbing Chase in the shoulder (!). He’s a Taliban spy, it turns out, and demands to know what Hamzad wants with Emily. “Some monsters are real,” Chase tells him… before biting him and slashing him with the knife, with Harper riding up on horseback to whisk Chase away.
They’re pursued by men on motorcycles, and they take refuge in a cave, with a wounded Chase insisting he’s been there before. (He even stashed a first aid kit there, conveniently.) Chase recuperates by a fire and advises Harper to call his wife — and to ask Marion to get him out of there. Harper is insulted, though: “I was never as weak as you thought I was.” Chase worries that Emily is dead already, that she said the wrong thing and made someone mad, but Harper assures him she’s trained for this: “You have no idea what she’s capable of.” Harper does call his wife, who informs him that Marion called her. (And oh, Marion is Harper’s ex-wife, we learn!) Harper’s wife is worried for him, and he tries to soothe her fears… even though he can’t tell her where he is or when he’ll be back.
Chase falls asleep by the fire and has a vision of Hamzad, who tells him: “You do not want to find me. Not after what you made me.” Chase wakes up and sees Harper sleeping — and a man standing over him. It’s Hamzad?! Is he still dreaming? Hamzad points a gun at Chase… and we hear a gunshot.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Give The Old Man’s premiere a grade in our poll, and then hit the comments to share your thoughts.
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