Photo: FX
We’ve hit the season two halfway mark, and right on schedule, The Old Man has thrown us for several loops in a single episode: The villains have shifted, two old men were killed off, and three pivotal characters have resurfaced. Yes, other things happened in “XI” too, but this was one of those classic cram-in-a-ton-of-plot-and-expository-monologues episodes as a means of clearing the plot-related decks. However, less is more when it comes to good television. (Except for the scenes involving Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow bickering with each other. More, please.)
So here are the significant developments from “XI”: (1) Turns out the big bad this season isn’t so much the Taliban (though they’re still awful), but Suleyman Pavlovich (Rade Serbedzija), the Soviet-officer-turned-oligarch from season one. (2) Both Faraz Hamzad and Morgan Bote are now dead. Hamzad eventually succumbed to his gunshot wounds and Bote was taken out by one of Pavlovich’s henchmen. (3) Amy Brenneman’s Zoe McDonald is back and champing at the bit to rejoin her lover, Dan Chase, as an international woman of mystery. (4) Most importantly, DAVE AND CAROL HAVE RETURNED.
Following last week’s bloodbath, Hamzad receives palliative medical care (the doctor silently shaking his head is code for “He won’t make it to episode five”) while Khadija’s U.S.-educated son, Tarik, updates the family on their dire situation: They have maybe three days before the Taliban return to finish the village off, and since Morgan Bote froze their assets, the family has zero leverage.
Emily, now fully accepting of her identity as Parwana Hamzad and surrogate village leader, has a solution: Ask her American dads to fly home and plead with Bote to lift his sanctions on her family — and bring along an in-mourning Farouk to tug at their grizzled heartstrings. Naturally, Chase and Harper think Emily is completely delulu for staying behind in Afghanistan and believing they can outsmart their mentor with this bonkers request, but she knows exactly what she’s doing. Playing them both like a fiddle, she showers Chase and Harper with words of love and trust, making it impossible to refuse her.
At the airport, as if he didn’t have enough psychological traumas to process, Chase is also trying to wrap his arms around the idea that Emily murdered Taliban baddie Omar to prove to Hamzad that she loves him too. Between watching his daughter kill a man in cold blood, adopt a traditional Afghan wardrobe, and care for a young village boy, yeah, Chase has accepted that “some of her is probably gone.” It’s only fair that he’s having all the feels right now too, and who better to share those emotions than with Harper?
Did I mention how much I love the scenes between these two? Especially when they’re traveling home to America on a rickety military plane that probably carried Chase and Harper to Afghanistan the first time around? Harper wants to take the diplomatic approach when talking to Bote, while Chase prefers physical violence. Now, normally, torturing a 100-year-old man (well, technically, 92) is a disturbing thought, but when placed in the talented hands of Bridges and Lithgow, it’s a rip-roaringly funny moment.
The old men arrive at Bote’s palatial home, where peace talks break down almost immediately. Who could’ve predicted that Bote was keeping an eye on these events from his cushy armchair this whole time? He won’t grant Emily’s request because, as in all spy stories, the main characters only know part of the story. Okay, so tell us the real story, Mr. Emcee.
All good things come to those who wait. First, it’s time for the most joyous reunion of the series, complete with uplifting music and the growing sound of barking in the distance. It’s Dave and Carol! But they’re acting a little differently now. Trailing behind them is their new mistress, Zoe McDonald, dressed in an elegant blouse and slacks from the Marcia Dixon collection and barking “Aus!” like a pro….
On the other side of the world, Emily is still trying to navigate her role in the Hamzad family. I’m not sure how I feel about Cousin Tarik yet, especially considering he’s using Emily and her victimhood for personal gain. Though I get why he wants to evacuate his family to America: The Taliban, in a system of gender apartheid, has stripped women and girls of basic human rights since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Still, it’s an unfair level of pressure to put on Emily! But that discussion needs to be tabled for now because an ashen-faced Khadija has exited her brother’s room to announce that Faraz Hamzad has died.
Back in the USA, Zoe updates Chase on how she ended up as Bote’s newest protégée: After collecting the dogs, she realized her small-town divorcée life was super boring, so she called Hamzad’s lawyer, Nina Kruger (the woman Zoe outed herself to at Pavlovich’s party in Morocco), hoping to help Chase from afar. Bote, of course, had been monitoring these calls, decided he was impressed by Zoe’s moxie, and took her under his wing.
During this expository sesh, the truth tumbles out: Bote froze Hamzad’s assets because he discovered Suleyman Pavlovich was plotting to take over the lithium mine that funds Hamzad’s bank accounts. To be honest, I’m grateful for these rambling monologues because I would be so confused otherwise. Anyway, the only way Bote can get intel on this crisis is through Nina Kruger, and the only person the attorney seems comfortable talking to is Zoe. The good news is Kruger’s latest phone call to Zoe suggests she’s got some dirt. Bad news is she won’t share it over the phone, only over lunch. Considering Emily’s life is on the line, Chase and Harper aren’t interested in waiting for Kruger’s Calendly to open up.
Bote instructs Chase and Harper to return in the morning, but Chase is ready to start cracking skulls. Judging from the way the scene plays out, The Old Man is suggesting that if Zoe hadn’t been present with her very particular set of persuasive skills — along with the fact that Dave and Carol now obey her, not Chase — this meeting would’ve ended with a smug Bote dead at Chase’s feet.
But as we soon learn, no amount of persuasion could save Morgan Bote in this episode. Not even Zoe’s promises that her enchanting wiles will be the key to Chase getting exactly what he wants from his former mentor.
That’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow now that Emily’s Afghan family has embraced her as their savior: Khadija assures her niece that Faraz Hamzad’s dying wish was that the truth about his death (killed by an FBI assistant director) remain a secret to protect Emily’s reputation. And that if it weren’t for her, then two American intelligence experts wouldn’t currently be “working on [her] orders to defuse the threat we face.” Yeah, about that, Khadija…
As Zoe starts sweet-talking Bote, the expert spy sees right through her. But he uses it as a final teachable moment: If she believes she can read an ex-intelligence agent’s mind, it’s probably because that’s exactly what the ex-agent wants her to believe.
Suddenly, Dave and Carol’s barking goes into overdrive, signaling danger. Bote grabs a gun and orders Zoe to hide. We’ve now arrived at yet another signature Old Man climactic scene, where the audience, using Zoe as a proxy, must rely only on camera angles and sound, to piece together the gory details. Bote kills the first intruder, but there’s another one close behind. While Zoe crouches behind Bote’s desk, we can only see the old man’s legs as they buckle from a fatal gunshot. From this angle, we watch a petrified Zoe as the second intruder takes a photo of the dead FBI director (I guess it’s a good thing The New York Times already fact-checked his obituary….) before approaching the desk.
But wait! Is that Dave and Carol? Our heroes! Oh, there’s another pair of human legs behind them, too. Cool, cool. The camera pans back onto Amy Brenneman, who slowly relaxes as she realizes, through the dulcet sounds of snarling and gunshots, that Dave, Carol, and Chase have torn the second intruder to shreds. Looks like Zoe got what she was after: She’s back in Dan Chase’s life, whether he wants it or not, and she gets to play spy! Not sure she counted on becoming one of Suleyman Pavlovich’s targets, though. It’s also unlikely Zoe’s spy apprenticeship is high on Chase’s priority list now that the only person standing between Emily and the Taliban is dead in his own home.
That’s, Like, Your Opinion, Man
• The tension is building between Harper and Marion. He’s ignored, what? Five of her calls so far?
• What better way to die than to go out in Rich Grandpa Chic? I’m sure going to miss Joel Grey and his fuzzy dad sweater-and-tie ensembles.
• Dave and Carol may have resumed obeying Dan Chase, but here’s hoping they won’t turn their backs on Zoe. That kitchen scene between Brenneman and the dogs was too precious for words.
