It's been two years for viewers, but only three weeks in the world of the show when The Old Man season 2 episode 1 begins. As Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Harper (John Lithgow) ride in the back of the truck, Harper asks about Emily's childhood, like why a young Emily didn't show interest in sports until she was 9, then was adamant she play soccer.
Chase doesn't want to discuss it, insisting they focus on the task at hand. But for Harper, these stories are part of that. They'll help reassure Emily (Alia Shawkat) after her kidnapping by Afghani warlord Faraz Hamzad, her biological father, that they're the ones who know her and want what's best for her.
The truck comes to a stop. The driver speaks with someone while Chase and Harper remain very quiet. When the truck starts back up, Chase tells Harper, "Welcome to Afghanistan."
The welcoming committee
Chase tells Harper things don't make sense here, especially the closer they get to Hamzad. They're not here to solve a crime, they just need to get to Emily as fast as possible and get out. However, they hit a delay when the truck stops unexpectedly.
Bullets start flying, forcing them to duck and cover. When the shooting stops, they make their way out of the truck to inspect the scene. Their driver is dead. Another man is dead in the road and one, wounded, is crawling back to his truck. Chase kills the survivor, guessing it was a drug gang hoping to steal cargo. The bigger problem is with the driver, Hameed, dead, they don't know where they're going. Chase insists Harper call "her," his connection that helped get them into Afghanistan. Harper is reluctant. Thankfully there's another option. He grabs the SAT phone from the driver, which shows the destination where they were supposed to meet their contact from the resistance.
As they near the destination, they come to a fork in the road. The GPS says to go left, but Chase goes right, much to Harper's frustration. Chase says this is how he remembers their working relationship, Harper always doubting him. But he was never the dumb, reckless person Harper thought he was. They come upon a building where Chase believes they'll find the resistance fighters.
However, Chase and Harper receive a hostile welcome, told they don't belong there and are taken outside at gunpoint. They are about to execute Harper when someone cries out for them to stop. A man arrives on horseback, saying he was sent by Commander Abdul Nazary of the resistance and insists Chase and Harper be let go. The man introduces himself as Omar (Artur Zai Barrera) and invites them inside as they have much to discuss.
Hamzad's Afghanistan
Omar says there have been rumors about an FBI agent abducted by Hamzad and an expected response from Washington; are Chase and Harper the response? It's complicated, but if Omar and the resistance help them, the resistance will get funding from their contact. Omar asks what kind of trouble they are looking to cause? "The devastating kind," Chase answers. To do this, they need transport to Hamzad's valley, supplies, about 20 men and a couple of days to make their plan.
As they travel on horseback, Omar fills Chase and Harper in on Hamzad's influence on Afghanistan. He says their fathers saw Hamzad as a hero, but he and his friends know him as a monster best avoided. When the Taliban took over, resistance fighters tried to get Hamzad to help, but he refused. The reason is because Hamzad discovered the secret Chase and Abbey/Belour (Leem Lubany) were hiding from him that prompted their escape all those years ago: one of the largest deposits of lithium in the world. Hamzad has created a fully operational mine, giving him close ties to the Taliban government. Harper asks why the Taliban just don't seize the mine from Hamzad? Because for some reason Hamzad is the only major figure that hasn't been sanctioned by the US government, making him a powerful and indispensable middle man.
Chase asks if Omar and his men are afraid of Hamzad? He says no, but he wanted to make sure Chase and Harper knew what they were getting into before taking them any further. Harper affirms their not going back without Emily.
The monster
Chase has a flashback to when he (younger Chase played by Bill Heck), Abbey and a young Emily escaped to the US. Chase asks what they are going to tell Emily as they set about their new lives. Nothing, Abbey affirms. She wants to build Emily's future with no regard for her past and Chase as her father. Abbey makes Chase promise Emily will know nothing about Hamzad, worried he will look for her. Chase promises he won't let anything happen to Emily.
Back in the present, Omar asks how Chase knows so much about Hamzad? Chase says nothing. Omar begins to tell him the story of "Baba-khorkhore," an American who fought with Hamzad against the Russians, "a living terror." Omar asks if Chase is this monster (he is, in case you forgot), but Chase simply calls it a good story and nothing more. In the distance, they hear engines revving. Taliban patrols, Omar says, so they continue on to the camp.
When they arrive, they discover a massacre. The resistance fighters are all dead. This gets Harper to call his contact, a woman named Marion (Janet McTeer). Harper fills her in on the situation and their need for a new plan. Though Harper is concerned who may have caused the first plan to fail, seemingly insinuating Marion may be behind it. She takes offense to this; if he doesn't want her help then he should say so. But Harper does, so she will. In the meantime, she tells him to ask Ali to find them a safe place. Who's Ali? Their contact apparently, not Omar.
Meanwhile, Omar and Chase look over the bodies. Omar gets direct, wanting to know why Chase is here and who Emily is. Chase recognizes perhaps Omar is not to be trusted. Confirming this, Omar pulls a knife and attacks Chase, eventually stabbing him in the shoulder. Omar reveals he is a Taliban spy, demanding to know why Hamzad is risking his influence for Emily? Chase doesn't answer, instead telling him "some stories are true. Some monsters are real," before biting him in the neck, grabbing the knife and slashing his face. Harper arrives and he and Chase ride away. The Taliban patrol that was nearby goes after them, but they escape into a maze of rocks.
The hard truths
They find refuge in a cave Abbey would hide in and where Chase left some supplies years ago, including a first aid kit. As they recover, Chase tells Harper he should call his wife, then Marion to get him out of Afghanistan. This upsets Harper, but Chase explains Harper has people that need him and at this point Emily is almost certainly dead. He believes Hamzad will eventually see something in Emily that reminds him of Abbey, or worse Chase, and he won't be able to bear it. Chase then explains Emily's soccer story. The feeling he had when she suddenly was adamant she wanted to play wasn't surprise, it was dread. The conviction and courage she had reminded him of Hamzad, forcing him to realize it was a part of her that would eventually demand to be heard and seen. Harper feels this is just Chase's excuse to give up. Chase isn't not going anywhere though. But Harper still can.
Harper does call his wife, Cheryl (Jessica Harper). She says she got a call from Marion, who is Harper's ex-wife. This surprised her, as Harper had described her as incredibly dangerous. Harper reminds her that sometimes he has to do things he can't tell her about. Cheryl then reveals things are not good at home and asks when they are going to see him again? Are they going to see him again?
In the cave, Chase wakes to a noise. Someone emerges from the shadows behind him — it's the young Hamzad (Pej Vahdat). He says Chase does not want to find Emily now, it would be too awful for him; nor does he want to find Hamzad, not after what Chase made him. Or maybe Chase is searching for this horror; in which case, "welcome home."
Chase wakes from this dream. It's morning, and Harper is still asleep. At the entrance of the cave, Chase sees a figure — Hamzad (Navid Negahban), who is holding a gun. He raises it, cocks it and points it at Chase. The scene cuts to a view of the mountainscape when we hear a gunshot.
New episodes of The Old Man season 2 premiere Thursdays on FX, then stream on Hulu the next day.
