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Critic Reviews
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What’s offered in the preview to critics of season two is excellent, engaging, and full of tense magnetism. Frankly, we’re hoping this is the end for the series, so it goes out on top with a big, wounding, powerful bang.
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The strong performances of Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow continue to make The Old Man a must-watch, but it definitely has enough confidence in its ensemble to give us stories without either of them in front of the camera.
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The first two episodes of this season end on cliffhangers that maintain commendable suspense, despite some expository scenes that tumble into proverbial valleys compared to action packed and sharply acted road buddy sequences that are The Old Man’s peaks. Nevertheless, the exquisitely shot Middle East landscapes, Shawkat’s steely portrayal of a character in perilous danger, Bridges’ pitilessly pugnacious fight scenes, and his sparky chemistry with Lithgow make The Old Man a must watch, and prove some elder operatives need not be scurried out to pasture.
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The story does sometimes operate at a stop-and-start pace that mixes long, silent, atmospheric moments with dense plot beats that happen so quickly that they're barely over before you realize you absolutely need a rewatch to fully grasp it. Fortunately, The Old Man is engaging enough that a rewatch is no hardship, and with only five episodes provided for review, the series still has a chance to bring the season to a resounding, heart-pounding close.
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The first two episodes work well to show the converging journeys that the characters are taking in Afghanistan, but episodes three and four move too slowly to unfurl this season’s intrigue. .... Things finally move along once the action shifts back to the United States and the fourth main character of season one.
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It’s with scenes like these, where the characters in “The Old Man” are stripped bare, that the series truly soars. If anything, season two stumbles quite often when trying to be more than this. The two genres that were expertly balanced in season one don’t intersect as well here.
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Ultimately, though, The Old Man is frustrating. There are things about it that keep it from being as good as it should be, and things that make it seem better than it actually is. It's an OK show dressed up as a good one.
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Tangled and turgid, it makes so many miscalculations that it proves a creaky shell of its former self.
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Now, everyone seems fatally flawed – even Emily – and the body count is so high that the idea of being invested in a character’s survival feels almost quaint. The Old Man is bursting with puzzling alliances and long-buried secrets – but the biggest mystery of all is why we should care about any of it.