The ending of The Old Man is explained in detail here, including what the big reveals mean and where the show may be going in Season 2. Jeff Bridges stars as Dan Chase, an off-the-grid former CIA agent who is forced to go on the run when his location is The Old Man, The Man a slow-paced spy thriller based on the novel by Thomas Perry.
John Lithgow plays FBI agent Harold Harper, who worked with Chase when they were both stationed in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War, where they both worked to support the local population in the US proxy war, helping warlords Faraz Hamzad and his wife Abbey. Alia Shawkat as The Ricardo plays Chase’s daughter Emily, who is also a mole in the FBI and works under Harper as Angela Adams.
Bridges’ Chase takes on Zoe Amy Brenneman, a divorcee who rents him a house to help escape those who were after him, and discovers that she has a far greater aptitude for the spy craft than she ever thought possible. Throughout the season, Chase is pursued by the FBI and CIA, all under the guise that Hamzad wants to capture him and bring him to him.
Morgan Bote, a former high-ranking CIA chief (played by Joel Grey) appears to be pulling the strings to aid in the effort, enlisting the help of Gbenga Akinnagbe agent Julian Carson as well as CIA agent Raymond Waters (E.J. Bonilla), both of whom are drawn into the story in ways they never imagined (or planned).
The Old Man Season 1: Recap
The Old Man, by the simplest nature of the title, suggests that it refers to Jeff Bridges’ character from The Big Lebowski, Dan Chase. However, over the course of the season, it slowly reveals itself to be a much more ambiguous title that can be applied to many characters in many ways. Chase is certainly a literal “The old man,” but he’s also Emily/Angela’s old man in the patriarchal sense of the word.
In contrast, Harper is also a father figure to Emily/Angela, making him the Old Man as well. In The Old Man Season 1 Episode 6, Harper calls Hamzad “The Old Man”, comparing him to the man who controls all the chaos around them. However, as revealed in the finale, Hamzad is also the Old Man in a paternal sense, as he is revealed to be Emily/Angela’s father.
Finally, The Old Man may refer to Morgan Bote, the shadowy former head of the CIA who trained both Chase and Harper as his surrogate sons within the organization. However the Old Man is used, it has many meanings beyond just a clever nickname for the main character.
In the last two episodes of The Old Man, Abbey is revealed to be every bit Hamzad’s counterpart in his fight against the Soviets. After capturing a Russian officer, Abbey is shown as feeding the Russians information against their Afghan adversaries, strengthening their position to take over leadership of the country when the Russians leave.
Abbey also knows the location of a valuable ore deposit in Pandzhishir of “unspeakable strategic value”, but keeps it a secret from Hamzad. She knew that getting it would consume Hamzad because his wealth would make him powerful as a tyrant, which she didn’t want to happen. Hamzad finds out all this and gives an ultimatum – tell him where the ore deposit is or you will be killed.
Jeff Bridges star Chase has no choice but to ask Harper to help him and Abbey get out of Afghanistan or face certain death at the hands of Hamzad. but Harper is nervous about keeping Hamzad alive because they funded him during the campaign, meaning it would look very bad for the US if Hamzad became a powerful tyrant after the war.
But Chase and Abbey have no choice (if they want to live) so they flee, booked on a flight chartered by Harper, but not before taking Hamzad’s daughter, who will grow up to be Emily/Angela, with them. At this point, Dan is about to kill Hamzad in his sleep, but he can’t bring himself to do it in front of his daughter as they run away, leaving a huge loose end that will forever haunt his life, up to everything that happens in the Old Man’s present.
The Old Man Season 1 Ending, Explained: What Happened At The End of The Season?
Morgan Bote, the head of the CIA who trained Chase and Dexter star Harper John Lithgow, seems to be the arbiter of everything that happens on the American side of things, probably working with Hamzad, who is now a very powerful warlord in Afghanistan with some kind of hold over Bote. which has not yet been revealed.
Bote has Emily/Angela kidnapped by his secret agents, Mike and Julian, with the help of CIA agent Waters. The deal was originally to hand over Dan Chase to get Emily/Angela back, but Hamzad broke the deal and sent his own team to retrieve her.
With this, Julian kills most of the agents Hamzad sent as Mike and Waters escape with Emily/Angela, but are stopped and killed, with Emily/Angela falling under Hamzad’s control. This action puts Hamzad at odds with the US, killing a CIA agent and an undercover agent while also kidnapping an FBI agent, daughter or not. Either way, it’s a chance Hamzad will take and one he sees as effort well spent, even if the consequences of the action will surely backfire.
At the end of Season 1 of Tron: Legacy, Jeff Bridges star The Old Man is revealed to be Emily Chase/Angela Adams, real name Parwana Hamzad, the biological daughter of Farad Hamza. This is the bombshell reveal of the season and adds a lot of weight to “The Old Man” in the show’s title, making Emily/Angela/Parwana a much more significant character than they originally thought.
The Old Man is a show about family, truth, and lies, and this reveal will keep things interesting well into The Old Man Season 2. However, given the spying nature of the show and the long game Emily/Angela/Parwana has been playing since childhood, it’s interesting to wonder if she’s still playing the game and already knows that Hamzad is her father, and more importantly, what her plans are now that she met him again.
Related – Know About The Old Man Series Filming Locations
