After the big reveal that Emily (Alia Shawkat) is still alive, The Old Man season 2 episode 8 (the season finale) gives us a look at her side of the story.
We see the end of her conversation with Chase (Jeff Bridges) just before Pavlovich’s soldiers burst into the room. Khadija (Jacqueline Antaramian) is quickly killed, then the soldiers ask who there is a Hamzad? Emily says she is the only Hamzad left. She tells the Russian captain (Nicholas Kolev) if he lets everyone else live, she will give him everything he needs to know about Hamzad’s work. He accepts the deal, putting her in a guarded room.
That’s just the start of the big The Old Man season 2 finale. Read on for our full recap.
Empathy and ruthlessness
A Russian soldier, Pavel (Daniyar), brings Emily food. They connect as she speaks Russian with him. Pavel learns that Emily is an American but her family are the people of the village. He asks why she is betraying them by helping the Russians? “To protect them,” she says, because she loves them.
We spend a little time with Pavel. It’s clear he's not a fully committed soldier. He stays up at night looking at pictures of his wife and child. He also doesn’t seem comfortable around the other soldiers.
One night he brings a nice meal and a bottle of vodka to Emily, a reward from the captain for her info. But now the captain wants a list of names of people who could be trouble; a kill list. Still, Emily begins to write. Pavel asks if she thinks her family, who she is compromising herself for, will be able to accept what she is doing and welcome her back? It’s pretty clear he is talking about himself as much as he is about Emily. She responds with her own question: what if they were always this way, capable of doing whatever necessary to keep the people they love safe?
She hands the list to Pavel, but as he looks it over she grabs the vodka bottle and smashes it over his head, knocking him out. When Pavel comes to, he sees Emily has escaped. As he looks for her, he finds multiple Russian soldiers dead. Emily has freed the villagers and they have overrun the Russians. This includes one villager coming up from behind and killing Pavel.
This shows how Emily came into her position of leadership with Hamzad’s village, and how she used the strategy of empathy and ruthlessness that Bote taught Chase and which Chase passed down to her.
Harper’s sacrifice
Harper (John Lithgow) and Marion (Janet McTeer) learn the Russians have lost the Meshbahar deposit, with rumors of it being taken by a group of local fighters led by an American woman. Harper realizes that Emily is alive. Perhaps not for long though, as Pavlovich (Rade Serbedzjia) is summoning his entire force to take back the deposit. Harper urges Marion to use her power to stop Pavlovich, reminding her that Emily, with her influence as Parwana Hamzad, would be a better partner. Marion reminds him he said he would never allow her to get near Emily. But with her life at stake again, as well as Chase’s, Harper says there may not be a limit to what he’ll do to save them.
Part one to achieve that goal is already in place, as Zoe (Amy Brenneman) and Julian (Gbenga Akinnagbe) are driving to find Pavlovich. Zoe wonders if Julian has any real stake in finding and saving Chase. He says if she helps him get Pavlovich, he’ll help her with Chase.
After Harper checks in with Julian, he pushes Marion again to use her influence to defeat Pavlovich, asking how long until he does something impossible to clean up? Marion resents Harper’s use of the word “impossible,” saying he’s used it to put up barriers on his career and their relationship, saying he was too beholden to absolutes. Some things are absolute, Harper argues, like what we owe people we love being. Marion asks if that’s the case with Emily, is willing to make a major sacrifice? Harper hesitates for a moment, which causes Marion to retort he could have been a great man if he wasn’t frightened about disappointing anyone. But a “f**k you” response suggests Harper is ready to pay Marion’s price.
She gets a call from the cartel director and offers a solution to their Pavlovich problem. Harper then calls Julian, telling them they’re mission is a go.
The race for Chase
Julian and Zoe drive into the complex where the cartel is meeting. Harper tells them all of the security details of the cartel members aside from Pavlovich have been informed to pretend Julian and Zoe don’t exist for the next 15 minutes, allowing Julian to go kill Pavlovich. Zoe asks what she can do? Nothing, Julian says, but he promises he’ll keep one of Pavlovich’s men alive to get info on where Chase is. He heads out, and Zoe puts in an earpiece to be patched in with him.
Gun drawn, Julian quickly kills several of Pavlovich’s men, but his gunfire causes two Russians who were sitting in the parking lot to sprint that way. Zoe warns Julian they’re coming as the assassin continues his way through the cabana. Julian finds Pavlovich and engages with him and his men. Eventually, Julian confronts Pavlovich, helpless and shot in the leg. The Russian asks if Julian knows who he is. He says the guy that killed the old man, but he’s the man that got Pavlovich, shooting and killing him.
Zoe gets tired of waiting. She makes her way to the Russian car and looks up their most recent destinations on the GPS, figuring it must be where Chase is. She drives off to rescue him.
When she arrives at the church she finds a passed out Chase. She gives Chase the antidote. When that doesn’t work she performs CPR on Chase. The camera pans out as Zoe continues trying to resuscitate Chase.
A new mission
The scene cuts to Chase waking up in a bed, his trusted dogs Dave and Carol by his side. Zoe comes in, letting him know they are at an old safe house of Bote’s. Chase is immediately anxious, believing they need to move, but Zoe assures him no one but Julian and her son know where they are; Harper doesn’t even know as they weren’t sure it was safe to contact him. She did everything she could to ensure they were safe.
They begin to enjoy a normal life together. The only person they seem to have contact with is Zoe’s son, who she talks to only on a computer at the closest local library. However, Chase admits he’s been ignoring potentially dangerous questions. What happened with the cartel: why hasn’t it been exposed yet? What happened with the spook Zoe met in the police station; did he tell his friends about them? Zoe asks if these things have been bothering him, why has he been ignoring them? It’s because he doesn’t want this new life to end.
It becomes impossible to ignore them though when a package is dropped off at their mailbox. The box has no address, but a drawing of where to deliver it. Chase opens it, inside is a phone and a piece of paper with a phone number. He gives it a call.
The next thing we see is Chase and Zoe arriving at a diner, where Emily is waiting for them. Stunned, Chase hugs his daughter and introduces her to Zoe. While Emily promises she’ll tell Chase all that happened to her, right now she needs his help. Harper was taken by Marion and is being used to bargain for control of the Meshbahar deposit, which she now controls, having become the de facto leader of her Afghani family. Emily is determined to get Harper back, but she needs Chase. He agrees to do what she needs. But what she needs is access to Lou Barlow, the man Chase previously told Zoe was the worst person he ever came across. This makes Chase hesitant, trying to convince her there are other ways to get Harper back.
Zoe asks who exactly Lou Barlow is. Chase reveals he was Lou Barlow, and the reason he didn’t tell Zoe that before was because as Barlow he did things “uglier than violence.”
Emily is steadfast that Lou Barlow is how to go after Marion and get Harper back. It’s what Chase taught her and what they owe Harper for saving their lives. She wonders if his reluctance is because he doesn’t want to do what it would take, or if he doesn’t want Zoe to see that side of him?
Either way, Chase doesn’t have a choice. Cars drive up to the diner. Emily explains now that she is in control of the deposit she has a lot of influence. She used it to have the FBI tap Zoe’s son’s phone, find Chase and now transport them out of the country. Chase coldly says, “Parwana Hamzad gets whatever she wants,” referring to Emily by her birth name, acknowledging she is not entirely his daughter anymore. Emily says, “yeah, she does,” bringing the season to the end.
All episodes of The Old Man season 2 are now streaming on Hulu in the US.
