The Old Man (1 Viewer)

[Sailorsaint]

Anyone watching this? I’m on s1e4 with season two starting in a few weeks. Jeff Bridges is really surprising me, very good character and writing.

 

[Saintslfc13]

Anyone watching this? I’m on s1e4 with season two starting in a few weeks. Jeff Bridges is really surprising me, very good character and writing.

I liked the show when it first came out. Since I've been reminded about it I might give a rewatch before S2 to see if I wanna dive in again as I remember an
outline of the plot rather than what's actually going on.

Sidebar - These 2+ year gaps between seaons for certain shows are getting a bit ridiculous to me now. It was one thing when GoT did it for it's final year, allegedly in an effort to get the last season right (most would agree it didn't work well) but that show was established with 7 seasons before doing that, the story was well fleshed out. In this show's case I understand there were labor disputes that were probably part of that, but whatever the reasoning, I know it leads to people assuming the show got cancelled which can derail potentially good shows before they really get off the ground. Even if mistaken cancellation isn't the issue, people get invested in other shows/entertainment in general might not want to take the time to re-invest into a show they don't remember too well. Sci-Fi show Raised by Wolves from HBOMax at the time comes to mind (though it's not for everybody) and more recently Outer Range on Amazon just out of nowhere released us with a second season with very little promotion of it and then gets cancelled shortly after.

 

[nolaspe]

S2 drops Sept 12th...

 

[tenordas]

I'm about to start episode 6. Really enjoying it!
Bridges and Lithgow are terrific. It's an excellent cast and the writing is terrific.
I need to go find the novel and read it now. Really well done intricate plot and complicated characters.

 

[buzd]

First season was really good. Will watch S2.

 

[tenordas]

Two episodes into Season 2. Again, very well done script and dialogue; the plot has decidedly thickened! New bad guys and new angles with which to contend..
This is a really well done show.

One minor gripe

With episode on and two ending in the same cliff hanger of "who got shot?", why on earth would one put in a blurb after the credits about the next episode showing the main person in the crosshairs moving around perfectly fine??? I realize they're not likely going to pull a "To Live and Die in L.A." and kill off the main character, but don't put in the suspense of a cliff hanger maybe that's happening, especially two weeks in a row, only then to give away that it isn't happening in a preview of the next episode. That's just clueless.

 

[tenordas]

Speculation

It struck me over the weekend where this might be going.

What if Emily/Angela/Parwana isn't Hamzad's daughter after all, but the illegitimate daughter of Pavlovich?

That could explain some of his actions. In the last episode, Kohler (Bridges) said taking out Morgan Bote isn't something someone would do "for some mineral rites"; there's something else going on here.

Perhaps that something else is Pavlovich recovering the woman he knows is actually his daughter, and he's willing to take wild chances (as Hamzad was) to recover her.

It's just a thought. I certainly don't believe she's dead because we only heard the shooting over the phone. That's an old (and somewhat overused) gimmick to suggest to the audience a character has died when that person hasn't. I don't think I'm really going out on a limb to spot its use here. I'm sure she's still alive, and now Pavlovich's captive - for whatever reason.

 

[tenordas]

Close...

Well, I knew she wasn't dead. I overstepped my guess by thinking she might be Pavlovich's daughter. I'm guessing that the people breaching through the tunnels turned out not to be the Russians, but locals come to support Hamzad. The fire fight heard on the phone was Russians coming in, but they were overcome by the locals who showed up "just in time" through the tunnels. Then she organized them and they attacked the site. Nothing else makes sense.

 

[St. Widge]

So, I binged up to Season 2, Episode 6. While I think the acting, particularly Lithgow, is very good and the overall story is good, I can't help but think that this is a much shorter story than it is being made out to be. Maybe they need all this time for character development, but I just can't help but think that this entire story should have been told in 10 or 12 episodes but they seem to be stringing it out since unless I miss my guess they aren't going to finish the story at the end of season 2.

But, if they do finish up in another episode or two and don't rush that, I'm probably being too hard on the writers.

 

[SystemShock]

Very good show. Great acting. A slow burn with splashes of raw violence, and the thing I like about the violence, is that Chase looks every bit his age in the fights: he's old, but he's experienced in combat. It's a nice touch that Alia Shawkat's character has the same disposition as Bridges' character.

​

 

[SirLoinSaint64]

Great show. Thoughtful. Action. Intrigue. Suspense. A smidge chic stuff.

 

[St. Widge]

They are definitely stretching this out too long. It started as a great show, but I'm caught up to wait until Friday for the next episode and it's getting too predictable and starting to fall back on old tropes. The acting is still very good and the dialog is still good, but it just feels to me like they are stretching the story out to make more episodes to make more money on another season.

I like slow burns while you are doing character development and slowly revealing hidden truths, but at this point we are well beyond that and they are still moving very slow. But now it's for no reason.

 

[tenordas]

They are definitely stretching this out too long. It started as a great show, but I'm caught up to wait until Friday for the next episode and it's getting too predictable and starting to fall back on old tropes. The acting is still very good and the dialog is still good, but it just feels to me like they are stretching the story out to make more episodes to make more money on another season.

I like slow burns while you are doing character development and slowly revealing hidden truths, but at this point we are well beyond that and they are still moving very slow. But now it's for no reason.

I'm not sure we're beyond all the hidden truths yet. This series has been intriguing, not really knowing who the bad guy is. At first, it appeared to be Lithgow's reluctant villain, but no, not him. Then it appeared to be Faraz Hamzad, but no, not him, either. Morgan Bote, obviously. Well, no. Okay, it's Suleyman Pavlovich. Or is Lithgow's ex-wife the head of all this? Well, maybe, or maybe one or both of them are just in league with the real bad guy we haven't even identified yet.

I haven't found it to be draggy at all, and I don't think we, or Johnny or Harold or Parwana (Emily), know the whole picture yet. I have a feeling at this point the author is pulling a Tom Clancy: that the real bad guy is going to much higher up the food chain than anyone expected.

 

[St. Widge]

I'm not sure we're beyond all the hidden truths yet. This series has been intriguing, not really knowing who the bad guy is. At first, it appeared to be Lithgow's reluctant villain, but no, not him. Then it appeared to be Faraz Hamzad, but no, not him, either. Morgan Bote, obviously. Well, no. Okay, it's Suleyman Pavlovich. Or is Lithgow's ex-wife the head of all this? Well, maybe, or maybe one or both of them are just in league with the real bad guy we haven't even identified yet.

I haven't found it to be draggy at all, and I don't think we, or Johnny or Harold or Parwana (Emily), know the whole picture yet. I have a feeling at this point the author is pulling a Tom Clancy: that the real bad guy is going to much higher up the food chain than anyone expected.

Maybe, but at this point it almost seems to me like they are just making it up as they go along. This could have been a nice tidy complete story but it just feels to me like if they extend it much longer they are just adding in layers above to keep in going when the story was very good if they just wrapped it up. But maybe they don't know how to stick the landing.

 

[tenordas]

Maybe, but at this point it almost seems to me like they are just making it up as they go along. This could have been a nice tidy complete story but it just feels to me like if they extend it much longer they are just adding in layers above to keep in going when the story was very good if they just wrapped it up. But maybe they don't know how to stick the landing.

Well, the story comes from a book (which I haven't read at this point), so I assume there already is a landing. I don't know that for certain as I haven't read it, but I'm guessing the ending already exists.

EDIT: Just found out the author is writing a sequel to the book, so it's possible the plot of the series involves what he hasn't published yet.