'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: Finding Answers Across the Pond (2024)

Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Old Man Season 2 Episode 6.

In my season review for The Old Man Season 2, I joked that Season 1 was the "fuck around" side of things, while this season was the "find out" portion, but that review only covered only the first five episodes available to critics at the time. This week, Episode 6 takes us into brand-new territory and continues to demonstrate just how much "finding out" Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges), Harold Harper (John Lithgow), and Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman) still have left to do with Suleyman Pavlovich (Rade Serbedzija) hot on their heels.

Julian Carson Returns in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 6

While Episode 5 ended with Chase and Zoe off to London and Harper staying behind to track down the last message Morgan Bote (Joel Grey) sent out before he died, Episode 6 doesn't open with any of them, but instead with Julian Carson (Gbenga Akinnabe), the man on Bote's payroll who Harper hired last season to try and eliminate Chase — my, how times have changed. He's approached at his bus stop by a young woman (Jessica Parker Kennedy) he met the night Harper hired him to kill Chase. She's pleased to see him again and tries to spark up a conversation, which he initially shuts down before deciding to roll with it. He tells her he's just quit his job — having your boss murdered will do that — and sensing she also needs to vent about work, the two of them go out for dinner.

The young woman vents about how some jobs will take a lot out of you in an effort to make a difference, until you start to wonder if it's worth it, and realize you lost part of yourself along the way anyway. Carson confesses that Bote, who he just refers to as his recently deceased best friend, had started wondering the same thing, and that now that he's dead the question haunts him too, wondering if it's all worth it in the end. With this common ground now, a relationship blossoms between the two over the next few days, and it's just wholesome enough that it has us wondering which old man is going to show up to mess it all up. The answer is Harper, who has let himself into Carson's apartment after determining he was the one Bote emailed right before he was killed, and demanding to see what was in it.

He tries to force Harper to leave by pretending he has no idea what Harper is talking about, but Harper calls his bluff, saying he was only able to track Carson down now that any protection Bote provided him with died as soon as the old man did. Harper warns that this means more of his enemies will be able to track him, and his girlfriend, down. He does eventually get up to leave, with the promise that if Carson helps him, then Harper will help keep him safe behind the walls Bote built for him — the same kinds of walls Harper built a life behind before it all came crashing down — but that he cannot guarantee anything if he doesn't.

Chase and Zoe Head to London in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 6

Across the pond, Chase and Zoe arrive at their London hotel under their Henry and Marcia Dixon aliases. Chase keeps it together until they're safely checked into their room, at which point his final conversation with Emily (Alia Shawkat) comes back to haunt him, and he replays the moment he believes he heard his daughter die. Zoe tells him it's OK to be angry at the loss, but he gets himself under control, as anger won't serve him while they try to figure out how to approach Nina Kruger (Rowena King), Faraz Hamzad's (Navid Negahban) lawyer who they came to London to see, and more importantly what to ask her.

Zoe tells Chase that Bote confirmed to her that Pavlovich is connected to the deal for Hamzad's mineral deposit. Bote wasn't sure how exactly, but she adds that it's likely Kruger knows more about it. Zoe says she'll have to go into the meeting using the kinds of mind tricks she learned about from Bote, the kinds of things Chase learned from him once upon a time too. The prospect of this new life she's embarking on, this new persona she has to adopt, is a lot to take on, as it means not being able to trust or get close to anyone again. Whether this spells luck or doom for her and Chase's attempt at a relationship, though, remains to be seen.

The next day, Zoe waits alone for Kruger in a classy bar, with Chase connected to her via an earphone, and watching from the lounge above. The longer they wait for Kruger, the more nervous Zoe gets, especially as she is now well past fashionably late. At least she and Chase manage to get in a little flirty banter, over Hamlet of all things, before Zoe takes the conversation in a serious direction, asking Chase where all his money came from. He stays evasive, talking about his line of work, some lucky blackmail opportunities, and investment opportunities, but then Zoe drops a bomb by asking him who "Lou Barlow" is. What kind of bomb this is, we don't know yet, but the name definitely makes Chase tense. She tells him that Bote mentioned the name to her when talking about Chase's business dealings, and adds that she could tell he was being dishonest when he brought up the name. Chase tells her that Barlow is the worst kind of person, and someone he wishes he'd never crossed paths with, which is saying a lot, considering what he does for a living.

Chase brings an end to that line of questioning when he joins Zoe in the bar and tells her it's time for them to go as it's obvious Kruger isn't coming. He calls her office to see where she is, but her assistant only says that she isn't in and won't be checking messages as she deals with a personal matter. Chase decides they've got to learn her location another way, and after a quick stop for supplies, they return to the hotel. It turns out, his fussing over what floor and what room number to be placed in on check-in was not just an old man's eccentricities, but rather part of his larger plan to get a good view into Kruger's assistant's apartment in order to act out this contingency.

Chase and Zoe Track Down Nina Kruger in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 6

He approaches Kruger's assistant Anna in the hallway outside her apartment — Anna, do not linger and speak to strange men even if they look like Jeff Bridges, I thought we all knew this — telling her he's looking for a friend, and she's only too happy to help until he tells her it's Kruger he's looking for. Despite his warning that the next person who comes looking for Kruger won't be so kind, Anna slips into her apartment and shuts the door on Chase. Across the street, using the device Chase built, Zoe connects their computer to Anna's phone to listen in on her, and sure enough, she calls Kruger despite apparent instructions not to, telling her there's a man looking for her. Though Kruger doesn't answer, the plan works as intended, and they manage to trace the location of Kruger's phone. Though they got what they wanted, Zoe has at least some regrets over what they put Anna through, wishing that the manipulation hadn't come so easily to them.

The next day, on their drive to Kruger's, Chase tells Zoe that he understands where she's coming from, and that he does live with the knowledge that what he does is violent, that he breaks everything he touches, as Zoe believes she also does. Neither of them seems particularly happy that this is where life took them, but it is what it is now, and there's nowhere to go but forward. In this case, forward means a cottage on a lush property in the countryside. Chase heads up to the house alone, to find the door broken and ajar. Inside, he spies Kruger sitting in an armchair, struggling to breathe, and hears someone rustling around elsewhere in the house.

He accosts the attacker in Kruger's office, and kills him, but not before finding an empty vial in the attacker's pocket. Chase hauls Kruger outside, warning Zoe to keep her distance in case he's carrying traces of the toxin too. The attacker had an antidote in his pocket, but it was destroyed in the fight, meaning it's too late to help Kruger. As she dies, however, she directs them to what the attacker was looking for: a USB key in her study containing a message for Zoe full of the information she wanted to tell her in person. She tells her that Pavlovich used his mercenaries to seize control of Hamzad's mineral deposit, and to kill the surviving members of the Hamzad family. She then reveals that other equally important mineral deposits exist around the world in places not friendly to either the U.S. or the U.K. and that those in charge of the deposits are seeking to band together to control global access to rare earth metals.

We Learn What Pavlovich Wants in 'The Old Man' Season 2 Episode 6

Kruger goes on to say that while Pavlovich is currently a member of this cartel, the other groups eye him with suspicion as "Henry and Marcia Dixon" have past ties to the CIA and also own shares of his firm. His determination to sever that connection by any means necessary results in Kruger's death, and explains why he wants Chase and Zoe dead as well. With the message over, Chase suggests he and Zoe separate, and tells her to go to the police in order to get in touch with Harper and catch him up on what's happening. Zoe is upset that he suggests they split up for the sake of her safety, as that isn't something she wants. I am all for her living her best new life, but given that her partner is actively infected with a lethal airborne toxin, and there is a hit out on her, this really isn't the time for false bravery. Chase tells her that while she calls Harper and gets herself safe, he will turn himself in to Pavlovich, as his people are also the only ones with the antidote he needs, and promises Zoe that he'll return.

Back in the U.S., Harper is at a diner, where he is joined by Carson, who tells him that he wanted out of the life he lived when he worked for Bote. He tells Harper that he did get an email from Bote, but he deleted it as soon as he got it, though curiosity won out, and he ended up looking at it anyway, as the life he tried to leave is harder to walk away from than he realized. He hands Harper a printout of the email Bote sent, which turns out to just be a covertly-taken image of a group of people together, including Pavlovich, and Harper's ex-wife Marion (Janet McTeer). While the episode is overall a quiet one — more understated than eerily silent like last week — these final two beats prove that the whole thing was an exercise in preparing for what will no doubt be an emotionally wrought final two episodes of Season 2.

The first six episodes of The Old Man Season 2 are out now. New episodes air on FX every Thursday and are available to stream next day on Hulu.

710

The Old Man

Review

The Old Man Season 2 Episode 6 sees the pieces of the mystery begin to come together in an otherwise understated episode.

Pros

• The questions surrounding why the characters are in danger finally get some answers.
• The core cast are wonderful with the nuances of the story, playing out the more understated beats.

Cons

• While we finally do start getting answers, the entire episode feels like a wind up before the pitch surely coming next week.

Watch on Hulu