The first episode of the second season of FX’s The Old Man chronicled Chase and Harold’s attempt to rescue Emily, who had been abducted by her own father, Hamzad, in the previous season. Harold’s contact, his ex-wife Marion, helps them to get assistance from Abdul Nazary, leader of one of the resistance clans who oppose Afghanistan’s Taliban government and detest Hamzad for his alliance with the government. However, even before reaching Nazary, the duo nearly meet their end as they get tricked by Omar, a Taliban spy—and somehow end up escaping with their lives. The second episode showcases everything that has been happening on the other side, i.e., how is Emily holding up after returning to her real family, and how is she coping with the revelation of the truth that had been hidden from her for so long?
Spoilers Ahead
A bittersweet reunion
The second episode picks up from the final moments of the ending of the first season, as Hamzad’s sister Khadija brings Emily to their village. Emily, oblivious to the truth about her identity and connection with Hamzad, tries to talk her way out of it, but keeping her locked in a room, Khadija bluntly reveals to her that she is in fact Hamzad and Belour’s daughter, Parwana. Caught up in disbelief, initially Emily laughs off Khadija’s statement, but later on, as a projector is set up in her room, Emily revisits some of the fleeting memories of her childhood with Hamzad and is horrified to realize the truth at last.
The next day, following Khadija’s direction that she change her clothes before meeting her father, Emily visits Hamzad, who becomes too busy reminiscing about the bravado of the men of his family, his ancestors, who fought off Mongol, Persian, and British invaders to keep their land safe. However, Emily is not interested in learning about her family heritage and instead wants to know about her mother, Belour, much to Hamzad’s dismay. Growing up, Emily didn’t have that strong of a connection with her mother, and she wants to know everything about her now that she has the chance. However, the idealized image she has of her mother in her mind doesn’t match with the statements of a bitter Hamzad, who calls her vindictive, deceitful, and cunning. and the duo get into a disagreement. Hamzad leaves, with Khadija mentioning that bringing Emily was not a wise decision on his part. Hamzad re-learns that lesson as Omar pays a visit to him, revealing that he is aware of the fact that Hamzad is keeping an FBI agent hostage and tries to use that information to coerce him into making Hamzad pay the monthly commission for keeping the mineral deposit. Hamzad threatens Omar by reminding him that he is answerable only to Omar’s uncle, Abdul (not Nazary), a major Taliban figure, in reply to which Omar mentions that he will take care of the American agents who have entered Afghanistan to rescue the female agent.
Perhaps from a sense of desperation, Hamzad goes to kill Emily, mentioning that she reminds him too much of Belour, and a scuffle ensues between the two. Eventually, ashamed for his actions, Hamzad breaks down, and despite having the chance to shoot him to death, Emily refuses to kill him. Seeing all this ruckus, Khadija allows Emily to get to know the family a bit and takes her to get patched up. Emily gets acquainted with Faruza, one of her distant cousins, who reminisces about the time Emily was taken away from their home—and how pronounced her absence was to the family. Faruza is much more welcoming to Emily than any other member of her family she has met so far. Faruza reveals that she had lost her husband in the war against the Taliban, and the arrangement with the Taliban that Hamzad has made has kept the family and the village safe for so long. Emily also meets Faruza’s son, Farouk, and as the little kid gets busy showing his distant aunt his precious collectibles right off, Emily finds some much-needed peace of mind after tormenting the last few days. Farouk helps Emily to learn Dari, much to Faruza’s delight, who silently observes Emily getting acquainted with her culture and her heritage. Emily later questions Khadija about her mother but gets no satisfactory response. Khadija is taken aback after learning about Belour’s demise, but she refuses to share anything about her with Emily unless she starts asking the right questions.
Did Emily and Chase Reunite?
In the aftermath of his fight with Chase, Omar had lost an eye, and knowing how significant the FBI agent’s presence is to both Hamzad and Chase, he goes directly to his Taliban superior, possibly his uncle whom Hamzad was referring to. Omar requests the Taliban official to tighten the noose on Hamzad’s throat, mentioning that he has concealed the fact that he is keeping an FBI agent hostage. As a result, Hamzad’s mineral deposit business gets hampered, after which Khadija speaks with someone unknown over the phone to remind the said person about a violation of the deal they had. The identity of the person isn’t revealed, but we are guessing that Morgan Bote might be connected with this.
Anticipating a direct visit by the Taliban, Hamzad prepares to leave with Emily and take her somewhere safe before making arrangements for her return to the States. No sooner than they leave, Omar arrives at the village with his Taliban comrades and tries to coerce Khadija into letting him visit Hamzad. Bringing Omar and his men into an open space, Khadija and the armed clan members surround them, prompting Omar to threaten Khadija that he will forcibly take all the men from the village to be enlisted among the Taliban. It remains to be seen what happens next, as Khadija has been caught between a rock and a hard place—sparing Omar will result in the villagers getting into peril, and doing the opposite implies even more trouble. With oppressive autocratic militants in governance, the people of the nation always end up paying the most, and the decision to bring back Emily will cost Hamzad and his village dearly.
While walking through the treacherous mountain pass to reach Belour’s hideout, Hamzad reveals to Emily that he wanted to know his daughter, who had been stolen away from him, to know how much of her he still recognizes, and whether she would have been happier living with her true family. Hamzad reveals to Emily that the only good thing he can remember of her mother, Belour, which is the realization that one always ends up having to choose either the person they love or the person they trust. Not sure how Emily takes this assessment, but learning more about her mother, she will likely be able to connect the dots in a better way.
Realizing that someone has already arrived at Belour’s hideout, Hamzad proceeds to cautiously enter with a gun, and moments later, hearing a gunshot, Emily rushes to the place. The episode ends with Emily’s surprised face, not revealing the incident or event that caused her to react like this—but the first episode has answered that already. Chase and Harper had arrived at the hideout after escaping from Omar, and Hamzad came face to face with Chase in the final moments of the first episode. The gunshot sound was probably a blank firing to raise the tension, as the next episode is going to reveal. The interesting part is that Emily is now in the presence of the three father figures in her life: Hamzad, her biological father; Chase, the one whom she had known to be her father all her life; and Harper, the mentor/father figure she needed later in her life. How the interaction goes among them remains to be seen, but surely it will be intriguing to say the least.
