The Old Man: V
July 8, 2022 1:52 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Chase and Harper face decisive tests; Zoe finds a new path forward as old stories resurface.
I suppose it's interesting to watch characters con each other, but it feels so arbitrary. I don't have the buy in. It's kinda like if the S1 "True Detective" portentous cryptic prestige monologue style was applied to something more of the nature of "Alias".
I'm getting big feelings that the show has bitten off more than it can chew. Really surprised it's based on a book to any degree, because to me it feels like they are lurching around desperately with no plan at all.
A bit odd how Abbey's sister is prominently doing so much hardcore shit alongside Hamzad and The Young Old Man, but she has never figured into any of the conversations about scheming and plans and family, at all, ever, iirc.
posted by fleacircus at 10:14 AM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm getting big feelings that the show has bitten off more than it can chew. Really surprised it's based on a book to any degree, because to me it feels like they are lurching around desperately with no plan at all.
A bit odd how Abbey's sister is prominently doing so much hardcore shit alongside Hamzad and The Young Old Man, but she has never figured into any of the conversations about scheming and plans and family, at all, ever, iirc.
posted by fleacircus at 10:14 AM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
The single content warning at the start for "Language" tipped me off that there wouldn't be any action in episode. And so it was. I wish they could have found somewhere to work in a neck snap or something.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:29 AM on July 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:29 AM on July 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Wow, the monologue at the end really got me.
I don’t usually nerd out on plot holes, but would you really be speaking out loud that freely while riding on the bad guy’s plane?
posted by ftm at 10:45 AM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don’t usually nerd out on plot holes, but would you really be speaking out loud that freely while riding on the bad guy’s plane?
posted by ftm at 10:45 AM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I like this show but...
How did he figure out Angela/Emily? Did they show us that?
So the 2 old guys are brothers? And the "older" guy meeting with the "assassin" is their father? That's cool. I love all in the family spy shit.
However. Angela/Emily - she seems to be giving away too much, especially since she basically has covert spy stuff in her genes. Talking in a public bathroom. Come on lady. Makes me miss Sydney Bristow.
Why did the fact that a guy on the run seemed ready to fight when the assassin showed up made the assassin believe there was a mole? Like the dude was on the run! He stays ready to go. That was not a good way to expose that. At all.
Zoe is interesting. Seems like she basically said "Eh, fuck it. I don't have much else going on." Old man weasels his way into her home with some delicious eggs and 2 cute but ferocious pups. Sure, why not.
I'll keep watching.
posted by mokeydraws at 6:39 AM on July 11, 2022
How did he figure out Angela/Emily? Did they show us that?
So the 2 old guys are brothers? And the "older" guy meeting with the "assassin" is their father? That's cool. I love all in the family spy shit.
However. Angela/Emily - she seems to be giving away too much, especially since she basically has covert spy stuff in her genes. Talking in a public bathroom. Come on lady. Makes me miss Sydney Bristow.
Why did the fact that a guy on the run seemed ready to fight when the assassin showed up made the assassin believe there was a mole? Like the dude was on the run! He stays ready to go. That was not a good way to expose that. At all.
Zoe is interesting. Seems like she basically said "Eh, fuck it. I don't have much else going on." Old man weasels his way into her home with some delicious eggs and 2 cute but ferocious pups. Sure, why not.
I'll keep watching.
posted by mokeydraws at 6:39 AM on July 11, 2022
Yeah this feels like the editing booth got a little over enthusiastic or something... The end of one episode it's like "there has to be a mole, dude was tipped off obvs" and beginning of the next episode Harper and Angela are on the plane and he's all "so YOU'RE EMILY!?!?"
Feels like there should have been more there.
This has happened a few times in the last couple episodes, feels like a trend? Did they have to fit 8 eps worth of stuff into 7 episodes worth of runtime?
posted by some loser at 4:55 PM on July 11, 2022
Feels like there should have been more there.
This has happened a few times in the last couple episodes, feels like a trend? Did they have to fit 8 eps worth of stuff into 7 episodes worth of runtime?
posted by some loser at 4:55 PM on July 11, 2022
We went back and watched some of the previous episode to see if we had somehow missed Harper figuring out Emily/Angela, but nope, there's nothing there. I also said during the episode that the editing was really strange though I can't remember the other instances that triggered this other than the apparent clairvoyance of Harper once he steps onto a private plane.
So the 2 old guys are brothers? And the "older" guy meeting with the "assassin" is their father? That's cool. I love all in the family spy shit.
I didn't get the feeling that they are related by blood, just mentorship.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:24 PM on July 11, 2022
So the 2 old guys are brothers? And the "older" guy meeting with the "assassin" is their father? That's cool. I love all in the family spy shit.
I didn't get the feeling that they are related by blood, just mentorship.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:24 PM on July 11, 2022
Not brothers. Chase was a CIA field operative during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and Harper ran him from Langley. I think.
posted by hwestiii at 7:07 PM on July 22, 2022
posted by hwestiii at 7:07 PM on July 22, 2022
So Angela/Emily isn't really Chase's daughter but Faraz Hamzad's right? She's what he's trying to find, and Harper just doesn't know that he's actually got what Hamzad's looking for and is bringing her right to him. Right? I mean why else would she be in freaking North Africa at this point in the story?
And Zoe? Man, this show is going to some lengths to bring all its characters together for the big finale whether they've got any business being there or not.
And while I'm a huge Thomas Perry fan, this is one of the few books of his I haven't read. I have to say, the "someone leading a quiet life of minding their own business turns out to be a very dangerous person hiding from equally dangerous enemies" and "protagonist goes on the road playing professional level hide and seek against enemies who are just as good at seeking" tropes are kind of core Thomas Perry. But otherwise, this really doesn't feel like Perry to me. The long soliloquies about who we are and what we do and who that makes us. And taking Zoe along into danger. It just doesn't feel right. I'm not surprised to find this is based only very loosely on the book.
Oh well, a couple more episodes to see how well they stick the landing.
posted by Naberius at 7:53 AM on August 1, 2022
And Zoe? Man, this show is going to some lengths to bring all its characters together for the big finale whether they've got any business being there or not.
And while I'm a huge Thomas Perry fan, this is one of the few books of his I haven't read. I have to say, the "someone leading a quiet life of minding their own business turns out to be a very dangerous person hiding from equally dangerous enemies" and "protagonist goes on the road playing professional level hide and seek against enemies who are just as good at seeking" tropes are kind of core Thomas Perry. But otherwise, this really doesn't feel like Perry to me. The long soliloquies about who we are and what we do and who that makes us. And taking Zoe along into danger. It just doesn't feel right. I'm not surprised to find this is based only very loosely on the book.
Oh well, a couple more episodes to see how well they stick the landing.
posted by Naberius at 7:53 AM on August 1, 2022
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I'm watching this on broadcast and I noticed they said "only one more episode before the finale" this time before the scenes from next week--IMDB lists 8 episodes, but has info for only 7, and from everything else I can find, it's supposed to be 7. I also noticed they said "season one," which intrigued me. I was under the impression it was a limited series, but maybe they're hedging their bets. Just at least looking forward to finally seeing a favorite actor, Faran Tahir, next week.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:08 AM on July 9, 2022 [2 favorites]