The Old Man is one of the success stories of series year 2022 in the US: ahighly regarded and highly regarded thriller series in which a living filmlegend stars in his first major television role.
The very fact that we can use the word “alive” in this case is worthmentioning, because it seemed like lead actor Jeff Bridges would never be ableto finish the series. Bridges (72) hung on the brink of death while therecordings were far from being completed. Four episodes were filmed when hewas diagnosed with lymphoma, but that was not all: while he was undergoingchemotherapy, a corona infection was also added. Bridges was in intensive carefor five weeks. Cancer seemed nothing compared to corona, he later said duringinterviews.
Production was severely delayed, but despite all the setbacks (the coronacrisis caused all kinds of other production headaches), the _The Old Man_finished, with seven episodes instead of the planned ten. And in the first twohours of the season it also seems as if we are dealing with a real TV classic:intriguing, smart and above all packed with acting to feast on.
Bridges plays Dan Chase, a former CIA agent who has been living a quiet lifefor thirty years, far from danger. He has a gray beard, clattering joints anda raucous voice that sometimes makes him almost unintelligible. This old manlacks the inner peace of Bridges’ most famous character: The Dude in the Coenbrothers movie The Big Lebowski. Also understandable, because as is so oftenthe case in the espionage genre, the past always haunts you, even many yearslater.
High level
Peace is disturbed when a person invades his home. Chase shoots the intruderdead and flees with his two dogs. There seems to be a connection to his timein Afghanistan, the country where he stayed when the country was at war withthe Soviet Union. While he must find out exactly what is going on, he mustensure that his daughter stays safe. A former colleague, now employed by theFBI, must track down Chase. This man is played by another acting cannon:76-year-old John Lithgow (Winston Churchill in The Crown memorable serialkiller in Dexter ). The growling retiree Chase can still fight quite a bit.Towards the end of the first episode, he finds himself in a brutal one-on-onebattle with a much younger opponent.
You can almost feel the bones breaking as the realistic combat moves throughstages: first inside a car, then outside. Strands of hair are pulled fromskulls and painful hold-ups are performed. This old man has another killerinstinct , as it turns out. However, the character does not become an olderaction hero in the Stallone or Schwarzenegger category: _The Old Man_sprinkles only sporadically with the action scenes.
More important are the long dialogues and monologues that the charactersspeak. These are of a high level in the first episodes, although they are donejust too often by phone (possibly a corona measure to protect the old actorsas much as possible).
Jeff Bridges and Amy Brenneman. Prashant Gupta / FX
Showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg also seems aware of the fact that women areoften an afterthought in this type of series and knows how to avoid being usedonly as ‘wife of’ or ‘daughter of’. The woman who is dragged into Chase’smisery, played by Amy Brenneman, declares that she is not there to play asimple supporting role. “I want to be more than just a complication in yourstory,” she says. As a young FBI agent, Alia Shawkat also gets enough to chewon. She sometimes even steals the show in scenes with Lithgow.
clichés
But after a flying start, the series unfortunately loses more and more power,although it remains entertaining enough to keep watching. This is partly dueto the flashbacks to the Afghanistan period of the main character. It isnecessary to provide crucial background information, but the actor who has tofill in the younger version of Bridges lacks the necessary charisma. After afew episodes you get the idea that the writers have lost their gun and fallmore into the clichés of these kinds of stories. And those who expect a fullycompleted story will also be disappointed: a second season is coming.
Still, it feels good to see Bridges at work. Even if the scenario losesquality, he still makes something of it. For the actor himself, the pastperiod feels like a bizarre dream. He is happy that he can start with a newseason, he tells the New York Times : “I was in survival mode. And now I’mback working with the same actors and crew. It felt like a long weekend. Itwasn’t quite a nightmare either: there are wonderful things that you onlydiscover in such times.”