Whoever hired Jeff Bridges to play the grizzled ex-spook in FX’s The Old Man is a genius

Joe Sarno, the grizzled enforcer played by James Caan in 2000’s Tarantino-esque The Way of the Gun , delivers a menacing promise about himself as he’s sent to clean up a mess about halfway through the movie: “The only thing you can assume about a broken down old man … is that he’s a survivor.” It’s a great line, and I’d argue it’s also as good an introduction as any to the kind of deceptively rumpled, aging ex-spy played by Jeff Bridges in FX’s The Old Man — a series in which Bridges’ Dan Chase lives off the grid and looks like he could be someone’s kindly grandfather. But who, even in his dotage, is a walking weapon of mass destruction. He’s the spy who never came in from the cold.

FX dropped a full trailer today for the show’s upcoming second season, which debuts on Sept. 12 , and it promises a return to form for a series that adds yet another must-watch FX gem to a growing pile that also includes can’t-miss TV standouts like Shogun , The Bear , and Fargo , among others. In fact, that collection is expanding to such a degree that FX is actually starting to feel like the new HBO (at least to me).

Shows like The Old Man , especially, are the kind of TV dramas I live for. As far as the story goes, Bridges’ Chase is a former (but still extremely wily) CIA operative who’s been in hiding for years as a result of a mission gone wrong. An assassin flushes him out and forces him to go on the run, which turns The Old Man into, basically, Chasing The Old Man .

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Whoever cast Bridges for this role deserves the heartfelt thanks of all of us who crave well-acted, tightly-paced, and addictive spy dramas. He gives a textured and compelling performance as a believable former CIA man, a multi-linguist and highly resourceful warrior who looks and acts the part even when he’s not saying anything at all — his bearded, craggy face a topography of pain both received and delivered.

Jonathan Lithgow plays Chase’s foil, FBI official Harold Harper, and while I don’t want to say too much about his character for those of you who haven’t tried the show yet, let me just say this: The scenes between the two of them are almost always spellbinding. Like this scene , when a team of special operators has been sent to retrieve Chase in Season 1, and Harper reaches out to warn him to prevent a bigger scandal from coming to light.

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From the official synopsis for Season 2 of The Old Man :

“Former CIA agent “Dan Chase” (Jeff Bridges) and former FBI Assistant Director “Harold Harper” (John Lithgow) set off on their most important mission to date — to recover “Emily Chase” (Alia Shawkat) after she is kidnapped by “Faraz Hamzad” (Navid Negahban), a powerful Afghan tribal leader. With all three men claiming her as their daughter, Emily finds herself in an identity crisis that has dire implications.”

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