The Old Man season 2 episode 2 recap: Emily's search for answers

The Old Man season 2 episode 1 brought us up to date with Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Harper (John Lithgow) as they search for Emily (Alia Shawkat), but in The Old Man season 2 episode 2 we see Emily's experience after her kidnapping by Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban).

The FBI agent is brought into a room where she meets Khadija (Jacqueline Antaramian), Hamzad's sister and trusted advisor, who reveals the truth: Emily is Hamzad's daughter, Parwana; she was stolen away by her mother and Chase as a toddler. Emily is skeptical of this. But an old home movie shows a young Hamzad (Pej Vahdat) holding a young Emily and singing to her; a young Chase (Bill Heck) is also visible in the background. Tears of shock stream down Emily's face as she realizes the truth. Outside, Hamzad overlooks where Emily is being kept, singing to himself the same lullaby as in the movie.

Here's our recap of everything that happened in The Old Man season 2 episode 2.

Emily has some questions

Emily is taken to Hamzad. He asks her why she is there. She points out he's the one who kidnapped her, but he wants to know why she got on the plane with Harper in the first place? Emily eventually admits she wanted to know where she came from.

Hamzad speaks of his father and great grandfather, describing how they fought to protect their families and land from invaders. This is where she came from. From a people that sacrificed and fought multiple invasions to keep their children safe and their country free. This isn't what she meant though. Emily truly wants to know about her mother. Who was she and who was she to Hamzad?

He asks what "they" told her? Emily says Chase (who she still calls her father) said Hamzad was dangerous to her mother, that they escaped from him. Hamzad describes Abbey/Belour as "cold and unfeeling;" manipulative, a liar and someone who would betray anyone when it suited her. But Emily believes there must be something else to her; hope, love, something she never saw herself, begging Hamzad to say one good thing about her. But he doesn't, quietly rising from his chair and walking away.

Word gets out

Khadija worries about what Hamzad kidnapping Emily could bring them. Very quickly those worries manifest into Omar (Artur Zai Barrera). He arrives at the village after hearing Hamzad has taken an FBI agent, though Hamzad denies it. Omar continues to prod, telling Hamzad his tribute payment to the Taliban, which allows him to ignore their rules, is late. Now he supposedly has this ticking time bomb, which could cause all kinds of problems. Omar suggests it can all be solved if Hamzad hands Emily over to him. Hamzad ignores the request, confident in his position with the Taliban. As Omar leaves, he also mentions two Americans are supposedly attempting a rescue mission for Emily (Chase and Harper).

Hamzad asks Khadija why their payments are late. She tells him straight: it's his pursuit of Emily. Their position is weakened by what he's done, and Omar knows it. Caught between two enemies, they have to be smart. If they release Emily, they would then have to explain why they took her, which brings its own problems. They've reached a breaking point, the only question is how much will it hurt?

That night Hamzad goes to see Emily. He tells her there's nothing more to say as he holds a gun, planning on killing her. Emily is exactly what he was afraid she would be after all these years: her mother. Emily calls him a coward, chiding him for being too afraid to ask her any questions. Her yelling at him takes Hamzad aback, which allows Emily to knock the gun out his hand. They scuffle. Emily attempts to get the gun, but Hamzad manages to pin her on the ground and chokes her until she stops moving. He pulls off and starts to whimper as Emily's body lies motionless.

But then, she gasps for air. She gets up, gets the gun and points it at Hamzad. But she can't pull the trigger either. Khadija eventually comes in and finds them both on the floor, silent.

Settling in

Emily is taken to a new room, where she is now going to stay and be looked after by Faruza (Sara Seyed), her cousin. Faruza says while no one talks of such things, she remembers there always felt like an empty space in their home, the feeling that someone (Emily) was missing.

The next day, Emily speaks with Khadija, wanting to understand what is happening. Khadija admits she thought Emily would be dead by now, but if there was a plan before, there isn't one now. Emily's intentions haven't changed though; she wants to know about her mother. She asks why her mother left? Khadija would have assumed Emily's mother would have explained it by now, but Emily reveals her mother is dead. She continues with her questions, but Khadija says they're not the right ones. When Emily is ready to ask different questions, Khadija will answer them.

Emily then begins to settle into the routines of the village. She makes friends with Faruza's son, Farouk (Michael Sifain), who helps teach her some Dari. She also learns Faruza's husband was one of the first to die when the Taliban came back into power, but they were kept safe by just one letter Hamzad sent to Kabul. He protects them, she explains, saying things would be very dangerous without him.

The Taliban make their move

For the first time in the episode we leave the village, catching up with Omar after Chase and Harper escape him. Meeting with his superior in Kabul (and wearing an eye patch after Chase slashed him in the face with a knife), Omar says Hamzad lied to them. His superior agrees it's time they reevaluate their relationship with Hamzad, including exerting more control over the lithium mine and having Omar pay him another visit.

At the mine, Khadija sees the Taliban at the site, having stopped production. She calls someone on the phone. Speaking in English (meaning it's likely an American contact), she says they were given assurances they would be immuned from sanctions; either someone has violated those assurances or they're dealing with someone powerful enough to disregard them. She fears what all this may mean.

Later, Khadija meets Omar at the village gate. He demands Hamzad, knowing they lied about Emily and revealing the Taliban government is no longer protecting them. Khadija invites him in. However, when they reach the village center, Hamzad's men emerge from hiding and surround Omar and his men. Khadija chides Omar, saying Hamzad would have given him a bribe or helped him gain influence in Kabul, but now he's made it worse. Omar gets angry, saying he was only coming for Hamzad, but now he'll conscript every boy in the village into the Taliban after he gets Hamzad. There's just one problem, Hamzad isn't there.

A tough lesson

Before Khadija let Omar into the village, Hamzad and Emily escaped into the mountains. He plans to take her to a cave he told her mother about, which should keep them hidden until Hamzad can arrange for Emily to be sent away.

As they make the journey, Hamzad finally has questions for Emily. As they talk, he imagines her as a young girl. He admits he doesn't know why he brought Emily back, just describing it as a need beyond word or choice. He thinks he needed to say goodbye to her for the first time, and the last time. He asks if the life he'll be returning her to is one where she'll be happy? Emily doesn't know though.

Emily has a question now: what does Hamzad think of her? Rather than answer directly, he goes back to her very first question about wanting to know something good about her mother. Hamzad says she taught him the most valuable lesson in his life — you can love someone or you can trust them; no matter how deep either feeling is, eventually you must choose between the two. Emily, seen by Hamzad as her older self again, doesn't believe that. Hamzad is glad he heard it from him then, so she has time to make peace with it before the lesson decides it wants to be learned.

Hamzad hears a noise coming from the cave. He goes to check it out, telling Emily to stay behind. When she hears a gunshot she goes to the cave entrance to see what happened. But just like in episode 1, we don't see who shot who, so we'll have to wait for The Old Man season 2 episode 3 to find out what happens when Chase and Harper are confronted by Hamzad and Emily.

New episodes of The Old Man season 2 premiere Thursdays on FX, then stream on Hulu the next day.