Sumith Prasad
The first and second episodes of FX’s thriller series ‘The Old Man’ season 2, titled ‘VIII’ and ‘IX,’ revolve around Dan Chase and Harold Harper’s efforts to find and retrieve Emily Chase/Angela Adams from the hands of Faraz Hamzad. After arriving in Afghanistan, they seek the help of Commander Abdul Nazary to fight Hamzad’s forces, only for the Taliban to be involved in the predicament. Emily learns the startling truth about her fatherhood after being kidnapped by Hamzad. The kidnapping allows the government to set out to neutralize a threat it faces. Hamzad’s effort to safeguard his daughter leads him to an old acquaintance! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who is Omar? Why Does He Lie to Chase and Harper?
Dan Chase and Harold Harper land in Afghanistan with the help of Marion, the ex-wife of the FBI’s assistant director. She guides the two men to Commander Abdul Nazary, an Afghan resistance leader awaiting an opportunity to turn against Faraz Hamzad. Omar, who introduces himself as one of the commander’s men, lets Chase and Harper know that he can take them to his master. Midway through the journey, the Afghan man introduces his guests to the Meshbahar lithium deposit, mined by Hamzad with the permission of the Taliban government in the country. The trio’s journey on horseback ends in a village where the commander’s people are killed.
Harper then calls Marion to seek another way to garner help to fight Hamzad. She tells him that the man assigned to pick him and Chase is named Ali rather than Omar. The former CIA operative does not take long to figure out that their guide is not who he claims to be. Omar is a spy who belongs to the Taliban. He tricks Chase and Harper into believing he is one of the men of Commander Nazary. His companions kill the resistance leader’s people to stop them from helping the two American men who have landed in his country to fight against Hamzad, an ally of the government.
After discovering the lithium deposit, Hamzad made a deal with the Taliban to mine from the ore. Since he had a strong relationship with the American forces at the time, the government couldn’t displease him. In return for regular payments/fees, the Taliban was forced to let Hamzad mine from the ore so that he wouldn’t join the Americans to fight with them against the political faction. Thus, Omar gets involved in Chase and Harper’s mission to protect the interests of his government and its ally, Hamzad. Chase fights Omar and disappears with his companion since the spy’s true face gets uncovered before he can severely hurt the two Americans.
Why Does the Taliban Turn Against Faraz Hamzad?
Even though the Taliban and Faraz Hamzad are allies, the relationship between them is not desired by the political faction. The Afghan government didn’t have any other choice but to join hands with the militant leader to avoid the American forces’ intervention in the country. That’s why the faction lets Hamzad mine the lithium deposit when it can assume control of the valuable ore without sharing the profit. When the militant leader kidnaps Emily/Angela, the Taliban sees an opportunity to change the dynamics of the abovementioned relationship. Hamzad makes himself vulnerable by kidnapping an FBI agent, which is against the interests of the United States.
The Taliban knows that the United States cannot openly support a person who kidnapped one of the country’s federal agents. Thus, the militant leader can no longer scare the government with his relationship with the American forces. The political faction takes advantage of this vulnerability and sends its men to take control of the lithium deposit. Omar leads a group of soldiers to Hamzad’s community, only to be greeted by his right-hand woman, Khadija, who kidnaps Emily for the militant leader. Meanwhile, Hamzad takes Emily to the cave where Chase and Harper sleep after escaping from the hands of Omar and his men to protect her from the soldiers.
In the absence of Hamzad, Khadija leads the battle against Omar and his soldiers. Her people surround the Taliban’s men with guns, threatening to kill the “guests.” However, Omar tells Khadija that his forces will slaughter even the children in the community if she turns against him. Since Hamzad has always prioritized the safety of his family and community, his right-hand woman may eliminate her feelings and ask her people to lower their guns. Considering that the militant leader disappears from the place with his daughter, Omar will likely return with disappointment as there’s no point in harming the innocent women and children in the community, especially in the absence of their master.
Why Does Faraz Hamzad Kidnap Emily/Angela?
After arriving in Afghanistan with Khadija, Emily/Angela learns that her real father is none other than Faraz Hamzad rather than Dan Chase. She watches an old video clip of the militant leader singing a song to a little girl with freckles, which convinces her that she is the biological daughter of her adoptive father’s enemy. Hamzad kidnaps her to bid adieu to his daughter for the first and last time. After confronting his wife, Belour/Abbey, and a young Chase about Suleyman Pavlovic’s escape, the last thing he might have expected was to wake up in a house without his daughter.
For decades, Hamzad lived without knowing what happened to his daughter, whom he loved dearly. Even though he was a terrorist and a militant leader in front of his enemies and allies, he was just a father when he shared his time with Emily/Parwana. His love for her stops him from killing her even when she becomes a burden to him. The same affection he has for his little daughter convinces him to kidnap her, even if it means severing the ties with the United States and exposing himself to the Taliban. More than everything, Hamzad wants to know whether his daughter will be happy if she leaves him again, this time herself.
When Belour disappeared from Afghanistan with Emily/Parwana, the latter was not given a choice to stay with her father, Hamzad. She was forced to accept a new life in the United States only because her mother chose the same for her. Decades after that fateful night, Hamzad wants to know whether his daughter will happily choose to return to her new “home” after leaving him. The militant leader seemingly wants to find comfort in the potential happiness of his daughter, likely to tell himself that Belour made the suitable choice years ago. He is possibly imagining the younger self of Emily to convince him that the one who will likely leave him happily is the same little daughter who was taken away from him.
The Old Man Season 2 Episode 2 Ending: Does Faraz Hamzad Shoot at Dan Chase?
After guiding Emily to a cave to protect her from the Taliban soldiers, Faraz Hamzad encounters Dan Chase. The militant leader aims at his old acquaintance with his gun, and not long after, Emily hears a gunshot. Since Hamzad learns about the two Americans in Afghanistan in search of the kidnapped FBI agent, he may not have had any difficulty realizing that one of them is the former CIA operative who betrayed him. Considering that Chase is the man who separated him from his wife and daughter, the terrorist has enough reasons to shoot at the former without wasting any time. However, the chances of Hamzad killing the protagonist with six episodes left in the second season are none.
As a militant leader, Hamzad is an expert gunslinger. Therefore, the possibility of him not killing Chase after shooting at his enemy at point-blank range does not exist. Knowing how brilliant the former operative is in combat, he may not take his eyes off the former and turn against Harold Harper, who sleeps in the same cave. Therefore, the person who fires the gun can be the FBI’s assistant director, seemingly to scare Hamzad. He may want the terrorist not to shoot at his companion. The FBI official must have fired the gun to make it clear that Hamzad won’t leave the cave alive if he goes ahead and shoots chase.
Since Emily follows Hamzad to the cave, she may ask the three men to put their guns down. As far as she is concerned, all three of them are her fathers in one way or another. While Hamzad is her biological father, Chase is the person whom she identified as her dad for decades. On the other hand, Harper is the man who stood by her as her father in the absence of the former CIA operative. She may use her power, influence, or love for the men as their daughter to convince them not to kill each other.
Read More: Is The Old Man Based on a True Story?
