“The Old Man” has been showing great brilliance in slowly building up its plot, keeping the excitement of it all intact, and Episode 6 is just another example of it. Despite a moment of almost urgency in the plot at this time, the makers do not rush through with scenes but allow them the breathing space that has been a staple of the show from the beginning, and that is commendable. With Emily and Harold already in North Africa, and Dan and Zoe aboard a flight to the same region, “The Old Man” Episode 6 takes these threads forward, along with revealing CIA veteran Morgan Bote’s real plan.
‘The Old Man’ Episode 6: Recap And Ending
Emily Chase and Harold Harper have already arrived in Tunisia by the time we see them in “The Old Man” Episode 6, and Harold now receives a call from home while Emily seems to be withdrawing cash at the counter. Harold’s wife informs him that news of the FBI counter-intelligence assistant director’s direct involvement in helping a criminal escape and then trying to get him killed by a hired assassin has now been revealed all over. She fears that a scandal of this magnitude will certainly make her husband lose his job, reputation, and, consequently, all his money by hiring a lawyer and trying to fight a court case.
As Harold really does not have many words to counter his wife’s worries, she also reveals that a man has been at their house, and hands the phone over to him. This man is none other than the veteran CIA officer, Morgan Bote, the man both Dan Chase and Harold looked up to as a father figure in their profession. Harold confronts the man about having planted a spy inside his FBI setup, and Bote says that he did it only because Dan had asked him to, and he still had feelings for the man despite all the trouble he had caused in Afghanistan. Bote now clearly states that although all seems to be lost for Harold Harper, in his professional career, the senior ex-agent is ready to help him out as soon as Harold agrees with his plan and asks for his help. When Harold asks what his plan is, Bote says that at the center of all this mess was the existence of Angela Adams, and removing her from the scene would solve it all. The man claims that if Emily Chase could somehow distance herself from the name of Angela, that would be enough as well, suggesting that Emily, as Angela, stays back in North Africa and goes missing, and then lives life off the grid. Harper immediately understands that Emily being killed is the only other option, and he does not want either for the young woman he has a genuine emotional connection with; the man rejects Morgan Bote’s ideas.
He now takes a train with Emily to move on to their next destination in Morocco, where Dan Chase is about to arrive as well. Emily reveals that she and her father have a joint bank account which they use to communicate with each other secretly when other means of communication are not possible. As Dan also explains to Zoe, the balance figure of this account suggests certain meanings to the two of them, which in this case is that Emily is safe and that she is coming to Dan’s location soon. Aboard the train, Harold inquires more about Emily and Dan’s relationship, and the daughter says that she has been in contact with her father only via phone calls in the last ten years or so, as she had seen him last those many years back. She had also not been present at her mother’s funeral, as both she and her father feared that it might be too dangerous. Harold tries to insinuate how dedicated or sincere a father Dan Chase is, but Emily once again grows protective of him and says that both she and her father would always be ready to sacrifice anything to protect each other. The need to keep this promise gradually draws closer later on in the episode, when Emily and Harold arrive at the train station in Morocco at the end of their journey.
Harold spots a familiar face near the station’s exit, and Emily tells him that she is the one who has called this man, an FBI operative, to take Harold back to the USA. She reveals that Harold’s grandson, the young boy who had been quite close to Emily since his parents’ death, had told her of a scary old man who had come to their house, and this made Emily understand that either the family or Harold Harper, or maybe both, were in danger. Harold now explains that this man was Morgan Bote, and tells Emily of the man’s plan to eliminate her to save Harold’s reputation. Rather unsurprisingly, Emily agrees to take this chance and wants Harold to sacrifice her in order to save himself. She shows enough confidence in herself and her father, as she claims she would come out of the whole mess while also discovering her true self, for she still seems unclear about her identity, and Harold finally agrees. As he leaves her and makes his way towards the exit, Harold Harper and hired hitman Julian Carson come face to face. Neither of them knew each other by face, as they had only communicated via phone calls, but Harold soon spots Raymond Waters outside the station and immediately understands that Morgan Bote has already put the wheels of his plan in motion. He runs up towards Emily but sees that the young woman is already gone, most possibly kidnapped by Carson.
Aboard the flight to Morocco, Dan Chase wakes up from another nightmare, but a different kind now, in which young Belour appears to him and tries to convince him of something, while Dan is scared to see the shadows of a man and a young child. After waking up, he seems to train Zoe some more about the life of a spy, where she has to get rid of her past life but also remember that it still exists somewhere and might even come up sometime in the future. Arriving at their fancy hotel, Zoe now wants to know more about this sort of life, and Dan tells her of the need to always be clever and distrusting of everyone around so that she can make use of people for her own needs. The woman asks whether Dan was doing this very same thing when he first made her breakfast so that she would allow him to stay in her house with his dogs, and also questions whether she was hard to make use of. Dan agrees to having done this and says that the downside is that one cannot stop being distrustful and (in a way) deceiving people once they start to think and act like this. The two then go together to a party held by the now-successful Russian businessman, Suleyman Pavlovich. Dan leaves Zoe at the bar as he goes in search of Pavlovich, and asks her to stay put even if something goes wrong. Things do go wrong, even on Zoe’s end, when she is approached by a woman who calls her by her real name and not by her current alias, Marcia Dixon. This woman is soon revealed to be Nina Kruger, Faraz Hamzad’s lawyer, who was seen in the earlier episodes of “The Old Man.”
Kruger tries to convince Zoe to change sides and instead lead her and her client to Dan Chase, but as a commotion breaks out, Zoe makes her way out of the situation and reunites with Dan. The two then evade the island on a speedboat, but as they return to the main coast, police boats and a helicopter arrive and corner them. From out of this helicopter, though, steps Harold Harper, who wastes no time revealing that Emily has been kidnapped by Morgan Bote’s team, and now wants to work together with Dan Chase to rescue Emily, who is like a daughter to both of them. As Harold refers to Bote as the old man, it is suggested that the “Old Man” most important in the show’s context is not Dan Chase or Harold Harper, but rather, Morgan Bote.
What Revelations Are Made At Suleyman Pavlovich’s Party?
Dan Chase wanted to meet with his old acquaintance Suleyman Pavlovich because he felt that the man owed him a favor for events in their past. This past is made clearer in scenes back from Afghanistan, where young Dan one night enters the hostage Pavlovich’s room and cuts him free. Pavlovich revealed that he had understood Dan was acting together with Belour, and he knew very well what Belour was up to, but at the time, nothing was of more importance than his own escape. A distraught Hamzad had told Dan of Pavlovich’s escape the next morning, but a clear suspicion on Dan and especially Belour is also noticed, as Hamzad had woken up in the middle of the night and found his wife missing from his bed.
At present, Dan reminds Pavlovich of how he had saved his life, and now wants him to help with his plan of tracking down Faraz Hamzad and killing him. Dan also suggests that since Hamzad was trying to punish everyone who had betrayed his trust in the past, the next target would definitely be Pavlovich himself. However, Pavlovich now reveals his knowledge of Belour from the past—the man had known Belour very well as they had first met in Moscow; the two had grown close, and he had also fallen in love with her. However, young Pavlovich also had a slight suspicion in his mind that the clever and sly woman might have been only using emotions to get close to him as his father was part of Soviet military intelligence. His suspicions were finally proved true when in Afghanistan, Belour approached him with her plan to feed the Soviet camp information about other Afghan rebels to strengthen Hamzad’s position. Unlike what Dan and perhaps Hamzad himself might have believed, it was not the Soviets who had hired Belour, but rather it was Belour who had approached them with her plans and information.
Pavlovich now reveals something more sinister about Dan’s situation—he has already been approached by Faraz Hamzad through his lawyer, Nina Kruger, as it was clear to everyone that Dan would visit Pavlovich for help. The Russian businessman had already agreed to turn in Dan Chase to Hamzad as that would eliminate him from the Afghan’s target list. Dan Chase, of course, stays prepared at all times, and as soon as Pavlovich hints orders at his guards to detain him, Dan disarms the guard and shoots another one dead. He leaves Pavlovich unharmed, reminding him that he has now saved his life twice, and perhaps leaves the Russian to remain as a powerful and influential helper in the future. With the commotion from gunshots, Dan then quickly escapes the private island with Zoe and then unites with his old friend-turned-foe, Harold Harper, as the two set out to rescue Emily.
“The Old Man” Episode 6’s biggest revelation is perhaps about Belour or Abbey Chase’s character, who herself now seems to have been a master spy of sorts. She had managed to make three tough men fall in love with her, to essentially get her plans to play out. Dan’s explanation to Zoe of how a spy should be is perhaps present in the episode only to put it in perspective of Belour’s actions in the past, which clearly paints her as the most effective spy, even more superior than Dan Chase.
What To Expect Next From ‘The Old Man’ Episode 7?
With the season finale due next week and a second season already confirmed, “The Old Man” might probably divide its two major plot points over the two seasons. Dan Chase had already been in pursuit of Faraz Hamzad, but now he must first deal with Morgan Bote and his team, who have abducted Emily. How the two ex-CIA agents work together against a man they consider their father will become the point of focus for now, and Faraz Hamzad is still yet to be tracked down. Suleyman Pavlovich’s side-change means that the source Dan Chase had been pursuing for so long to reach Hamzad is now gone, and he must start his search afresh. Unless, of course, Emily herself tries to establish that connection with Hamzad, as there can be sensed a slight hint of them both being related to each other more than just Hamzad being the ex-husband of Emily’s mother.
A slight mystery regarding Emily’s kidnapping can also be thought of. Although it seems that Julian Carson and Raymond Waters are acting on Bote’s behalf, an earlier scene showed Carson and the man who had earlier saved him from Zoe’s house having a serious conversation about the sheer danger of the task they have been given. While they wait in Morocco for Bote’s orders, both of them talk of their suspicions of Morgan Bote himself, and there might be a slight possibility of them acting on their own as well while kidnapping Emily Chase. It is true that Raymond Waters does not have any such requirement to save himself like these two men do, but it might also be that Waters is not in on their plan, as he is seen as a sort of getaway driver during the kidnapping and is not in the thick of it. Nonetheless, whether any of this is actually in the works or not will be revealed in the next episode. It must be said that “The Old Man” has built up to its finale with great style and flair, and next week’s episode will definitely be one to look out for.
