THE OLD MAN: SEASON ONE
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman, E.J. Bonilla, Bill Heck, Leem Lubany, Pej Vahdat, and Gbenga Akinnagbe
Creators: Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine
NICK
One of the biggest strengths of The Old Man is the way it carefully executes big reveals through its seven episode first season. This makes it hard to get into certain plot points, but what I can say is the acting is great across the board. The heavy hitters do exactly as you’d expect, with John Lithgow getting the edge for series MVP. The writing is crisp too, a necessity for such a dialogue-heavy series. Unfortunately, the show struggles to maintain the tone of its excellent pilot, which sets up expectations for what the series will be, only to subvert them later.
ADRIANO
The Old Man gets a resounding “hell yeah!” from me. I went into this show thinking “great, some Yellowstone knockoff,” and was only really watching because of recommendations. With the first episode, I thought “Oh, this isn’t Yellowstone at all.” It’s a very exciting thrillride that I was not expecting to go on. It also shows that even at 72 years old, Jeff Bridges can beat me up. The guy was unexpectedly badass and gave a great performance to boot. Overall, I was shocked by how captivated I was with The Old Man. I just wish the season was longer
QUENTIN
While the series never quite lives up to the promises made in the premiere, it’s hard to be too negative about a show featuring such strong performances from screen legends Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. Overall, the series is a tad slow, and the ending is a somewhat unsatisfying set up for Season Two; However, it’s filled with enough intrigue, interesting spycraft, and character development to keep you invested. And while I wouldn’t go so far as to call the show “predictable,” the fact is that *I* predicted several major plot points. But either way, predictable or not, The Old Man is worth watching.
