I wouldn’t call this a “filler” episode, but most of the juicy stuff was restricted to the last ten minutes. This decision is the most glaring anytime Gbenga Akinnagbe’s special ops hitman, Julian Carson, is onscreen. Despite being listed as part of the main cast, “XIII” is Carson’s first season-two appearance, and his character remains woefully underdeveloped. But, hey, at least now we know Morgan Bote sent that 11th-hour email to him!
Otherwise, this episode was pretty much a waiting game, though our patience was rewarded handsomely in those final minutes with yet another signature Old Man expository monologue: It turns out the Russian oligarch Suleyman Pavlovich — the one who ordered the hit on Emily Chase — is embroiled in a secret global mineral deposit cartel with enemy nations. He needed the Hamzad family dead to maintain control of the Afghanistan mine, and now he needs Henry and Marcia Dixon (a.k.a. Dan Chase and Zoe McDonald) eliminated to prove his loyalty to the cartel. The Dixons represent his ties to the United States (they have a stake in Pavlovich’s firm) and the CIA (the latter stretching back to Pavlovich’s relationship with Dan Chase during the Soviet-Afghanistan war).
If that weren’t enough, Harold Harper’s enigmatic ex-wife Marion is involved in the cartel, too. Did I mention that the episode also concluded with Dan Chase voluntarily apprehended by Pavlovich’s mercenaries? Because if you’ve been poisoned, you gotta go where the antidote is. It’s science.
Since walking away as the sole survivor of Angela Adams’ multiple abductions, Julian Carson has been trying to put his violent past behind him. He begins the healing process in “XIII” by dating the friendly bus passenger he briefly met last season while she was still on crutches. Things seem to be going well until Harold Harper shows up unannounced and demands to see the email he believes Morgan Bote sent to him in his final moments. In case you’re wondering how the hell Harper made the Bote-Carson connection, here’s a little refresher: Harper first hired Carson to take out Chase, having gotten the assassin’s name from Bote. So Harper knew Carson was in Bote’s inner circle.
Carson’s repeated insistence that he never received any communication from Bote corroborates Harper’s theory that, yeah, he totally got that email. Threats to the new girlfriend and promises of immunity are made, but we must wait until the end of the episode for this subplot’s resolution.
In the meantime, let’s head over to London, where Chase and Zoe are checking into an upscale hotel as Henry and Marcia Dixon. And Mr. Dixon isn’t being sus at all with his specific room number requests. Chase is also experiencing some very justified panic attacks in the wake of Emily’s murder — though they’re getting in the way of the clear head he needs to complete Operation Get Answers and Unalive Suleyman Pavlovich.
Zoe is scheduled to meet Faraz Hamzad’s lawyer, Nina Kruger (Rowena King), the next day to obtain the information she wasn’t comfortable sharing over the phone. While Zoe waits for Nina at Unassuming London Bar, Chase watches the scene from a hidden spot. Are we supposed to assume that in the age of AirPods, no one would bat an eye at this very public, one-sided conversation Zoe is having with Chase through her earpiece? Because I thought this was some sloppy spy craft here. Zoe passes the time by interrogating Chase about his money, prompted by Morgan Bote’s vocal interest in Chase’s financial wizardry. There’s a mention of a man named Lou Barlow. The name makes Chase cringe. Okay, The Old Man. You’ve piqued my interest. Who is Lou Barlow, and why is he important?
Chase says that’s a story for another time because it’s obvious Nina isn’t showing up. A runaround from her assistant, Anna, confirms it’s time for the Dixons to track Hamzad’s attorney down themselves.
This entails scaring the shit out of Anna so she’ll call Nina and Chase can intercept the phone’s location. Chase gets to work building a “laser rifle” (Zoe’s words, not mine) and setting up a locator device in their hotel room. Well, now we know what was up with Henry Dixon’s peculiar room number requirements: He wasn’t being a rich asshole; he wanted to be directly across the way from Anna’s flat. Wannabe spy Zoe is peeved that Chase concocted an elaborate Plan B before they left the United States without telling her. To Chase, he’s just relieving her of the boring “bells and whistles” part of the job. Thanks to his and Bote’s identical tutelage, he’s confident that Zoe already understands the hard part of intelligence work.
While Zoe watches from her hotel room, Chase approaches Anna outside her flat, with the camera shooting Jeff Bridges from the ground up, making him look even more menacing. Everything goes to plan, though this is when Zoe realizes (again) that intelligence work can be just plain evil sometimes. As Chase’s makeshift phone locator does its job (along with Zoe pointing the “laser rifle” directly at this poor woman), Zoe is consumed with guilt. Part of her job now involves watching a terrified Anna call Nina, begging for help and then crumpling onto the floor in sobs. All because her boyfriend expertly used his ruthlessness and empathy to get what he needed.
What scares Zoe the most isn’t so much that Chase knows how to bring people to their knees, but that she has the same power. After Chase returns to their hotel room, she ruminates about how she once hurt him similarly. She’s feeling mighty remorseful over what they just did to a vulnerable woman, wishing it was harder to execute these cruel mind games. Zoe may enjoy the thrill of being a spy, but unlike the members of the Chase family, she hasn’t learned to fully repress those emotions yet.
Chase and Zoe arrive at the location provided by Nina’s phone: A woodsy cottage outside London that gives serious serial killer vibes, especially once Chase discovers an emaciated Nina lying helplessly in front of the telly. Chase quickly disposes of the one guy holding Nina captive, but there’s a BIG reason why he was wearing a gas mask.
Once Chase gets Nina outdoors, he monologues the situation to Zoe: Nina’s been poisoned by an airborne element from inside the house, so he must assume he’s been exposed too. Upping the tension factor is Unnamed Russian Captor had an antidote, but it’s been destroyed. With her last dying breath, Nina whispers the location of a hidden USB drive (which Chase retrieves, this time wearing a gas mask).
The video on the USB drive is Nina’s “Help me, Zoe-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” message, which fully lays out Suleyman Pavlovich’s vendetta against them: Henry and Marcia Dixon are the only people standing in the way of his entrée into a merciless rare-earth-metal cartel with the potential to control the free world.
Here’s the problem with this new shit that’s come to light: It’s no good to anyone if both Nina Kruger and Dan Chase have been poisoned to death. So, Chase decides his only option is to be captured by Pavlovich’s team because that’s his one shot at an antidote. Zoe, naturally, is having a bit of déjà vu from the season one finale, thinking Chase is abandoning her again. But this time around, Chase pulls an irresistible Jamie Fraser routine, promising he’ll come back to her. Wow, this guy really will say whatever it takes to get a woman to obey his commands.
While Pavlovich’s goons take Chase, Carson and Harper meet in a diner. It’s the end of the episode, which means it’s time for Carson to have his plot-twisting change of heart. But first, the two men must bond over their mutual predicament: Neither can escape their world of secrets and lies. At the same time, they’re both passionate enough about their work that they won’t let Morgan Bote die in vain.
And that’s when Carson finally hands over the contents of Bote’s last email. A photo of Suleyman Pavlovich, several Chinese businessmen, and Marion (Janet McTeer), Harper’s ex-wife.
Cue the dun, dun, dun!!!!!
That’s, Like, Your Opinion, Man
• Was Zoe supposed to shoot Anna with the “laser rifle”? Did she? Since I’m not up on my spy tech, I’m a bit lost by the “bells and whistles” Chase built.
• Tech experts, what is this device that Chase built? Help me out because I have no frame of reference here, Donny.
• Who else still thinks Emily Chase is still alive?
• You know what’s remarkable about all these London scenes? How England looks in no way like Southern California. (The Old Man is filmed in Santa Clarita, California.)
