Oddly enough, you're the only one to pick up on this. Being a new drama on AMC, "The Son" was reviewed in every major entertainment publication, and though the reviews weren't exactly positive, none faulted the ages.

The problem is, as you say, with the appearance of the actors -- nothing is said in the show, or the novel it's based on, that suggests it isn't possible that the character, Eli McCullough, was old enough to be kidnapped in 1849 and young enough to still be a business tycoon in 1915. The problem, it seems, is in the casting.

And the problem is actually worse than you say. Jacob Lofland ("Mud," 2012), who plays Eli's younger self, is actually 20. And Pierce Brosnan ("GoldenEye," 1995), the older Eli, is just 63. So they're 43 years apart, while their characters are supposed to be 66.

Of course, we now run into an old complaint about film and television: Young characters are always cast with older actors, and older characters with younger actors.

There are concrete reasons for the former -- actors under the age of 18 are required to work shorter hours, and the studio has to provide a high school (or grade school) tutor on set. For the latter problem -- older characters played by younger actors -- it's possible this is just Hollywood's ageism problem showing through.

It's a big issue these days. Vanity Fair ran a story a few months ago titled "Will ageism be the last Hollywood 'ism'," and California passed a law in 2016 that allowed actors to request their age be removed from professional websites such as IMDB.com.

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