Welcome to the new series that will dissect every episode of season one of FX's Fargo. From its faithfulness as an adaptation of the Coen Brothers classic to its growing plot, this will be a look at all things involving the show, its mythology, and occasional predictions of things to happen. There will be highlights of special moments in the series and deeper dissection of what may make this anthology series so endearing. What will happen in this freshman series about a homespun murder mystery? You'll have to read the recaps every Thursday to find out more.
Season 1, Episode 1
"The Crocodile's Dilemma"
"Because some roads you shouldn't go down.
Because maps used to say there'd be dragons here.
Now they don't. But that don't mean the dragons aren't there."
-Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton)
The city of Fargo, MN is met with a strange visitor when Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) comes to town. After crashing his car into a deer and freeing a man in his trunk to freeze to death, he runs into the dweeb Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) at the hospital. During discussion, Lorne discovers that Lester has had a conflict with a bully and truck company owner named Sam Hess (Kevin O'Grady) and leaves Lorne to axe him off without Lester's permission. Elsewhere, Lester is not respected by his wife Pearl (Kelly Holden Bashar), brother, or coworkers. As the police become involved, they hunt down the recent murder of Hess, which sends Lester into a panic as he realizes the seriousness of Lorne's promise. Lorne also takes this opportunity to mess with the Hess family by tormenting the Hess brothers over who gets the inheritance. During this time, Lester decides to take action of his ways and kills off his wife his basement and demands that Lorne come to help him out. During this time, a police officer Vern Thurman (Shawn Doyle) stops by Lester's house and discovers the murder. Lorne shows up in time to shoot Vern before vanishing. In his dying power, Vern called for back-up. With no choice, Lester knocks himself out and lands in the hospital to avoid guilt. Lorne is last seen in Duluth talking to Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) and Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) is left to try and solve the growing murder rate in Fargo.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Most Blatant Homage Moment
Setting aside obvious aspects (location, tone, etc.), this will be a look at how Fargo the TV series compares to Fargo the movie and if there were any direct homages. In fact, the series begins almost unfortunately as a direct homage from its opening text. For those familiar with the film, it also opened by stating "Based on a True Story" and the subsequent texts. Even Lorne's car crash parallels a similar incident in the film, though not present for a considerable portion of time. With the latter half of the episode evolving into something mostly unique from the movie, save for accents, this is likely to become an exceptionally hard section to write about. However, the show's tribute to keeping the dark humor and subversive anti-hero techniques in tact, this show has already got a lot of strong promise going for it.
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| Martin Freeman |
Death Count
The movie topped out at 7 deaths. Let's see how far the series can go. This will be an updated account of all the deaths on the series to date.
1. Naked Man (David Trimble) - Died while freezing in his underwear
2. Sam Hess (Kevin O'Grady) - Died from a stab wound caused by Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton)
3. Pearly Nygaard (Kelly Holden Bashar) - Died while being bludgeoned with a hammer by Lester (Martin Freeman)
4. Vern Thurman (Shawn Doyle) - Died from a a gun shot by Lorne Malvo
EPISODE COUNT: 4
TOTAL: 4
*Note: This does not include the death of the deer in the opening scene who was hit by Lorne Malvo's car. Animal fatalities will not be counted in the death count unless they become a prominent feature in the series.
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| Billy Bob Thornton |
MVP:
Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton)
If the premiere episode had one hurdle to overcome, it was from being a direct clone of the film. Luckily, it did it quite effectively after a problematic introduction of characters that felt like rehashes of familiar faces with different names. An early standout is Lorne, who serves as the catalyst for everything in the premiere and helps to get everything into action. His deadpan demeanor and ambiguous nature only benefits his ability to turn people against each other for his own amusement. While Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) came into his own with this episode, he felt too much of a caricature before Lorne's interference. He also owns some of the most memorable dialogue in the series' brief run so far that manages to feel the most Coen-inspired without also feeling like a direct lift. I feel like there will be more to come in terms of philosophy in darkness for the series as it develops.
Best Scene
The turning point in the series was not upon the first death nor an interaction with Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) at all. The moment where the show managed to escape the confines of its predecessor came in the moment where Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) decides to bonk his wife (Kelly Holden Bashar) on the head with a hammer. In terms of visual gags, the look on Lester's face added a comedic touch that suggested that there was something more perverse going on within this series. It also was the moment where the show first felt like something original instead of goofy "Aw jeez" accents. It makes me suspicious of Lester and actually helped to get everything in motion. In fact, with this very scene, it managed to impact my opinions of earlier scenes by making them evolve from caricature moments to growth. Yes, I recognize that maybe the film's impact seeps too much into the series to not be distracting, but that isn't the series' fault. It somehow manages to exist in the same universe rather effectively, thanks largely to this one scene in which the stakes are raised for everyone involved.
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| Allison Tolman |
Overall Thoughts
The first 20 minutes are a tough slog for those who love the movie, if notably because of how familiar the landscape and references are. Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) at first feels like a direct clone of Jerry Lundegaard and the accents play like gimmicks. However, there's plenty of mileage to get out of Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) that helps it to slowly come into its own as the story progresses. It has all of the comedic moments that give the concept a rich, dark tone and adds to its fun environment. Possibly on revisiting the episode in the future, it is likely to be problems that are overlooked, but must meet the casual viewer with caution. This Fargo is different from your other Fargo. It may at times feel like tainted Coen Brothers material, but the cast and crew do an excellent job of helping to make their debut into something compelling instead of the predictable mess that it could have been.
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| Bob Odenkirk |
Predictions
At the moment, there isn't much to go off of in terms of predictions. The entire cast hasn't been introduced and actors who get top billing (Collin Hanks) barely register in the episode. However, Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) is in Duluth now and we're not sure why. Who is he meeting up with and does it have any relation to that phone call he made earlier? Will the car crash and deaths find a way to pit everything on Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) in a way that he wasn't expecting? I feel like the show's tactic is going to be to subvert expectations and go after the party everyone least suspects. Even if Lorne seems a little incompetent at his clean-up work, he may have a strategy going for him that we're not yet seeing. Also, is Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) going to be the main cop of our story? She is being presented as such, so it is very much likely. Still, we have nine episodes to go and a lot of characters to introduce. This section will likely start to add up as time goes on.
Bonus!
I just discovered this awesome podcast called Fargo Talks Fargo that recaps the episodes as seen through the perspective of Minnesota natives. It's rather great. Read more of my thoughts in today's Podcast Portal column.
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