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| Martin Freeman |
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 10
"Morton's Fork"
"All I wanted was a stack of pancakes and a V8."
-Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk)
Upon the death of his wife, Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) tries to pull a ruse to get himself disconnected from Lorne Malvo's (Billy Bob Thornton) plan. After getting the passports, he notices that he forgot the tickets. When Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) gets stuck on the case, she interrogates Lester, but cannot find him guilty. However, he has F.B.I. Agents Budge (Jordan Peele) and Pepper (Keegan-Michael Key) watch over him. Meanwhile, Lorne rents a used police car and takes the dealership owner (Andrew Neil McKenzie) hostage. Lou Solverson (Keith Carradine) decides to watch over the house with Greta Grimly (Joey King) by his side. After Lorne manages to kill Budge and Pepper, he goes in to kill Lester only to be caught in a bear trap. He departs, injured, and winds up back at his hideout, which Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) has tracked down. He tries to repair his leg, but it is too late. Gus shoots him dead and shows Molly that he has a case full of tapes that recorded conversations, including one that nails Lester of his crimes. Two weeks later, they find Lester and try to kidnap him. He doesn't admit defeat, running onto thin ice and drowning. Gus gets rewarded with an honorary trophy while Molly gets promoted to deputy after Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) steps down.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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| Billy Bob Thornton |
Most Blatant Homage
If there was any doubt that Fargo was going to take cues from all of the Coen Brothers filmography, it is clear that Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) is a more sociable Anton Chigurh. However, the road is ending for Lorne in this episode and it almost reflects similar incidents to that of Anton. The most evident, beyond his almost godlike powers, is that they both have scenes involving their reparations of very severe injuries. In this case, Lorne tries to create a makeshift brace that will straighten his leg whereas Anton simply limped away without any conclusive evidence. Along with the Fargo movie score playing over the credits, the homages were rather clear based on characters in this episode. The end games were different enough, but the people took on new identities and characteristics that made the show a nice adaptation without being directly cloned.
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| Left to right: Colin Hanks and Billy Bob Thornton |
Death Count
-F.B.I. Agent Budge (Jordan Peele): Shot by Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton)
-F.B.I. Agent Pepper (Keegan-Michael Key): Shot by Lorne Malvo
-Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman): Drowned after falling in thin ice
-Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton): Shot by Gus Grimly
EPISODE COUNT (HUMAN): 4
EPISODE COUNT (ANIMAL): 0
TOTAL (HUMAN): 40
TOTAL (ANIMAL): 103
*NOTE: There is no definitive evidence that Lorne Malvo actually killed the car dealer (Andrew Neil McKenzie). For sake of argument, it is not credited as will no death in any sequential seasons and episodes that isn't either shown or confirmed by characters.
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| Hanks |
MVP:
Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks)
It is a triumphant moment for the series in that we finally get a lot of payoff. What will happen with Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) and his inevitable ability to escape harm? Well, after a lot of doubting of Gus Grimly's (Colin Hanks) abilities to be an effective player in the series, he proves his weight by managing to take down the big guy. Not only that, but he managed to take down the entire operation. He discovers Lorne's tapes and has evidence to put Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) away. He may have seemed nebbish and weak, but after being reduced to a postman, he proves his weight in this episode and comes ahead of everyone else as the unsuspecting hero.
Best Scene
Is there any more catharsis than in the way that the series wrapped up? While Fargo has been weirdly charming yet all over the place, it did seem like the series had the choice to either wrap up or keep things going. In the end, it was a singular story. Of the entire climactic crescendo, nothing was quite as perfect as Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) discovering Lorne Malvo's (Billy Bob Thornton) tapes, which officially linked everything together. The series has been about putting the pieces together and with this strange eccentricity of their most powerful character, it took everything down in one fell swoop. It was glorious, quick, and ingenious on the writers' behalf. Even if Lorne's death was predictably labored, those tapes spoke volumes of how simply things could progress.
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| Joey King |
Overall Thoughts
I admit that after the flash forward moment, I was a little skeptical how Fargo could wrap-up. Given that this is a proposed miniseries, I am fine with where things went. I am even glad to see how the show managed to work around obvious potential loopholes, including that Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) would manage to survive on a irreparable leg and Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) would get captured on a whim. In fact, the series managed to overcome this in a very easy way. It was glorious and while I do find that the series never quite had this feeling of greatness for me, it did overcome a lot of expectations. It told a concise story that in 10 hours, managed to create a fresh homespun murder. It is eccentric and full of some of TV's most memorable characters to the point that comparisons to True Detective have already become inevitable. Nonetheless, the series is impressive not only for its ability to tell a tightly wound story in the face of potential plagiarism, but embraced its source material in clever and fresh ways.
TV Retrospective to drop next week.
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