FX’s Fargo
4×07: “Lay Away”
Directed by Dana Gonzales
Written by Noah Hawley, Enzo Mileti, & Scott Wilson

* For a recap & review of “Camp Elegance,” click here.
* For a recap & review of “The Nadir,” click here.
“Twisted” by Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross opens the episode perfectly on Oraetta doing more baking. This nurse is one creepy critter. She’s made some macaroons for Dr. Harvard. She really leans into him so he’ll try one for her. He chooses vanilla and bites in, immediately in love with the taste. All but immediately he begins to choke. He falls back into his chair and Oraetta watches the life drain out of him. Then she gets that letter to take a look for herself, studying it. Will she be able to suss out the author?

Josto and Constant have found the dead body of Antoon, realising the Irishman has stabbed them in the back, albeit for noble purposes. This is going to push things further into all-out war. Josto’s wondering what to do next. Same as Loy, who’s still got Gaetano in his clutches. He and his men are divided on what to do themselves. Some want to kill Gaetano, like Leon, but Cannon knows it’ll only make things worse than they are already. Poor Leon catches a brutal beating and whipping from Loy out of misplaced anger. Nobody’s in their right mind at the moment.
And what about ole Odis? He’s outside Loy’s place when Deafy hops in the car with him. The Mormon crusader’s been staking out places himself. He digs into Odis a bit, and he also gets rambling about the “blood atonement,” a doctrine out of Mormon history. He accuses Dt. Weff of being a crooked cop, which we know is true. Odis doesn’t take kindly to the accusations, he’s stressed enough, and he knows they’re true.

Loy’s wife Buel gets a visit from Constant. He tries to get smart with her, so she hauls out her shotgun on him, urging him to get the hell off her porch. It’s obvious that the Fadda family are getting dirty, and there’s no telling how unstable things will get from here. Fosto doesn’t even like his brother, but he’ll still cause bloodshed for him.
Currently there’s a big meeting with Cannon’s syndicate and the Italians, all the while Deafy watches down the street. Inside, Ebal speaks frankly to Loy, apologising for how serious things have gotten between them; he genuinely liked Doctor and hates that he was killed. He tries to broker a deal so they can get Gaetano back alive. Loy mulls over “territory for the brother” and Fosto gets talking about Gaetano going into business for himself. Fosto then lies, claiming Satchel was killed. He’s pushing to have his brother killed in exchange. But Loy wants proof of Satchel’s death. Fosto claims he doesn’t know where Constant took the boy, and also that Rabbi didn’t make it out alive, either. Although Loy’s men advise against it he sends the Italians off.

Poor little Zero’s left with Cannon, and the unthinkable may be about to happen. The boy washes up before bed as Loy lurks around the corner preparing to strangle him. Except nothing happens. Loy may be a violent man, but it appears he has some form of conscience left in him. Sadly he has to tell his wife their son is dead, even if Satchel is very much alive, off with Rabbi someplace. An unfortunate series of events. At least WE know the kid’s okay. That does nothing for Loy and his family right now. Another blow is Loy seeing his and Doctor’s credit card idea get stolen by the Diners’ Club; typical White America bullshit.

“Cain was Abel’s brother.
How’d that turn out?”

Odis can’t get going anywhere before Loy’s men take him with them. He’s waiting in a locker room when Swanee and Zelmare show up. Not long and Loy gets there, sending the women off with tickets out of there. Probably no good for Odis, given he was meant to pull Satchel away from the Faddas and now Loy thinks his boy’s dead. Yet Loy doesn’t want to “get in the dirt” and become the animal his enemies already see him as, he doesn’t want to sink to their level and prove them right. He tells Odis that he isn’t going to kill Gaetano, and now they need to figure out a plan together.

Moments later Loy goes to Gaetano, explaining what Josto’s done. Then he decides to let the older Fadda free, and claims the stockyards for his syndicate. Oh, shit. Will Gaetano, knowing his brother was going to serve him up for death, go back to his family and do something drastic? Either way, Constant Calamita is marked to die. Who knows where all this will go, how far the lies will spill over and create more tragedy.
Season 4 is a lot of fun. Plus, the acting’s SO GOOD all around. Stellar cast. Having Loy pull out a craft plan is much more interesting than kill after kill. I like the direction the plot’s headed. Ensures much more mayhem this way because the end of the season will be a powder keg, you can count on that.