Tag Archives: Noah Hawley

Fargo – Season 3, Episode 3: “The Law of Non-Contradiction”

FX’s Fargo
Season 3, Episode 3: “The Law of Non-Contradiction”
Directed by John Cameron
Written by Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Principle of Restricted Choice” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “The Narrow Escape Problem” – click here
Pic 1Thaddeus Mobley (Thomas Mann) is at an awards ceremony, the Singularity Awards. He’s won Best Sci-Fi Novel for The Planet Wyh. Could his stories of aliens somehow connect with the interests in aliens from Ted Danson’s character in Season 2? Hmm. Either way, Mobley winds up at the bar with a man named Howard Zimmerman (Fred Melamed), a film producer. Might be the big time for young Thad. He’s whisked off to make his novel into a “major motion picture” with a studio. Although things aren’t exactly as they seem.
Howard leads him on with starry promises. “Tit for tat” is how things get done, so he tells the young gentleman. Prying money from him, as he snorts at least some of it up his nose. Isn’t hard to see where this is headed. Poor, innocent Thad is getting grifted. Hard. One thing leads to another and he’s also into the drugs, as well. He keeps on writing, but those are the least of his worries now.
Pic 1AA beautifully animated bit brings us to Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) on a plane, reading The Planet Wyh. A man next to her (Ray Wise) asks about it and they have chat. Everyone around them stares at their phones, and he laments the change in times. Me too, Mr. Wise. Me, too.
Gloria’s on a trip to California hoping she’ll find out more about the elusive Mr. Mobley – a.k.a Ennis Stussy – going off a few books, newspaper clippings. What’ll she discover? I’ve pondered it ever since we saw the first glimpse of his books.
At the motel checking in she chases down a thief, or tries to, anyway. She winds up talking to a cop named Officer Hunt (Rob McElhenney) and asks if he could run information for her, re: the case. A possibility. In her room Gloria finds a box, in the closet. A strange box with a switch that opens then closes itself. I actually laughed out loud a bit. Not the weirdest thing about most motel rooms.
We see the difference between ‘small town folk’ and the ‘bigger city crowd’ as Gloria’s one of the only people at a diner, again, not using a cellphone constantly. She asks around about Mobley, tracking down a waitress; the one who helped seduce Mobley into the dark side now near 30 years sober. “It‘s basically nothing but a dream,” she tells Gloria rather than dredge up those haunting memories.


At a bar Gloria meets Officer Hunt. The difference between city v. small town is so painfully awkward. A funny and brutal scene, sort of sad the way she’s treated. Meta moment for Fargo, as many viewers get a chuckle out of the Minnesota accent. But then Paul (Wise) shows up again. He makes her feel more comfortable the way he acts, they can actually talk like human beings.
More of the Android Minsky and The Planet Wyh. Great animation that I’m glad was included. Sort of helps with the at times surreal feel of the series. In this moment it’s like a dream in Gloria’s mind as she falls asleep.
The next day she’s up again searching for clues about Ennis’ previous life as Thaddeus. She goes to the Writers Guild of America and finds a script for the novel’s adaptation; curiously misspelled as Planet Why. The producer’s credit leads her to Zimmerman, living in a long term care facility. He’s in terrible shape. She asks her questions about Mobley, and old Howard goes on about “quantum something” – physics, I’d imagine. Nothing much concrete, though.
At night a note is slipped under Gloria’s door. Then we’re whisked back to Thaddeus discovering his girl used him, he and Howard. The young man’s crushed, particularly when she lays into him with vicious words. Howard chokes him then gets whacked in the brain with a cane over and over. Thad nearly kills them both before running out. But as Gloria sees it in present day, it’s only “a story.” Or is there more to the Mobley connection? Yes, you know damn well there’ll be more down the line.


We see the aftermath of that bad night years ago. Thad packing his suitcase frantically. A picture perfect dual image: the award he won and the blood on his hands. Sort of nastily poignant. At the same time, a parallel shows us Thad puking in the toilet at the thought of his deeds versus Gloria noticing a stamp for DENNIS STUSSY & SONS company on the rim of the toilet in her room; only the D is worn off. It meant a new life, new beginning for Thad.
More of the Android Minsky and his adventures, the wild animations. One of the most unique episodes of the whole series, honestly. Dig it or not, you’ve got to give Hawley & Co. their due.
Gloria and her son Nathan (Graham Verchere) say goodbye to Ennis at the funeral home, a weary life behind the old man. She gets information about fingerprints from the murder scene. Maurice LeFay, of course. How long until Ms. Burgle gets herself closer to Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor) and Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Not too long, I’d bet. It’s gonna get real complicated real quick, and I, for one, cannot fucking wait. Such an interesting setup already. Also, what’s Gloria doing with that weird box from the motel? Keep your eye on that.


Loved the episode, it was so unique. Amazingly written, as well as flawlessly directed by John Cameron, also a producer on the series. Next episode is “The Narrow Escape Problem” – with a title like that, you can be sure there’ll be excitement, a few thrills in the darkly comic world that is Fargo on FX.

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Fargo – Season 3, Episode 2: “The Principle of Restricted Choice”

FX’s Fargo
Season 3, Episode 2: “The Principle of Restricted Choice”
Directed by Michael Uppendahl
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a recap & review of the Season 3 premiere, “The Law of Vacant Places” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “The Law of Non-Contradiction” – click here
Pic 1Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) goes over the crime in her head. She digs into the box she found at the Ennis’ place in the floorboards. Inside are several Thaddeus Mobley (Thomas Mann) novels, she flips through them to see if there are any little notes or anything significant stuck between the pages. Nothing. There’s a newspaper clipping of Mobley winning a Golden Planet award. A photo of a woman, signed. She says Ennis Stussy and Mobley are “one in the same.” Hmm.
Emmit Stussy (Ewan McGregory) and Sy Feltz (Michael Stuhlbarg) go see Irv Blumkin (Hardee T. Lineham) about their problem with Mr. V. M. Varga (David Thewlis) and their stupid, illicit deal. The two men are clueless, it’s almost amazing how they got as far as they have at this point in life. A curt commentary on many ‘successful’ businessmen, to my mind. Either way, Emmit still has problems with Ray (McGregor), the stamp. Although Sy says he doesn’t want the stamp, he wants his brother’s life; the “green monster.”
Watching Irv operate a computer, let alone Google, is absurdly hilarious. When he manages to search Varga, a webcam turns on and takes a picture of them. Then everything shuts down. Now that can’t be a coincidence, can it? That Varga is sketchy. His teeth alone are the stuff of nightmares. Even with that grill of rotten chompers he’s somehow charming, in the way he speaks to others like some villain from a fairy tale whispering in the ear of others along the peripheries.
At a lot Sy and Emmit control, Varga’s parked a big rig truck. What could be inside? Something sinister? “Slave girls,” Sy wonders? Who the hell knows. They’re trying to cover their asses while bigger things are happening, and have been a long while, without their knowing.
Pic 1AGloria meets with Moe Dammick (Shea Whigham). He’s a bit more of a rough character than some of the cops we’ve seen on Fargo, which is a welcomed touch. There’s already a tension between the two characters, as well. He’s her new boss, and wants to lay down the law at the office. He also wants her to take time off, after the death of her stepfather Ennis.
She goes out and starts investigating. A store owner says a Russian man came in – though, he doesn’t remember it was only a shirt with Russia on it (that’ll cause something to fuck up at some point) – and tore a page from his phone book; we know that man was Maurice LeFay (Scoot McNairy), but the information’s been mangled by this bumbling man.
Ray is checking on the death of Maurice, at the very same time. It’s been logged as ACCIDENTAL. Making him a very happy man, putting more pieces of the puzzle together for him. All the while the guy’s brains are being scrubbed off the sidewalk over in front of the apartment where Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) lives. Things look as if they’re going well. She’s busy trying to put together a new job, to make more money. Ray would rather get “out of the woods” before anything else. She says there’s something wrong with his “chi.” Blocked up. Not good. Sometimes it’s like she strings him along, though it also looks at times like she loves him. She is damn dedicated, that’s for sure.
Ray: “I never killed anybody before”
Nikki: “Well me either. Life‘s a journey, y‘know.”


Ray goes to Emmit’s place. At 10:30 in the night, imagine that? Goes to show the disconnected brothers, one a buttoned down family man and the other a semi-regular guy. It’s fun to watch McGregor play off himself, a hard thing to do. Yet each of the Stussy brothers is different. Their mannerisms, how they talk even under those Minnesota accents. While Ray apologises to his brother, inside the house Nikki tracks down the stamp’s location. It was moved. In its place is the picture of a donkey; an ass. She discovers the receipt for a safety deposit box in the office desk. Then leaves her bloody tampon in the drawer. What she doesn’t know is that the stamp wasn’t moved, the frame’s only being fixed.
Ah, the ole Fargo comitragedy of errors!
Moreover, we get a look at Meemo (Andy Yu) and his friend Yuri from the Old Country. They toss an old man over the side of a parking garage, then walk away like they just finished playing a game of basketball. Dark and hilarious. Now there’s more of a Russian-ish connection coming into play, I’m very interested to see that unfold.
Later, Emmit gets a call saying Irv jumped off his garage.


Gloria’s making arrangements to have Ennis buried, she and her boy Nathan (Graham Verchere). They can’t track him back past 1980, before he married her mother. He’s a bit of a mystery, especially considering her mom passed already. He didn’t really have friends. Gloria is stuck on the Mobley theory, which ought to prove for more interesting story in upcoming episodes.
In a diner Sy visits Ray, unhappy about the break-in. They certainly don’t have any kind of good relationship, not even a working one. Sy says Ray won’t ever speak to his brother again; “non–negotiable,” he claims. Appears the guy’s got a temper, which Ray doesn’t take to nicely.
At the office Emmit finds Varga kicking around suddenly, like a wisp of fog out of thin air. He’s got Yuri and Meemo with him, too. They’re taking up some office space. They’ve got plenty of boxes of… files? Already being wheeled into an empty wing. We’re coming to see V.M’s shadiness. In a way, he represents others outside America today while Sy and Emmit are the stupid men at the helm of the nation currently in 2017; as he says, they think the deal “can be changed” but once you’ve started down certain roads there’s no stopping. “You‘re trapped,” Varga explains. He further assures the audience of what happened with Irv. Nasty dude.
Pic 4Loved this second episode! Hawley did a great job writing, and the characters have started opening up. I particularly have interest in Varga, whose purpose becomes clearer with this episode and specifically the final few minutes. Awesome stuff.
“The Law of Non-Contradiction” is next week.

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Fargo – Season 3, Episode 1: “The Law of Vacant Places”

FX’s Fargo
Season 3, Episode 1: “The Law of Vacant Places”
Directed by Noah Hawley
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a recap & review of the Season 2 finale, “Palindrome” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “The Principle of Restricted Choice” – click here
Pic 1Year 3.
1988 in East Berlin. A man is interviewed by an officer, though claims he’s not who officer believes he is, a man named Yuri Gurka. Seems they’ve got a problem. “That state would have to be wrong” for all this to be an issue. Surely, that can’t be correct, can it? I see where this is headed. There’s a murder, which puts this poor man, not Yuri, at a disadvantage when up against the crumbling Soviet.
Now, we head into Minnesota during 2010 for our current timeline story.
Pic 1AEmmit Stussy (Ewan McGregor) and Sy Feltz (Michael Stuhlbarg) are conducting a bit of business, as a 25th anniversary party for Emmit and his wife Stella. Afterwards the celebration goes on happily. In attendance is their daughter Grace (Caitlynne Medrek), as well as brother Ray (also Ewan McGregor). And the much more greasy-looking brother is there to get a meeting with Sy and Emmit. It’s been some time, evidently.
They do a little catching up, awkward as that goes. The tension is clear. Ray obviously feels lower class compared to his brother; Sy’s like the best friend who’s more like a brother than the brother himself. We’re also introduced to Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and the fact Ray wants to get her an engagement ring. This brings up issues of money, plus some betrayal over a stamp collection, “vintage” stuff worth tons of cash.
The relationship between Nikki and Ray is a weird one. Likely she’s using him, but too early to judge. He’s a cagey one, too. So, I wouldn’t count anything out. Nikki says they’re “simpatico to the point of spooky” and he’s inclined to agree. Be interesting to watch more of them together, love McGregor and Winstead’s odd chemistry.


Ray is a parole officer – where he met his latest girlfriend – spending his days drowning in paperwork and piss. No short of characters he encounters. And no doubt we’ll see some kind of ethical murkiness rear its head; well, more than already with Nikki. You can’t help imagine what kind of plans Noah Hawley has for a main character with that profession in his quirky, twisted little world of Fargo.
At a bar Ray meets with Maurice LeFay (Scoot McNairy) who’s recently failed a piss test. This P.O is a little more lenient on those under his care. He wants Maurice to help him out with a robbery; quid pro quo, poof, vamoose, and the problems go away. If he can get his hands on the stamp in Emmit’s office.
Sy and Emmit have business to take care of late in the evening. Simultaneously, Maurice lurks around waiting for the right time to strike on his mission; he’s a little busy smoking a joint and talking to his shrink via speaker phone in the car. Then he loses the paper on which Ray wrote the address; it flies out the window, into the snowy roadside. Does he remember? Or will this cause unintended consequences? I’d vote on the latter.
When Emmit gets to the office he finds V.M. Varga (David Thewlis) waiting for him. He’s from their lender, Narwahl. Says they don’t need to pay back the money, apparently. It’s an “investment” he tells them. Followed by cryptic talk of “singularity” and “continuity.” Hmm, a few strings attached. Seems the boys got in over their head and didn’t ask questions before jumping in deep.


Chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) is at home celebrating her son Nathan’s (Graham Verchere) birthday. They’ve got a bit of a fractured family; modern by most standards. Another interesting family for the series.
A great tune, as always, plays (Adriano Celetano – “Prisencolinensinainciusol“) us through while cards are being dealt in a regional tournament. Dream team Swango and Stussy hit the tables together to make themselves a big a payday.
Poor, stoned Maurice, searching out the address he lost, remembering it incorrectly and headed in the wrong direction. Headed right for Eden Valley, where Gloria’s the law. Then the guy winds up going to Ennis Stussy’s – no relation to the twins, far as we know – place, where Gloria just left. She turns back to get the model he made for her boy, then finds the place in shambles, door open. The old man taped to a chair, dead. After looking around awhile she locates a hidden compartment in the floor with a box in it; inside, old books, a figure, and more.
When Maurice goes to see Ray, things are messy. The misunderstandings are only just beginning to pile up. It’s about to get wild, and nasty. Particularly when the parolee goes crazy on him, pulling a gun. However, Nikki’s always thinking. As Maurice leaves the apartment, they drop an air conditioner on his head obliterating him. They’ve got a plan and everything. A convenient way out.


This is the beginning of what’s sure to be an interesting Season 3. Such a great premiere, and I know there’s even greater things to come.
Not sure how the East Berlin moment earlier plays into the whole thing, though there’s a Russian connection: Maurice is wearing a shirt in the bar with RUSSIA written on it; maybe nothing, or maybe something. Who knows.

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Legion – Chapter 2

FX’s Legion
Chapter 2
Directed by Michael Uppendahl
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of Chapter 1, click here.
* For a review of Chapter 3, click here.
screen-shot-2017-02-16-at-2-49-05-amAfter the exciting events of Chapter 1, we find David Haller (Dan Stevens) alongside Syd Barrett (Rachel Keller), Melanie Bird (Jean Smart) and the others, as one of them sings “Road to Nowhere” by The Talking Heads.
They get back to a facility – Summerland – where David meets others, including Cary Loudermilk (Bill Irwin). But the poor dude is sick, he has too many voices rushing through his head. Melanie tries to help, getting him to focus: “There‘s a single voice calling your name. Can you hear it? Can you find it?”
And who’s the voice? Could it be his mother, maybe?
The next day things start in full swing. He sits with Melanie and Ptonomy Wallace (Jeremie Harris) discussing how to harness his powers, which involves looking back through a lifetime of memory.  So it begins.
screen-shot-2017-02-16-at-2-53-07-amWe see memories of David and his sister Amy (Katie Aselton), though they’re very young, maybe eight years old. They run in a field with their dog, they laugh and play. The goal is to figure out where his supposed mental illness started, then leading to, hopefully, controlling the energy of his mind. They head more and more through various memory work, and David witnesses himself as a boy with his mother. Happy memories, evidently. Also, he remembers his father as an astronomer. Those of us who know the comics know better though, don’t we?
Ptonomy: “Pretend we‘re in a museum; the museum of you.”
Suddenly something goes wrong. The dream feels sinister, ugly. The room starts to shake, as David spins out of control. Back to the table where they all sit. David’s beginning to freak out, until Ptonomy puts him to sleep.
Another trip back sees David sitting across from Dr. Poole (Scott Lawrence). He’s twitchy, he’s nervous. The voices scatter his brain. Outwardly, he seems incredibly mentally ill. On the inside is something nobody would’ve ever been able to diagnose, in terms of regular everyday medicine and science. Moreover, we see him and Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza) together, the earlier days of their friendship. But quick as we went in, David wakes up in Summerland with Ptonomy, and has a glass of milk to settle his stomach. I love Ptonomy, too. He has memories of his entire life, right back and into the womb.
Out in the woods, searching for David, is The Eye (Mackenzie Gray) and a fleet of black dressed, gun-toting SWAT team-looking cats. They will not stop, either.


There’s still no full explanation about what happened when Syd and David changed places. Although she remembers it being “so loud” while they did, it scared her. She likewise saw the horrible entity David keeps seeing in the background, that malevolent, hideous thing. And then, Syd remembers she probably killed Lenny.
Note: This scene had some awesome editing, from the memories of Syd about what happened in the hospital to the quick cut to Lenny reciting a line David is saying to Syd. I mean, Hawley & Co are pulling out all the stops to make this series work. Dig it!
Finally, David steps in with Mr. Loudermilk for a CT-scan-type test. Well it looks like Cary’s a bit of a character himself. There’s two Loudermilks: Cary and Kerry. Hmm, I’m intrigued now, especially seeing as how he said he was talking with Kerry, and she’s nowhere to be found. Either way we tumble back into more of David’s memories, now one in which he and Amy sit together chatting about her personal life. Memories slip by quick and we’re over with David and Lenny once again; she’s trying to trade an oven for drugs. Meanwhile David is having aural troubles. When they get their drugs it’s back home to get high! Only, should someone like him be experimenting? What I love most about Haller’s issues is that we see a genuine depiction of mental illness: he hears things, sees them, he’s not sure what’s real or what isn’t, and it’s as if we’re watching a documentary sometimes on the nature of schizophrenia. Inside the sci-fi trappings is a genuine depiction of a struggle with a disease of the mind.
We’re actually watching more of the memory work with David, Ptonomy, and Melanie. They try getting to the bottom of his visions. Particularly once the eerie, dark entity shows up and it freaks him out. Then the memories are glitching, jumping time. They dig up one of David’s flashes, in his apartment when he blew the place near to pieces.


Loudermilk is trying to help David figure out where his “memories are stored.” Stubborn little things. They head back into another one and try again. He goes into a dark place of his memory where things fold back onto themselves, the voices overcrowding his thoughts. Then there’s Amy, who can’t find David at the old facility anymore. She’s distraught, wanting to understand where her brother’s been taken. And Amy winds up being found by none other than The Eye. Uh oh.
Has David discovered a further power? Can he hear and see things from across time and space? Oh, I wouldn’t doubt it.
After Loudermilk leaves him alone, amazed by what he’s seeing on his readings, David’s greeted outside the machine by that grotesque entity. Another second passes and he’s not even in the machine anymore. It’s because he blew the thing right outside and into the yard with his powers. A truly disturbed individual, frighteningly powerful.
Alas, David’s decided to leave for a couple days and figure out what’s going on with his sister. At the same time, Amy is stashed away somewhere being held by The Eye and his associates, in a dreary basement akin to an old mental hospital. What is he planning for her?
screen-shot-2017-02-16-at-3-35-05-amWhat a spectacular follow-up to the first episode. The next ought to be a thrilling experience, just as these two have been! Loving this series. Hawley is an impressive writer, showing us more of his talents here with every passing chapter.

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Legion – Chapter 1

FX’s Legion
Chapter 1
Directed by Noah Hawley
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a recap & review of Chapter 2, click here.
screen-shot-2017-02-09-at-4-01-17-pmWe open on a little baby. We watch him grow up to “Happy Jack” by The Who. Along the way we see he has… issues. He goes from hearing voices in his head to blowing the windows out of a cop car to being examined by a doctor, and more. The boy, soon to be a man, is David Haller (Dan Stevens). Even tries to hang himself later down the road due to the voices running non-stop.
We see David in a facility getting a visit from his older sister, Amy (Katie Aselton). He’s not happy, but he’s doing better: “Something new needs to happen soon.” He goes about the days taking his medication, suppressing supposedly crazy thoughts, mingling with the others at the Clockworks Psychiatric Hospital. Such as Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza), Wild Rusty Combs (Sidartha Murjani), among others. He drags himself through therapy, going through all the motions. A feverish dream of images comes at us and shows us the power of his mind, which ends in his bed getting smashed, orderlies with needles. Typical mental hospital stuff.
screen-shot-2017-02-09-at-4-03-29-pmAnd then another day begins, same old routine repeats. Although David’s life is disrupted, not in a bad way, upon the appearance of Syd Barrett (Rachel Keller), a woman who does not like physical contact with others. She’s also funny, self-deprecating, and a pretty free spirit. The exchange she has with David next is fucking hilarious and perfectly written by Noah Hawley.
David: “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?”
Syd: “Okay. But don‘t touch me.”
David: “Okay”
Syd: “Yeah?”
David: “Yeah”
Syd: “Okay”
So they’re together, enjoying one another’s company. They even hold hands – well, not really, they hold a small fabric belt between themselves. Just as good.
But soon, she’s gone. Disappeared. “They took her” according to David. An interrogator (Hamish Linklater) questions him, saying Sydney Barrett was never a patient at Clockworks. Curiouser and curiouser. Are the other people he sees mostly in his head? We find out there was no noose when he tried to, apparently, hang himself. Simply rope burns left around his neck.
The interrogator heads back to a larger operation and tells his boss: “He may be the most powerful mutant we have ever encountered.” Apparently, Division One wants him dead. Before he can figure out his powers. Deep down, he already knows they’re real despite feeling content with mental health treatment.


David gets to talking about the incident at Clockworks. He’s hooked up to machinery and asked to discuss. He speaks of when Syd left. He went in to kiss her, and this triggered something in his mind, in turn triggering a strange blast between the two sending he and Syd flying. Then David’s anger unleashed the power within. Something dark and dangerous. At the same time, something in Syd has changed, too: David sees the world through her eyes, literally, she’s no longer herself; and vice versa. And throughout the halls of the hospital, a massacre. Or, sort of one. Voices call out through the walls, no longer any doors through which to escape. Bodies, bloody, caught in the wall; that of poor Lenny. And David – or Syd – stuck in his room.
Out into the world Syd-David goes free. The situation gets nasty, though. Back in the interrogation room, David sends his powers raging, smashing the place to bits and throwing everybody around him into the air. After which he’s gassed into unconsciousness by the organisation holding him captive.
Suddenly, we see David out int he real world. Himself again? On Halloween, he turns up at the door of his sister Amy. Her husband Ben (Matt Hamilton) is surprised, as is she, to see her brother released. Not that they’re mad. Just surprised. When David’s alone, Lenny comes back to chat. In his head. She wisecracks about being killed, making fun of him for his multiple personalities, or the multiple people in his head, or whatever. “They‘re comin‘ for you, babe,” she tells him. And who’s coming? People who don’t like his powers. People who want to kill him.

screen-shot-2017-02-09-at-4-47-36-pmThe world inside David’s head is a crazy one. Rich, exciting, funny, beautiful. But they’re just symptoms of a troubled mind. An extremely troubled mind.
Particularly considering he’s still at the facility with the interrogator and his team. He’s submerged in water, connected to electrical cables. He says that Syd is gone, vanished. Taken? Who knows. David searched for her, only to be followed by Ptonomy Wallace (Jeremie Harris) and Kerry Loudermilk (Amber Midthunder). Are they the ‘they’ Lenny warned him about? They’re intent on tracking him down, hot in pursuit. Out of nowhere, he starts seeing strange visions of Syd, telling him not to stop. She’s inside his memories.
And with Syd in his memory, they concoct a plan. David slips into the water. Above him the room erupts in gunfire and the men holding him turned to burned skeletons. Waiting afterwards are Ptonomy and Kerry, and Syd. They’re all friends of Melanie Bird (Jean Smart). David’s extracted from the facility by fellow mutants and friends with weapons. An awesome sequence that’s both shot well, also edited to perfection; killer action!
The gang escape to the sea while David struggles to realise what he sees is real, and not a figment of his imagination. Ms. Bird is there to greet them and bring him away, though he continues to see a darkness following closely behind.
screen-shot-2017-02-09-at-5-02-19-pm


AMAZING FIRST EPISODE! WOW. Noah Hawley is a fucking king, first Fargo and now this slice of superhero heaven. I’m not even huge on the superhero stuff anymore, other than actual comics and graphic novels. Legion has changed all that.
Now, give me more.

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Fargo – Season 1, Episode 10: “Morton’s Fork”

FX’s Fargo
Season 1, Episode 10: “Morton’s Fork”
Directed by Matt Shakman
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of the penultimate Season 1 episode, “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage” – click here
* For reviews of Fargo Season 2 starting with “Waiting for Dutch” – click here
Picture 1
The finale of Fargo‘s amazing first season has come. Aw, geez.
“Morton’s Fork” commences where we last left Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman), whose wide eyes and open mouth gape at Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) having just killed his new wife Linda (Susan Park) at the insurance office.
Now, we start to glimpse into the newly criminal mind of Lester. He’s become a ruthless, terrible man. Especially when compared to the meek and mild person he was at the beginning in “The Crocodile’s Dilemma”. Beginning to piece together an alibi in his head, Lester crafts things out of nothing. First, he places the car keys in Linda’s dead hand. Secondly, he goes over to the diner where Lou Solverson (Keith Carradine) receives him with a warm smile. He orders, for both himself and Linda, then rushes out to the bathroom, supposedly, making a call from a phone booth to report the shots fired. Slick? We’ll see.
Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) is relaxing at home with her stepdaughter Greta (Joey King) and husband Gus (Colin Hanks). Then she gets a call about the murder: “The other one now?” asks Molly.
Meeting Chief Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) at the crime scene, Molly goes over things as he keeps back, for fear of vomiting at the sight of more blood. Then Lester shows up, his grief coming through in “aw geez” over and over. Putting on a show for the officers, he pretends to start crying, wobbling and almost falling over. But sneaking one last moment with his wife’s body, Lester attempts to grab the airline tickets in her pocket. No such luck, buddy boy.


Gus: “What‘s that now?”
Molly: “Someone killed the second Mrs. Nygaard.”


At a cabin in the woods, listening to his police scanner, Malvo cooks up a little food on the stove, as well as grabs hold of a few key materials: gun, jimmy stick to steal cars.
Meanwhile, FBI Agents Pepper and Budge (Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele) are waiting at the Bemidji Police Department. They’re getting ready to question Lester. However, Lou appears so he can tell Molly about the strange man he’d met at the diner – though he can’t be sure, the security footage picture she shows him looks like it could be Lorne. When Molly asks her father to check up on the family at home, he replies: “Screw that. Goin‘ home and gettin‘ my gun is what I‘m doing. Sit on the front porch. Make sure my granddaughter‘s safe.” Love, love, love Keith Carradine as Lou Solverson. Amazing.
Outside the P.D., Malvo shows up and takes a little black notebook from the car which Pepper and Budge drive. Off he goes, as Lester is being questioned by Molly, Bill, and the two agents. Budge and Pepper want to know more about the wandering evil that is Lorne Malvo. Trying to gain more favour from Bill, Lester gets shut down; no more help from the bumbling chief. Once Nygaard lawyers up things shut down, but Molly warns him: “He‘s not gonna stop. Y‘know that right? A man like that… maybe not even a man.”


Bill (to Molly): “I used to have positive opinions about the world, you know, about people. Used to think the best. Now I‘m looking over my shoulder. An unquiet mind, that‘s what the wife calls it. The job has got me staring into the fireplace, drinking. I never wanted to be the type to think big thoughts about the nature of things and… all I ever wanted was a stack of pancakes and a V8.”
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Out on his own, Gus is determined to try and do right. Or at least prevent Molly from having to wade into the river of blood which Malvo always brings with him. Gus heads over to the cabin in the woods where he’d seen the red car parked – the one in which he was sure he’d seen Malvo. Then, from out the door comes the man himself. Lorne drives away with Gus sneaking around quietly.
Malvo is starting to put another plan into motion. He’s calling into the Bemidji P.D. to get the names of the FBI Agents Budge and Pepper. Then to the FBI Operations, cancelling any back-up and claiming things there are a “dead end“. What’s about to happen next? Well, Lorne goes to a car dealership and finds the exact same Ford model as the undercover FBI vehicles. He asks to test drive it, taking the owner with him.
When Agents Pepper and Budge pull out of the station, Lester in tow (being released though still watched), Malvo isn’t far behind in his identical car. Back at his place, Lester is sweating it out in nervousness, awaiting his own next move.


Lou: “What are you plannin‘ on doin‘ with that?”
Greta: “If he comes, I‘ll put his eye out. You can finish him off.”
Lou: “That‘s my girl”


At the Nygaard place, Agents Pepper and Budge sit waiting, watching. Out of nowhere, up pulls another car just like the one in which they’re sat. They’re not sure whether it’s backup or not. Guns drawn, they ask the driver to exit their vehicle. To no response. Coming up next to the window, realizing the man inside – the car dealer – is duct taped to the wheel, Budge and Pepper are both shot to death by Malvo, emerging from the snowy forest behind them.
Rifling through his suitcase and tossing things everywhere, Lester is trying to determine the next step. Just out the front door he spies trails of blood, an open empty FBI car. Panic sets in.
Malvo pushes his way into the house. In the bathroom upstairs he can hear a frantic Lester calling for help on the phone. A few more steps and – BAM – Lorne steps right into the bear trap Lester set on the floor, covered with all those clothes he tossed out of his luggage. What I love most? Lorne throws the Salesman of the Year award and breaks Lester’s nose; giving him an injury to match the one he had in the first episode, bringing things full circle. Except when the dust settles, Lorne is gone, having escaped from the trap in a bloody mess. The car outside is nowhere to be found. As Lester closes his front door, a look crosses his face, an almost grin, as if believing he’s finally run the wolf off his trail.


The episode’s final 15 minutes see Lorne heading back to the cabin in the woods. His leg is brutal, bleeding everywhere. He manages to pop some drugs via needle into his system, then sets the bone very craftily with a small length of rope. But when he begins to start tending to his wound, Lorne finds himself surprised by none other than Gus Grimly pointing a gun his way. Gus says he’s figured out the “shades of green” riddle. Then, when an angry Malvo insists on hearing what the answer is, Gus only fires on him, blowing a few holes through his chest. A couple more shots and then the wandering evil of Malvo has come to an end. A fitting finish for Lorne, but even more so Gus, whose earlier mistakes are finally cauterized by the shooting. He’s proved himself and made right what once went wrong. You betcha.
A great finish to the season includes Lester being finally caught, chased out onto the ice where he falls through into the dead cold waters, as well as the Solverson-Grimly family sitting together, watching television and letting their lives go back to normal.


This, along with Season 2, is some of the best television ever made. Some of my favourite, up there with The Shield, The Knick, and a handful of others.
Please, if you haven’t, check out my reviews for Season 2 and let me know your thoughts on all the episodes. And until 2017 brings us Season 3 of Noah Hawley’s intense, funny, and consistently fascinating series – enjoy.

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Fargo – Season 1, Episode 9: “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage”

FX’s Fargo
Season 1, Episode 9: “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage”
Directed by Matt Shakman
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of the previous episode, “The Heap” – click here
* For a review of the Season 1 finale, “Morton’s Fork” – click here
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After jumping a year down the line, Noah Hawley brings us into the penultimate Season 1 episode “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage”.
We begin on the new identity of Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) as a dentist. He talks a patient through things while checking his teeth and finishing off a procedure. This new blonde-haired Malvo, obviously under a new pseudonym, is a slick one. Did he really go to dental school? Or what’s going on here? Either way, I love it. He and Burt Canton (Stephen Root) are friendly, so no matter what’s going on Lorne has carved out a nice little niche for himself in which to lounge.
For now.
Lorne still has his recordings, listening to them over and over. The evil in Malvo sits right below the surface. He relives his past transgressions, as if basking in them.
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Lorne: “Aces!”


Now, we end up back where we last saw Lorne, a woman next to him and across the table are Burt and his lady. Across the room sits Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) in the blurry periphery of the frame, as Lorne jokes and makes things light. While Burt talks about their upcoming excitement, Lester shows up to talk with Lorne who pretends they’ve never met before. An awkward moment ensues, but before Lorne leaves he tells Lester in a serious tone: “Walk away.”
Not satisfied with this slight, Lester heads into the elevator to confront Malvo. “The old Lester woulda let that slide – not this guy,” he tells Lorne and the others. But then an old Western style situation emerges: “Lester, is this what you want?” asks Lorne. Everyone seems confused. Once Lester replies yes, things change. Drastically. Out comes a silenced, silver pistol, and Lorne kills everyone in the elevator; except for Lester. “That‘s on you,” says Lorne.
Turns out Malvo was looking for $100,000 bounty, working for a whole six months on Burt. Lorne tries to get Lester in on helping to hide the bodies, but Nygaard cracks him one in the back of the head with his Salesman of the Year award, running off into the dark basement of the hotel. Upstairs, he starts to pack things. Time to head back home, you betcha.


FBI Agents Pepper and Budge (Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele) are still wasting away in the file room. All of a sudden, someone comes looking for the Syndicate file regarding the Fargo mob. Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) in Bemidji says, naturally, she knows who did the deed.
In Bemidji, Lou Solverson (Keith Carradine) has his daughter, husband Gus (Colin Hanks) and new granddaughter Greta (Joey King) at the diner for a hearty breakfast. Nice to see this big family together: “You‘re the granddaughter I always wanted but was afraid to buy online,” Lou tells Greta after she kisses him on the forehead.
Finishing her meal, Molly gets a call about the elevator murders, and then she asks what the witness’ name is – I’m sure the name must be Mr. Lester Nygaard.
Meanwhile, Lester’s rushing to get home, head on a swivel looking behind him for a car or any vehicle following him. The new Lester doesn’t seem present anymore. We’re back to the jittery, nervous Lester Nygaard, not the Insurance Salesman of the Year. He wants to go on a big vacation to make it up to Linda (Susan Park): immediately. Yet he can’t seem to move a step without looking every which way first. At home getting ready, Lester looks through some of his brother’s things, hunting gear and the like. The box also contains a gun. He picks up his old orange-red winter jacket from off a nearby rack. Molly shows up at the door to throw him off even further.


While out on his mail route, Gus sees a car drive by and the driver inside looks terribly familiar. Though, he shakes it off. In the car was, in fact, Lorne Malvo. He arrives at Lester’s old place where someone new is now living. Getting the new information on his old buddy Nygaard, the evil Lorne drops the history of the house on the new owners, his children. What a rough dude. At the same time, darkly hilarious.
There’s no rest for the wicked, and this certainly applies to Malvo. He is always doing something. Even if it’s making little kids scared, or killing people, there is constantly, consistently a malicious presence in him.
Deputy Molly talks over the night in question with Lester, about his supposed witnessing the elevator murders. Without being prompted, Linda helps Lester out with part of his alibi and their sudden switched flight.


A scene at the diner sees Lorne sit down across from Lou for coffee and a bit of pie. Although, Malvo tells him: “No good ever came from a piece of cherry pie.” They get into a talk about Lou’s history as a State Trooper for a couple decades. Malvo also asks about Lester, but Lou isn’t exactly keen on giving out another man’s home address and so on. The ever vigilant Lorne spies the Gus-Molly wedding picture, asking about them, making more observations as he so often does. There’s a bit of an ominous feel to the scene as it goes on, cutting occasionally to Molly, then back to Lorne across from Lou in a very stand-off-type way. Lou talks about a case “back in ’79” most likely the infamous Sioux Falls Massacre: “I‘d call it animal except animals only kill for food. This was… Sioux Falls – ever been?” Right as Deputy Molly comes into the diner, Lorne is leaving after making a wonderfully snaky comment. Perfect scene.
Molly meets Agents Pepper and Budge, who are more than excited to see her and hear about what she’s got to say re: the Syndicate shooting. She shows them the big whiteboard full of connections, faces, events and so on. Late to the meeting, Chief Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) arrives and tries to apologize for Molly, as if there’s something for which to be sorry. Clearly there’s no sense in Bill, whose intelligence doesn’t exactly rival that of her own deputy. Nevertheless, Pepper and Budge want to stay in town, they’re impressed with Molly’s “tremendous work” and plan on moving ahead with questioning Lester some more.
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Lorne: “I haven‘t had pie like that since the Garden of Eden”
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At their home, Gus stares into the board of connections Molly made concerning the Nygaard case. We cut to the red car coming down the road, the BMW driven by Lorne, as Gus sees him from the mail truck. Poor Grimly is just constantly driven nuts by the entire situation, starting from his first mistake right to the present.
In other news, Lester is getting things ready to fly off and leave his problems behind. The tickets are ready, Acapulco apparently, and Lester is rushing Linda off into the car, whisking her towards the airport. Only there’s more trouble ahead.
Stopping in at Nygaard Insurance, inside the office Lester looks long and hard, wondering if Malvo might be lurking. He further gives Linda his distinctive winter jacket to put on. Is Lester sending her in there to die, possibly? Seems so, don’t ya think? He even asks her to put the hood up.
And when Linda goes inside, after a moment appears Lorne to make the kill with one silenced shot to her head. Lester watches on in semi-horror, semi-relief. Obviously, Lorne checks to see who it is and looks out the window, almost as if right at Lester.


Has everything come to bear finally on Lester Nygaard? The murder coming full circle? You can be sure.
Excited to review the final episode of Season 1, “Morton’s Fork”. Stay tuned and I’ll have another review/recap finished soon enough. Cheers.

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Fargo – Season 1, Episode 8: “The Heap”

FX’s Fargo
Season 1, Episode 8: “The Heap”
Directed by Scott Winant
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of the previous episode, “Who Shaves the Barber?” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage” – click here
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This episode starts with Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) receiving a new improved washing machine. Might as well get rid of that old reminder, yah? The look on Lester’s face begins to make me wonder what sort of person he is truly. While he watches the machine wash away, the look just lingers.
Then he goes to see his sister-in-law Kitty (Rachel Blanchard). She’s ready to leave Chaz (Joshua Close) behind now, believing him to be a horrible man, an adulterer and a murderer. Poor little Gordo is having night terrors. Even some information that normally wouldn’t be suspicious about Chaz starts to slip out, such as his purchase of a timeshare and a boat – likely things his family would’ve used – and it makes the entire situation look all the worse for it.
At home, Lester begins to take down all his wife’s nonsense motivational posters, her commemorative spoon collection, her sewing station and clothes and everything possible. All the while, a steel drum version of “Ode to Joy” plays. Sort of oddly fitting.
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Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) heads to see her father Lou (Keith Carradine) at the diner. She gets a coffee fill-up, as well as flowers sent from Duluth; obviously care of Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks). “A smarter man would say you‘re bein‘ wooed,” Lou says on the sly.
Meanwhile, Chief Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) just ate an omelette and doesn’t want to be disturbed before it digests. Only Deputy Knudsen (Gary Valentine) calls on him, saying Molly requests his presence in the boardroom. There, she has a whiteboard littered with different connections in the Nygaard case. Still, rightfully so, she’s convinced Bill and everyone else is wrong on pinning the thing on Chaz. But Oswalt is only concerned with cluing things up, moving on.


Bill: “That‘s just how it is sometimes. Life. Ya go to bed unsatisfied.”


At work, Lester is having troubles with Gina Hess (Kate Walsh). Finally, she’s discovered her insurance claim is denied; there will be no money. “I‘ll make some calls,” says Lester. Except she suspects he knew the entire time, which of course… he did. She says at the end of the day he’s got to have $2-million. Or else. Then in a confrontation, he staples the two young Hess boys in their foreheads, telling Gina how things are going to go.
In Fargo, FBI Agents Pepper and Budge (Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele) are awaiting what will no doubt be a serious talking to, after the debacle which happened right under their noses. They don’t get yelled at. They’re escorted down floors and floors into a room full of files, as their boss closes the door on them explaining: “This is where you work now.” A punishment. Dull, but a punishment nonetheless. On the wall, though, Budge tapes a picture off the security camera of Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) from side-on.
When a police officer takes his break for a leak at the hospital, Malvo shows up and strangles the man over his back. Cut to Lorne sitting next to Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard) who wakes up soon enough. They have a casual, no nonsense sort of chat. The type Lorne traffics in regularly. Part of why I love Lorne as a character is because of his non-chalant nature, he talks to everyone in the same way. He isn’t indestructible, either. Just lucky. And regardless of how you feel about him, Billy Bob Thornton plays Malvo wonderfully, with an understated, subtle performance. Even better – Lorne leaves Wrench with a key to his handcuffs before walking out.


Lorne (to Mr. Wrench): “I watched a bear once. His leg was in a steel trap. It chewed through bloody bone to get free. It was in Alaska. Died about an hour later facedown in a stream. But it was on his own terms, you know? You got close. Closer than anybody else. I don‘t know if it was you or your partner, but look – if you still feel raw about things when you heal up, come see me.”


Molly won’t ever be able to let the Nygaard case and everything wrapped up in it go. Never. Not until things are settled and the whole case is laid to rest. If not, she’ll only circle around it until something breaks; either her job, her mind, or who knows. On the way home from their office party, Molly stops and sees Lester with his co-workers at Munk Insurance. The look on her face, watching him act normal as if nothing had ever happened – she knows something wrong went on, she just can’t connect all the dots quite yet. Soon.
Back to Gus Grimly, who can never seem to keep a drink from spilling. In his squad car having a cup of coffee, he checks the speeds of cars coming down the road; few and far between. So, he calls Deputy Molly for a chat. They both really like each other, it’s easy to tell. Even her eyes perk up a little when he talks, and Gus often rambles or stumbles over words worse than usual when they’re talking together. Furthermore, a date is setup, again awkwardly. But it’s cute, the two of them.
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A time jump: one year later.
Gus has obviously given up his job as a cop. Now doing what he always wanted to do – deliver mail. An interesting change of pace, but I dig it. With his new job it’s clearly better for him and daughter Greta (Joey King), so he can walkie talkie with her whenever and not worry about missing criminals, or anything similar. More than just that. At home, a new place, Gus and Molly have a beautiful place, and a beautiful family with a bun in the oven. How things have progressed! I love to see this, though, as it also shows how Molly has slowed down and fell off the Nygaard incident. If only for the fact she hasn’t slowed down one bit. She keeps a room full of clippings, pictures, red string connecting points of interest and so on. There is never any giving up; not when you’re a Solverson.
So, let’s see where everyone else has ended up in 12 months. The time jump is also fun because it’s a year, and with that comes emotions/situations pertaining to the anniversary of all the big incidents in Bemidji, Duluth, and even Fargo.
Agents Budge and Pepper are now long broken down by the file room. Their relentlessly nonsensical banter is actually a great crack-up. I love Key and Peele anyways. Here with Noah Hawley’s writing, they’re so perfect for their parts. As Pepper tosses a ball over and over at the wall, eventually a bulletin board falls revealing the picture of Malvo, which Budge had taped there a long year before. Will this re-whet their appetite?
Then there’s Bill Oswalt. He’s taken in a young African refugee, bless his heart. Just such a strange place to find him. Yet shows that he’s a good man. A stupid, figuratively blind man, but good in his soul. The whole scene with Bill, Molly and the young man is a whole lot of fun, as well as a little intriguing, sussing out the message of why this has been included; the right under your nose aspect of everything comes forward quickly.


Best of all is Lester Nygaard. He’s living it up in new found freedom. He and Linda Park (Susan Park) are together now. No longer does Lester have a terrible wife, but a woman who actually respects him. Moreover, he’s won a big award as Insurance Salesman of the Year. As Lester and Linda party it up in a hotel for the evening, a familiar face pushes out of the crowd. While Lester heads to the bar, and Linda goes upstairs, there comes the old memory of a man. And though he doesn’t look the same, use the same name, and he’s sporting a different style of dress entirely, different hair colour and all that, you can tell: it’s Lorne Malvo.
From out of his new attitude and new life Lester is rattled. Just seeing Malvo there across the room, it shakes him to his core. Perhaps Lester imagined never seeing him again. Though, that’d be too perfect. No, a story like that of Season 1 on Fargo wouldn’t be enough without old wounds coming to bear on the present.


Excited to get into the last two episodes of the first season. Amazing show and I could watch every episode once a week, honestly. Next up is the penultimate finisher, “A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage”. Stay tuned for more, my fellow fans and friends.

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Fargo – Season 1, Episode 7: “Who Shaves the Barber?”

FX’s Fargo
Season 1, Episode 7: “Who Shaves the Barber?”
Directed by Scott Winant
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of the previous episode, “Buridan’s Ass” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “The Heap” – click here
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As the plot thickens around Bemidji and Duluth, poor Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) is sitting in the hospital, where Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) is being treated after he accidentally shot her.
At the same time we hear Chaz Nygaard (Joshua Close) talk with his family in the morning, breakfast all done and the kitchen cleaned. On the news, the story of fish falling out of the sky fascinating everyone in Minnesota. “The darndest thing,” says Kitty (Rachel Blanchard). Then off goes little Gordo with his backpack, unknowingly toting a gun to school. “No funny stuff today,” the bus driver tells him on the way in; if only he knew. Love how the shot lingers on his bookbag constantly right to the school. Eventually, as everything does, the truth comes out – the gun slides out across the floor for everyone to see.
At home, Kitty finds Chief Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) and others at her door. They have a warrant. Things are about to get pretty turbulent for Chaz, who’s got no idea of what is about to come down on him. He gets a call at work from Kitty, and then it all ramps up. When he gets home, Chaz finds the police searching through the gun locker, and not only do they find an illegal automatic weapon, they further discover the evidence: ball peen hammer, underwear, cheesecake photographs of Pearl Nygaard his now dead sister-in-law. All the while, the look on Chaz’s face spells absolute fear, uncertainty, and incredible awe. To anyone else it would appear he was in love with Pearl and couldn’t have her, so whack, whack, whack, and the rest is history.


Over at the station, Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) sits nervously in the interrogation room waiting for information. Oswalt is hilarious, played to perfection by Bob Odenkirk; the way he starts going over things with Lester is absolutely god damn riotous. He goes through the entire situation with Lester, explaining about Gordo and so on. The idea is, in the police mind, Pearl was having an affair with Chaz, as was the intention by Lester surely. For once, his pathetic nature is coming in handy here with Bill, and everyone else, essentially pitying him. The new story comes out of Lester, telling Bill what supposedly happened involving Chaz and such. For an awkward man, he does a good job coming up with lies. Yer darn tootin’. But the real joy of this scene is watching Odenkirk react as Bill Oswalt. I mean, christ on a whole wheat cracker, I couldn’t stop grinning even with the macabre lie Lester spins during the whole thing. They couldn’t have cast the part of Oswalt better, not in my mind.
With all these new developments, Lester walks out the door of the interrogation room, smiling, and then out of the police station, past Chaz in his cell.
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We rewind to the finale of last episode. Molly is in the blizzard alone, tracking down Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton). Turning for a moment she sees another person, firing. Turning back, Malvo has disappeared. Then she gets shot by the unknowing Grimly from a distance.
Cut to Molly waking up to Greta (Joey King) above her, Gus at the bedside, too. He has to sadly admit to being the one who shot her, though, she says “that don‘t make sense“. An inquiry into the shooting is coming, and Gus is upset at himself. He’s continually making mistakes, but at the same time he is a good man. Maybe not the most perfect cop. A good man, though. He pushes off for a while when Molly’s father Lou (Keith Carradine) arrives to keep her company.
In Bemidji, at home, Lester starts to get on the task of cleaning his house. Like any of us would at this point he calls a cleaning service. The conversation on the phone he has is hilarious, with that outright Minnesotan charm leading to Lester’s final line before a hangup on the other end: “Let‘s just say there‘s alotta blood.”
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Briefly, we go to Rundle Realty in Reno, Nevada. In his office, the boss finds Lorne Malvo with his feet up on the desk like he owns the place. “Can I sit? Or did you wanna kill me standing?” he asks Lorne. They sit and talk a little of things about the Fargo mob and the like. Such as the onslaught which came his way via Numbers/Wrench in the previous episode. Lorne gives two choices: ambulance or hearse. By the sound of the screams once he leaves, it’s possible the latter might be needed. As is the case when Lorne comes around.
Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard) is still alive. He’s cuffed to a bed and has trouble doing sign language when Deputy Molly comes asking questions. Wrench is able to write on a whiteboard for her, asking about Numbers; she confirms he’s dead. Molly sits with him and asks about the insurance office, where they last ran into one another. Then about Malvo. But most of all, you see the humanity in her as a person. She levels with Mr. Wrench about the lives they live, on opposite sides of the law, and questions why he lives the life he does on that other side. She leaves him with a bit of a teary eye, turned away and lost in his own head.


Chaz is having a tough time down at the lockup, being transferred to county jail until the trial and everything begins. But Lester is back to work and looking chipper, or acting chipper. His boss tells him Gina Hess (Kate Walsh) has her claim denied. With a look in his eye, Lester agrees to go over and talk to her about it. Does he have something in mind?
Over at the hospital, Gus brings Molly some flowers. She’s busy drawing on the window, mapping out thoughts on the Nygaard-Malvo case. Molly has things pretty well figured out in terms of the connections to everything happened now between Bemidji and Duluth, how the Fargo mob probably sent Numbers and Wrench down to see what happened with Hess. Then everything wrapping Lester and Malvo into it, clearly.
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Molly: “You keep your chin up, Gus Grimly. We‘re winnin‘ this thing.”
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Now we get two great additions to the cast – FBI Agents Budge and Pepper (Jordan Peele/Keegan Michael Key). Their relentless banter keeps attention away from Lorne Malvo, who walks into a building where Moses Tripoli and other members of the Fargo mob just went inside, wielding an assault rifle. Shots are fired, people die. Floor to floor. Malvo asks where the “top dog” is, trying to find Tripoli. Up he goes until Lorne finds what he wants. This sequence is so well done because they could’ve gone full-on action, yet instead it’s an understated continuous shot up the building ending with a guy tossed from a window, bleeding out on the pavement. And somehow, once again, the snaky Malvo slips out between the cracks into the unknown while Agents Budge and Pepper are left with their dicks in their hands.
Back in Bemidji, we find Lester over at the Hess house. He and Gina have a little drink. He makes himself pretty comfortable. Instead of telling Gina there’ll be no money coming, he plays a game with her. Trying to get a little action out of it Lester succeeds, banging the widow Hess while angrily staring at the family picture on her wall.


Gina: “I know a little something about greasy palms”


Molly finds out about the supposed catch of the killer, Chaz Nygaard. Of course, she doesn’t see it that way at all. Everyone’s off celebrating. But Molly will not stop until Lester is brought to justice for his part in all the madness. It almost eats her up right there on the spot. She can see Lester getting away with it, right there in front of her eyes.
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More excitement on the way after another excellent episode. Tune in again here and I’ll have a review for the next episode, “The Heap”, as soon as I get around to watching it through another time. Keep checkin’ back now, okay? And I’ll have it soon enough, you betcha.

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Fargo – Season 1, Episode 6: “Buridan’s Ass”

FX’s Fargo
Season 1, Episode 6: “Buridan’s Ass”
Directed by Colin Bucksey
Written by Noah Hawley

* For a review of the previous episode, “The Six Ungraspables” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “Who Shaves the Barber?” – click here
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More of the strangeness in Minnesota, between the problems of Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) and the wandering evil that is Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton), things have gotten pretty darn interesting around Bemidji and Duluth. You betcha.
A nice Japanese music opening, as we peer into the kitchen of a Japanese restaurant. A beautiful meal of fish and other assorted items is prepared, then brought out to a waiting table. At that table sits Moses Tripoli and other members of the Fargo mob. Love to watch this around again, now knowing what we know from the Season 2 finale this year. Moses asks what’s going on with the Sam hess situation. He’s told about Mrs. Wrench and Numbers (Russell Harvard/Adam Goldberg) in terms of their mileage, et cetera, on the little roadtrip they’ve taken. “Kill and be killed,” says Moses – a line again familiar to anyone who’s seen the second season.


Back at at the home of Don Chumph (Glenn Howerton), Lorne lets him out of the pantry where he’d been placed. Time for another phone call to Stavros Milos (Oliver Platt). Instead, Don chooses to rattle off a Star Wars quote and fuck with Malvo. Dummy. He also wonders why there’s “newspaper on the windows“, not paying enough attention to anything the evil in front of him is doing.
Probably still sweating out the amphetamines Lorne slipped into his regular pill bottle, Stavros is flashing back to the late ’80s when he found the roadside money. Then the call comes through, with Don reading a cryptic parable to Stavros in the disguised voice. A meeting is set. Clueless Don is then knocked out by Lorne wielding a pot off the stove.
In Duluth, Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) is meeting with Officer Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks). Though they’re both focused on the case, it’s obvious a romance is brewing, which is fun because they each are awesome people yet slightly awkward at times. Gus heard from his neighbour about the confrontation with Malvo, though obviously he didn’t know it was him. He’s afraid if he called it all in himself, the others wouldn’t believe him.


Sitting up in bed looking perky, Lester is feeling better apparently. They’ve got his hand all fixed up. But he’s more concerned with why Deputy Knudsen (Gary Valentine) is posted outside the door. Clearly, he knows the gig is almost up. Or least the figurative noose around his guilt-ridden neck has started to tighten up real nice. Then Chaz (Joshua Close) shows up asking: “What did you do?” Of course, Lester dances his way lazily around the conversation trying to say he’s “the victim“. Yet Chaz is sceptical, as one might be in that situation. Especially after Lester’s so-called prank, calling from the trunk of the car in which Numbers/Wrench had him kidnapped. His younger brother insists something needs to be done, calling him a burden: “There‘s something wrong with you, Lester. There‘s something missing. You‘re not right in the world.” Left alone again, the crafty Lester starts trying to figure out a way to make an escape for himself, starting with the heavily bandaged man in the bed next to him. Then with some bandages of his own, the slippery older Nygaard brother enacts his plan.
A nurse soon comes to take Lester, assuming him to be the other patient. Slipping free, he takes the bandages off, throws on a bit of his clothes, and runs out into the lightly falling snow.


Gus and Molly chat about Lester driving in Grimly’s car. Molly knows, obviously, Lester wasn’t in the basement when Chief Thurman was shot. Lie number one right there. The two cops make their way over to the grocery store run by Milos. Love the hilariously uncomfortable wait while Gus and Molly stand next to the cashier; the Minnesota accents with the incredibly politeness and pleasantries, it’s all so funny and excellent. Part of the charm of the series overall.
In other news, Milos is off to the parking garage for the meet. Alone. More and more he flashes back to finding the money in the snow, as if it’s all he can think of anymore. All of a sudden, Stavros has an epiphany about what to do while on the phone with Wally (Barry Flatman).
Back to Don – he’s duct taped and setup in a terrible situation. Lorne has him positioned near the door. An assault rifle is taped and aimed out the window. Things are looking pretty darn awful for ole Don Chumph. In Don’s hands, he places a twice-cocked shotgun, again aimed at the front door. Lorne wants the police real busy if Stavros does actually call them – “Part one,” he tells Don. He fires a couple shots out the window, checks on the scanner to make sure police are responding, then off goes Lorne to leave Don all alone.


Lorne: “Part two – have you ever had Turkish Delight? It‘s disgusting.”
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On the lam and back at his house, Lester notices the washer pulled out from the wall. Then, he looks behind the bloody poster on the wall; inside the hole, there rests the evidence. Lester pulls out a box from under the stairs with a few cheesecake Polaroids of his deceased wife Pearl, as well as fishes out a pair of her underwear from the laundry. Where’s he taking it all? I have a hunch. Meanwhile, at the hospital it’s discovered Mr. Nygaard is no longer in his bed.
At the home of his brother, Lester plants the evidenced needed to frame Chaz for the murder of Pearl. Looking at the picture of his brother’s apparently perfect family, another idea strikes. Taking a handgun from the cabinet of death Chaz has in the garage, Lester stashes it in his nephew Gordo’s bookbag. Wow! Rough stuff, mister. No bullets it seems, but still. Vindictive, hateful things coming out of the older Nygaard brother. Perhaps Chaz should’ve curbed his attitude at the hospital for fear of what might have come. Then, Gordo and his mom come home. Lester sneaks down the stairs, spied by the boy who doesn’t seem to care much – luckily, he’s on the spectrum and has no time for uncle Lester.


Gus and Molly are having a bite to eat. She’s still pressing on finding out more information, even with the roads soon closing from the snowfall. Gus tells her about how he “never wanted to be a cop“, and that his true aspiration was to be a mailman; the familiarity, bringing people their cheques, their presents, “being a part of their community“. We learn about Greta’s mother, his wife, passing, and how he needed the money – therefore, a policeman he is and will be.
Afterwards, a ton of police sirens fly by the window, as Gus and Molly watch on. They’re all headed over to Chumph’s place, where Don sits taped to his chair, trying his best to scream. The police move in on the door. Lorne has the lawn booby trapped to fire more bullets, which prompts the cops and the SWAT members to pump the house full of ammunition. With Malvo driving far away, mayhem breaks out. The house shines through with bullet holes. Don gets blown away by the police, unable to see anything except his gun. A vicious death – the duct tape keeping him steady upright while bullets rock his body back and forth.
On his police scanner, Lorne hears the news and moves on into the snowy horizon. Only all of a sudden, Numbers and Wrench show up with fire power. They begin to blast away. But the slippery eel Malvo sneaks off into the blizzard. AMAZING SEQUENCE shot in the blowing snow. It’s a really incredible bit, one of my favourites out of Season 1. Especially because we see now exactly how much of a hunter Lorne is. He’s both hunter and survivor. Here, he leads his prey to where he wants. The prey, naturally, fall into his trap. Using a trail of his own blood, Malvo lures Mr. Numbers in and stabs him between the ribs, twisting, turning the blade. Before slitting his throat. Assault rifle in tow, Lorne heads back into the blizzard leaving Gus and Molly to find the dead Mr. Numbers bled out in the snow.
Only this puts everyone in the way of more harm. In the distance gunshots go off. Grimly fires into the snow, but comes to find it was Molly he shot. This whole sequence is perfect. It also reminds me of the original and remake Insomnia, but not in a ripped off sense. In a great way.


Out in the snow, Stavros is trying to appease God. He buries the case again, now filled with money. On top of the snowy mound he places the red windshield scraper. Everything is right once more. Or, probably not. Wouldn’t that be peachy?
When the blizzard starts clearing a little, out on the road where Wally drives Stavros’ sun back home, fish start raining out of the sky. Likewise, Stavros finds them all over the road. Everywhere. Stopping at the side of the road, he’s amazed. And then discovers Wally, his son, both crashed, each dead. As if more Plagues of Egypt have come down on his head. Part of why I love Fargo so much over the course of Season 1 and Season 2 now is because Noah Hawley throws in wonderfully weird pieces like this, which somehow work and fit into the universe he’s created.
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But the finale is the real kicker. At the hospital, Lester has sneaked in again. The bandaged man is back in his bed. A place for everything and every thing in its place. Sitting quietly, a strange smile pulls across Lester’s face, as if he is finally finding some happiness.
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Great episode. Look forward to reviewing the next, “Who Shaves the Barber?”, so stay tuned for more here, fellow fans!

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