We need a thread for the FARGO TV show yah? Oh, yah!

TV show is wonderful.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Friday, May 2, 2014 12:58 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I just spent all weekend watching both the OG movie (which I hadnt seen before somehow!!) and then the 3 eps out so far of the series.

It is really fucking good. Billy Bob Thornton's manipulative, delighted menance is just.... so fucking perfect, I loved him.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, May 5, 2014 1:40 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Perhaps "bemused" is better than delighted but you can see he's loving the shit out of the horrible things he's doing.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, May 5, 2014 1:40 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The little twist last ep linking the events of the show to the events of the film was very cleverly done.

One thing it's lacking is the movie's undercurrent of profound sadness, but maybe that's coming later.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Monday, May 12, 2014 2:35 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But in terms of pure watchability I honestly think there might not be anything better out there right now.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Monday, May 12, 2014 2:36 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I dunno I think Martin Freeman does the crushed-under-heel hopeless everyman sadness rather well!

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, May 12, 2014 3:44 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Perhaps we need a proper thread for the show.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, May 12, 2014 3:44 AM (7 hours ago)

Yay! What ep are we up to now? I think Ive only seen 3 or 4. I forget. It was a long weekend of Cohen Bros overload.

i think the guy saying "ah jeez ah jeez ah jeez" while killing someone with a hammer was the point where i realized the spirit of the movie had been distilled into a crass formula. whole thing leaves me feeling kind of gross, and not in the way it intends.

Have you only seen the first episode? I wasn't too convinced after that either, but it definitely finds more of its own identity later on. It's broader and cruder than the movie, sure, but the plotting and character interactions have been a joy. It's almost more like a Carl Hiaasen novel or something.

And Trayce, we're up to 4.

i've watched 3, maybe 4 episodes. i like the cast, maybe enough to keep watching, i'm just saying so far it's left a bad taste in my mouth.

had the same feeling, some dude. stopped halfway into ep 1.

I can't believe this isn't getting more props. Best show on TV IMHO

THAT PAYOFF IN THE START OF EP 4 omg.

Then I had to stop watching, cos bf hasnt seen it yet and I'll acidentally spoil it for him when i get drunk tonight knowing me.

BBT dressed as a meek preacher in a cosby cardigan anf dorky glasses was pretty hilarious.

http://thedissolve.com/features/5-10-15-20/572-adam-goldberg-on-rocky-airplane-hardbodies-and-oth/

didn't know he was in this

[SPOILER FOR ANYONE NOT YET CAUGHT UP WARNING]

That backstory in ep4 where the King supermarket guy's car dies in the snow, he asks god for just one little simple miracle, and he finds the case of money that was buried in the Fargo movie - that just killed me.

I'm a bit confused but maybe its not clear yet. Why does Malvo seem to know this, and is messing with him with Biblical plagues?

(I mean I know why hes messing with him - the ransom thing - but why pick the one thing that would fuck the guys head up? How'd he know?)

Has just picked up on the fact he's a bit of a religious nut.

I just noticed that the vent on Adam Goldberg's jacket is still stitched and it's making me irrationally irritated

I don't like this show :(

I mean ... I like it enough to have watched every episode but I really don't know why I'm still watching.

Allison Tolman is wonderful and I like Billy Bob's performance and that's about it.

i'm 4 episodes deep, gonna watch 5-6 tonight

I get the complaints, but honestly, Billy Bob is so good I'd be on board if they just turned the show into a misanthropic Kung Fu, where he travels from town to town fucking up everyone's lives

i'd also be down for a miniseries where he faces off against rust cohle, batman-joker style

That I'd watch.

What is it people dont like about this? I love it - the pacing, the dialogue, BBT's acting.

it's a "dark" comedy full of murdered minnesota-nice archetypes with a charismatic psychopath at the center - whatever reasons I enjoy it, it's hard to begrudge when others don't

Man, If someone just saw dispatching of the its always sunny guy they'd think this show was an extension of Seven.

If there was a choice in Fargo in the film that dignifies putting a children's choir under the scene - well then Fargo ain't as good as I remember

The Minnesotans of ILX are somewhat annoyed with hearing supposedly outstate characters use the words 'casserole' and 'summer house' in their dialogue. ATTENTION, NOAH HAWLEY: IT'S 'CABIN' AND 'HOTDISH'.

I wish I had a time machine so I could just pop back to college and tell him not to forget this.

Adam Goldberg is a little distracting for whatever reason. But this is my favorite show on tv at the moment. It's pretty by-the-numbers but has just enough quirk to make it seem fresh. And BBT and Bilbo Baggins are both excellent. Show wouldn't be half as good without them.

the commercial frequency during the show is ridiculous, though it's still watchable. lead cop girl is sweet, deaf henchman is the grown son in There Will Be Blood? also, confused at the statement that the events are depicted 'exactly as they occurred', as is stated in the movie. Each story is wildly different. William H. Macy sort of immortalised Lester's character... MF does a decent homage?

You know Macy and Freeman play different characters right?

Also the stories are completely different, not just those two actors.

They take place in different time periods with different characters and different settings.

the commercial frequency during the show is ridiculous, though it's still watchable. lead cop girl is sweet, deaf henchman is the grown son in There Will Be Blood? also, confused at the statement that the events are depicted 'exactly as they occurred', as is stated in the movie. Each story is wildly different. William H. Macy sort of immortalised Lester's character... MF pays decent homage?

also, key and peele....?!?

Yeah the TV show is not a remake at all of the movie. Its not even the same town.

Im all caught up afaik (ep 7 I saw last night). Was it just my imagination or was that last ep a bit shorter than usual? It ended with Molly in the carpark standing in shock and just ended kinda suddenly. I had kids distracting me all over the place, maybe it just seemed shorter.

Also when Gus shot Molly I went NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO really loudly hahaha.

The deaf henchman "Mr. Wrench" is indeed the adult HW in TWBB.

key and peele totally took me out of it but they were also a lot of fun

Jeez, only just clocked that Lester's sis in law is Nancy from Peep Show!

this has been excellent thus far.

fuckin good show.

yeah this is great. the snow shootout was fucking awesome, i don't think i've ever seen that before.

martin freeman keeps going lower, it's incredible. it's walter white's entire character arc compressed into a few episodes.

the air of the supernatural around billy bob's character has been amusing but he needs to come down to earth soon i think.

allison tolman >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything

Have loved Billy Bob in this, especially his interaction with the fitness blackmailer.

"I'm confused."
"That's all right, I'm not."

Am I the only one that thought when Freeman was getting more... enthusiastic... with Sam's wife that the camera would pull back to show she was dead, that maybe he'd choked her to death?

Got a real Usual Suspects vibe off Freeman walking out of the police station smirking last week.

Yeah him fitting up his brother was awesome. They set the right characters up for knockdown, though I do wonder, will Malvo get a comeuppance? I feel like no. But I dont care! I kind of love his malevolece!

Oh wait - Malvo = malevolent. Ha.

Also yeah the "I'm confused!" "thats ok, I'm not" exchange made me grin.

Keeps getting better

key and peele! why nobody mentioning key and peele!

Who's key and peele and when were they on the show?

Wait were they the feds in the car? That bit was lol.

Yes the file room cops

also, key and peele....?!?

― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, May 29, 2014 1:53 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

key and peele totally took me out of it but they were also a lot of fun

― Clay, Thursday, May 29, 2014 2:04 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just caught that last ep (8?) with the whole file room banishment and the jump in timeline. Threw me a bit, but the cliffhanger was niiiiiice.

And I like how I'm now kinda really starting to hate Lester, instead of feel he's the underdog.

Malvo's limp bangs are throwin' me off... interesting/odd that characters address him as "young man," or whatever. He's got a sort of pretty boy thing going on.

I dug the time jump, though I found Lester's complete personality overhaul a bit much to swallow.

Yeah it was a bit too quick, it felt. I spose the whole idea was the "I got away with it" renewed confidence, but it all feels like its bracing for a big crash.

Just caught that last ep (8?) with the whole file room banishment and the jump in timeline. Threw me a bit, but the cliffhanger was niiiiiice.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, June 9, 2014 11:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

for some reason i had it in my head that the season was 8 episodes long so i was watching that whole thing like it was a finale and it totally felt like one to me. was surprised later that day to look something up and see there were 2 more episodes coming.

i'm kind of "i've come this far, might as well see it through" about it all, though. as of episode 6 i've felt downright embarrassed for this show.

Huh, I'm really loving it! THo this latest one was paced rather strangely.

Yeah I think it's been pretty much ace front to back so far.

my favourite bit was the awkward Molly-Gus romance building, felt like they skipped that forward too soon.

I didn't have a problem with the time skip. A year is a long time. And you know, it's tv. Just go with it.

yeah i like the idea of doing the jump forward in the middle of the season, kinda like that better than when i thought they'd done it in the finale, where that's more of a predictable move.

although rmde at HEY LOOK NOW WE HAVE A PREGNANT LADY COP

Possibly my favourite thing on (UK) TV, at the moment though I do hope it is only *this* series.

I liked that there was a point where I (kind of) wanted Lester to get away with it.

is there any rationale for why malvo kills hess, beyond pure caprice?

or why he lets the deaf hitman go?

He kills a policeman just to free mr wrench when he could have killed him. Probably because of some hit-man code thing.

he says something like "you got closer than anybody ever has." meaning... you got closer to killing me than anybody has? my hat is off to you, sir?

i would love to see mr. wrench (that's his name?) some more, he's possibly my favorite character after solverson

He is actually a deaf actor and yeah he has been one of the most distinctively watchable people in this series, with his partner in crime of course.

he is kind of the best. but i don't quite buy adam goldberg as a hitman no matter how badass he cranks it. and tbh i'm not really buying billy bob either. not to say i don't appreciate all billy bob's little actor's business, his fey shuffling steez, his menacing calm, etc but c'mon. now the guy that played hess, i'd buy him offing a couple of fools.

I really enjoyed goldberg, more just the deep friendship between him + wrench. They only work together these two and become quite vulnerable on their own.

he says something like "you got closer than anybody ever has." meaning... you got closer to killing me than anybody has?

I was confused by that too, bf agrees with you and said thats what he meant. I didnt twig at first the little key was the handcuff key either. Whys he want him to be able to escapeso he can "look him up later"? I was a bit baffled at that bit.

His organisation have all been killed by Malvo, he's deaf and his partner (more than business?) is dead. Dude is alone and nothing to look forward to than a life in jail - I figured Malvo thought it would make them even, unwritten hitman code and all that.

That makes sense. I forgot to link all that to the mad shooting spree in the office thing. a lot happened in the last couple eps.

Malvo never got his money off the supermarket guy did he? Figured he was doing all that more for a chuckle than the cash though.

i have a grim suspicion that the show sees malvo as a kind of motivationless "joker" character which is just... ugh

malvo is sort of a Chigurh character. show feels like a "greatest hits of the cohen themes" mashup.

this last episode tho -- such a bleak ending

All caught up now and this fucking show

i miss when malvo seemed more puckish (goading the kid to piss in the gas tank) rather than just a guy who blasts holes through everything at the drop of a hat

i liked the idea that he was a principled, crafty hitman who was capable of the occasional murder of pique, but now he's this angel of death who marches through public spaces offing people without a second thought

while a handful of good actors survey the wreckage with a solemn "oh jeez"

I can't remember what he Malvo said but didn't he explain why he was giving Wrench the key immediately before doing so?

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q686/tinyservants/Screenshot2014-05-23at32951PM_zps23b2d380.png

YEah that latest episode, man. Cant wait to see how it all unravels in the last episode.

that scene where malvo turns up at molly's dad's place was brilliant.

it was a hitchcock type scene where pure evil is pitted against a benevolent type.

Loved Lester thinking about the orange coat and dressing his wife in it. I still think if he avoids getting killed and Malvo does then he can get away with it all.

I reckon Malvo will get him, but what villainy if he gets away with this shit!

Edit: Molly will save him from Malvo and get him after killing Malvo.

that scene where malvo turns up at molly's dad's place was brilliant.

Yes, that was great. How immediately he knew the guy was evil/up to no good. Hence the comment about seeing the less-than-animal in serial killers. He knew, and he knew Malvo knew.

xelab: yeah that'd be the best ending but the show's been bleak enough I wouldnt put it past them for something way more awful to happen (Gus dies/Molly dies/Lester kills Malvo and gets away with the lot/etc)

A bleak ending would be unforgivable, but yeah it might on the way.

Maybe Mr Wrench will come back and kill everyone and then sign "screw you guys, yah?" over their inert corpses.

Hah! That would be cool! Or if he came back for Malvo and murdered him for being a condescending prick!

was pretty disappointed we didn't get a malvo/solverson/fbi standoff in the cafe. getting EXTREMELY wound up by malvo's sixth sense bullshit. what was that line about the garden of eden? he's not going to get his comeuppance, though, is he.

It's being described as "last episode in the season" (as opposed to "last episode"), which might have some impact on how it pans out.

Season 2 touted as all new characters/storyline though.

yeah, i think they're doing standalone plotlines and casts each season

Ah, okay - hadn't seen that.

I imagine there'll be some minor plot point that calls back to this season, as with the buried money.

was pretty disappointed we didn't get a malvo/solverson/fbi standoff in the cafe

I dunno, I liked the suspense of his wary standoff with Molly's dad and then leaving-as-she-arrived thing. I know its a bit cliched.

in the end, some good performances but it really did become a dour slog

wait so gus figures out where malvo's hideout by asking a wolf where it is

that is how the case got solved

and alison tolman's out of the frame, pushed out of the climax by the script as cruelly as sandra bullock in demolition man

the elusive and supernatural malvo, suddenly made flesh, reeling with pain, methodically mending himself in excruciating closeup, oh hi it's gus, bang bang

FARGO

IT'S MY THING
SHE GETS TO BE CHIEF

and alison tolman's out of the frame, pushed out of the climax by the script as cruelly as sandra bullock in demolition man

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, June 18, 2014 6:36 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i read an interview with the creator where he explained that there was a little meta element of them flashing forward and the viewer going 'oh so it WILL be a pregnant cop that saves the day' and they wanted to subvert that expectation. but i can definitely understand having that thought too.

i don't know if shooting malvo about 50 times while he's incapacitated on a sofa is really "saving the day" :/

::rolls eyes:: i was referring to the expectation of what she'd do, not what Gus ended up doing

always disappointed when writers don't have a better reason to do something than "subverting expectations." It's one thing if the desire to be unpredictable leads to a unpredictably fulfilling, but otherwise it just feels like vanity.

fittingly, dude's getting a lot of grief for announcing he wanted "mike yamagita" moments - but thinking that meant little bits of coeny rando, rather than lateral moments of revelation and plot advancement. admittedly i didn't realize the logic for the sccene when i first saw it, but i was a teenager and not running a TV series based on it.

There's an aspect of Molly be shunted to the side i could have gotten behind, esp tied to her anecdote to lester, but the whole climax was so sloppy i don't want to do to much thinking for the writers.

leads to an unpredictably fulfilling moment, i mean

yeah i'm not defending the overall vision at all, just noting what i read. it's been a while since i've been this annoyed at myself for sticking with a show through the whole season, in some ways i really found this show appalling.

there's definitely something in molly consenting to gus' request, then gus doing some macho take-out of malvo anyway and the two just glumly accepting what went down and scooting off to a tv dinner, but "gus senses the wolf's call, spots malvo taking leave, decides to wait for him to come home instead of telling anyone the suspect is on the loose, blasts him to hades on his couch and everyone just accepts the choices of the executioner mailman without qualm" is such a dumb way to do it

i dug a lot of the performances (though let's never ask keegan michael key to play a knockoff agent cooper again, please) but it was ersatz Coen to a fault by the end

if he'd named the show 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag, then I'd have been pleasantly surprised by the outcome

after he got shot i kind of wanted billy bob's face to CGI-morph into al pacino's

yeah far too often the show reminded me of the more curdled Very Bad Things end of the murderous black comedies that came into vogue after Fargo's success

yeah it's funny that "well, somebody's seen fargo" would have been a slam of a movie 15 years ago but now "somebody's seen fargo!" is a TV selling point

so let me get this straight, the show's main writer based the climax on what he imagined my memories of an 18-year-old movie would be?? thanks guy, total curveball, you did it

for the record pretty much the only thing i remember about fargo the movie is the trunk of somebody's car opening one time

http://robsmovievault.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/600full-feeling-minnesota-screenshot.jpg

#FargoSeason2

i did like the evolution of bob oedenkerk's character and i'm always glad to see keith carradine but honestly its bigger news if I DON'T appreciate the presence of Bob Oedenkerk and Keith carradine on your show

*skims* woah woah wait are you guys talking about the finale *covers eyes, havent seen it yet*

As noted above, the show had a lot of great performances, and also a lot of great little moments and a wonderful facility for inducing dread and anxiety. And it looked great. And I basically don't feel like it has any real rewatchability beyond some of those particular moments and performances. It feels more than a little shaggy doggish after the fact. The entire Oliver Platt storyline, for example, feels super tacked on and perfunctory and basically only there to tie the show into the movie. Yanagita-lite, if you will.

the platt storyline served to bring malvo into minnesota in the first place iirc? but i agree, and i agree with your assessment of the show in general - both its strengths and its weaknesses

Another element of the show I wish i'd seen more self-awareness of the show is that Malvo was really, really, REALLY bad at his job.

scratch that second "the show"

dude went undercover as a dentist to find stephen root's brother, gets cornered by an old acquaintance in the elevator and then just blows stephen root and two women away right there?

hotel security was also pretty lax, you'd think the bodies would have been discovered and the place would have been on lockdown before lester and his wife slipped out

completely bungled the oliver platt gig too

ok well he did figure out who the blackmailer was and got him killed in the most dramatic fashion possible, but there was a lot of collateral damage

Yeah, but I feel like Malvo got into the hitman game largely for the potential of collateral damage. He was way more into sowing seeds of chaos than he was about being a professional killer.

Yeah I got his motivation, I'm talking about why mobs would hire him. His track record as we saw it was pretty shitty with a lot of recklessness.

That he wasn't actually good at this but lucky no one interrupted his bloodbaths and assaults in large public buildings.

this basically summed it up for me

http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/tv-review-fargo-season-1.html

I want the show to be smarter about its dreamlike craziness: less wanton, more deliberate; more attentive to internal logic, and not as excited to get us to the next blowout set piece. I want it to be as great — consistently great — as the art that inspired it, and that clearly means so much to it.

Another element of the show I wish i'd seen more self-awareness of the show is that Malvo was really, really, REALLY bad at his job.

if you're bothered that people have critiques, maybe this isn't the right board for you?

also weird to call a show where a crying, bound dude gets blown away by cops while a lonely choir boy sings in the background "fun"

if anything i wish the show had more fun stuff like malvo goading the kid to piss in the gas tank

feel like fun was mostly out the door by the time ItsAlwaysSunny guy and adam goldberg were dispatched

lotta critique there

croup otm

i feel like at a certain point they should've just gone 50 Shades Of Gray and disassociated the show entirely from its supposed source material. probably before the last few episodes where it just became Corky St. Clair: Unstoppable Killing Machine.

Lol

also weird to call a show where a crying, bound dude gets blown away by cops while a lonely choir boy sings in the background "fun"
― da croupier, Thursday, June 19, 2014

so what was the riddle again?
what was the point of the glove story, I'm tired and idgi were the gloves the wives
I hope they stop with the 'answer a question with a seemingly unrelated story/riddle/etc' next time around

i didn't totally get the gloves thing at first, but i think it's something about selfishness - on some level it's absurd to throw your glove out the window in hopes it will find its pair, but it's just as absurd to keep one glove. and lester is the kind of person who couldn't even fathom letting go of that remaining glove, destroying more and more lives in a futile attempt to protect himself

the gloves story made sense -- the other riddle i didn't hear the answer he figured out before he shot up malvo tho?

the "why do humans see so many shades of green" bit his wife solved way back

xps da croupier, that makes sense
not really fair that he got that one about the fox and the rabbit, he already did that one in The Office

on some level it's absurd to throw your glove out the window in hopes it will find its pair, but it's just as absurd to keep one glove. and lester is the kind of person who couldn't even fathom letting go of that remaining glove, destroying more and more lives in a futile attempt to protect himself

THANK YOU, that metaphor was bugging the shit out of me, I knew it was somehow related to his involvement in the deaths but I couldnt slot it in.

I did enjoy this all the way thru tbh, but I was bothered by the fact Gus killed the guy and got a commendation for bravery for it. Um, he's not a cop anymore. He hid in wait for the guy in his own home. I dont care what Malvo did, thats straight up murder!

It was a most cowardly un-rewardworthy type of execution, it isn't like Malvo had a chance as he was peacefully tending to his severe leg injury, unarmed and some home invader fucker comes out of the shadows and homicides him repeatedly! I still enjoyed it as well, it was a good series.

I was bothered by the fact Gus killed the guy and got a commendation for bravery for it. Um, he's not a cop anymore. He hid in wait for the guy in his own home. I dont care what Malvo did, thats straight up murder!

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Monday, June 23, 2014 12:50 AM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well molly and gus both have practice covering up the consequences of gus' itchy trigger finger so maybe they came up with some story about malvo threatening them or something. i mean, i agree, they kind of would have had to because otherwise it's like "you did what??"

am i forgetting a moment earlier where they established that this was malvo's home? like, wasn't he staying at a hotel in the first episode? a year later, does he actually have a full-on abode in the area or was this somewhere he was just hiding in?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

if it was set in the modern era i'd just assume he decided to AirBnB since the hotel didn't go so well last time, but it's allegedly 2007

Well I used home in the loose sense, it was his hideout I guess.

still funny that he bothered to get a "hideout" when chasing lester back from vegas, considering his previous lodging when he was in town

could be some kinda company safehouse too

wouldn't he have stayed there the year before?

and neither time was he there on company business - he got into an accident leaving st paul the first time, was chasing lester the second. not really any "company" business in Bemidji

Maybe we were meant to infer it was some random's house he killed to hole up in.

i still wish airbnb was a possiblity

TBH the snowmobile chase at the end was comically pathetic. Maybe that was the point.

the snowmobile chase was up there with the It's Always Sunny guy death as one of the moments that made me feel deeply embarrassed for the Coens that their name is attached to this in any way at all

THIN ICE

eh, they've had worse

http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads//2012/11/gambit-poster-600x451.png

feel like this show's bone-headed script was constantly being rescued by tremendous acting and cinematography

bit like True Detective

Agree that the ending wasn't the most satisfying, and the whole plot of the show probably crumbles to pieces if examined too closely but nonetheless I found it consistently thoroughly enjoyable. Fantastic performances, very atmospheric, very funny.

It feels more than a little shaggy doggish after the fact.

Oh, totally. This doesn't bother me, in fact I like shaggy dog stories.

Came away with a bizarre sense of "Gus isn't good enough for Molly" ... by which I mean ... he shot someone he didn't need to and (I could have got the timeline wrong here), had he acted earlier, he could have saved some lives.

Yeah he was a total idiot.

this show is amazing—just caught up on it

soooooo much better (funnier, more creative, etc) than the "other" one-season-storyline crime show that everyone slobbered over this year

i also think it's the first show i've seen that seems really obviously influenced by the i guess you would say formal qualities of breaking bad... like the mini-movie openings, usually set in some strange location and/or featuring characters you don't know

and the dentist thing was incredible.

can't say i was super wild about the oliver platt storyline or key & peele. but otherwise A+

I liked it fine, but I think I'd appreciate shows like this so much more if I knew going in that plot/story was at the end of the showrunners' list of priorities (or, less charitably, capabilities). Because it's a lovely showcase for all of the other elements.

"Fargo > True Detective" is some Armond White shit imo

so much better.

come on. you can all safely admit you were wrong about true detective (or at least quietly pretend you never thought it was that great à la every movie critic ever and american beauty / crash / etc) now.

this show actually featured a female character who was a real human being!

I'd agree with the Fargo > TD logic at the halfway point of Fargo but honestly think I preferred the koopa's castle climax over Malvo v Mailman.

I just don't think Fargo was that fun and creative in the end and I think TD did better by its actors.

If anything, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a lot of backpedaling on the plaudits for Fargo now that it's over. I'd argue that True Detective (while not any kind of apex of the medium) was better if only for McConaughey, generally, and his shootout in the projects specifically. That scene was all time.

that scene was so ridiculous and show-offy in retrospect

Again, though, as showcases for a lot of talented people who I hope get a bunch of awesome work in the future, they're both top notch.

As far as ridiculous showoffy shoot outs go, greatly preferred tds to fargos panning around walls over corny foley art

y'know, while fargo was nice enough not to introduce its female characters T&A first, I dunno if I'd say Michelle Monaghan was playing a "real human being" any less than Tolman. and all the other women on fargo were wives-who-got-in-the-way, so i wouldn't pat it too hard on the back.

both shows were overambitionus and were disappointingly macho, but TD didn't vacillate between glibness (that fargo shootout) and dread (the fincher-esque dispatching of the alwayssunny guy) in a failed attempt to imitate the sensibility of the movie it was named after.

also, slock, if you don't wanna be compared to armond, i wouldn't respond to the comparison by describing the failings of straw-critics

were disappointingly macho

I dunno, Fargo mocked/critiqued macho posturing a lot more than TD did.

i'd definitely agree td was more macho, but then it didn't directly compare itself to the movie fargo

i barely remember the movie fargo so *shrug emoticon*

and michelle monaghan was playing, basically, both fairly exhausted "angry wife" AND "sex object" (for BOTH characters!) cliches

i think it's a bit dismissive to say she was playing a "sex object," butt-first introduction aside. it was a familiar archetypal relationship, but i don't think it was any less formed than Marge Rising.

you should see the movie fargo again, you'd love it

The movie Fargo is better than either of these series by a mile.

otm

and pretty much any movie involving a love triangle could be described as having a "sex object" (for BOTH characters!) in it.

are you really trying to tell me that the portrayal of women in TD was progressive

no and you know that

the marge story is about a woman, unfairly mansplained to and marginalized, who proves herself and accomplishes something. if you want to dismiss that as "marge rising" that's on you

how the hell do you get from "disappointingly macho" to progressive

slock, you keep moving the goalposts. i said i thought monaghan's character was as nuanced as tolman's (you said she didn't play a "real human being"), which isn't the same thing as arguing her arc was a feminist triumph

the men in fargo are weak, stupid, corrupt, fearful and/or greedy. even the love interest! i would say that's a hell of a lot more interesting and progressive than TD's brooding guys and sexy ladies/victims.

uh pretty much every man in td was portrayed as that except for mateo. and every woman in fargo except for tolman.

she is a much more nuanced and interesting character than m-mon's angry wife cheated on by her very serious detective husband

most of the men in TD are brooding serious interrogators of the universe and its moral complexity, or cartoonishly monstrous predators

btw, this argument aside, i wonder what all that past stuff that her dad refers to is all about, and whether we'll see it play out in the coming seasons (the sioux falls/sitting on the front porch stuff). at first i thought it was a reference to the movie but i guess not

again, i'm not saying anything GOOD about TD re feminism, representation, etc. Just that you're overstating Fargo's accomplishments.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2014/06/23/140623crte_television_nussbaum?currentPage=all

On almost every front, the creators have removed potential sources of ambiguity or pathos: the Nygaards have no child, and nearly all the victims of the two men’s cons are contemptible figures, often in sexualized ways. Lester’s bully’s widow is a money-grubbing slattern (played with admittedly hilarious gusto by Kate Walsh, who grabs the role with greasy palms); his sister-in-law is a bimbo who complains, “You don’t cheat on Miss Hubbard County”; and Malvo’s Barbie-like fiancée offers him her thumb up his butt as kinky payment for her diamond ring.

I don't think you watched a True Detective, s1ocks.

he did, he's just armonding up a storm

With the exception of Tollman, almost all of the characters on Fargo, male or female, were caricatures.

and tollman's playing a pretty 2d copy of an iconic character with no real arc. She's right, no one listens, she continues being right, some people listen, the end.

the nygaards have no child?!?!? i take it all back

silly reason to recant, but we'll take it

#noooo

It's great that Fargo had that one good female role, but I don't think the characters played by Kate Walsh, Rachel Blanchard, or Susan Park were high marks for feminism on television.

Actually, now that I think about it, the degree of caricature varied based on a character's proximity to Molly. Her immediate family and coworkers were a bit more grounded, but the further you went past that Cone of Tollman, the more cartoonish the character.

it's just hard to champion fargo the tv show as How It Should Be Done if you, like, remember the movie

they should have just gone with expanding and improving the world of Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead

It's vaguely reminiscent of my feelings about remakes and cover songs: take something that ranges from somewhat lacking to shitty and make it better. It's almost always a losing proposition to go putting your own spin on something that was done really well the first time.

i wonder what all that past stuff that her dad refers to is all about, and whether we'll see it play out in the coming seasons (the sioux falls/sitting on the front porch stuff).

That caught my eye too, but afaik the new season (if there'll be one) wikl be a new story with new characters.

yeah but there's nothing to say it won't be tangentially connected to S1 the way S1 was to the movie

I suspect it will be.

speaking of macho posturing i was pretty grossed out by the big thumbs up the show gave guns-on-the-front-porch-through-the-generations moment tbh

like great, we got gramps working on 36 hours with no sleep and a loaded shotgun, definitely encourage that kind of thing yee fuckin haw

haha except it was totally pointless and nothing actually happened

I just figured that kind of shit is standard in the US.

would have been nice to have a beat or two of nothing and then the kid is like "i'm going to go get my DS i'll be right back"

just realized that brooding serious interrogators of the universe and its moral complexity could be used to describe Gus as much as it could Woody's character in TD

he's a very small role in fargs, whereas TD spends 95% of its time with those Serious Men

Are you fucking kidding me

nope, that's pretty much how it goes down

i definitely agree he's the most Serious Man in that show, and kind of the only example of that sort of machismo, but if you're suggesting that makes the shows somewhat equivalent on that score, *you* are the one who's kidding *me*

Dude let me know when you settle on what you're actually claiming about these shows, beyond "Fargo is like sooo much better"

slocki otm that's pretty much.... *drinks entire beer, burps, spins in chair, conjugates 5 spanish verbs in 8 tenses each, spins very very slowly back to table* ...how it goes down, brother.

Dude let me know when you settle on what you're actually claiming about these shows, beyond "Fargo is like sooo much better"

― da croupier, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 11:04 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's basically what i'm saying tho

also, fargo is not nearly as self-serious, brooding and borderline misogynistic as the vastly overpraised TD

Ok just wanted to make sure you didn't think you'd come up with a reason that's held up under scrutiny

Xpost oh wait you do

I think the key words of that are "not as" and "overpraised"

Armond

haha dude this isn't like... a court of law

and like... i get why you think it's a slam-dunk argument to call me "armond," but since when is it like... a sin to push back against critical consensus on something?

i mean if i was trying to claim "the following" was better than TD or something i'd get it

but like... i'm saying that a show with a metacritic score of 85 is better than a show with a metacritic score of 87 and you're acting like i'm burning shakespeare's folios or something

always fun to watch when the brass tacks come out and "this show is good / this show is also good" conversation devolves into subtweetable ad hominem

subtweetable? i believe we are all addressing each other directly here sir

My guess with respect to the shows as a whole (as opposed to individual and relatively unimpeachible elements of high quality contained within the shows) is that the critics who were praising True Detective while it was airing will mostly stand by their praise now that it's over while the critics who were praising Fargo while it was airing will be a little more all like "oh hey what's that thing over there oops look at the time gotta go" now that it's over.

xp "apropos of subtweeting" then: not direct slander just throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air back and forths of "are you fucking kidding me" and "you're acting like i'm burning shakespeare's folios"

i think it'll be the opposite BUT... the way that plays out will almost certainly have to do with whether the shows' S2 are any good or not

xp

the difficult second season

Yeah, it's going to be hard to judge, given this newfangled season-long anthology series model that shows are employing nowadays.

i do think this model is great in some ways, especially with self-contained story arcs that just get silly when they're stretched out (didn't they like break out of and then back into prison a whole bunch of times in prison break??) but starting from scratch could also go badly wrong i guess, esp if you're attached to characters/performers/etc

i still think the best way would be to keep the same cast but have them playing fresh new characters!

a la american horror story

what a great idea

Slock, its just ironic that the qualities you're praising Fargo for avoiding re TD are the same ones people regret Fargo added to its source material (brooding, borderline misogyny, etc). My "are you fucking kidding me" was in reaction to you claiming that the sympathetic male lead on Fargo, the instigator of the climax with the closest thing to a heroic arc on the show, was a "very small role".

I keep mentioning armond because bending over backward to maintain a binary with you on one end and critics on the other is armond white 101.

The guy literally does a "movie I liked > similar movie critics liked" every Christmas

They haven't really said a whole lot about their second season intentions, I don't think, so I'm mostly just speculatin' on a hypothesis here, but Fargo is kind of my ideal version of this model: maintain threads but shift perspectives. Not unlike some of the Wire seasons. You maintain audience investment but you're still able to shake things up pretty radically.

I'm hoping they set it some time pre-fargo the movie, as it could really use a new trapping, like mullets or something, to gussy up another "normal people saying oh jeez at a bloodbath" story

The Young Jerry Gunderson Adventures

and that boy...grew up...to be...Mike Yanagita

i don't have a lot of hope for TD s2 or Fargo s2, but at least with True D they can do basically anything with season 2 as long as it knocks people on their ass and looks gorgeous. Meanwhile Fargo season 2 is relatively stuck in setting/tone/archetypes/etc, because it's all in tribute to a specific movie rather than a genre

nah, Hawley has intimated they might set it somewhere else entirely. He doesn't sound overly keen on another season in general though

does "somewhere else entirely" mean, like, northern michigan? points to hawley if next season they show the word fargo, play the score, and then walk under palm trees for an hour, but i'm dubious

http://anythinghorror.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/thehauntinginconnecticut2-banner.png?w=640&h=392&crop=1

Season 2 will take place in the Fargo in Burkina Faso.

see... im over the fact that its a tribute to a (20 year old) movie. i dont really care, as long as they do something fun/interesting/surprising with it. which this show did in spades! i think BBT def had a lot to do with that.

billy was terrific before the show decided his response to everything would be "shoot it"

come on, the "i'm a rascal" dentist stuff was delightful

it was, only the show decided he'd throw away those months of effort by executing three people in a public elevator

that was great! such a funny punchline

particularly when he was like "well, 6 months of working this guy gone, but, hey, the look on his face when i pulled out the gun, right? classic."

it's just odd the mafia kept giving him work when he rarely successfully finished a job and was likely to kill large swaths of the mafia while bungling said job

still wish the show was basically an anti-heroic kung fu, with billy bob going from town to town on assignments, fucking up peoples' lives along the way. only i'd have him actually be good at his job rather than just lucky no one catches him during public executions

haha i did notice that practically nothing he did came to anything (profitable, at least)

swear to god when you wrote BBT my first thought was "the fuck does Big Bang Theory have to do with this?"

critics may lavish praise on true detective, while the big bang theory's generous populism goes unrewarded

I'm wondering if the comments about "1978" and what her dad saw back then were put in as the potential seed for season 2.

"well, molly...i hate to say this, but back in the mid-70s, your father was...well, I was...easy."

Fargo Season 2: Three Gals and a Little Sherriff, co-starring Geraldine Chaplin, Lily Tomlin & Christina Raines.

I'm wondering if the comments about "1978" and what her dad saw back then were put in as the potential seed for season 2.

― akm, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 3:39 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thats what im saying yo

Key and Peele would have immeasurably improved TD, just as a counter to some of McConnaughty's more po-faced monologues. Even though they are playing ridiculous characters it felt quite tragic when Malvo got them, almost like one of his worst atrocities for me.

i wish key & peele weren't in fargo, not just cuz they gave key those dumb "is this reality?" bits but because now i'm worried they won't do a sketch as the detectives enduring mateo's rants in TD

they were the rosencrantz and gildenstern of the show.

speaking of macho posturing i was pretty grossed out by the big thumbs up the show gave guns-on-the-front-porch-through-the-generations moment tbh

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 12:25 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like great, we got gramps working on 36 hours with no sleep and a loaded shotgun, definitely encourage that kind of thing yee fuckin haw

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 12:26 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...

I just figured that kind of shit is standard in the US.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 12:27 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah me too. Am I supposed to object to a show btw for doing things I personally object to? I'd never watch anything if that was the case.

i don't have a lot of hope for TD s2 or Fargo s2, but at least with True D they can do basically anything with season 2 as long as it knocks people on their ass and looks gorgeous. Meanwhile Fargo season 2 is relatively stuck in setting/tone/archetypes/etc, because it's all in tribute to a specific movie rather than a genre

― da croupier, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 12:27 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nah fargo s2 is all raising arizona, and if it get picks up again they're doing hudsucker

oh god imagine a big lebowski show

About the adult version of the kid who left his homework in the Dude's car, of course.

Hawley has confirmed they're doing Sioux Falls '79 for S2

Came back to this after several weeks where I'd gone on holiday and become busy and forgotten to finish off the series. I think the break really put into perspective what a marvellously plotted shows this is.

Though that falls apart a bit in the finale.

always does with these things. i long for a show that has a satisfying ending. ** spoiler ** even breaking bad felt ever-so-slightly like a cop-out what with the spray gun thing

I'm hoping someone who's not seen the end reads that and thinks it somehow involves Walt and a supersoaker.

Thought the end of BB was absolutely as good as could've been hoped, but that's for another thread.

I liked the ending. It wasn't a big surprise or anything and I felt like there are unanswered questions, but it was satisfying enough for such a good season. I'm assuming that the next season will be about her father in the 1970's and the horrible thing he saw.

Pretty much been confirmed that it is.

It musta been mighty terrible!

Oh, you want new details on Fargo’s second season? You betcha, we got ‘em!

During TCA’s winter press tour, FX CEO John Langraf revealed that Ronald Reagan will figure into the second season of the network’s hit anthology series.

The new chapter travels back to 1979, where a young Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson, played in the first season by Keith Carradine) returns from Vietnam and begins to investigate a local gang and a mob syndicate.

“It covers something that was referenced in the first installment by Lou Solverson, Molly Solverson’s [Allison Tolman] father,” Langraf said. “It’s a big sprawling, in some ways, more comedic season, though at times, a very serious show. It’s set in the late ’70s against the backdrop of Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for President of the United States. Reagan is a character in it.”

After the panel, Landgraf confided to EW that Fargo will actually be casting the role of Reagan, not using archival footage. “Reagan will be interacting with our characters,” he said, noting that the role has not yet been cast.

Joining Wilson in the second season: Ted Danson as Hank Larsson, Lou’s unflappable father-in-law; Nick Offerman as Karl Weathers, a local lawyer; Jean Smart as Floyd Gerhardt, the matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family; Jeffrey Donovan as her eldest son, Dodd Gerhardt; Angus Sampson as her inarticulate middle son, Bear Gerhardt; Kieran Culkin as her youngest son, Rye Gerhardt; and Kirsten Dunst as small town beautician Peggy Blomquist, and her husband Ed (Jesse Plemons), who attempts to be supportive of his wife’s self-discovery, even if he doesn’t quite understand it.

In that vein, Langrad noted that feminism will play a big role in the second season. “A lot of what it’s about is the cultural transformation that was going on at the time,” Landgraf said. “It’s about the sense that the war has come home. It’s also about feminism, so there are some really significant female characters. It’s a big, sprawling, incredibly ambitious series. Noah just channeled the Coen brothers and tells stories in a way that’s so fresh and so surprising.”

The second season of Fargo is slated to begin production on Monday, with the 10-episode anthology miniseries expected to premiere in the fall.

As long as they keep the humor, I'm in

It’s a big, sprawling, incredibly ambitious series. Noah just channeled the Coen brothers

i love the juxtaposition of these thoughts - the grand ambition of imitating of coens

i also love how these guys talk about the coen brothers like they're dead

sometimes i look at the wind and think, 'what would the coens do?' well, not literally what the coens would do, which is not return my phone calls.

window

well it can't be as bad as True Detective S2, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVNi8gUEy4

I haven't watched S1, but I probably should just to get the mood of the show (I realize the two seasons don't appear to be connected except for the Fargo part).

they all look like they're having fun playing dress up

actually Patrick Wilson is playing the younger version of a character from Season 1 JF

this looks fun!

first season was a blast.

the first one was cartoonish but had a sickening layer of horror that ran beneath it all - this one just looks cartoonish tbh

Way up thread someone suggested a show just following BBT's character all over the country. I'd so totally watch that!!

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-fargo-winningly-boogies-back-to-the-70s-for-season-2

First ep v good
Lots of 70s brown and tan and some surprising casting

the credits ordering at the end felt like a bit of a spoiler

still, good premiere - no reason to think it won't best s1

Now that you mention it, yeah. But i wouldn't expect KD to play a minor role in a tv show anyway.

The breaking bad alum was cool to see too.

Very promising! Nothing else on TV has this tone.

The visual affectations were kind of all over the place, which could be a red flag in terms of having the discipline to resolve its many threads satisfyingly (definitely an issue with s1 for me). But the many threads they kicked off were intriguing, and its a GREAT cast for a TV show. Going in with fingers crossed this doesn't become AHS: Midwestern Mob.

jeffrey donovan is hilarious to me

Totally couldn't place that guy! But I really only know him from the occasional five minutes I've seen of burn notice.

Intriguing first ep. It felt like it veered into Spike Jonez ish territory at times with the split screening and stuff, but didnt distract me too much.

LOL seeing Angus Sampson in so much US TV and film lately.

BTW was the mention of McCain a goof? Was he known that long ago?

the scoring and music supervision on this easily the best thing about it imo

I'm already starting to have some of the same misgivings that I had about season 1. As encapsulated by the dog eating human ears out of a bucket.

BTW was the mention of McCain a goof? Was he known that long ago?

― I checked Snoops , and it is for real (Trayce)

I think he was maybe famous as a war hero before he became a politician?

My friend Dan is in this show now!!!!

You call Ted Danson "Dan"?

I think he was maybe famous as a war hero before he became a politician?

I figured that but was he a known figure back as far as 79... I wouldnt know tbh.

If only there were some way of finding out...

This is already infinity percent better than the first one on account of no Martin Freeman.

My one minor complaint so far is that Bokeem Woodbine's character is a little 'quirky but menacing assassin' by numbers.

What was the prog track playing after the scene in the typewriter shop, assuming it was riffing off the "we sound like a prog band" joke? Sounded like Tangerine Dream or somethin.

in general, the music this year (both original and period) has been excellent.
show is making me nervous in the more intense moments. the "get in the hole" bit got me weirdly anxious

loving these first three episodes so far.

I figured that but was he a known figure back as far as 79... I wouldnt know tbh.

which Vietnam War did you think he was a POW in?

I'm aware of when that was. I didnt think he'd be known to the average joe as a politician/political figure back then is all.

His father was a well known admiral and his captivity made the news. When he returned home it was fairly newsworthy and he did talk shows, etc.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-of-war-a-first-person-account

I feel like Nick Offerman's jacket in this episode would probably cost at least a thousand dollars today

McCain has said that Fargo is his favorite movie, so it's possible the shoutout was inspired by that

holy shit that episode is the best piece of television I have ever seen in my life and is probably going to stay that way for a really long time

you don't have to care about my tastes in shit but as personal points of reference, that was better than all of Homeland, all of True Detective, don't know from Breaking Bad but probably better than all of that because frankly Walter White was kind of a lame character imho (same with Boardwalk Empire - why was I supposed to care about any of those people again?) Anyway getting off topic - it's also probably as good as just about any acclaimed crime thriller you care to name. I was thinking The Departed myself.

holy shit folks! it was a REALLY GOOD episode! and we're only halfway through the season!

my guts are still untying themselves

also Bruce Campbell's Reagan impression + makeup are all wrong and perfect at the same time

poor Bokeem Woodbine and Ted Danson only got like 6 lines each it seems unfair but fuck it

also:

1. what's that red soda with the kiwi fruit on the label that they have at the butcher shop? Surely this is an important regional period detail, someone must know what this is

2. what the hell kind of over-th'-shoulder-boulder-holder do they have Kirsten Dunst wearing? Maybe ridiculous amounts of jiggle is supposed to be another period detail? IT'S DISTRACTING is what I'm saying

3. Camus! I read that last year.

this show is pretty top of the pile right now, yeah.

http://www.pitt.edu/%7Eslavic/courses/russ1771/labels/soda/kiwi.jpg
^this, right?

the scoring and music supervision on this easily the best thing about it imo
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Close? I want some upper midwestern child of the 70s to confirm. Wife is from Ohio, she's no help.

the Jeff Tweedy vox in this last episode finally broke the spell of awesome period 'choons (unless I misheard)

still feeling weirdly ambivalent towards this though it's consistently, passably entertaining. I did like Campbell as Reagan. dude has a gift for Americana pastiche.

I wonder what they're going to make of the UFO stuff. Seems to be mandatory to drop in exactly one moment or reference per episode. Probably the series ends with aliens kidnapping Peggy & Ed.

it just feels very late 70's to me.

yes, except for jeff tweedy...wtf

holy shit that episode is the best piece of television I have ever seen in my life and is probably going to stay that way for a really long time]

same here. been listening to the music from that episode all morning!

That was another brilliant episode, Offerman was hilarious man!

I didn't notice any UFO weirdness in this one. Going to rewatch though, will see if I somehow missed something this time.

does every ep have a UFO reference?

Yeah the UFO thing has me intrigued. The last ref was Molly's drawing, right?

(if an ep has just aired, no spoilz! I have to wait to DL it)

Or maybe avoid the thread till you've watched it? That's what I do.

Was wondering where they were going with the Offerman stuff, if it was just going to be a comic relief section, then they turned it round to one of the most tense scenes of the entire series. Brilliant. Also loved the sleaze-funk Man of Constant Sorrow over the credits.

Last episode gonna be Offerman's Emmy reel.

have my reservations with this show - referring to both seasons - some of the dialogue is too on the nose, e.g. some of the humorous dialogue intended to be folksy and demotic, or some of the villain soliloquys seem too transparently "writerly" at times, which tends to break my suspension of disbelief, has a brechtian effect on me that the show is clearly not going for

but

last two episodes have been great, the height of the show so far, some of the best stuff on tv right now (maybe the very best?)

despite the jabberwocky bit being the epitome of one of those things I just complained about

i thought the latest episode is the worst as far as writing goes

too transparently "writerly" at times

The "erstwhile on Fargo" before the last episode recap really does this for me, it's just trying too hard.

I really like this show though it took me a couple of episodes of the first season to get past the "yah you betcha" shtick that never actually sounds like any of the Minnesotans and Dakotans I know. I finally understood Southerners complaining about accents that varying levels of "close enough" but never quite right, or how a character from Alabama will use a Virginia accent, etc.

The girl at the front of the butcher shop though sounds exactly, freakishly like a friend of mine from near Sioux City, South Dakota. I was surprised when I looked her up and she's from Vancouver, so maybe my friend actually has a Canadian accent.

adored "erstwhile on Fargo"

The writerly artifice is part of the point.

sure know a lot of words carl

oh yeah so is offerman's character called carl weathers, he is isn't he?

season seems to be kicking into gear a bit

grinds to a halt any time "Mike Milligan" is on screen tho. The Jabberwocky bit was a nadir

Oh I enjoyed that. You could hear how much fun Bokeem Woodbine was having, just under the surface.

I think that might be part of the show that I kind of love, is how the cast almost all seem to be just having a great time with it.

(which verges on breaking the suspension of disbelief at times I guess but I definitely am not watching this for its verisimilitude)

casting is actually my main problem with this season. The Gerhardt brothers are particularly terrible (and they killed off the best one almost immediately!)

Angry Gerhardt seems to have one facial expression

The Gerhardt brothers are particularly terrible (and they killed off the best one almost immediately!)

Parenthetical is true but I love seeing Burn Notice all fat-faced, and simply enjoying Gussie Sampson having a role in a prestige US TV series paid off this week as his glower has risen to a simmer

love this show and all but the amount of coen needle drops and references in the last episode pretty much fourth-walled me

Season 1 was so much better. This is fine tho.

This is on fire at the moment imo. How the hell does Ed know about Mike Milligan though? Their paths have never crossed right.

Yeah Season 2 is cool but there's no one who comes close to Billy Bob.

I rewound "You're a shit cop, you know that, right?" about 49 times. I may have to try and make that into a ringtone.

Ed knows about Mike Milligan from Dodd, I'm assuming.

I spun it back up on the DVR tonight just for

0. ...the breakfast king of Loyola!
1. Danny Boy
2. You're a shit cop, you know that, right?
3. Molly's alien writing all over the study wtf!?!?!?!? interrobang 11
4. "Gentlemen!" *bang* *slash* *stab* *huff, huff, huff*
5. White Denim's cover of "Just Dropped In"

Mainly just for 2, but it says something about this show and this season that I feel the need to stop and enjoy so many scenes. This is Mad Men with guns and snow.

Are they going to make an OST album for this season? Seems necessary. Seems like it should already be out, if so.

was wondering the same thing

http://open.spotify.com/user/michaelfabiano/playlist/7KR6PNPMKbVibxjGwOw6Yy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEJrT6TA8_Q

also i thought this was a pretty solid version of the track!

https://soundcloud.com/denis-michurov/blitzen-trapper-man-of-constant-sorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeZ0mC0Iqe8

https://soundcloud.com/whitedenim/just-dropped-in-to-see-what-condition-my-condition-was-in

Lisa Hannigan's Danny Boy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eKo6iL8P68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7yjMLNops

that should be everything except the tweedy track:
http://www.ibtimes.com/fargo-showrunner-noah-hawley-explains-snagging-wilcos-jeff-tweedy-song-cover-2177943

and the shakey graves cover of 'o death'

"You're a shit cop, you know that, right?"

Fuck that part cracked me up. These last 2 eps were staggeringly good. Is lil miss family traitor dead? It wasnt 100% clear.

i'm gonna say yes very much

the "alien writing" appears again in the bar where Hanzee gets his tequila.

also nice period accurate headline about the beginning of arctic satellite record keeping

jesus christ that was intense

I totally didnt get that it was meant to be Molly who wrote all those weird letterings? Wasnt that her grandads house?

Yup, you're right, that was Hank's study, not the Solversons'.

yeah ted damson has been doodling up a storm.

Weird, sad and frightening that Hanzee's M-16 is perfectly reasonable as a period-accurate firearm - even though it's miles away from the revolvers and shotguns and the other rifles everybody else is using to kill each other

Goddamn, this show just got so good.

Another thing I just noticed on 2nd viewing - scoring an extended slo-mo sequence with a drumline tattoo & a liberal helping of 32nd notes & triplets etc really helps to de-emphasize the slo-mo, unlike the usual treatment of drawn out chords and such other tropes. Really nicely done.

wait forks hang on have you been watching? this show has been tremendous!!!

oh yeah, i've been watching. Just mean to say that the last show i saw that made the leap from a very very good season one to a superlative "you need to be watching this" was The Americans. This is pretty much my fave show on teevee right now.

ah okay I took it the wrong way

I guess the UFO stuff is a reference to The Man Who Wasn't There? I barely remember that one.

last couple few eps have been so good.

Man that was intense. This show moves between and combines funny, intensely awkward, and horrifying so well and I have no idea what's going to happen to anyone other than Lou surviving until 2006.

Hanzee's M-16 is perfectly reasonable as a period-accurate firearm

AK-47s had been around for 32 years by that point as well. I don't know what I expected but him pulling that out when the cops showed up wasn't it.

i thought it was odd - he (i assume) killed the two cops, but left the guys that followed him out of the bar with off the hook with a bullet to the legs.

he was in a weird place. I like his unpredictability.

really enjoying this show though some of the plot is a little rando, only thing i really took issue with was the deux ex machina of ed blomquist reading "mike milligan thought to be holed up in x hotel" in the newspaper, which just seemed preposterous.

i would say the one thing i find unbecoming about the series is its tendency to make people of color or ethnicity either ridiculous stereotypes (the stoic indian hunter, the jewish mob boss) or some sort of weird "othering" (milligan's inscrutability). First season had similar issues; i suppose you could argue all the characters are over the top but i don't think you can find a single POC character this season that isn't some sort of intense and/or homicidal oddball.

I see all the characters as cartoonish, and take that as part of the charm - though I agree about Milligan in particular, his schtick is a little annoying. he's no Malvo thats for certain.

i get more salvo vibes from hanzee than milligan. especially the last episode.

milligan feels much more like mr. numbers from season 1 right down to the silent henchman

yup

Theres some symbolism bubbling under the surface all over this show that has me real curious. Its easy to miss things - I feel like I need to rewatch the last 2 eps.

What was with the hangman puzzle on the phonebooth Ed was in?
Did you notice how when Ed and Peggy were in the car escaping to the cabin, the splitscreen divided them and their conversation even tho they were in the same space?
What IS with all those alienese symbols?

Ed got hanged in the same episode!

....that did not occur to me, shit!

it's surprising how well Ed handles himself under duress so far (until being hanged).. jesse plemons is good in this series, plays character well

LOL I have just also realised that Ed staring at box of hamburger helper dumbly in the store = him thinking of mincing up Rye.

people of color or ethnicity either ridiculous stereotypes or some sort of weird "othering"

I'll give you and anybody else the point that all the surviving heroes in season 1 and 2 are white folks. However, on the argument that all minority folks are either ridiculous stereotypes or "funny lookin' in a general sense" - have you paid attention to the white people? They're the worst, weirdest people Earth has to offer!

Did you notice how when Ed and Peggy were in the car escaping to the cabin, the splitscreen divided them and their conversation even tho they were in the same space?

They're on different planets during that sequence. Ed is like "we gotta plan. that's what matters." Peg is all fully actualizin' herself.

Hanzee's arbitrary who-dies-who-lives matrix is perhaps a little too obviously descended from Anton Chigurh in NCFOM, imho. That's why I'm hoping somehow he's in cahoots with the space aliens, that would be gratifying, I think

They're on different planets during that sequence.

yeah exactly! The split screen hammered that home nicely. Loved it.

Much as I hate reddit, theres a pretty good set of discussions on the fargo subreddit that are making me wanna go back and rewatch most of S2 again.

Ed got hanged in the same episode!

LOL I have just also realised that Ed staring at box of hamburger helper dumbly in the store = him thinking of mincing up Rye

However, on the argument that all minority folks are either ridiculous stereotypes or "funny lookin' in a general sense" - have you paid attention to the white people? They're the worst, weirdest people Earth has to offer!

Hanzee's arbitrary who-dies-who-lives matrix is perhaps a little too obviously descended from Anton Chigurh in NCFOM, imho.

I read the scene with Hanzee in the convenience store as a direct homage to No Country.

Also a clear Fargo the movie reference in this one with Peggy banging the TV to get reception.

yeah I'm hoping that they don't kill all the POC characters and the white couple get away with everything in the end. That would kind of piss me off.

did anyone else catch the "we're going crazy down there at the lake" reference?!

Yes, which was a lovely excuse to rewatch that scene from the movie.

This episode in the cabin was great. Going into the tv and watching the (Reagan?) war drama, the hanging, masterfully done

yeah, i think that was meant to be the movie ronnie mentioned that he lost when he was talking with our cop friend in the urinal

Season 3 will take place a couple years after the first season, EW has learned exclusively.

“It’s more contemporary,” showrunner Noah Hawley said when asked about the season 3 time period. “It’s set a couple years after season 1.”

Asked if this means some characters from the first season will return (or maybe even we’ll see older versions of characters from season 2), the writer-producer replied, “Potentially.”

The two seasons of Fargo have had entirely different casts, though one key character, Lou Solverson, was played by different actors in both seasons (Keith Carradine in season 1 and Patrick Wilson in season 2). Solverson’s daughter Molly (Allison Tolman) was a main character the first year, and a young minor character this year. Given that those two characters were in both seasons, one would suppose they’re among the most likely to continue in some capacity in season 3. But Hawley has also previously expressed some reluctance to put Molly Solverson through the dramatic wringer again, given her character’s satisfying season 1 arc.

We also asked Hawley if there were any hints about season 3 planted in the current season of Fargo, which FX recently renewed.

“There are going to be connections, the way the first year was connected to the movie and the second year was connected to the first, but I think part of the fun is figuring that stuff out and I wouldn’t want to take that away from anybody,” he said. “There will be definitely things that connect to something in our story.

More Allison Tolman would be awesome, but unlikely since she's signed up to do some sitcom about a talking dog apparently

I'm not sure how I feel about all that.

I guess I feel kind of like Sepinwall does in his recap (hitfix.com) but it was all a bit overstimulating

i wish they hadn't done the narration bit but otherwise the playing field seems mostly set. weird that was all so surprisingly anticlimactic.
as for the flying saucer...

flying saucer would have been absurd if it wasn't so clearly planned from the very beginning. narration was a bit wes anderson but it worked for me for whatever reason. there was some A+ violence in this episode. I hope Sam from CHeers doesn't die though.

also liked how Milligan shows up, looks around, gets back in his car and leaves.

Show has great tone but the native deciding what he does with no explanation is just ... Lazy writing and unfulfilling

we still may find out?
it was a good episode – but i feel like i should have liked that episode more than i did.
i feel like the style has shifted from Tarantino to more of a Guy Ritchie vibe.

and i don't think ** SPOILERS ** Hanzee killing Floyd Gerhardt was anticlimactic. i kind of jumped from my seat when that happened.

and ya – Mike's reaction was great... "Ok then." *leaves*

after the escape/hangman/haircut/shootout sequence, almost anything is anticlimactic

I also liked how "OK then" was set up from the beginning of the show so that Milligan's iteration of it is doing two things at once

I didn't like this episode. martin freeman voiceover means that he's responsible for my least favourite aspects of both seasons now. I guess all the ufo stuff theyd been putting in had to be a Chekhov's gun? but I basically hated it. not really sure why big beardy Gerhardt went after lou solverson in a murderous rage after hanzee killed his mother, rather than, you know, trying to get the guy who had just murdered his mother?

wondered that too.

Because Lou had just shot him in the head.

i thought that was hanzee who shot him in the ear? im confused.

no it was lou.

I didn't even realize that was Freeman. Also I like Freeman unlike apparently everyone else.

but the native deciding what he does with no explanation is just ... Lazy writing and unfulfilling

p sure the show has given us plenty of reasons to surmise why he might be doing these things.

they even had a small montage of possible things that have pissed him off in this episode!

no it was lou.

I didn't even realize that was Freeman. Also I like Freeman unlike apparently everyone else.

― akm

I like Freeman, just thought his accent in the first season was terrible - which is normal for brits doing North American accents tbf - and I wasn't into the framing device/voiceover in this episode.

Awesome episode, UFO and all. Bit confused with what happened with Lous wife tho? After she fell, and Molly found her, they sort of left it at that. I guess that'llcome up next week.

Yah

Molly went to get Noreen (the existentialist) and they all drove to the hospital.

fifty bucks says Hank and his daughter wake up in the same room together as inpatients

Ha, that'd be neat.

Yeah, no bet

the split screen with Wilson and Milioti was so well done

This show uses split screen and wipe edits better than any post 80's movie I can think of (hedging my bets for Kurosawa)

Mike Milligan on showing up at the motor motel:

http://i.imgur.com/XujHL.gif?noredirect

Ive been reading other commentary on this last ep, on TV.com, reddit and other places, and it is making me cranky how many people hated/were unpleasantly surprised by the UFO in the shootout. Its as if they forgot all the foreshadowing, or the whole damn reason the story kicked off (Rye being distracted by a UFO).

The last ep tonight is called Palindrome. One of the things not ever really explained til now is why that judge in ep1 was there. I'm wondering if somehow something'll come full circle to the start.

why the judge was in the restaurant or why he judge was targeted by rye? the latter is directly explained in episode one.

Why she was in the diner, I'm thinking. Tho yeah I'd forgotten about that weird typewriter scam thing.

I had forgotten that Rye saw the UFO.

Still doesn't make me like the UFO appearing during the shoot-out tho!

I was quite enjoying the mildly enigmatic nature of the ufo stuff, and was disappointed for a big, kind of terrible-looking, ufo showing up during a pivotal scene

The thing is, we're not neccesarily meant to believe an actual UFO appeared. Lou was being choked - he could have been hallucinating (likewise, Rye might have just seen the mylar balloon Lou wife found afterward). I dont actually mind either way, it was just a great moment of absurdity and humanity, really.

Look at these little humans, all wriggling on the ground, snuffing each others lights out. Look at them, from the POV of the aliens.

I thought it was brilliant.

Also, Hanzee saw a UFO as well, and there's an implication he was abducted when it happened (some hours suddenly passed).

Lovely ending, more focused on the human and resolution than spectacle.
The short sovereignty of the accountant king and the schism between law/family and crime/business felt ballsy and right and very satisfying. Just desserts indeed.

Yeah it was a nice change from the usual all out explosive finales that seem to be the thing these days. It got me a bit weepy.

yeah the word humanity kept leaping at me the last 2 eps. sweet ending. unexpected but welcomed. left with a few questions but that's good. is hanzee malvo?

wait I just did some reading and hanzee becomes Tripoli from s1 and I do not even recall that guy wtf

"Not apprehend, dead. Don't care heavily-guarded. Don't care into the sea. Kill and be killed. Head in a bag," he pronounces, before switching from English to his native tongue to add, "There's the message."
As it turns out, Hanzee isn't the first "Fargo" character to use that particular phrasing. Season 1, episode 6, "Buridan's Ass," introduces the head of the Fargo mob circa 2006, who's discussing what to do about Sam Hess's killer...

He looks a bit different but apparently Hanzee is the Mark Acheson character in S1, or at least he uses the identical expression
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhLNchIM4Hc/VhpZyRSdIeI/AAAAAAAAqdQ/dyEpUWXVko8/s640/fargo%2BI%2B51.jpg

And it has just dawned on me that the kids in the playground that he rescues from the bullies are Mr. Numbers and the deaf character Mr. Wrench in S1.

Yup.

So has anybody taken the notes from Hank's study and translated the writing inside the bar that Hanzee shot up?

ohhhh, shit. games within games on those last five posts. Somebody else is gonna have to do the work for me to shake out the details tho'.

Yeah I cant believe I didnt twig the signing kids were Numbers and Wrench. I was too preoccupied with the concept of communication/miscommunication, which I loved as an overarching theme, and made Hank's explanation of the signs in his study neat.

Though why were there signs in the bar?

I like the way if I had watched S2 first there are some deaths in S1 which would have elicited a far more emotional response.

although because of their tightness, Mr numbers death was actually quite sad.

I just want to go back now and watch both seasons in a binge! There was so many little details I missed. Also, Malvo, aw yeah.

Binge watching both again sounds like a very degenerate, but excellent plan!

alas ive not the time to, but I'd love to.

btw, this argument aside, i wonder what all that past stuff that her dad refers to is all about, and whether we'll see it play out in the coming seasons (the sioux falls/sitting on the front porch stuff).

Nice to see Slocki called this way back when :)

The one thing that I'm still disappointed about from the season two finale is that there was no epilogue for Karl Weathers or the Gerhardt kid with palsy. A simple scene or two would have been all that was necessary - we had time to spend reminding the viewers that ALMOST all the Gerhardt clan are dead, and time to flash forward to the season one Solversons, and time to do a cute origin story bit for Mr. Numbers & Mr. Wrench, but not time for just reminding us of Charlie and Karl? Yes, one is drinking at the American Legion and the other is going to prison, but still.

yeah, no idea where the last gerhardt ended up, that required some closure

Maybe we'll find out in season three when he's rebuilt the Gerhardt empire selling meth and bootleg DVDs.

just binge-watched this whole season
lol @ ufo
don't get to watch that much decent tv atm so enjoyed all the writerly stuff

In the realm of trailing references, the guy who is a shit cop mumbles something to the effect of "oh god, this is Rapid City all over again!"

Can't wait for Fargo season 6: Rapid City

oh man, unless it was an obvious Custer reference, lol

Man, this show

the guy who is a shit cop mumbles something to the effect of "oh god, this is Rapid City all over again!"

Ha yes I had noticed that too, and it may have been a nice plant for the next season. Which I'm given to understand is set in the mid 2ks and involves text messages or something?

According to showrunner Noah Hawley, the show's third season is set in 2010 — four years after its first season — and focuses on what he calls "selfie-oriented culture."

"I like the idea what we're now living in a very selfie-oriented culture... it feels like a social dynamic that is very antithetical to the Lutheran pragmatism of the region," said Hawley. "So many of our crime stories are based on the difficulty that people have expressing themselves and communicating... I like the idea of setting up these pragmatic and humble people against the culture of narcissism and (seeing) what that generates for us, story-wise."

and the shakey graves cover of 'o death'

maybe it's just because there isn't any official OST info out yet (?), but it's weird to me that this is credited to Shakey Graves everywhere, with no mention of Monica Martin (from Phox), who actually sings the song.

Just finished the second season and this show rules

it's good, man

season three seems to be coming out in the far-flung future of 2017

I've only seen the pilot episode of season 1, but miraculously found the blu-ray set for season 2 for $5 and watched it over the course of a couple weeks.

incredible show tbh. i thought it was a really well-cast season, and i thought the momentum of the narrative and how it was driven by lies and misinformation was great. the sioux falls massacre was one of the tenser and brutal things i've seen in a show, and just the double whammy of these vulnerable cops and these completely wrongheaded criminals made it seem even more palpably vicious and useless.

great group effort performance-wise, i was pleasantly surprised by a few of the actors. and that was a nicely moving and human ending to the season.

Only seen S1 and enjoyed it in spite of the fact that it was kinda consistently hard to swallow a lot of the plotting and character motivations and whatnot. Is S2 any tighter in that respect?

significantly.

Good to hear. Looking forward to it!

S2 has some motivations that are unexpected and might seem absurd but only in the way that sometimes people have unexpected and absurd-seeming motivations. at the same time it's so tightly plotted, and not in the artificial "trapped in a tv show" way that 'breaking bad' sometimes felt like to me.

I was very on the fence about s1, but s2 is legitimately good.

S3 cast so far: Ewan McGregor (apparently playing twins?), Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Sold!

Wow, the first season was great, but season 2 was something else.

I can't wait to watch this show on binge mode.

Back April 19th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLjd8r6ANd4

season 2 up on Hulu now too

New trailers coming thick and fast. Glad Thewlis is sticking to a Brit accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7NB0YQBQWI

willing to condemn both McGregor performances on that fifteen seconds or so

Currently loving Season 2 but this one doesn't look as good to me. (I haven't seen Season 1, either.)

Between how awesome S2 was, and how brilliant Legion has been, I am stoked for the madness on this.

haha shit, scoot mcnairy, awesome.

Love Carrie Coon in The Leftovers so can't wait to watch her in this.

late pass but i finally finished s2 of fargo and it was so great. for most of the season it wasn't living up to s1 for me but the last 3-4 episodes really turned things around. it's amazing how well they stick to the coen bros. tone while not just straight ripping off their movies. i also love how amazing it looks visually, the music cues, and the weird stylistic quirks that come and go (e.g. the history book narration for one episode, the dying wife's dream that flashes back forward to s1, etc.) my one wish is that eventually they'll do a season not as based in people murdering each other in graphic detail. the ads for s3 haven't blown me away but i was skeptical about both of the first two seasons and ended up loving both of them.

i also wasn't initially crazy about how they went from having a great strong female lead in s1 to having kirsten dunst's character in s2 basically be insane and causing most of the problems for everyone else but she really got to me in the last few episodes - her hallucinatory epiphany in the basement, protecting ed through the end, and especially her speech to patrick wilson in the cop car

i mentioned to my wife one thing that's interesting to me about this show is how old-school black-and-white the morality of it is, in general - everyone is either capital G Good or capital B Bad, except maybe peggy

Oh man this show

- Mike Ehrmantrout reference! the AMC universe is a thing

- Prisencolinensinainciusol!* I was so happy the way they used it, too.

- I figured MacGregor would make or break this season. He isn't that distracting. Fun fact, he put on weight to play the schlub brother and then wore spanx to play the rich one.

Excellent episode, the best season opener yet I think. MacGregor actually very good, and borderline unrecognisable. And David Thewlis!

The easy breadcrumb trail left by McNairy's would-be idiotic assassin was pretty funny. Not into MacGregor at all usually, but he has done good here - because I wasn't even sure he was playing both parts at first and normally I find him unwatchable.

Oh yeah, David Thewlis was the right kind of broad in this role--menacing and funny in the Fargo way

because I wasn't even sure he was playing both parts at first

come on

Seriously, but I didn't read anything about it in advance and was on the exercise bike at the time.

the real estate brother kind of looks like fake dark-haired McConaughey

I thought he looked a bit Cranstony.

I could buy that, too

I wish Thewlis was in the McGregor role

Mike Ehrmantrout reference! the AMC universe is a thing

This would be cool, but Fargo is FX, and I'm pretty sure the first name wasn't Mike and the surname was along the lines of 'Ehrmantraub'.

... ok

the scene with the narwhal representative was soo funny

"where are you from?" "... America"
"a document is just a piece of paper" "I... ahhh... a legally binding contract"

the lawyer with his puffy coat
McGregor's goofy grin

Stussy and Swaaaango

I am in love with mary elizabeth winstead

This would be cool, but Fargo is FX, and I'm pretty sure the first name wasn't Mike and the surname was along the lines of 'Ehrmantraub'.

First name was Rick.

Yeah never mind okay already

It's totally this guy (based on a true story) https://www.parkdental.com/dentist/richard-c-ehrmanntraut-dds/

This one was so weird I barely knew what was going on until halfway through (I maybe could have been paying more attention). A klein bottle episode. I love the box that turns itself off.

amazing episode, loved it

"Let me get two beers...

...do you want two beers?"

Billy Bob narrating!

show needs more Swango

This show always has weird little running themes, two Ive noticed this season is a focus on shoes/feet. And the tampon thing.

(Putter-inner? No one calls them that ffs)

Silence on the thread suggests that ILX, like me, finds this the most underwhelming season so far. Still a perfectly enjoyable caper, but the wackiness often seems forced and glib compared to previous seasons.

Varga is a truly sinister villain, and Thewlis is obviously terrific, but I feel they're overusing the character. Would be much more effective if his goons did most of the interaction and he made a cameo every few episodes.

Season is boring AF

I wouldn't go nearly that far.

not as good as s2 but i'm enjoying

needs more carrie coon screentime tho

I think the season is good, and it's a good slow burn, but it does seem like the show is getting overshadowed by a bunch of other equally good television which is on right now (Saul, Handmaid, Twin Peaks, Leftovers wrapping up, House of Cards restarting, etc).

Silence on the thread suggests that ILX, like me, finds this the most underwhelming season so far.

Ha yeah I actually came here to post that yesterday and then got distracted. Thewlis is overdoing his gross nastiness and ... I dont know.

akm otm maybe we're more spoilt for choice now.

Maybe is it cos Hawley put all his energy into Legion?

i'm just getting a strong sense of deja vu this year no matter how consciously the show's working to mix it up (eg the carrie coon visits LA episode)

Yeah the whole "determined spunky female cop whose boss wont listen to her but she'll work it out anyway" thing.

And weirdly she's on two TV shows at the same time having difficulty interacting with electronic devices (ticket machines in Leftovers, door sensors in Fargo).

Nikki sat down next to someone in the jail bus, and I thought "wait whys he look familiar?" It was Mr Wrench from S1 apparently!!! D:

holy shit, Fargo beat Twin Peaks to the White Lodge, and it's a bowling alley

yeah the nicki & wrench half of this episode was prob the best thing the show has ever done

it's one of those faux-magical realism scenes that illuminates how suspiciously artificial some of the other things have been, outing it as a parable

"holy shit, Fargo beat Twin Peaks to the White Lodge, and it's a bowling alley"

that was a completely amazing scene; obviously an intentional nod. I believe the 'interacting with electronic devices' was as well; hawley was probably tipped off by the leftovers writers that would be in there.

this was easily the best epsiode, all around, of the season; it feels like it came late though and lots of people dropped off. Still waiting for Carrie Coon's character to actually do something but at least we got a lot of dedicated Swango time.

oh, the other TP reference, which may have just been luck: the Cossaks in the Dakotas (Gordon Cole mishears Albert in the second or third episode when he says 'carsick" and yells "Cossacks? We're in South Dakota!")

I'm enjoying this although I never watched the previous 2 seasons. I like schlubby McGregors fiance. A friend of mine tells me it's the weakest one yet but he's going to keep watching

mary elizabeth winstead has been a complete joy in this, would love to do some crimes with her

uh maybe just some petty theft, not so much the murder via air conditioner

she is wonderful I'm in love with swango

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fargo-mary-elizabeth-winstead-1202458136/

What was it that surprised you about her?
I guess I thought I’d be playing a really nice Minnesota cop or a really sweet Minnesota housewife. I didn’t expect to be playing this brash, sexy, confident, bold fighter of a woman. She’s just so much woman. I guess I hadn’t really seen myself that way before doing this. It’s definitely brought me a whole new level of confidence now that I’ve played her. But going into it I thought, “Am I the person for this? I don’t know if I’m enough woman for Nikki Swango.”

For some reason I thought the new episode was the last of the season! I'm glad there's another, although I feel like it's on some sort of dramatic precipice and there can only be denouement left

That'd be inline with all of Hawley's other work, he seems to like final eps being sort of debriefs/slower.

Noticeable disdain for new tech/FB/smartphones in this years season

I'm not caught up yet but my friends' band had music in the new ep, looking forward to hearing how it was used.

"I didn’t expect to be playing this brash, sexy, confident, bold fighter of a woman. She’s just so much woman."
Kind of like a super lady, one might say

definitely a metamorphosis into avenging angel of fargo after a mixed past

I'm not caught up yet but my friends' band had music in the new ep, looking forward to hearing how it was used.

I have a good guess about when this was used and I think it worked pretty well?

I really wasn't feeling this for a while but the past two won me back.

so I wound up kind of loving this season in the end, but I did think we'd get more about Ennis Stussy's former career as a sci fi writer. That feels like something that was set up and just left which is unusual for this show.

also carrie coon and mary winstead 4 ever, both so good

I like that both fargo and the leftover ended with carrie coon sitting across a table from someone talking

I feel like the sci if writer angle got its own full episode, which ended in the revelation Ennis's life prior to the show had nothing to do with what happened to him. That was the beauty of the ending -- how do you explain what happened to his grandfather, when it had nothing to do with who he actually was? And how do you tell a kid about his grandfather's broken dreams and mixed accomplishments, when he obviously had tried to leave all those things behind?

I think that's something Hawley likes to play with in his shows, this determination of what really matters, and how fleshed out the characters need to be before the narrative starts. It was nice to have a diversion into a past that wasn't giving us any clues or evidence as to how the rest of the plot would go. Complete opposite of every prequel franchise or forced plot device everything seems to lead to.

Oh wow I thought I was the only one enjoying this season! Only on ep 5 doe

And yeah, totally in love with Carrie coon

"Who did you think it was, Menachem Begin?" lol

good post mh

ended up really enjoying this one

I thought Varga was a great villain.

I found him a little overbearing! I mean maybe that was the idea? But all those constant shots of lol-british teeth masticating away on sandwiches and whatever was just uuuurrgh. I respect him highly as an actor, but ever since that violent rape/bash scene in Naked, Ive always been faintly turned off by Thewlis.

All that aside yeah. This was prob my least fave of the 3 seasons only because the pacing was off, it never really gathered steam til the last few eps. I liked the ambiguous ending though.

One thing I didnt get: who texted Varga to warn him the IRS had the drives, thus tipping him off? It wouldnt be in Swango, Burgle or Stussy's interests to tell him and who else knew?

IRS guy said he was "protected" earlier in the episode

Ya, I assumed it was someone inside the agency.

how do you explain what happened to his grandfather, when it had nothing to do with who he actually was? And how do you tell a kid about his grandfather's broken dreams and mixed accomplishments, when he obviously had tried to leave all those things behind?

a fun wrinkle to this was that the kid didn't really think of the guy as his grandfather and complained whenever his mom tried to talk to him about him

hah, yes

Swango texted him. She had his number and she wanted him separated from the rest of the gang - to look him in the eye, as she promised in the penultimate episode.

I was mildly disappointed in the end. This had a lot of amazing, shocking and clever moments, but S2 was just phenomenal. I think grandpa Stussy's shaggy dog origin story is what will stick with me the most from all this, and of course Winstead's turn as the antihero.

I really hope they go for a fourth season.

Yeah the scifi backstory was great - they did similar in legion and I loved that as well.

Dont hold out for S4 for a while. Hawley's said as much. He wants to focus on Legion S2 and is doing a film, he has no intention of doing another fargo for at least 5 years apaz.

Or 3 maybe. 2020. Something like that anyway.

Holy fuck 2020 is 3 years away.

Good ending all told, finished on a more satisfying note than the mid season doldrums would have suggested. Varga indeed a great (and apt for our times) villain, but I feel they overused him. Would have been more effective only popping up every couple of episodes. Poor Swango.

Only problem with the granpa origin story was the supposedly award winning SF book he wrote seemed incredibly basic from the extracts we were presented with.

Why did Wrench wait five years to whack Emmit?

To keep the heat off himself, maybe?

Because it's teevee

who kills a guy who is at his lowest and wants to die? gotta wait until he's living well for the good revenge

Thats a very good point.

Haven't read the thread recently but did just finish season 3, and holy crap what a good show this is. All seasons, of a piece but all very different. The acting, the writing, the direction and cinematography, just top notch all around. This season in particular has been like Coens meet Twin Peaks. In fact, as I was watching it made it harder to return to Twin Peaks: The Return, which I was having trouble getting into. (But which I may get back to now.)

Just finished season one of this. What a show! Was initially put off how it overstates so many of the movie's motifs, but the plotting was incredible, performances were a joy, and there was such sweetness at the heart of it all. What a joy it was to watch a crime caper with a fundamentally decent view of humanity.

Season 2 is even better!

It really isn't.

Three episodes into the first season--will take me the rest of the year at least to catch up. Billy Bob's character is a venerable movie cliche--the implacable, unstoppable killer--but he carries it off well. First impression is that, exactly like the movie, it's about two kinds of people involved in grisly crime: those who do it for a living, and those who are completely unsuited to be anywhere near it.

Great ending for the one-year-later episode, where Lester spots Lorne (Billy Bob) in the bar. It would have been even better, though, if, just before the credits, Lorne had slowly turned around to look back at Lester and smiled.

goddamnit when is hawley doing the next season

we'll always have season 2

I love how divided s2 opinion is. You're either on board with the UFO thing or you're not.

(I was firmly on board!)

new season not happening til 2020 apparently

yeah I think I mentioned that some time back, Hawley's done Legion, and a movie?

It was only announced this week that S4 has been commissioned, to go into production next year. No TX date, month or year yet.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjsLGv3XcAAGxKY.jpg

Chris Rock? Uhhh

When Lester sends his new wife into the office to get their passports, geez--in the annals of spineless, simpering movie creeps, he's right up there.

Finished the first season. I wish--and I'm rarely bothered by things like this; I don't like it when currency feels forced--it had been Molly rather than Gus who put down Malvo. Not a big deal, but it felt wrong. Otherwise, captured the film well.

They did mitigate that, though, with the granddaughter grabbing the gun and joining her grandfather on the porch.

I'm confused on a very basic point. Malvo was a contract killer with Oliver Platt and the other guy he took out to the forest, but with Lester and the suitcase full of recordings, that was just...a hobby? And at no point did he ever intend to kill Lester, right, because that would end the game? Otherwise, why didn't he just kill him in the elevator with the other three?

Three episodes into Season 2. The performances are so good, especially Bokeem Woodbine and Jean Smart. Woodbine seems very familiar, but when I look through his filmography, all I come up with is a cop in Dead Presidents--did he really make that much of an impression on me in what was probably a small role? I must be overlooking something.

He’s done a lot of TV one-offs and he bears a strong resemblance to Dave Chapelle.

That's it--he really does look like Dave Chappelle, and even delivers his lines in a similar way. I don't know Chappelle's work well, but I've seen his post-election SNL monologue, which was excellent, three times, so that's imprinted on my mind.

That treatment outline for the new season feels a little too similar to S2, with the warring crime clans.

I've seen Patrick Wilson in four or five films, and every time I end up looking up his character to remind me of who he is--he's like the most nondescript-looking actor I can think of. I won't forget his name after Fargo.

(Loved Nick Offerman laughing at his own pomposity during the credits for episode 6. Unless it was an outtake, but I'm pretty sure he was still in character.)

Three episodes into Season 2. The performances are so good, especially Bokeem Woodbine and Jean Smart. Woodbine seems very familiar, but when I look through his filmography, all I come up with is a cop in Dead Presidents--did he really make that much of an impression on me in what was probably a small role? I must be overlooking something.

― clemenza, Sunday, September 23, 2018 9:19 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Had the same reaction, and the answer I found: music videos.

Busta's Light Ya Ass On Fire, Wu-Tang's Protect Ya Neck and Gravel Pit, several others (can't find a solid list, but I feel like there's plenty more)

i really enjoyed season 1 and 2 and i'm enjoying season 3 so far (just a few episodes in). i find this show slightly frustrating though. the acting is generally excellent, the music cues are great, and there's usually something beautiful or interesting happening visually. but the stories for all three seasons are pretty similar (bad people get mixed with up even worse people, chaos ensues), and are overly reliant on graphic violence - each season ends up with someone shooting someone else who shot someone else etc etc., which is kind of played out in the world of prestige tv. i would love it if they would maintain the aesthetic but tell a slightly different kind of story.

Will: thanks, but I think it's Dave Chappelle for me. My familiarity with videos after about 1999 is pretty minimal.

there's usually something beautiful or interesting happening visually

I think the use of split-screen in Season 2 is beautiful--better even than De Palma.

i find Fargo a bit more refreshing than the usual prestige TV since it does have a decent amount of humor and odd narrative turns, and i wouldn't call it "feel bad" TV, which remains a bit of a crutch for so many shows and has been one for far too long. Which is why i've found GLOW refreshing, or something like Justified (which had a lot of violence but never tipped over into sadism, and somehow ended on a beautifully poetic note.)

S2 is really terrific, I watched it before S1 (also good, but not quite on par with S2.) Lots of good-to-great performances from a number of interesting actors: Bokeem Woodbine is a standout for sure, Patrick Wilson too. Kirsten Dunst is pretty phenomenal i thought, and Cristin Milioti possibly even better in a role that could have been thankless, sort of dealing w/the cancer and likely fate with a kind of wry humor and sadness that reminds me of someone else, but I can't think of who it is now...

The whole Gerhardt clan is conceived perfectly and that works even better because of the superior performances; Jean Smart, Jeffrey Donovan, Angus Sampson, Rachel Keller -- all great.

s2 is better than s1 but allison tolman is so much more compelling than patrick wilson

and wilson was good in s2! he's just kind of a generic hero

they missed the boat in not having an it's always sunny cast member in s2

Tolman was indeed great (and a nice echo of McDormand, without being an imitation), but I do think Wilson's great in his own way. The way he stood up to the Gerhardts was totally different than Grimly in Season 1. There's something about his performance I don't find generic...I loved the scene where he sat down the butcher and his wife and explained who was coming for them.

Found the treatment of Reagan fascinating. Not a cartoon...yet when cornered on how exactly any American was supposed to exercise these unlimited powers to fix things, he just kind of waved and walked away.

I loved Tolman but I don’t think anybody in any season has gotten a line as good as “Am I the only one here who's clear on the concept of law enforcement?”

Basically every time Lou interacts with Dodd is a fucking gem. I kinda forgot about some of those moments until just now looking that up on wikiquote and now I’m grinning at my phone like an idiot

It is just really difficult to picture Chris Rock being good in this

yah

Maybe the fourth season is set in 2016 and Chris Rock is Obama, like how Bruce Campbell was Reagan

"Locomotive Breath"! That was so good.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this, but whereas the first season was a very good approximation of the movie, the second is much closer in tone to Miller's Crossing/No Country for Old Men.

I liked Season 2 until the last couple of episodes. Season 3, on the other hand, started badly (I really hated the idea of McGregor playing brothers) but got better and better, in a seriously dark and even depressing way. I didn't need the camera to be shoved into David Thewlis's mouth as often as it was, but Carrie Coon was fantastic in it.

I'm bracing myself for the worst with the alien subplot--interesting so far, but not really necessary that I can see.

Agree that the last couple of episodes tailed off a bit. The big shootout was great--the way they'd freeze the frame--but a certain point, it was like they'd killed off almost every interesting character. The deus ex machina moment provided by the aliens was okay, I guess (reminded me a bit of the frogs in Magnolia--the whole alien thing wasn't all that intrusive in the end. Lots of great music: "Sylvia's Mother" was especially good. Didn't really need all the narration in the last couple of episodes.

Words I never thought I'd say outside of Cheers: I was so impressed by Ted Danson.

you should check out The Good Place

Yeah Danson's been good in a few more recent things: this, Good Place and Bored to Death are all great.

Wasn't he in Damages? He was good in that too, iirc.

I didn't need the camera to be shoved into David Thewlis's mouth as often as it was

A good character way overused generally. Would've been much more effective only appearing every few episodes.

i really love the music in this show, it really gives me that feeling of when you're listening to a great song and you can imagine yourself being in a movie or tv show with that song on the soundtrack. "sylvia's mother" was a good one. s3 uses this jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsmF9m_Nt8 (highly recommend watching that video).

and yeah there's been a dansonaissance over the past 10 or so years. he was fantastic in damages in particular.

Yeah Danson's been good in a few more recent things: this, Good Place and Bored to Death are all great.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, too.

I was very disappointed that they didn't make a season 3 OST album.

Yeah it was pretty dope that they decided to include all that New Orleans brass band music in S3, even if it was incongruous at times!

I've had friends on the soundtrack for both S2 and S3, which adds another level of fun.

finished s3, i agree that it is solid throughout but picks up with the last three episodes. ep 8, which focuses just on mary elizabeth winstead's character, was amazing

I'm five or six episodes in, and she's what's holding my interest more than anything else--she's great. I like whenever Caroline Coon's on screen. David Thewlis is kind of corny, in a way that Billy Bob wasn't in Season 1.

The end of episode 6, where they take Nikki away to protective custody, stylistically that was about as great as television gets.

i much prefered thewlis to billy bob, i can't take billy bob seriously ever and the prince valiant haircut did not help.

I took the haircut to be an homage/reference to Bardem in No Country (there are Coen references all through the series, most to the movie but sometimes more general), so I thought that was okay.

Finished up last night. I've never been sure how literally to take "This is a true story." I read up a bit on the factual basis for Season 2--I assume changes were made, but the basic story did happen. I mention this because I found the end of Season 3 a little disappointing. Nikki was such a great character, and noble--and they end by having her kill a workaday cop just doing his job? But if that's how it happened, and they are more or less sticking to facts, not much you can do. Start to finish, Caroline Coon was great.

Overall:

Season 1 - nice feel for the movie (A-)
Season 2 - for the most part, fantastic (A)
Season 3 - up and down (B)

Also thought McGregor's business partner was a really good character/performance; McGregor was good, but I sometimes got a little tired of him (liked him better as the parole-officer brother).

i thought the "true story" stuff had been a misdirect going back to the original movie.