In the fifth episode of the second season of “Fargo,” there was an exchange of dialogue that stuck with me. During the scene in which Bear Gerhardt (played by Angus Sampson) speaks to his brother Dodd, (Jeffrey Donovan) he says, “In the end, we all get what we deserve.” Dodd replies, “You keep telling yourself that.” I’m not sure what significance that line will have, but there is painful, self-referential truth in Dodd’s words.
“Fargo,” FX’s television drama and the vehicle for this conversation, is proof that some things go unrecognized. What started last fall as an homage to the Coen brothers’ 1996 hit film of the same name has evolved into the best instances of serialized television in which each season exists as a self-contained story with a different setting and actors. Shows like this have become very popular (“American Horror Story” and “True Detective” being two examples), yet “Fargo” hasn’t attracted as much attention as other shows. The second season, which airs its sixth out of 10 episodes this week, has successfully shifted its style and tone and brought the show to even greater heights. In “Fargo,” the writer Noah Hawley has masterfully crafted another story, this time reimagined with a flavor from 1979 while properly utilizing the chaos from a turbulent era of American history.
The second season follows events referenced in the first season, and just like that first season, the story is focused around a crime that manages to snowball into something much greater. Rye, a son of the Gerhardt family crime syndicate in “Fargo,” is hit by a car after killing three people in Luverne, Minnesota. The driver, Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst), and her husband, Ed (Jesse Plemons), try to cover up the hit and run. Simultaneously the Gerhardts are being pressured to sell out to a much larger crime syndicate based in Kansas City. Minnesota State Trooper Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) investigates the murders in “Fargo” while trying to piece things together.
A story is only as good as its characters, which “Fargo” has in spades. From the Blumquist’s catchy Minnesotan twang (‘Ohhh you betcha!), to a terrific performance by Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan, the acting on “Fargo” is top notch across the board. My favorite character so far has been Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine), a hitman hired by the Kansas City group. Alongside the two mute companions, Milligan has commanded the room with his brooding yet disarming persona. He offers moments of brevity and sarcasm much befitting the dark humor and irony that gives Fargo its charm. In one episode, he walks out and proclaims, in his best Nixon impression, ‘I am not a crook.’ Keep telling yourself that, Mike, but we’ve seen otherwise.
The conflict between the Gerhardts and the group from Kansas City is tense enough, but it’s the addition of the Blumquists and Lou Solverson that enhances a crime show into a Shakspearian-esque tragedy. Rye’s death is the connecting thread that brings all of these characters together, but Peggy and Ed are the only ones who actually know what happened. Everyone else is searching for a ghost. As Zach Handlen briefly wrote in The A.V. Club, “people are making life or death decisions with the wrong information, and voices of reason are sidelined or removed from the picture entirely.” Here, “Fargo” keeps viewers guessing.
This is what made Dodd’s words resonate with me and perfectly captured the essence of the world. The Gerhardts, the Blumquists, and Milligan can search the Land of the Lakes as much as they want, but the world, and, by extension, the audience, can only shake its head at the futility. Handlen continued, “[T]here’s something thrilling about not knowing exactly how things will play out, but knowing almost without question that when events reach a crisis point, there will be blood…Noah Hawley isn’t re-inventing the wheel here, but he’s attached four of ’em to a very reliable vehicle. Now we’re just waiting to see where the drive takes us.”
There are many driving forces behind “Fargo,” but the strongest is undoubtedly a sense of dread. All that we truly know is that Lou Solverson will survive this season (since he is in the first season as an owner of a restaurant in the present day), but certain events of this season will be enough to force him to retire from the force. Has it reached that point? Although we’ve seen plenty of brutality thus far, there are no signs of slowing down.
To take the car metaphor a step further, that drive is sure to end in a spectacular crash over the next five episodes. The brilliance of “Fargo” is that it keeps us watching and wondering who, if anyone, will manage to crawl from the wreckage.
Chris Landry is a fourth year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at CL784324@wcupa.edu. His Twitter handle is @Landry_dubc.