With so much story told in the first three episodes, I genuinely wondered where Fargo would go in the time it has remaining. After “Fear and Trembling,” I’m even more curious where the story will go. But, based on the way that Keith Carradine’s iteration of Lou Solverson told it in Season 1, I’m expecting that there will be a LOT of blood. What “Fear and Trembling” accomplished was simply to push the plot where we were all expecting it to go, and give some fantastic character moments and Emmy clips along the way.
This week on Fargo: Dodd Gerhardt’s past moves into his present, and complicates the deal his mother is trying to make. Negotiations between Floyd Gerhardt and Joe Bulo go nowhere, as the tension between the two “businesses” reaches its boiling point. Hanzee and Lou conduct separate investigations, but reach the same conclusion. Ed and Peggy get in a little deeper. Betsy’s cancer is getting worse, so she gets into a clinical trial.
One of the greatest things about Fargo is the way that it slowly builds tension. Every scene in each episode just adds a little more and a little more tension. The writing and the brilliant acting evoke this great show of emotion from each invested viewer. You feel a sense of doom for the characters that you love, or think may be the victims in all this. Even for the characters that are bad, it evokes your emotions in wanting to see them brought to justice, or wanting to see how evil they can be, or wanting to see how many mistakes they have to make before it costs them. Each Fargo episode evokes each of these emotions, which is what makes it such a compelling show as a whole.
As much as I’m beginning to hate Peggy Blomquist, her character is brilliant. Kirsten Dunst is doing such a good job of being frustrating that she feels real to me. I know that Ed is the one who seems to be in deeper trouble in this situation, but literally none of that would’ve happened to him without her. Of course, I could make the argument that Constance from the salon is the true manipulator, but either way, the whole plot thread is an exercise in manipulation. Constance thinks that Ed is oppressive and sexist, so she pushes Peggy into things like spending a lot of money on a course. I’d be willing to bet that Constance’s influence pushes Peggy to be the way she is. Kirsten Dunst is brilliant. Jesse Plemons is the perfect complement, though I truly feel sorry for Ed.
I’m even more interested in how all of this goes down after watching this episode. Now that Hanzee knows what happened to Rye, how do they proceed? What kind of certain bloodbath will emerge from the mob war in the wake of Rye’s death? I’m assuming that in Fargo‘s sometimes awkward and hilarious but also bloody and tense way, Ed will be in the most danger of anyone. The only people we know make it out of this alive are Lou and Molly Solverson, and I’ve never been more interested in how it all goes down.
What did you guys think? How did you like this episode? Let us know!
Fargo airs Mondays at 10/9c on FX.
[Photo credit: Chris Large/FX]
Colossal bore.
Thanks for that thoughtful and informative critique!