Fargo the TV miniseries

It was fine, I viewed it as a substutute for

Erstwhile, on Fargo

… well, except for the part that overtly explained why Hanzee was chasing the Butcher and his wife. ✂️ That was too far. That should have been left to the viewer to interpret.

Since Season 1 was so tied to Season 2 (the prequel set in the late 70s, if you will)… will Season 3 also be a tie-in, in a different decade? We still have the 80s and the 90s to work with here!

Season 3 is set in 2010 (mostly) and not, as far as we can tell yet, any kind of tie-in to the characters of seasons 1 and 2.

What is anyone’s takeaway from the East Berlin opener? Just Coen gonna Coen?

No idea at this point.

Heh, after my big spiel about references to Coen Brothers movies, there weren’t all that many specific ones in the premiere.

There were of course a bunch of big overall Fargo ones (winter Minnesota setting, woman cop, Jerry Lundegaard-style sentence fragments in the dialogue.) And there were a couple non-Fargo references in the first few minutes. The camera’s trip through the microphone was similar to the camera’s trip through the pipes in Barton Fink. And the opening-unrelated-playlet-set-in-snowy-Eastern-Europe-before-shifting-to-Minnesota is similar to the opening of A Serious Man.

(If indeed it’s like A Serious Man, then the answer to Mr_PeaCH’s question is, “There’s no plot relationship between the opening playlet and the main story, but the playlet goes over the themes we’re going to explore in the main story” - whether the supernatural/divine exists in the case of A Serious Man, and who bears the consequences of a mistake here.)

Good overall setup in the first episode, though so far none of the characters is really standing out to me (The one that did … doesn’t look like they’re coming back. I guess as a stretch you could say that character’s fate is kinda-sorta a reference to Burn After Reading.)

Ewan McGregor seems to be struggling a bit with the accent. His own came through in a couple places, and in one other spot he seemed like he was from 1940s Brooklyn rather than Minnesota.

In case you don’t know, the Coens have nothing to do with the ongoing production of the show and, in fact, they dislike it or at best are disinterested in it.

I think Michael Stuhlbarg is my favorite of the (remaining) characters. It makes me nervous that he’s listed as a “guest” star.

I didn’t see references to non-Fargo Coen brothers movies in this episode (unless you count the vandalism of a sports car as a Big Lebowski reference?) There are a couple ongoing Fargo-the-movie references - Marge’s husband was involved with stamps (painting for a duck stamp competition) and Jerry Lundegaard pitched a deal for a parking lot to his father in law.

Stuhlbarg is my favorite at the moment too.

And on the flip side, Thewlis is a little too much so far. I’d like to see his hammy mannerisms dialed back just a bit; his conversation with the parking lot attendant just had me rolling my eyes.

Some of that may have to do with expectations. I read this spoiler-free-at-this-point preview from the A.V. Club a couple weeks ago, and they said this of Varga:

The villainous V.M. Varga (David Thewlis), meanwhile, lives a camouflaged existence on purpose. “Noah and I had a lot of conversations about it, and he had this Will Loman idea. The everyman, ‘unnoticable man,’” says costumer designer Carol Case. “I didn’t really want him to be slick in any way,” Hawley says in a phone call a few weeks after the set visit. “I thought what was more interesting was if he was slightly invisible: wore a $200 suit, flew coach. The kind of person you would never look at twice.”

Varga certainly isn’t slick, but “unnoticeable”, “invisible”? The complete opposite. I realize that quote was from the costume designer, so I guess they just meant his appearance, but he’s conspicuously, ridiculously, slimy. He feels a little too much like a cartoon villain.

I’m also enjoying the funny coincidence of Carrie Coon vs. Technology across two different shows right now.

Been watching Fargo and have been pleased. Better then average (though not excellent) acting and great scripted events. One of the best series on TV. Obi Won must have gained some weight … but his GF is very interesting new find. I don’t know her but she is sharp. And I like how the new police chief moves. Opening episode is a 8/10 enthralling (my rating on TV series).

She plays the object of Scott Pilgrim’s obsession in that movie, and she’s the protagonist of the rather questionable Thing prequel they did a few years back, probably among other things.

She was excellent in 10 Cloverfield Lane as well.

Mary Winstead is a total hottie. First saw her on the short lived “The Returned”.

Season 1 was about an 8 for me also. I stopped watching Season 2 fairly early on. But so far Season 3 is also about a 7 or 8. Nikki is a great character and definitely a hottie.

You should continue through season 2 - it starts slow and lacks Billy Bob, but becomes great later on.

Yeah, not gonna lie, her getting up out of the bathtub in the first episode this season was definitely a highlight for me.

I recently finished Season 2, and overall liked it even more than Season 1!

Wow is that the girl (sry) woman from 10 cloverfield? Fargo is the best TV on TV inmhop. Season 1 and 2 both 9 for me and I think season 3 will be super good yet. And let us be honest for a sec – Movie stars they bring in, they are almost always exceptional in these tv shows. How and why is that? Or have we made a break now and actors are not movie stars or tv stars but just actors? Might be a tired discussion but it is never been more true than today. Plus I sorta liked EM performance in quite a few things …

This, American Gods, and Better Caul Saul season 3 - what a splendid tv spring season!

As a funny aside, when asked about that scene, she’s commented that it’s her and not a body double.

This sure is an okay season.