Fargo the TV miniseries

Does anyone have any speculation as to the meaning of Deputy Solverson’s last name?

Crime Solver turned Viking.

Hmmm. Liked it, but expected more. No idea what more, exactly though.

I liked the series but didn’t care for this episode.

I wish I had Malvo’s super ability to withstand pain and walk on a completely broken leg. That whole sequence of scenes at the end broke any sort of believability for me. Hell, it even looked like 3 point blank shots wouldn’t kill him. I can’t imagine how hard it’d be to unset a bear trap from your own leg.

The final confrontation with Malvo. Anti-climatic. No drama to it at all. Basically an ambush, wherein they have they time for some kind of profound last statement, and it is inept on one side, and peevish on the other. Then the disjointed two week jump to the snowmobile chase, which you knew would end as it did the moment they exited the trees. An appropriate ending for Lester, but I thought they could have constructed the sequence better. At the same time Lester getting the better of Malvo was well done.

I think I was most invested in the show at the end of episode 6. That was the one with the snowstorm and the shootout, right? Episodes 7 and 8 both felt a bit too slow, like someone miscounted, realized they had an extra episode they didn’t know what to do with, and they stretched some kind of calm-before-the-storm over two episodes.

The penultimate episode was a lot of fun with Malvo, and I loved the horror of Lester sending Linda in his place to be killed at the end. I think as an audience, certainly at least for me, we’d been sort of lulled back into wanting Lester to wise up, be clever, escape Malvo. We’d back-burnered the fact that he killed his wife in cold blood with a hammer, and then destroyed his brother’s family by framing him for it. So then to have that episode end with Lester so coldly sending his wife to her death was a real gut check.

But then in the finale, we’re right back to Lester and Malvo sort of cat-and-mousing. What are we supposed to feel about that? I wanted them both caught, dead, or gone, so it was hard to cheer for one over the other, especially when, despite the forces of good finally all being on the same page, they weren’t really ever in the mix. Everybody hunting each other could’ve been tense and awesome, but it was really just Malvo and Lester, with Gus running across Malvo almost accidentally, deciding to just wait, and everyone else uninvolved despite being out there looking.

And the snowmobile shot in the beginning was stupid. All it does is give away the final scene, without any connection leading up to it. If we’d seen the snowmobile at Malvo’s cabin, or something along the way, it could’ve been another way to ratchet up the tension. Who ends up on it? Do they crash? Does someone else take it and crash? But instead the only time we see it again is at the very end, with Lester already zipping around, and it’s a totally pointless connection.

Last random observation: I thought the bear trap was going to be a pretty cool part, because all along there’s been a very biblical, mythical vibe to Malvo, from literal connections and references, to his almost supernatural skill. I thought the bear trap and the scene of him carefully (and very painfully) dealing with the wound was serving as an effective way of grounding him, telling us what’s terrifying isn’t that ‘the devil’ has been wreaking havoc, but that all this evil is from one still very human man—arguably that’s even more horrific. But that loses some of its power when he’s also then shot dead. I really thought Malvo was going to get away, and that scene with the bear trap would’ve been wonderful if that’s how it went down. Instead it was just a clever thing Lester did, and I guess maybe what helped Gus get the drop on Malvo.

Anyway. Good show, but my friends all love it to death, more than True Detective, so I’m in the market for new friends.

This interview with Noah Hawley at the AV Club seems pretty good, I haven’t had time to read all of it yet: Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley takes us through the show’s first season

I will quote this Q/A though:

AVC: The season is so well structured. Almost everything fits, and then the things that don’t fit are intriguing loose ends that are fun to have hanging out there. What were some of the struggles in coming up with that structure?

NH: At the beginning of every episode, it says, “This is a true story,” which, of course, it’s not. But when you say something’s true, it gives you the leeway to tell a story in a different way. You don’t have to follow that Joseph Campbell hero’s journey. In fact, if you do, it doesn’t feel real. In that first meeting with FX, I said, “What we have to figure out is what is our Mike Yanagita,” who is the guy from high school who calls Marge out of the blue and turns out to be nuts, and you’re like, “Why is this in the movie?” But it’s in the movie, in my opinion, because it’s one of those details where you’re like, “Well, they wouldn’t put it in the movie unless it really happened. It has nothing to do with anything.” So that was the issue for us: On the one hand, what are those digressions, those scenes or moments that could only be in there because they actually happened, because otherwise you wouldn’t put them in the show?

The other aspect of it was our heroes, Molly and Gus, for lack of a better description of them. In a traditional TV show or movie, your hero is always where the action is. But in real life, at the end of the movie Fargo, when Bill Macy is arrested, Marge is nowhere to be found because it’s a different jurisdiction, and she wouldn’t be there. I took that to heart. So some of the issues were, okay, Gus is going to arrest Malvo in episode four, and he’s going to call Molly and tell her to come, but of course, she doesn’t get to go because her boss goes. What you want is the scene of Molly and Malvo, but you’re not getting it. Then, of course, Molly has to be doing something just as interesting in her story because you can’t not tell a story about her. Or in episode six, Gus and Molly are just driving around having coffee while Malvo is setting up Don Chumph and paying that off, and Stavros is burying the money. It’s not until the very end that those storylines intersect with Gus and Molly’s storyline. So those were the challenges, really—how to make something very plotted out feel slightly random.

Hearing it explained that way, I really like what they were going for, but at least as it relates to the finale, I just don’t think it worked out as well as it looks on paper.

I was really bummed we didn’t get some closure on his brother’s family. Otherwise I really liked the show, incredibly well done, and terrific performances all around.

I appreciated that Gus (there’s that name again) just shot Malvo. All too often in fiction when someone (hero or villain) has the drop on someone, they don’t just shoot him when shooting him is definitely the smart thing to do. Malvo has established himself as ridiculously lethal, taking on a whole building of armed criminals by himself, and it is not safe to try and capture him alive.

I don’t much care for the fact that Gus came across the cabin completely accidentally.

I did like the bear trap hidden by the clothes.

I do agree that seeing the snowmobile at the beginning was not only pointless, it hurt the final scene. From the moment I saw Lester on the snowmobile I knew precisely what was going to happen. It robbed the end of any sense of anticipation.

He came across it mystically - Malvo’s wolf avatar.

My problem with Gus was that he didn’t just shoot Malvo, he tried to explain himself incompetently (well, admittedly, that’s Gus for you). He only got around to killing him when Malvo got annoyed.

I did like the bear trap hidden by the clothes.

I do agree that seeing the snowmobile at the beginning was not only pointless, it hurt the final scene. From the moment I saw Lester on the snowmobile I knew precisely what was going to happen. It robbed the end of any sense of anticipation.

I think I’d like to have seen Lester get off the hook because they couldn’t use the phone recording (well, not in California, dunno about North Dakota), feels proud of himself for a short while, then gets dry-gulched (ahhh, sorry, California imagery) by the mute hit man who finally catches up with Lester and slips him under the ice, just when you think he got away with it.

But all in all, it was an exceedingly fun and entertaining mini-series. Great characters, lots of good acting, interesting story.

So wait… did Molly get her replacement spleen from Mrs. Nygaard #2 or Malvo? Loose ends!

There’s also a nice interview with Hawley by Sepinwall over at Hitfix. Hawley suggests he would be interested in a season 2, maybe with an entirely different set of characters ala True Detective. I think I might enjoy seeing the Sioux Falls stuff Molly’s dad kept referencing this season, though I don’t know if a somewhat current setting is necessary for “Fargo” related stories.

As for not liking the drama of the Malvo-Gus confrontation… come on. Remember the movie? How dramatic was the killer running away suddenly and Marge shooting 'til she hit him? The drama was the lead up, not the action itself. I do like how Lester got the drop on Malvo, sorta twice. Many find it maybe un-satisifying… but I dunno, I kinda like it. They just left it the way it was. Nothing wrong with it. And yeah, nice they used the movie Fargo music at the end.

It seemed they hinted pretty hard about Sioux Falls '79; which would make a great Season Two.

— Alan

As soon as you said “Remember the movie…” I stopped reading your post. No, I don’t remember the movie, having never watched it, and would just as soon not have it spoiled. ;-)

Smart move. :)

Yeah. Mentioning '79 in nearly every episode, but never going in to any detail – a definite (and obvious) sequel opening.

It’s interesting that some people felt like it got weaker after episode seven because that’s where I felt like it got stronger. Molly, Gus and Lester were where it was at for me with this series. Malvo was interesting and crucial to the story but I never got past my inability to suspend disbelief with his character.

Overall I thought the series was a mixed bag. Beautifully shot, some great characters and great acting but at times it felt a little too contrived. All of the stuff with the super market King was terrible. Once that dropped away and we got back to Lester’s story, things got more grounded and focused and I thought the show was much stronger for it.

If we take the interviews at face value, no, Hawley has no plans of continuing the story of any of these characters, and that would include prequels the way I read it. He says he includes details like that sort of thing, details that don’t actually go anywhere or feed directly into the events of the main narrative, because of the “this is a true story” perspective.

Finally got through to the end and overall really good stuff. I did find the finale a real let down a number of times compared to the rest of the series. For all the care that went into the story, I felt like the finale did some typical stuff that felt out of place (like Colin Hanks not calling in about Malvo and instead setting up in the cabin right after talking about how he can’t make his daughter go to another funeral… and ignoring all the possible deaths that might occur by not calling in the info to help the police narrow their search). I thought the story blew its “what’s the point” speech from the end of the movie Fargo, I think I would have wanted it given with Lester in the back of the squad car. As it stands, I didn’t care for Lester’s fate even if he finally ends up where he was about to be put earlier in the season. Also agree that the opening shot for the finale wasn’t needed at all either.

I actually liked Key and Peele as a sort of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern presence. As for the snowstorm earlier in the season… that felt a little tough to swallow. Maybe it was just the over the top effects used to make it look like it did (it looked incredibly fake across the board), but I’ve been in some real snow storms in upstate NY and I could always see 15 feet or so. Even with white outs from strong winds, I never experienced visibility that limited. Maybe upstate NY snowstorms are a walk in the park compared to Minnesota thunder.

In the end, enjoyed it immensely even though the finale felt like more typical TV - or at least for Fargo - where the rest of the series often felt inspired.

The finale was about closing circles.

Gus, who kicked much of this off by letting Malvo go when he shouldn’t, had to do the thing he shouldn’t to bring Malvo down.
Lester, whose manipulations were always the function of the people he had around him (Malvo, his brother, Bill, the second wife), is finally alone, and no longer has a way out.
The right person is sheriff at the start of the show. Malvo & Lester put the wrong person into the job; it’s only at the end that the proper order is restored and Molly becomes what she should have been all along.
Malvo was the unstoppable wild animal (cf the description of the murders in Sioux Falls) who succeeded by ignoring society’s trappings and rules (cf not only lying to the cops, but lying about being a minister) who gets brought down by an animal trap and an animal control officer.

That was definitely clear, but I felt like that trumped common sense at times. There is no reason in the world for Gus not to contact anyone whatsoever given who he is dealing with and what’s going on.

There are a number of ways that Lester could have been represented as alone, but just dumping him in the ice after telegraphing it only closes the loop on his earlier escape.

I don’t know, for me personally, given how well done so much of the show was, I felt like in its effort to be what it was, it sold itself short a bit.

The real question - for people who have seen both - who is the worst? Lester or Hannibal? In my household, we voted Lester.