I love me The Wire, but season 2 was a low point IMO.
Oh you’re one of those people. I kid, I know season 2 is a little controversial, plenty of people would agree with you, but for my part it really was my favorite season. In some ways, I think it’s even more relevant in this discussion than usual. The Wire was almost an “anthology” show before they were cool, and nowhere is that more evident than season 2. I loved their willingness to take the story somewhere different and not be beholden to television expectations and tropes of following the established cast from the first season. Obviously it wasn’t really an anthology, the same players from season one are all there, but demphasizing them even a little bit made them feel more like part of the big systems the series wanted to explore and not the center of a television universe, and that was very appealing to me.
I also considered the other usual suspects—Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, maybe even The Americans—when trying to remember what other recent shows started out amazing and only got better in season two, but I can’t remember specifically how a lot of those shows broke down into seasons.
I got mixed up and thought this was eight episodes. At ten, I’m curious how what we know of the plot will fill another six. Not sure if that’s exactly what you’re saying, but I was reminded of your comment when I realized we weren’t even halfway through the season this week.
I was actually amazed to realize the latest (incredible, crazy) episode was only the 4th. What on earth can they have planned for six more episodes?
I have no idea. So now four episodes in, we know the war has arrived and at least two people know who that Rye is more than likely dead, one being Patrick Wilson, the other being the “halfbreed” Indian (who is also in Longmire, and Bone Tomahawk if I’m not mistaken).
We know Patrick Wilson survives and gets hurt at some point, though I don’t think they ever mentioned the “Sioux Falls” incident and his leg injury were related or not. I do fear for Ted Danson’s character though.
— Alan
Maybe they make a bunch of arrests next week and it turns into a courtroom drama!
Are they still filming Fargo or is it all shot already? I know he’s also on some sort of CSI (Cyber?) show, I just watched part of it a few nights back waiting for the kids to collect snacks before we started in on something, so if he’s on two shows filming at the same time, I imagine he’s not going to be around much longer. :) This is a bummer though, as I really enjoy his character.
IMDb list’s Ted Danson’s character as being in all 10 episodes so presumably it’s all been filmed already.
I have to say I was quite bemused by the twin bodyguards both playing solitaire while Bokeem Woodbine was getting a thumb shoved up his ass.
Oh it’s all been shot, I’m assuming in March/April or so as it was filmed in Canada. Since this is a separate season/storyline I’m assuming he won’t be in season 3 and this is more of a one-off role.
— Alan
I really liked the last episode. It finally made me care about the gang subplot. Now I’m just as invested in Jean Smart and her sons and daughter as I am in the Ted Danson/Patrick Wilson family and the Plemons/Dunst couple. I’m happy to say my fears about a second season not working without Allison Tolman turned out to be unfounded. At least we’ll get to see her in that Krampus Christmas horror movie.
But I’m still not sure about Bokeem Woodbine as Billy Bob Thornton in Fargo season one.
-Tom
They’re pretty much different characters though. Besides which, wasn’t Thornton a bit of a reminder of what Wilson encountered earlier in his career?
The other thing they’ve routinely touched upon, aside from the references to UFOs in every episode in some form or fashion (hell in the last episode there was a UFO movie WITH Ronald Reagan that I’d never even heard of), is the notion that you have all these Vietnam veterans around and the implication that America became much more violent after they returned. It’s a bit of a disturbing thought.
— Alan
Just watched episode 4 and I really didn’t want it to end. Wilson is knocking it out of the park, imho.
Well, yeah. Different actors are even playing them! But seriously, it’s the exact same writing that went into Billy Bob Thornton’s character. Just because it’s spoken by a black guy flanked by two mute Quakers, or whatever they are, doesn’t mean Hawley has invented something different.
I love the wackiness of the UFO stuff. Can’t wait to see where that goes. Hopefully not nowhere.
I kind of disagree about your comment that the show implies America is more violent after Vietnam. It seems to me the point being made is that certain people have been exposed to brutal violence because of Vietnam. Vietnam was different from the more recent wars the US has fought because we put men down in close quarters with an insurgent enemy hiding in difficult terrain. Since then, our wars have been notoriously casualty shy so we just bomb people from a safe distance. :) But, yes, I love that this is touched on in a movie set in 1979 in relation to violence. As I child, I certainly remember the impact of Vietnam on people being treated very differently than the impact of modern wars on our veterans.
-Tom
Was there no new episode this week? If there was my DVR didn’t catch it…
Episode four was this week, your DVR did not catch it :(
Jean Smart is great in this, perfectly believable both as an archetype of a certain kind of Midwestern matriarchy and as a mob boss.
Might have said “holy shit” 4-5 times during the beginning of this week’s episode. Also: Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan is brilliant casting.
Also also: more UFO stuff! I love how they ramped up the background music right when it happened.
Plus: “Okay so we’ll just sit here eating sugar cereal and playing with my service weapon.”
— Alan
Yeah, I’m completely sold on this season now. The Reagan appearance was fantastic, partly because of Campbell’s vague impersonation. Just the right touch of that Reagan fogginess. The interplay among the Gerhardt family factions is ratcheting up nicely. Sort of like the Minnesota mob version of Crusader Kings.
Also, we got some really awesome Plemons in this episode. The whole butcher shop sequence was a wonderfully Cohen-esque apocalypse that put me in mind of the finale in the Hotel Earle in Barton Fink. And then that great Gift of the Magi bit with Kirsten Dunst. I didn’t even realize this episode was called Gift of the Magi until I just now went to IMDB to find out how to spell Gerhardt.
-Tom
I definitely like this season more than the first. And I really liked the first season.
Hey, the bearded Gerhardt brother was the doctor guy in Fury Road!