We need a thread for the FARGO TV show yah? Oh, yah!

And yeah, totally in love with Carrie coon

"Who did you think it was, Menachem Begin?" lol

good post mh

ended up really enjoying this one

I thought Varga was a great villain.

I found him a little overbearing! I mean maybe that was the idea? But all those constant shots of lol-british teeth masticating away on sandwiches and whatever was just uuuurrgh. I respect him highly as an actor, but ever since that violent rape/bash scene in Naked, Ive always been faintly turned off by Thewlis.

All that aside yeah. This was prob my least fave of the 3 seasons only because the pacing was off, it never really gathered steam til the last few eps. I liked the ambiguous ending though.

One thing I didnt get: who texted Varga to warn him the IRS had the drives, thus tipping him off? It wouldnt be in Swango, Burgle or Stussy's interests to tell him and who else knew?

IRS guy said he was "protected" earlier in the episode

Ya, I assumed it was someone inside the agency.

how do you explain what happened to his grandfather, when it had nothing to do with who he actually was? And how do you tell a kid about his grandfather's broken dreams and mixed accomplishments, when he obviously had tried to leave all those things behind?

a fun wrinkle to this was that the kid didn't really think of the guy as his grandfather and complained whenever his mom tried to talk to him about him

hah, yes

Swango texted him. She had his number and she wanted him separated from the rest of the gang - to look him in the eye, as she promised in the penultimate episode.

I was mildly disappointed in the end. This had a lot of amazing, shocking and clever moments, but S2 was just phenomenal. I think grandpa Stussy's shaggy dog origin story is what will stick with me the most from all this, and of course Winstead's turn as the antihero.

I really hope they go for a fourth season.

Yeah the scifi backstory was great - they did similar in legion and I loved that as well.

Dont hold out for S4 for a while. Hawley's said as much. He wants to focus on Legion S2 and is doing a film, he has no intention of doing another fargo for at least 5 years apaz.

Or 3 maybe. 2020. Something like that anyway.

Holy fuck 2020 is 3 years away.

Good ending all told, finished on a more satisfying note than the mid season doldrums would have suggested. Varga indeed a great (and apt for our times) villain, but I feel they overused him. Would have been more effective only popping up every couple of episodes. Poor Swango.

Only problem with the granpa origin story was the supposedly award winning SF book he wrote seemed incredibly basic from the extracts we were presented with.

Why did Wrench wait five years to whack Emmit?

To keep the heat off himself, maybe?

Because it's teevee

who kills a guy who is at his lowest and wants to die? gotta wait until he's living well for the good revenge

Thats a very good point.

Haven't read the thread recently but did just finish season 3, and holy crap what a good show this is. All seasons, of a piece but all very different. The acting, the writing, the direction and cinematography, just top notch all around. This season in particular has been like Coens meet Twin Peaks. In fact, as I was watching it made it harder to return to Twin Peaks: The Return, which I was having trouble getting into. (But which I may get back to now.)

Just finished season one of this. What a show! Was initially put off how it overstates so many of the movie's motifs, but the plotting was incredible, performances were a joy, and there was such sweetness at the heart of it all. What a joy it was to watch a crime caper with a fundamentally decent view of humanity.

Season 2 is even better!

It really isn't.

Three episodes into the first season--will take me the rest of the year at least to catch up. Billy Bob's character is a venerable movie cliche--the implacable, unstoppable killer--but he carries it off well. First impression is that, exactly like the movie, it's about two kinds of people involved in grisly crime: those who do it for a living, and those who are completely unsuited to be anywhere near it.

Great ending for the one-year-later episode, where Lester spots Lorne (Billy Bob) in the bar. It would have been even better, though, if, just before the credits, Lorne had slowly turned around to look back at Lester and smiled.

goddamnit when is hawley doing the next season

we'll always have season 2

I love how divided s2 opinion is. You're either on board with the UFO thing or you're not.

(I was firmly on board!)

new season not happening til 2020 apparently

yeah I think I mentioned that some time back, Hawley's done Legion, and a movie?

It was only announced this week that S4 has been commissioned, to go into production next year. No TX date, month or year yet.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjsLGv3XcAAGxKY.jpg

Chris Rock? Uhhh

When Lester sends his new wife into the office to get their passports, geez--in the annals of spineless, simpering movie creeps, he's right up there.

Finished the first season. I wish--and I'm rarely bothered by things like this; I don't like it when currency feels forced--it had been Molly rather than Gus who put down Malvo. Not a big deal, but it felt wrong. Otherwise, captured the film well.

They did mitigate that, though, with the granddaughter grabbing the gun and joining her grandfather on the porch.

I'm confused on a very basic point. Malvo was a contract killer with Oliver Platt and the other guy he took out to the forest, but with Lester and the suitcase full of recordings, that was just...a hobby? And at no point did he ever intend to kill Lester, right, because that would end the game? Otherwise, why didn't he just kill him in the elevator with the other three?

Three episodes into Season 2. The performances are so good, especially Bokeem Woodbine and Jean Smart. Woodbine seems very familiar, but when I look through his filmography, all I come up with is a cop in Dead Presidents--did he really make that much of an impression on me in what was probably a small role? I must be overlooking something.

He’s done a lot of TV one-offs and he bears a strong resemblance to Dave Chapelle.

That's it--he really does look like Dave Chappelle, and even delivers his lines in a similar way. I don't know Chappelle's work well, but I've seen his post-election SNL monologue, which was excellent, three times, so that's imprinted on my mind.

That treatment outline for the new season feels a little too similar to S2, with the warring crime clans.

I've seen Patrick Wilson in four or five films, and every time I end up looking up his character to remind me of who he is--he's like the most nondescript-looking actor I can think of. I won't forget his name after Fargo.

(Loved Nick Offerman laughing at his own pomposity during the credits for episode 6. Unless it was an outtake, but I'm pretty sure he was still in character.)

Three episodes into Season 2. The performances are so good, especially Bokeem Woodbine and Jean Smart. Woodbine seems very familiar, but when I look through his filmography, all I come up with is a cop in Dead Presidents--did he really make that much of an impression on me in what was probably a small role? I must be overlooking something.

― clemenza, Sunday, September 23, 2018 9:19 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Had the same reaction, and the answer I found: music videos.

Busta's Light Ya Ass On Fire, Wu-Tang's Protect Ya Neck and Gravel Pit, several others (can't find a solid list, but I feel like there's plenty more)

i really enjoyed season 1 and 2 and i'm enjoying season 3 so far (just a few episodes in). i find this show slightly frustrating though. the acting is generally excellent, the music cues are great, and there's usually something beautiful or interesting happening visually. but the stories for all three seasons are pretty similar (bad people get mixed with up even worse people, chaos ensues), and are overly reliant on graphic violence - each season ends up with someone shooting someone else who shot someone else etc etc., which is kind of played out in the world of prestige tv. i would love it if they would maintain the aesthetic but tell a slightly different kind of story.

Will: thanks, but I think it's Dave Chappelle for me. My familiarity with videos after about 1999 is pretty minimal.

there's usually something beautiful or interesting happening visually

I think the use of split-screen in Season 2 is beautiful--better even than De Palma.

i find Fargo a bit more refreshing than the usual prestige TV since it does have a decent amount of humor and odd narrative turns, and i wouldn't call it "feel bad" TV, which remains a bit of a crutch for so many shows and has been one for far too long. Which is why i've found GLOW refreshing, or something like Justified (which had a lot of violence but never tipped over into sadism, and somehow ended on a beautifully poetic note.)

S2 is really terrific, I watched it before S1 (also good, but not quite on par with S2.) Lots of good-to-great performances from a number of interesting actors: Bokeem Woodbine is a standout for sure, Patrick Wilson too. Kirsten Dunst is pretty phenomenal i thought, and Cristin Milioti possibly even better in a role that could have been thankless, sort of dealing w/the cancer and likely fate with a kind of wry humor and sadness that reminds me of someone else, but I can't think of who it is now...

The whole Gerhardt clan is conceived perfectly and that works even better because of the superior performances; Jean Smart, Jeffrey Donovan, Angus Sampson, Rachel Keller -- all great.

s2 is better than s1 but allison tolman is so much more compelling than patrick wilson

and wilson was good in s2! he's just kind of a generic hero

they missed the boat in not having an it's always sunny cast member in s2

Tolman was indeed great (and a nice echo of McDormand, without being an imitation), but I do think Wilson's great in his own way. The way he stood up to the Gerhardts was totally different than Grimly in Season 1. There's something about his performance I don't find generic...I loved the scene where he sat down the butcher and his wife and explained who was coming for them.

Found the treatment of Reagan fascinating. Not a cartoon...yet when cornered on how exactly any American was supposed to exercise these unlimited powers to fix things, he just kind of waved and walked away.

I loved Tolman but I don’t think anybody in any season has gotten a line as good as “Am I the only one here who's clear on the concept of law enforcement?”