Fargo- the TV series

[Skyrazer]

The latest episode went off the rails IMO, the show is shifting into absurdity. I don't know wtf I'm watching anymore. Too many coincidences, too many convenient plot devices and wild plot turns that come out of nowhere. There seems to be no rhythm or flow to the show anymore.

Now arguably the show's best character (Molly) is dead? And in such a sudden and random manner? And can anyone explain the fish storm or is it supposed to be some sort of religious/philosophical thing or something?

I hope next week's episode brings things back together.

[Nictarion]

RIP Mr.Numbers ye will be missed

(Wasn't there a scene of him shooting someone in a convenience store in the trailers, I don't remember seeing it in the show)

Also Glen Howerton was good, shitty death

Who the hell are you and what have you done with Mark Antony? :worried:

[Howdyphillip]

The hitmen didn't just happen to run into Malvo, they were tracking him down so they could kill him. Last week they got Malvo's name from Lester and at the beginning of the show tonight the big boss gave the order to their contact (the Australian guy) that Malvo is to be killed.They ran into his car maybe due to the weather but maybe to get him out of the car so they could gun him down. Either way they were not there by just happenstance.

Molly and Grimly were in the same neighborhood because their investigations into Malvo's activity lead them to Stavros who Malvo was still in the area dealing with to get the money. And I still think Malvo's and agent of God/The Devil/Chaos. The Fish? :stunned:

This is where we are missing a step. We know the hipster hitmen want to kill Malvo and have been told his name by Lester. How did they track him by that? How did they figure out where Malvo was?

[Morpheus]

I don't understand the reasoning behind attacking him on main street during a blizzard. They couldn't follow him to wherever he was going and get a clean kill? The blizzard was a nice looking set piece but it sure made them look like the worst hitmen in the world rather than making Malvo look super competent.

[Relic]

This is where we are missing a step. We know the hipster hitmen want to kill Malvo and have been told his name by Lester. How did they track him by that? How did they figure out where Malvo was?

Because....the writers said so. That was my take on it. Anyone else think the fake snow and the super bright lighting during the snowstorm was cruddy?

[drawkcabi]

This show has a habit of having crazy things happen and then not explain them for 1 or 2 episodes later or like Lester's hand not for 5 episodes. While.last night everything got ratcheted up a notch but unless the show goes to the end of the season without explaining in more detail wtf is going on, I'm willing to give.the storytelling leeway.

Malvo can remain an enigma too into next season and for as long as that's part of the attraction of the show and works in the plot without getting old. The periphery characters need to have their actions explained a bit by season's end or I will start agreeing with some of you about the plot getting too contrived.

[Fragile Bird]

Paddington, fish are very Christian symbols. Christ was a fisher of men, most of his apostles were fishermen, and early Christians would draw half of the arc that makes a fish, and if someone filled in the other half they would know they were also Christians, but if they weren't, drawing half an arc really didn't give you away.

But the fish storm was just too weird - presumably all the lakes in the area were frozen over, so the storm really couldn't have sucked them up and dropped them down. That was fantasy time. And I don't really see the symbolism, fish raining down was not one of the plagues of Egypt, although the last plague was the death of first born sons.

And the storm? I have been in storms just like that, so, it was actually ok.

[SpaceChampion]

Fish and frogs raining down are known to happen on rare occasions, but no one understands them. There is no scientific explanation. Some have suggested tornados or waterspouts, or fast wind passing over water, but it's never been observed and it's not credible that there is enough force to do it. Don't expect an explanation from this show.

Malvo can remain an enigma too into next season and for as long as that's part of the attraction of the show and works in the plot without getting old.

Except it's an anthology show. Freeman wouldn't have taken the part otherwise, and probably not Thornton or Hanks either. If picked up for season 2 it should feature an entirely new cast, though maybe Molly isn't dead and we might see her again.

Edit: Nope, not Molly either.

And this suggests FX is looking at a renewing for seasons 2 and 3.

[Commodore]

don't think she's dead, but the way she got shot was stupid, he fired blindly into the snow for no reason

[Skyrazer]

"This show has a habit of having crazy things happen and then not explain them for 1 or 2 episodes later or like Lester's hand not for 5 episodes. While.last night everything got ratcheted up a notch but unless the show goes to the end of the season without explaining in more detail wtf is going on, I'm willing to give.the storytelling leeway.

Malvo can remain an enigma too into next season and for as long as that's part of the attraction of the show and works in the plot without getting old. The periphery characters need to have their actions explained a bit by season's end or I will start agreeing with some of you about the plot getting too contrived."

Sorry to nitpick, but I assumed it was a given Lester's hand got a pellet from the shotgun when the Chief was shot? Atleast I already knew it was before it was shown in slow-mo in last week's episode.

Still though, they're really going to have to push the boundaries of believability with explaining some of these events. It reminds me a bit with the plane crash in Breaking Bad (apologies if you haven't seen it) - the event seemed outrageous at first, but they did explain it later down the track, even though it still seemed a bit of a logical stretch. So there's still room for Fargo to redeem itself atleast somewhat.

[Skyrazer]

Oh yeah and with the guy at the start - I imagine it was intentional for comedic purposes, but his "Australian" accent (he was Aussie wasn't he?) was....odd. It almost sounded Kiwi at times.

[drawkcabi]

Sorry to nitpick, but I assumed it was a given Lester's hand got a pellet from the shotgun when the Chief was shot? Atleast I already knew it was before it was shown in slow-mo in last week's episode.

Still though, they're really going to have to push the boundaries of believability with explaining some of these events. It reminds me a bit with the plane crash in Breaking Bad (apologies if you haven't seen it) - the event seemed outrageous at first, but they did explain it later down the track, even though it still seemed a bit of a logical stretch. So there's still room for Fargo to redeem itself atleast somewhat.

I may not have watched the first episode close enough, I was wondering up until last week what the heck was going on with Lester's hand. Same thing with Stravos and the money, completely missed the ice scraper in the one episode and needed the next episode to explain to me where he got his start up cash.

I think you got it right with you saying there's room for redemption, it seems the beginning of every other episode is a recap and more elaboration of previous events on the show, so I have faith the events on the most recent episode will be explained a bit more. But also confluence is a theme in both the movie and the series, so I'm not expecting completely logical conclusions, just, well...it could have happened.

I'm not only invested in the show, but enjoying the ride, even if some things don't make sense, I'm willing to suspend criticism until the season concludes to decide whether I think it went too far to the absurd at a point or has stayed stylistically pure and a well done show.

Speaking of the plane crash in BB, I keep coming back to the fish and the blinding snowstorm and thinking midair collision or some sort of flying vehicular misshap to cause the fishy rain.

ETA:

And I refuse to believe Molly is dead until it's shown to be unarguable true on the series.

[Francis Buck]

I'll be honest, the series is starting to lose me every ever-so-slightly. I'll definitely finish it, because I like the actors and some of the humor/situations, but at this point the show is BARELY upholding even a mild sense of believability. I could see that this was going to be the case fairly early on and I didn't mind, but it's getting almost too over-the-top at this point. I don't know. I still enjoy most of the stuff with Malvo, as well as Lester and Molly (who I don't believe is dead for a second), and there were aspects of the whole blizzard set-piece that were cool, but...yeah. I feel like I'm becoming increasingly less invested in a lot of the scenes that should be tense or thrilling because so much of it is derivative, convenient, or cheap.

I mean just for an example (not sure which ep. this was, a recent one though), Molly goes to investigate the Nygaard's basements. Within seconds she's trying to detach the back of washing machine. Why? Even if you can come up with a motivation for her be interested in it at all, why does she immediately try opening the back up? And then she doesn't even find the hammer, so it was all just derivative nonsense in the effort of manufacturing some mild tension for about twenty seconds, ultimately leading nowhere.

And then like, the fish thing. This wouldn't have been that bad for me if the show already hadn't go so batshit crazy -- it would've felt like what they intended it, an absolutely crazy but not impossible coincidence. By this point in the show though? Just plain silly.

Don't get me wrong, I still do enjoy watching and I liked the performances, but it's gradually becoming slightly lower in quality for me personally, rather than higher.

[Commodore]

do we know if Molly was engaging with Malvo or the deaf guy at the end?

we also don't know who's bullet hit her

[Nictarion]

do we know if Molly was engaging with Malvo or the deaf guy at the end?

we also don't know who's bullet hit her

I'm pretty sure it was Grimly who shot her.

[Batbob45]

That one of my favorite FX shows.

[Talleyrand]

Howerton's death was actually surprisingly sad. Its a shame to see him and Goldberg go (I refuse to believe that Molly's dead). On a side though Goldberg doesn't have a great record when it comes close quarter fights with knifes

[Ixodes]

On a side though Goldberg doesn't have a great record when it comes close quarter fights with knifes

:laugh:

[Veltigar]

I must say that this episode has renewed my interest in the show again. After episode 1 I thought it kept on sliding down hill. But this episode was great. Cinematography, acting, etc. just awesome. I'll finish this for sure.

On a side though Goldberg doesn't have a great record when it comes close quarter fights with knifes

:lol:

This is where we are missing a step. We know the hipster hitmen want to kill Malvo and have been told his name by Lester. How did they track him by that? How did they figure out where Malvo was?

They got Molly's file in the last episode. They didn't just get a picture from that, but they probably also learned that he went AWOL with Lester's car and that that had been found in Deluth. Perhaps the file even said that Grimley apprehended Malvo (or someone he thought was malvo) at Stavros's house.

It's still a stretch that they found him right in a blizzard, but notjing out of the ordinary for TV-Shows.

[The Dragon Prince]

I actually liked the last episode but i'm starting to lose interest in the show.