Before
you even ask, yes, this will contain a lot of spoilers for the first
season of the FX series Fargo. Kiyoshi posted something about the
series and I said to myself “Oh, I heard an interview about this
show and it seemed slightly interesting.” But then I hadn't heard
anyone talking about this show and figured it couldn't be that good.
“The Trailer Trap...” floated through my head. What TTT
translates to is the fact that I've missed a lot of good things
because the trailers for them looked terrible and they turned out to
be good. So here is a list of reasons why you should be watching
Fargo.
1. Billy
Bob Thornton's Performance
Thornton plays Lorne Malvo, a hit-man that is just the most evil son of a
bitch on TV. I am used to killers being either loud and crazy or
quiet and creepy. This guy is nice. He can spark up a conversation
with anyone, joke, and be an all around nice guy. Except for, you
know, the parts where he shoots people point blank in the head,
slices a dogs throat, and sets a man up to be murdered by a SWAT
team. Thornton's portrayal of Malvo is done incredibly well. He plays
off of everyone perfectly and deserves all kinds of awards.
2. Deputy
Molly Solverson Is Awesome
Allison
Tolman plays Deputy Molly and she made me cheer for her. This woman
was being treated like a delicate flower by the new sheriff after the
murder of her friend and former sheriff. Whenever she found
information she was told to leave people alone and stay out of it.
She never gave up even when it looked like she did and she ended up
being right all along in her suspicions. Even when she was pregnant
and they thought they had caught the killer Molly knew that they were
wrong and kept a wall of evidence pointing to the real killer. Just
with her face and not saying a word she has the ability to express so
damned much emotion. She, Allison Tolman, blew my mind.
3. “Is
This What You Want?”
This
is the question posed to Lester Nygaard as he and Malvo are in a Las
Vegas elevator one year after the murder has been solved. Lester is
asked “Is this what you want?” two or three times. He finally
answers “Yes.” Dead! Three people shot in the face! Those five
words ended up changing the lives of a lot of people and got a few
cops and an innocent woman murdered. Shit was done but Lester
got...cocky? Stupid? Overconfident? I'm not sure. Either way it was a
silly thing to do.
4. Lester
Nygaard Becomes Televisions Biggest Dick
When
this show began I felt so bad for this guy Lester Nygaard played by
Martin Freeman. He is just a small insurance salesman whose wife
demeans him, constantly compares him to his more successful brother,
he is bullied by the same guy who bullied him in school along with
his sons, his wife is known as the girl who had sex with everyone
back in the day (“She had such soft hands...”). After breaking
his nose trying to escape a bully he finally loses it when his wife
is putting him down. Thunk! Nails her with a hammer right on the
head. So much death ensues. He goes from being a pitiful guy to
someone I was dying to see get it. Did I mention that he planted a
gun in his nephews backpack?
5. The
Most Interesting Team Ever
Russell
Harvard as Mr. Wrench and Adam Goldberg as Mr. Numbers were one of
the best hit-man teams I have ever seen. They show up to find out
what happened to someone and end up wrapped in all the nonsense that
comes along with being sucked into Lester's vortex. What makes these
two especially awesome is that Mr. Wrench, the redhead, is deaf. He
can't hear or speak. They communicate through sign language which
bites them in the ass at one point when Lester tasers Mr. Wrench and
escapes while Mr. Wrench is digging a hole.
6. A Fox,
A Rabbit, And A Cabbage
Keegan-Michael
Key plays Bill Budge and Jordan Peele plays Webb Pepper, two FBI
agents who head to Fargo. I was surprised to see them pop up on this
show at first and worried that it would become too jokey. I was
wrong. They were awesome. Their introduction was great. Malvo heads
into an office building and slaughters the place and walks right out
while these two are in their car right out front since they were
supposed to be watching the place. They end up placed in the file
room. They play off of each other well and I was hoping that they'd
never cross paths with Malvo.
7. “You're
Making A Mistake”
Officer
Gus Grimly, played by Colin Hanks, is just trying to get along in
life. He is treated with no respect by anyone, gets hell for letting
Malvo free after having the shit scared out of him, and raise his
daughter after the death of his wife. He actually does catch Malvo
but after a series of “Are you fucking with me?!” incidents Malvo
is set free. You want Grimly to win so bad! When Grimley is proved
wrong it is a sick burn.
8. Malvo
Has No Fucks To Give
At one
point Malvo is confronted by a guy that wants answers. He sits on the
toilet the entire time talking to him while taking a dump. He scares
a cop into letting him drive away with words. He scares the hell out
of a neighborly fella. He eats pie at the restaurant owned by the
father of the woman who is searching for him while asking about
Lester's whereabouts. He gets his leg caught in a bear trap and using
the string from mini-blinds snaps his compound fracture into place
before putting on his own splint. This dude is an animal.
9. Damn
It, Bill!
Every
time this guy was on screen I wanted to slap him. Bob Odenkirk plays
Police Chief Bill Oswalt who is over his head in every situation.
Hey, here's some evidence. Oh, that can't be true because Bill has
known him for years. No way this evidence can be right. You just
wanna shake him and scream “Look at everything that is happening
around you! This is not a coincidence!” He always has this look of
perpetual confusion as if he just walked into a story at the end an
has no idea what is going on. At one point I thought that he was so
naive that it had to be a lie and that he knew who the killer was.
Nope. He was just that damned stubborn.
10. Every
Episode Is Good
Even
with shows like Game Of Thrones there are three to four episodes that
seem wasteful or just not interesting but it is still a great show
all around. Fargo did not have one single episode that did not
forward the story or make me gasp, laugh, and smile. I did not know
that this show was so good and am still surprised that this series is
not talked about like GOT or The Walking Dead. After five good
episodes in a row I figured it was time for a flashback episode or
for the shark to get jumped. It didn't happen. When an episode
started with “One year later...” I moaned and not in a good way.
Well, I couldn't have been wronger. The writers knew exactly what
they were doing but I am so used to being screwed over with shows
that started off good and turned to shit that it's a natural reflex
now. Do yourself a favor and watch this show.
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