Director: Colin Bucksey
Writer: Noah Hawley
Cast: Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Glen Howerton, Colin Hanks, Adam Goldberg, Russell Harvard, Oliver Platt, Joshua Close
Synopsis: Lorne Malvo continues with his blackmail plot with explosive results. Lester Nygaard comes up with his own plan to get the heat off him.
If there is one thing I can say about Fargo, it’s that it’s consistent and, to be more to the point, it’s consistently good with no “filler” episodes. This one was tense and made me shake my head in shock. I really don’t know how this show will end and that’s what makes it so good.
This wasn’t a good one though for fitness instructor Dan, remember when Lorne Malvo locked him in the closet last episode? Malvo lets him out and then proceeds to knock him out. When he awakes he is tied to a chair with his mouth taped up and a very large gun taped to his hands. After Malvo fires some shots out the window he leaves to meet up with Stavros just as the police arrive.
As horrible and cruel as this scene was, it was fantastically shot as the police shoot their way into the house, shooting poor Dan at the same time. He will forever be known as a crazy suicide shooter. Malvo is cruel and so ridiculously smart he is terrifying. But there is still something likable about him.
Meanwhile Lester Nygaard has been recovering from his wound in hospital. As he is now a suspect in the murders, he is confined to his room. After a haunting exchange where his brother tells him that there is something wrong with him, Nygaard goes stealth. He manages to disguise himself as a bandaged patient and head home. He takes the stashed murder weapon and a pair of his dead wife’s underwear and hides them in his brother’s gun collection. He then does something that I think confirms that there really is no way back for Nygaard: he puts a gun in his nephew’s school bag. All this and back to the hospital without the guard outside his room getting suspicious. Nygaard has become a ninja.
Stavros has another epiphany as he is waiting to meet Malvo with the blackmail money. He decides that he must give the money back, so he heads back to the spot where he found it and buries it with the ice scraper as a marker. All ready for someone else to find it.
Malvo, unaware of Stavros’ change of plan, he finds himself in a bit of trouble as Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench crash into him and start shooting. This is another scene so impressively shot. There is a heavy blizzard so visibility is low and it almost looks black and white as we see shots fired. Deputy Molly Solverson and Officer Gus Grimly turn up just as Malvo kills Mr Numbers who blurts out the word “Fargo” as Malvo disappears like a ghost into the snow.
As Solverson rushes off to find the other shooter, Grimly sees something and shoots, only to realise that he has shot Solverson instead. Is she alive? What is going to happen now?
The episode ends with a rather pleased Stavros returning to his son. He feels that all will be right now that he has followed “God’s Plan“. But he stops his car in the middle of the road as fish start falling from the sky, up ahead he spots a car wreck and inside he finds his son dead. What must Stavros do to put things right?
Another fantastic episode, some great performances especially Oliver Platt. His Stavros is truly a man come undone, I have no idea how it will end for him. As always Billy Bob Thornton just keeps getting better and better, this role was made for him. Martin Freeman is really shining in his role as Nygaard and he has proven that he can play dark characters and so, with that, the next episode can’t come quick enough!
[usr=5] Fargo is currently airing on Channel 4. Follow our full series blog here!
