Also, the show changed after the sixth episode. At the end
of that one, Molly gets shot by Gus, the eternal fuck up. Up till that point
the show had been frighteningly cold-eyed about its characters, in a Game of
Thrones way, where you half expect the
most sympathetic character to be the next to die, in the worst way. But the
follow-up on Molly’s gunshot was so lame. She wasn’t mad at Gus. The bullet
“passed right through her,” and she was back at work in like a couple days.
Jesus, as I think about it now, Molly SHOULD have died.
After that point in the show she did nothing. She recovered, was horrified that
Lester somehow framed his brother while she was out, and then she made that
poster of the connections of all the characters, which her boss made her hide.
Then she married Gus, got pregnant, and did nothing for the rest of the show
except lurk after Lester, and finally get promoted to chief in the finale for
being “right for the job” (we were told that in the first episode), and for
making that sweet poster (three episodes before). Imagine the pathos if Gus had killed her! That would have been so much better!
My point is, the nihilism of the show let up after that sixth
episode and revealed its soft little heart. I for one
was disappointed. I’m not a groupie for Game of Thrones but its diabolic
mission to slay and rape every sympathetic character makes for
suspenseful television. Fargo seemed like it was going that way. The violence
in Fargo was genuinely disturbing, and it crescendoed in the sixth episode with
the brutal murder of that spray tan guy Chumpf. It was hard to watch, because
it was so unfair.
Anyway, I wanted to say good things about the show. Um. I
liked the acting, across the board, except for Martin Freeman. He has no
emotions, ever. One could say that’s just the character of Lester, but one
would be wrong about that. Martin Freeman never has any emotions. A better
actor could have made Lester a more compelling character. I can’t think of
someone off the top of my head, but William H. Macy is a sufficiently obvious
example from the movie.
Anyway, I wanted to say good things. I liked the jump-ahead
in time in episode 8. I liked Lester seeing Malvo in Las Vegas, and seeing
Malvo play a completely different character. That whole set up at the start of
the ninth episode, showing Malvo as a dentist, and Stephen Root’s character,
and then his shocking execution of all of them in the elevator. Hell yeah. I
liked the first episode a lot. (Except for Molly bringing the paint cans to the
dead sheriff’s wife. That was a bit much.) I liked how Malvo scared Gus at the end of the first
episode. Hell yeah. I liked the music, how it suggested the original score but
was actually different. I liked the heterogeny of
the story structure. One could call it sloppy structure, and perhaps it was,
but it was fun. I liked the story with Stavros, largely because Oliver Platt’s
acting was fantastic. He found the briefcase of money from the movie and the
moment he prayed to God for help, and then believe that God is real. Fantastic!
I’d believe it too! Then he puts the money back but fish fall from the sky and
kill his son. What does that mean? He yells to heaven, “But I put it back!
I put it back!” Questions about God, justice, evil, and the show took an ambiguous stance on those moral questions. Evil and injustice happened constantly in the show, yet also there were miraculous occurrences. What is morality in such a world? Where is God in this situation? These questions were approached with both sensational violence and the light touch of humor, my favorite combination.
Oh, it was good fun. That's all.
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