Fargo (FX)

Brian in Mesa

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Fargo (FX)

Premieres 4/15/14.

New TV series based on the 1996 Coen Bros. film of the same name.

In 2006, a drifter named Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) arrives in Bemidji, Minnesota and influences the population with his malice and violence, including put-upon insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman).

Main cast:

Billy Bob Thornton as Lorne Malvo
Allison Tolman as Molly Solverson
Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard
Colin Hanks as Deputy Gus Grimly

Recurring cast:

Bob Odenkirk as Bill Olson
Kate Walsh as Gina Hess
Adam Goldberg as Mr. Numbers
Russell Harvard as Mr. Wrench
Oliver Platt as Stavros Milos

 

Mulli

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I hope this isn't too violent and horrible. I am a lightweight.
 

Cheesebeef

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Me too. Took some of what I expected in the moment and turned those expectations on their head. Good stuff.

yup. the pilot had me completely hooked...and then Colin Hanks showed up. at first I was really made, thinking they set up a long-arc for him to be the character that gets redemption...but I'm thinking this a show where redemption ain't coming for anyone and hope he dies quickly.

Billy Bob's character immediately became one of the my favorite on TV.
 

Stout

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yup. the pilot had me completely hooked...and then Colin Hanks showed up. at first I was really made, thinking they set up a long-arc for him to be the character that gets redemption...but I'm thinking this a show where redemption ain't coming for anyone and hope he dies quickly.

Billy Bob's character immediately became one of the my favorite on TV.

Yup.
 

Cheesebeef

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if Colin Hanks either a) doesn't die or b) becomes the hero in this show it will instantly become of my most loathed shows in history.
 

MrYeahBut

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I'm only 2 episodes into it and I'm enjoying it. That dude who got promoted to police chief has lutefisk for brains. Agree with Cheese about Hanks.
 

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Ok, I really love this show. It is consistently strong, and Thornton just electrifies every time he's on the screen.
 

MrYeahBut

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A friend of my wife told me it's creepy and I don't get it, but I can't stop watching it.
 

Cheesebeef

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True Detective was pretty incredible, but as far as "Event Series" go, Fargo is untouchable at this point. Billy Bob's character/performance are all-time stuff.
 

AZZenny

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Yes. True Detective had some serious ups and downs especially towards the end, but Fargo has been so smooth and ... I don't know, coherent, despite the utter weirdness. It has an oddly cottony, almost suffocating feeling, broken open only by Malvo.
 

Cheesebeef

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Yes. True Detective had some serious ups and downs especially towards the end, but Fargo has been so smooth and ... I don't know, coherent, despite the utter weirdness. It has an oddly cottony, almost suffocating feeling, broken open only by Malvo.

That scene in the diner was tension ratcheted up to 11.
 

Cheesebeef

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Did I miss something in the first half of the finale? How the hell did Gus know where to look and walk into the Forrest?!

Really disappointed tonight. So damn brilliant through 9 episodes and they just blew sticking the landing at the end, IMO.
 

Southpaw

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Did I miss something in the first half of the finale? How the hell did Gus know where to look and walk into the Forrest?!

Really disappointed tonight. So damn brilliant through 9 episodes and they just blew sticking the landing at the end, IMO.

His rural mail route?

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/fargo-finale-recap-mortons-fork

That hardly means she's merely a passive agent: Molly may not be the one to track down Lester, but she's singularly responsible for his capture. It was her police work, her dogged determination in the face of ridicule and disdain, that put the pressure on Lester to flee in the first place, and she does get the satisfaction of finally hearing him confess, even if it's only via one of Malvo's audiotapes. Besides, as she puts it in the finale scene, she's gonna be chief.

What's more, it seems profoundly off to read Gus' cold-blooded execution of Lorne Malvo as a moment of manly triumph: Shooting an unarmed man with a broken leg isn't exactly going out in a blaze of glory. It's true that the show presents Malvo as a predator, to the extent that the only way to ensure he won't kill again is to put him down. But the way Gus does it, and the chilling smile on Malvo's bullet-pocked face, drain the act of any sense of chest-thumping vindication. As Hawley put it, "You may see it as a victory for Gus, [but] it's also a victory for Malvo, whose driving motivation in life is to seek and turn civilized people into animals. [H]e pushes Gus to commit murder, really."
 

Cheesebeef

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His rural mail route?

yeah. he has a mail route...but why did he pick that particular place to walk deep into the woods. it's not like the car could be seen from the road. Gus had to walk deep into the forrest to find this place. just seemed...super convenient to me.
 

HoodieBets

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yeah. he has a mail route...but why did he pick that particular place to walk deep into the woods. it's not like the car could be seen from the road. Gus had to walk deep into the forrest to find this place. just seemed...super convenient to me.
I believe it was off the conversation with his new father in law about the mail woman.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 

Cheesebeef

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http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/18/fargo-creator-noah-hawley-season-finale/



Seems that Hawley was more concerned with the showdown rather than how he would get Gus there.

I get that, but it left me super disappointed that the devil could be caught just by a guy as clueless as Gus who suddenly just knew exactly where he'd be.

and that idea that it would be a "shock" after the cat and mouse game with Lester and Malvo that Gus would appear in the cabin is a joke. the second he walked into that house, anyone with a brain knew what was coming.
 

JerkFace

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Did I miss something in the first half of the finale? How the hell did Gus know where to look and walk into the forest?

Thinking maybe you missed something. Gus was driving into town when he was talking to his wife on the phone. He stopped because the wolf was in the road and from that vantage point he saw the red BMW that he recognized from when he saw Malvo driving into town parked in front of the cabin. He then drove around to the back so he could hike up to the cabin without being seen.
 

Southpaw

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What was up with the wolf? It was in a few episodes. Symbolism? Metaphor?
 

Cheesebeef

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Thinking maybe you missed something. Gus was driving into town when he was talking to his wife on the phone. He stopped because the wolf was in the road and from that vantage point he saw the red BMW that he recognized from when he saw Malvo driving into town parked in front of the cabin. He then drove around to the back so he could hike up to the cabin without being seen.

huh...I thought he didn't see the car until he went all the way into the woods.
 
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