36 replies to this topic

[Spark]

"...maps used to say there be dragons here, now they don't. But that don't mean the dragons aren't there."

 

 

OK, is anyone else seriously enamored by this show? I haven't seen a whole lot of discussion about it here, and I thought to myself, "Well, jeez, that's highly irregular for such a nifty picture show, I gotta do something about that."

 

What's not to love? It's deliciously malevolent while being gut-bustingly funny. It's got Bilbo Baggins. It's got Billy Bob Thornton with a really wacky haircut and an impressive assortment of creative ways to kill or unsettle people. And most importantly, it captures the feel of the original Fargo while telling a completely mostly separate story from the former.

 

The writing and plot pacing are incredible. I don't think even Breaking Bad could be this complex with its web of plot threads.

 

(Hopefully) A second season will be worth it, given that they are seriously considering this as an anthology series, in the vein of True Detective and American Horror Story.

 

But seriously though... Martin Freeman is sooooooooooooooooooo good at being bumbling, yet suave, slimy, and completely, deliciously EVIL. You won't know whether to cheer of gasp in shock at the lengths he'll go to cover up his crimes.

 

EDIT: Fixed broken image.

Edited by Spark, 08 January 2015 - 03:41 PM.

[Ocelot]

It took me a few episodes to really get on board with this show. I was railing against Billy Bob's ridiculous fringe, Martin Freeman doing a Minnesoooota accent (he nails it, obviously, but it was just so jarring), and it just felt like they were forcing that Coen Brothers Quirk a liiiiittle bit too hard. I really love Fargo the movie, and I guess I was just predisposed to be overly wary about anyone trying to horn in on that same world.

 

But it's totally won me over at this point. I think they've found their feet, found their own identity, and they're just turning out fantastic episodes every week. That shootout in the blizzard was one of the most gloriously tense scenes I can remember from any TV show, and I just love the direction the story's taken in the last couple of episodes. I was kind of anxious about how they were going to stretch out what they had for a full season, whether Lester was just going to keep narrowly evading Molly every week, but turns have been taken, to say the very least.

 

They even sold me on Billy Bob's stupid hair! There was an early scene where someone's trying to describe Billy Bob's character to someone else, being kind of vague and saying things like, "Not tall, not short, not fat not skinny," and I was practically screaming at the TV, "WHAT ABOUT HIS FRINGE? HE'S THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WITH HAIR LIKE THAT!" Then, like two episodes later, they explain the whole thing: he can just sweep the hair back over his head and change into a different person on cue. Oh. Yeah. Of course he can. Why didn't I see that?

 

And, yeah, Martin Freeman is incredible. Between this and his work on Sherlock, he's pretty much my favourite actor at the moment. He just has such a brilliant face, y'know? It's so full of character, and it seems like he has virtuoso-like control over every little bit of it. For a long time I thought he just was that bumbling, awkward, perpetually embarrassed and very English character he used to play all the time, but recently he's shown that he can be pretty much whatever the script calls for. I still think about that scene when he sees Sherlock back from the 'dead' in the most recent season, and he's just so furious that he can't even get any words out, and it's chills down my spine every time. Acting, am I right? That guy knows how it's done.

[Spark]

Oh my god, Lester is so despicable. He's out-Heisenberging Heisenberg now.

 

Also, Malvo. He's easily one of the scariest individuals on TV right now.

[Sir_Muffonious]

Man, this show was great but that finale left me sour. The reckoning between Malvo and Lester was really disappointing, Malvo's death was anticlimactic, Lester downfall was far too swift, and overall the whole episode was lacking in the dark, philosophical themes that had established the show to that point. I still loved this season and plan to tune in for the next one (and watch this one again), but I was let down.

 

Anyone else think this show sometimes has more in common with No Country for Old Men, rather than Fargo? Malvo gives me Chigurh vibes.

[Spark]

I think they were going for a general Coen Bros. feel, rather than strictly adhering to Fargo's tone. You're right though, I think Malvo was indeed inspired by Chigurh, and had some elements of Grimsrud from the Fargo film. Apart from that, Malvo was above all else the single most destructive and magnificent troll of all time. If he didn't kill 'em, he corrupted nearly every single person he came in contact with, as demonstrated by Lester, poor Stavros, and all those people he had recordings of in that briefcase that he kept listening to throughout the series. I suppose, fittingly, the only time his corruption was a positive effect on someone was Gus, which lead him to finally taking down Malvo...eventually (Seriously, how many bullets did it take to kill this guy??)

 

But I also agree with some feeling of disappointment, but I can't put my finger on it. Lester died exactly as he was supposed to: a coward and an idiot. Malvo was taken down by an 'unseen predator' of his own creation. It doesn't matter how much Lorne Malvo corrupted these folks, they were still ultimately themselves, they just had that extra little push to go through with their desires.

[Ocelot]

I really wanted Gus to fire that last bullet. That look that Malvo gives him with three bullets in his torso and blood all over his teeth was legitimately chilling, but Gus only ended up firing five shots from a six shooter and I was just waiting for Malvo to stir again.

 

The thing that made Malvo seem more threatening to me than Chigurh or maybe Randall Flagg was that he seemed to be able to 'turn it off' like a switch. Most of those kinds of devil-personified characters are described as being deeply unsettling to be near, upsetting the fabric of daily life wherever they go, but Malvo blended in. Combing back the weird fringe to fool the dopey police department into "Oh yah"-ing him out of custody was one thing, but after the time skip we see that he just went and built a new life for himself out of nothing, with friends and a fiancee and everything. He's not just a monster, he's a monster that's learnt to perfectly replicate human behaviour. Or maybe he didn't learn it, it's something he always knew, which might be even worse. 

 

I actually didn't realise this was the final episode until the very end (I thought they were going to do thirteen, not ten), but I think it's safe to say they left it fairly unsatisfying on purpose. You knew someone's leg was going in that bear trap from the moment they showed it, but I'd forgotten about it by that point so it still came as a surprise. I was expecting Martin Freeman to do the William H. Macy freakout from the movie as he was dragged off to prison, but I like the way he went out all the same. Plenty of symbolism to read into with him treading on thin ice, walking a fine line, being up to his eyeballs in lies, etc etc. I know there's more to it that I'm too dumb to see, too, like Molly's glove story and why Gus brings up the shades of green metaphor at the end. The phone call Molly gets to let her know when it's all over is probably the Coen Brothers-iest moment of the whole series, just a "Well, I guess that happened" kinda thing.

[Spark]

Regardless of it, Malvo's final scene is probably gonna be haunting my dreams for a while yet:

 

Spoiler

[Spark]

Small bump, but a bit significant.

 

Fargo renewed for Season 2.

 

Confirming what we all probably guessed, a new story, basically reclassifying Fargo as an anthology series. And it gets better, any attentive viewers might be familiar with the plot of the new season.

 

It's going to be set in 1979 and will deal with the mysterious 'Sioux Falls' incident alluded to by Lou Solverson in the closing chapters of the first season. That being said, this season will indeed star a younger version of Lou.

[Spark]

Small bump to do an update on Fargo Season 2. The cast is being rounded out quite nicely, and man, it is looking strong. Season 1 had a few big names here and there, but nothing too overtly special aside from Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton.

 

Season 2 seems to be a whole different beast when it comes to star power. Check it out.

[Spark]

Digging this up.

 

 

 

Fargo Season 2 premieres in September.

[Ocelot]

Alternate link for those videos, since they aren't working for me.

 

I'm really looking forward to this, though I have to admit I'm skeptical about starting over with a whole new cast. I can't really think of any other show that's done that. Obviously it makes sense from a story perspective, and I don't want the writers to have to conjure up some new Molly story just because we all like Molly, but I imagine it'll take some getting used to. I'm ready, though. I'm not even going to type a big screed about what a silly idea it is to promote your show with two thirty second ads that don't give you any idea about anything

[broons]

I'm really looking forward to this, though I have to admit I'm skeptical about starting over with a whole new cast. I can't really think of any other show that's done that. 

 

True Detective.

 

Other than that, not many that I can think of.

[Spark]

Someone say new trailer? Pretty sure I heard someone say new trailer:

 

[Spark]

The beautiful gods of television have seen fit upon this evening October the Twelfth, Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Fifteen, to grant us the gift of Fargo Season 2.

 

And it was good.

 

So, yeah. Discussion of Season 2 commences here.

[Spark]

So......Anyone else been watching besides me? I loved Season 1, but hot damn this season is on fire. The tension this show gives off could boil off all the snow on the screen.

 

Patrick Wilson, Nick Offerman, Jeffrey Donovan, and especially Bokeem Woodbine have been knocking it out of the park and into interstellar space.

 

Extremely brief demonstration:

 

Also, the cinematography is just amazing (not to mention excellent choices in 70s music)

[Ocelot]

I totally forgot we had a thread for this!

 

I've only seen up to episode 4, but it's really starting to get going. Some magnificently tense scenes, like the Mike Milligan/Kitchen brothers one you posted, and I imagine it's only going to get better from here. At the point I'm up to, with the Gerhardt family going to war and Kirsten Dunst and Meth Damon not taking Molly's Dad's offer of protection, it seems like everyone is determined to make the worst possible decisions in the Fargo-est possible way.

 

I don't want to shock you with my precognitive skills, but I'm pretty sure everyone is going to die

[Spark]

I totally forgot we had a thread for this!

 

I've only seen up to episode 4, but it's really starting to get going. Some magnificently tense scenes, like the Mike Milligan/Kitchen brothers one you posted, and I imagine it's only going to get better from here. At the point I'm up to, with the Gerhardt family going to war and Kirsten Dunst and Meth Damon not taking Molly's Dad's offer of protection, it seems like everyone is determined to make the worst possible decisions in the Fargo-est possible way.

 

I don't want to shock you with my precognitive skills, but I'm pretty sure everyone is going to die

 

Current Live state is at Ep. 6 (7 airing next week here). Let's just say...you have not seen anything yet.

[broons]

I'm going to make my girlfriend finally start the second season of this with me tonight.

 

I accidentally DVR'd it in standard def, though.  Hopefully all the eps are On Demand. 

[Ocelot]

k, I'm all caught up to episode 6, and oh boy everything just got real! I honestly don't know how they're going to get four more episodes out when the tension is this high already. I feel like main characters are just going to start dropping like flies at any moment, and honestly I've been feeling like that for the last couple of episodes. It's just so deliciously tense!

 

And I've found myself getting so emotionally invested, too. I'm squirming through all the scenes where Molly's Dad and Sheriff Ted Danson find themselves on the wrong end of some bad guy guns, and, jeez, there hasn't been a TV show character I've wanted dead more than Dodd Gerhardt in a long, long time. I hate that guy, like seriously. 

[Spark]

I only imagine what'll happen to Dodd

Spoiler

Now that Peggy has him under tight cattle-prodded control in her basement. Also, Otto's totally dead for reals now. He was the only one (relatively) standing up during the assault on the Gerhardt ranch. I actually sorta hope Floyd gets out of this and washes her hands of all her conniving children and grandchildren (save for Bear, because Bear is awesome.)

 

Also, Nick Offerman is a world treasure.

 

One more few things to do with music. Heading back to the first episode, I love love love that they used a dolled up version of Wrench and Numbers from Season 1. And then the ending of Ep 2 had this lovely thing playing over the final minutes/credits:

 

 

Oh, speaking of that

Spoiler

What do you guys think of these UFO things? Metaphor? or something truly weird going on?