Fargo

[denti alligator]

I am. Underwhelmed.

[Roger Ryan]

I'm going to give Episode 3 a shot before I abandon it, but the first two episodes felt like massive time wasters... and I'm saying this as someone who really liked the first three seasons. While I've never been a fan of the cutesy Coen Brothers' film call-outs and in-jokes sprinkled throughout the earlier seasons, so many allusions to the Coen canon were crammed into this season's first two episodes that they seemed like the reason for this thing to exist. A lot of great actors are being given little to do or goaded on to such heights of quirkiness that their performances become repugnant.

[flyonthewall2983]

So far I like it, but will wait until it's over to make a final judgment. It's not blowing people's minds which is expected but there are some really strong things at play. Chris Rock was a show-stopper in this week's episode, and it's no wonder he has said this is is some of his best acting he's ever done.

[JamesF]

I mean, Mormon Raylan Givens has gone a long, long way towards quieting any issues I might have, speaking personally.

[flyonthewall2983]

Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Juno Temple for season 5

[brundlefly]

Season Five Trailer

[flyonthewall2983]

Is this the last season?

[therewillbeblus]

While I've never been a fan of the cutesy Coen Brothers' film call-outs and in-jokes sprinkled throughout the earlier seasons, so many allusions to the Coen canon were crammed into this season's first two episodes that they seemed like the reason for this thing to exist. A lot of great actors are being given little to do or goaded on to such heights of quirkiness that their performances become repugnant.

Finally got around to season four, and it actually feels like the least pastiche of the bunch by a country mile. After the first two eps, I'm not sure I noticed too many forced callbacks - I'm talking about the ones that just read as plagiarism, and really turned me off as I revisited seasons two and three before this. There's the No Country supine choke-out and some Miller's Crossing stuff, but the latter nods are mostly inspired by rather than mirroring that film's energy - which also explains the more solemn vibe pervading the quirky activity. Though Noah Hawley doesn't hit that mark, I admire him for trying, since it's a different kind of Coen atmosphere than the lighter ones his team's been playing with so far, over and over.. I find it endearing to think that something like Buckley's arc might be a peculiar kind of nod to The Ladykillers, or perhaps an incarnation of the Coens' twisted engagement with humanity. Anyways, it's not a great season, and the first few episodes certainly dragged, but it picks up before the middle, and I liked some stylistic choices, or self-contained episodes like the B&W one. It would be cool if the show ever decided to become more like Atlanta and give us eps like "East/West" more often in future seasons. So it's not bad for passing the time, as well as a refreshing break from a binge of twenty hours of one accent. And I like how the shrewd youth, peripheral to the goingons, is essentially the narrator and the moral center of the season.

[therewillbeblus]

The fifth season is pretty good so far - I like the return to familiarity while also shifting the dynamics enough to make it fun. The 'competing gangsters' twist on the noir plot is amusing if not exactly novel, but Juno Temple and Dave Foley are great, and the premise itself is an amusing contortion on the source film:

SpoilerShow

What if Macy's wife was actually "Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 10 Cloverfield Land"-level resilient in the original Fargo and transformed it into a different kind of film? It's basically just a Man-On-the-Run template, which allows stuff like episode's 3's home invasion pop-horror moment to shine

[The Curious Sofa]

I thought season 5 started out strong, but then it lost steam and fell into a "strong female character" trap that didn't feel very Fargo.

SpoilerShow

Dot almost has superhuman powers in evading and fighting her enemies and I was waiting for some reveal that she had a secret identity as a sleeper agent or assassin, which never came. After the first few episodes, there is a mid-season lull and then in the last couple of episodes, this becomes more tense again but also plays out almost exactly as expected.

I wouldn't go as far as calling it "woke garbage" as the incel crowd did, but this season is let down by its good intentions. Fargo had capable female characters since Marge Gunderson but they never were this sort of kick-ass, girl power cliche. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character in season 3 was the most similar and I cheered her ability to get out of scrapes but she also was an anti-hero, which made her more interesting and more in line with Fargo. I was missing shades of moral complexity which I usually get from all things Fargo, even Jennifer Jason Leigh's tough-as-nails tycoon ultimately turns out to be a hero.

Considering the material, Juno Temple is great in the lead role and I hope this will give her career a big boost. This just wasn't the return to form it was being touted as, I'd place it second last, just above season 4. At this point I'm far more curious about what Hawley will do with Alien than the prospect of another season of Fargo, this seems to have run its course.