To me it also had a Stephen King over-the-top feel to it that added to the wonkiness. But it grabbed me from the very first scene; TV so rarely has such well thought out nuances. Looking forward to next week’s episode.
Him getting into the house and getting the shotgun didn’t bother me. He obviously has experience with this, can probably get around quietly. And there might have been an unlocked door.
But I also wonder about how he disappeared from the basement. I thought there might be another exit from the basement rather than going up through the house, but if there was, wouldn’t that be the first idea that Lester would have, to escape that way as well? Running into the wall fast enough to knock himself out was clever, but I would assume it was a plan B after realizing there was no way to escape.
I also wonder what happened to Lester’s bloody clothes and the hammer. It’s possible that Billy Bob decided to be helpful and take those with him, but also possible that they’re still there. Either way, you know that Lester’s going to get caught eventually.
Hmmm. You’re right. I wanted to say that it’s not fair to expect it to be as good as the movie and somehow did not say that.
Unfortunately, my recording cut off five minutes before the end. Was this footage what happened at the very end? (It’s just a trailer.)
You’re right about the risk, but a character like that thinks of himself as being smarter than and generally superior to all other humans. He enjoys increasing the risks he faces.
I liked the show a lot. I thought it lived up to the hype. Nice to have something to take my mind off missing Justified (for at least the remaining nine episodes of Fargo).
IIRC it’s merely implied that Billy Bob goes down into the basement; he looks down the stairs, goes through the doorway, and that’s when Lester turns around and sees the woman cop show up. Perhaps Billy Bob started down the stairs but saw the lights from the police car pulling up and then went out the back, where he (presumably) came in.
Is it just me or is Billy Bob’s hairdo a bit too (or possibly not enough) goofy for the character? It’s not over-the-top goofy like Javier Bardem’s pageboy 'do in No Country, which somehow made him extra menacing, it’s just a bad haircut.
[spoiler]Lester wakes up in the hospital and looks at the buckshot wound on his hand.
Cut to a street in Duluth at night.
A previously unintroduced cop (played by Colin Hanks) is talking to his daughter via radio when Billy Bob drives by (runs a stop sign or something, I forget what exactly gets Colin Hanks’ attention). He follows and pulls Billy Bob over, and when he goes to the window to ask for ID and registration, Billy Bob refuses and basically says that if he gets out of the car, he’s going to kill the cop (but much subtler). The lines I remember were something to the effect of:
"Maps used to say ‘Here Be Dragons,’ now they don’t. But that doesn’t mean that the dragons aren’t there.
…
How old is your kid? Someday ten years from now you’re going to look at her and realize you’re still there because you once made a choice not to step into the darkness and stay in the light."
Then he rolls up his window and drives off.[/spoiler]
I thought it was great! Forget about the movie, this is a whole new deal, and considering what else is on…I’m a fan.
For sure there a
I liked it. I’m going to keep watching.
I caught a couple of Coen brothers references:
- Norm’s pizza sign.
- White Russian on the “specials” sign at the restaurant/diner.
Did anyone catch any others?
I liked it a lot, though it took awhile to hook me.
The over-the-top ballbusting women were a bit offputting. Though if they made Mrs. Nygard even remotely likeable we’d have no empathy at all for Lester now.
I really like the policewoman; she’s brisk and efficient. Even if she did miss the deer in the trunk. Why’d Billy Bob Thornton put the deer in the trunk?
I don’t think it’s the same creative minds. Sepinwall’s review mentions that the Coens have producer credits mainly because they gave their blessing to the project. The idea and the writing is all done by Noah Hawley.
What’s the significance of Norm’s Pizza? I caught the White Russian poster - the Dude abides.
Meant to say, I think my favorite line was when the bully/trucking exec is asked if he’s Hess and blusters, “Who wants to know?,” Billy Bob with just the faintest hint of amusement answers, “Me?”
I figured it was a reference to Marge’s husband Norm from Fargo.
I think Billy Bob stole the show. Martin’s accent was weird, but his performance overall was pretty good. The characterizations were a little over the top at times. It’s possible to show Lester as emasculated without literally saying over and over how he’s not a “real man”.
But overall it was good. I’ll definitely watch at least the next couple of episodes and see where it goes. It has at least an approximation of the Coen’s dark humor and general mood, which helps considerably.
I liked that it lied to us right out of the gate, saying “This is a true story,” just as the movie did.
Loved it. Billy Bob is always riveting to watch and Martin Freeman was a revelation for me. I couldn’t believe he was English and from my home county too (Hampshire).
I’m hooked.
Beats managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.
I love the movie and watch it fairly often.
I was surprised when I watched this episode of the TV show to find that even though it had very little to do with the film, I still got a kick out of watching the episode.
I really enjoyed watching some of the relationships between the characters. I thought that was done very well.
I especially enjoyed the work of Billy Bob Thorton. Most every time I see him in a film or TV show, I come away with an appreciation of his talent. He is really very talented.
One small point that bothered me though was at the beginning of the episode, they flashed a notice saying this was based on a true story and the names of the people involved were changed to protect the innocent. Yet the events in this TV show had almost nothing in common with the events in the movie. So, I just don’t get what is going on in that respect.
Can anyone explain which show (the movie or the TV show) is closer to the actual events?
As it stands, I am quite eager to watch the next few episodes. I really don’t care that the events in the TV show do not match up to the events in the movie. I find the TV show very appealing and I happily anticipate the next episode.
I’d really like to hear how some of you feel about this show.
P.S. I really enjoyed watching the female deputy to the sherrif and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out her relationship with her father (Keith Carradine). I’ve always thought that Keith Carradine never got enough work and I’d really like to see more of him and his brother Robert. I’ve always enjoyed their performances.
Also, I think they did a great job with the lead actor (the insurance salesman). They did a great job illustrating his conflicts in life.
I cannot believe this show got a 9.4 rating on IMDB. That is just about the highest rating I have ever seen.
It just barely got over the threshold necessary for me to watch episode two. More because I’m curious to see where they’re planning to go with it than because I was all that impressed with the first episode.
Much of it felt like a mediocre spoof of a Coen Brothers movie. And I got absolutely no sense of intimidation from Billy Bob Thornton, which was fine for the earlier stuff, but kind of broke his last scene with Colin Hanks.
But maybe it’ll grow on me in the second episode.
Neither. The movie isn’t a true story and presumably the show isn’t, either. There’s an interview on the DVD of the movie where one of the actors asked the Coens to tell him more about the “real case” and they said “Oh, we made it up.” He said he replied “But at the beginning of the script, it says it’s a true story.” They said “Yeah, it’s not.” He replied “Can you do that?” They said “I don’t know, we’re doing it.”
The reason they said it was a true story at the beginning is so that you’d be more likely to go along with the story if you believe it actually happened.