The episode titles seem to be the big clue for those who like to get a grasp of the dramatists covert theme/s.
For the overt material, I had a look for biblical stuff on brothers vs. brothers:
One thing Fargo has reminded me of was the discussion back in the day about Gabriel García Márquez and the origins of magic-realism. You don’t need to spend too long with the Bible to work that out, so anyone thinking Fargo is a little ‘out there’ with some of these happenings might muse a little on the book that is the foundation of western civilisation.
It just occurred to me: Molly told the deaf guy he was going to be in jail for a long time, but… what do they have on him, really? He hasn’t done anything in Duluth, except shoot up a couple of cars with an Uzzi (or whatever.) I don’t think he did any murders in Bemidji, either? Unless they’ve compared fingerprints and he’s got a federal sheet?
IIRC she shot him in self defense. I don’t have the show on my TiVo anymore, but I’m pretty sure she saw him point the gun at her. So they can probably nail him on attempted murder of a Sheriff’s Deputy. Then, they’ll go find all the bullets from that gun and charge him for all of those. Any houses that they entered, he could probably be charged with attempted murdered (manslaughter) of the occupants. AND, he may be considered an accessory to the murder of his friend, but if Malvo killed him (I don’t remember how that played out) they’re going to have a hell of a time) trying to figure out where that bullet came from.
We didn’t see the shooting or what Maggie saw of Mr Wrench. We witnessed the event from where Gus was standing. She gave the required warning then we saw the flash from each of the two discharges.
That much was self-defence (given the bullit-ridden car she had a legit expectation he would fire at her if he was pointing it). Plus shooting up someone’s car and the legality of the weapon he had . Maggie has him as ‘linked to organised crime’ but whether there Fargo PD has evidence to support that …
Numbers and Wrench did put that guy through the ice in an earlier episode. He was mentioned later as missing, but the cops don’t know he was murdered or that they had anything to do with it.
I just rewatched it, it’s online. Molly sees him, she says “Freeze, police officer” he turns around, she shoots him, she continues to walk away from him which implies she saw the gun when he turned around since she called it a ‘bazooka’. About three seconds later she takes a shot in the gut.
The scene you’re referring to, where we see everything from Gus’ POV was the very end of the previous episode.
Still, they’ve potentially only got him for threatening a police officer (he didn’t fire at her), and shooting up the car. I dunno how long a jail term that would be, but I can’t imagine it’s the “forever” that her conversation with him in the hospital implies. I’m gonna have to assume that a fingerprint check gave them lots of past murders and mayhem.
The cops are wondering how Lester came to be out byt he lake on foot. I’m guessing Chaz will tell them about Lester’s phone call to him, saying he was in the trunk and all. Phone records will back that up, and Lester’s attack on the cop - he needed a ride that badly. My bet is that’s the part that saves Chaz’s bacon, and puts the focus back on Lester.
When discussing many dramas, people take the point of view of the characters. They ask about their motives and think about their problems as if they were real people.
However, when discussing Fargo and a few other dramas, the SR&WR (showrunners and writers) have taken the shows so far past the point of reality that it makes more sense (at least to me) to consider things from their (the showrunners and writers) points of view.
I can’t think of a strong example from Fargo at the moment. But for shows like The Americans, when people discuss whether Nina will get executed or not, it really makes more sense to discuss that from the SR&WRs’ POV. As I’ve said before, Nina is just too important a character to be let go from that show and IMHO, they will keep her because of the extremely strong fan acceptance and desire to keep her. Why? In part, it’s because Nina is just such an incredibly beautiful and sexy character and she drives so many subplots in such a strong way that it just doesn’t make any sense for her to leave the show.
Therefore, I think we can count on Nina appearing in every single remaining episode of that show. It has nothing to do with her character. It’s all about the actress playing the part and the SR&WR. I apologize for bringing The Americans into this thread but I just could not think of a good example to use from Fargo.
Perhaps one example from Fargo (although admittedly not a very strong one) would be whether Lester’s role in the murders will be discovered soon and whether he will be imprisoned and his role in the show will disappear. Because of the actor’s strong presence and fan appreciations, it seems to me that will not happen and Lester will be appearing in every episode for the remainder of the run of Fargo.
That is not a very good example of analyzing the likelihood of future events from the POV of the SR&WR instead of the characters in the show. But, it’s the best I could think of “on the spot” as it were. I hope you all can accept that.
Which is three episodes. This was sold as a 10 episode limited run series, and I’m sure that this played a big role in getting BBT and Martin Freeman to sign on.
I’ve not heard anything about the series continuing beyond this, though I’m sure FX would be willing, but those two would not be back, and Odenkirk has a commitment to Better Call Saul. Maybe as an anthology series, like True Detective?
I predict it will end with Molly or Gus shooting Malvo in the leg and arresting him, and Lester pulled from a cheap motel, screaming and crying, by state troopers.
Unless there is a complete departure from the western narrative tradition - which is unlikely - it’s safe to assume the two leading men will feature in act 3.
Brian Ekers, I was glad to see you use the word cocky. Right after that scene, I commented to my bf that Lester was sure getting c… at the same time he said how Lester was getting c…
I said cocky. He said confident. I wondered if it was a male/female perspective of his mindset. Or maybe the bf’s.
Minor quibble. I was distracted by the lack of snow on the roofs and trees outside the hospital window of the deaf mute killer during the scene with him and Molly a day after the storm of the century. Also the fake snow, when it is used is very obvious.