Lester and the hooker aren’t going to happen. It was just a plot device to have him go into the bar, where he sees Malvo at a table. Previews showed him confronting Malvo in the elevator.
I must have missed something; what revealed that she was a hooker?
Steve Buscemi, in the movie. It’s a way to tie the movie and TV show together.
Bitter experience on Chefguy’s part?
Personally, I think everyone is over thinking the Tahir story.
Remember in the movie, when Marge goes out to lunch with Mike, and so many people wondered why the Coens would bother with such a digression? Except that it was an example of how people aren’t always what they appear to be, and it was her encounter with him that pushes Marge to go back to Jerry at the car lot and burrow deeper into this story.
I think the TV show is using the device in a similar way. We get the discussion of Bob’s story of accidentally meeting the person he’s been looking for after many months in the most unlikely of places, which establishes the notion that sometimes, strange coincidences happen.
Next scene? Another, even stranger and more unlikely coincidence: Lester and Lorne in Las Vegas. So the Tahir scene (while also reinforcing Bob’s character as both good-hearted and hapless) informs the scene following it through the discussion of strange accidents happening when you least expect it.
I had second thoughts on whether she was or not, primarily because she wasn’t alone but was clearly sitting with a few other women. Working girls are never portrayed that way (in movies, TV, etc.), presumably since being alone is what will ordinarily capture a guy’s attention. You’re bound to lose “business” if you’re socializing with other “colleagues” since any number of potential clients would just assume it’s a Girls Night Out and are less likely to approach a group than a woman flying solo.
She ordered a purse on eBay and the vendor forgot to ship it.
I also assumed the girl in the bar was just out for some Vegas fun with some gal pals. Maybe I’m naive, but it didn’t occur to me for even a nanosecond that she was a hooker.
Yes, but he found the money a decade ago. If that was a tie-in meant to make this . . .
Never mind. It’s just that the timeline folds in on itself between the two tie-ins.
I would follow the comparison with Molly and Mike even further and suggest that Bill is going to find out Tahir is not who he says he is and will finally agree with Molly about Lester.
Another neat little tie-in with the movie Fargo (at least, if my memory serves me correctly, which is iffy at best):
The protagonist police officer, Marge, is married to a freelance artist. At the end of the movie, we learn that one of his paintings has been selected by the U.S. Postal Service as the image for a new stamp.
I wonder if Gus will see any of those stamps.
Shameless Plug (Fargo and postage stamps)
The postal rate would’ve gone up a few times between storylines, and the stamp Norm had his painting assigned to was a small denomination, perfect for using to make up the difference of the new rate from older stamps (this was before Forever stamps became standard).
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the real Tahir turns up one day and upon review, it turns out that Bill walked up to this kid (who may have been one of the very few African Americans in that city and “grabbed” him and ask, “Hello, say! You wouldh’t happen to be that Tahir fellow that my wife and I have been waiting for 3 months to come from the airport in Duluth (or whatever city he was supposed to come from). We’ve been wondering just what the heck could have happened to you after you escaped that war in the Sudan and flew to that airport. It couldn’t happen to be you, could it?”
Bill might have been just that clever to have given away the entire story and if Tahir is really a Nigerian, he might well convince Bill to empty his bank account in order to rescue his friend - the long lost prince of Nigeria.
The way that could be found out could be especially wonderful if it’s Molly who nails the fool.
I think Tahir’s story is yet another parable, this one about huge coincidences. I wouldn’t obsess about that part of the episode too much.
There was plenty of allegory and symbolism at work in this episode that others have already hit on. What I love is that where these last two episodes are going or how it will resolve (at least in part) is almost totally unpredictable.
I loved the leap in time. It was great to see Molly and Gus together and happy. I think Molly mumbling about being “okay” was the unresolved case still eating at her. She’s so, so close, and she knows it. Yet she’s not sure how to peel the case back any further. She’s under the heap of the case and has no idea how to untangle the evidence she has—or does she need just one more file to make the heap a true heap that breaks the case?
I expect it to involve a big coincidence, and she’ll finally be at peace and vindicated for all her struggles.
I don’t see that. Molly knows what happened, she just can’t get her voice heard. It’s basically a wrongful conviction case that the system won’t look into. Shouldn’t Lester’s brother be on Death Row or somthing?
If only we knew what the showrunner was intending.
If it was Game of Thrones, he might be wanting for us to realize that life is just a random sequence of events with no connection. The good are not necessarily rewarded and the evil are not necessarily punished. It might be said that life was purely existential.
Knowing whether he has any point in mind would be very helpful.
If he wanted us to see that having the deserving come out on top regardless of what it takes, he might have Molly borrow one of Les’s bother’s hunting rifles and getting a sniper position on the front door of her police station and then blow out Bill’s brains. There are several reasons why she might do that. But, I would presume she would be wanting someone to be put in charge that will listen to her logic and reopen the case and get Les and Malvo where they belong.
Somehow, I doubt that Molly will kill Bill and I also doubt that the show will end with Les and Malvo where they belong. One of them may be dead. If so, I’m guessing it will be Malvo.
Les is the “everyman” hero. He’s not a hero because of his actions. But faced with the “everyman” who continually gets knocked down in life, if he finally takes one action to rectify things, then at the end of the story, he will wind up the winner - meaning apart from having his choice of all the women in the story, he will also have the briefcase with the money.
But if he could take his pick of all the women, who would it be?
Would it be Sam Hesse’s stripper wife? (minus the pubes in her teeth)
Would it be his brother’s wife? She is very nice looking but really F’d in the head.
How about his present wife? Remembering that she started out as a menial clerk in the Insurance office, would Lester dump her for another woman he thinks would make him happier?
If so, I would be very disappointed in Les. Having a woman who loves him and who is fairly attractive to boot, is a real bonus. He would be pretty foolish to toss her aside.
Am I forgetting any of the other women? Clearly, Molly would never go with Les. Is there anyone else?
Only if they change the price of postage.
Great episode! I was also surprised by the “One Year Later” thing. Possibly my favorite part was the punchline to the philosophical discussion in the file room (shakily reproduced from memory):
Peele: But, I mean, how can you have a cemetery with no graves? What would you even call that?
Key: Condos.
Although there’s a risk of it turning into too much of a comedy skit, so far the writers have done a good job of balancing the dark humor, the light humor, and the gore.
This would be hilarious. The whole “I saw a random guy in the grocery store and just KNEW that it was the missing refugee” was a bit unbelievable - it would have made more sense if Tahir (Ta-HEAR!) had an identifiable scar/birthmark/whatever. We’re all probably overthinking it, but with this show, you never know . . .
Right, and they won’t look into it, because she doesn’t have any one particular smoking gun that pulls it all together. She knows Lester’s guilty and has the crime pretty much figured out, but with his brother framed for his wife’s murder and no leads on Malvo… she’s stuck knowing justice might never prevail here and it’s eating at her. That and having to be subordinate to such a obstinate dip of a chief (whose command should’ve been hers too, but he was killed by Malvo before he could make that official).
Triple whammy. Poor Molly.
I think Key & Peele will start to pursue Malvo, perhaps unofficially. And actually when Tahir walked into the police station with Bill, for a second, I thought that was Key or Peele, looking for Molly to talk about what she knows about Malvo so they could compare notes. And of course she will bring in Gus, who is the only one of them who has personal experience with Malvo.