My guess is that all these really talented people know that sex and violence are the two biggest items that draw audiences.
Have you ever wondered why you don’t see many dramas about English tea parties?
My guess is because people would find them terribly boring and even if they were done using the most talented people in the world, another drama containing a lot of sex and violence would draw a much bigger audience - even if it was produced by people who where only half as talented as those who produced the tea party drama.
What is the single biggest factor that decides how entertaining a movie or TV show is? It is the story they tell. Stories about sex and violence are just much more interesting than tea parties or steeplechases or any one of another million topics.
It’s just a fact of life. If it were any other way, you would see many productions that were all about things other than sex and violence. But you don’t. And you should know why.
I’m probably in the minority here, but I thought the story was much better in season 1. Mind you, even season 2 was much better than 94% of what’s on TV these days. Season 2 has the strengths of great casting and performances, and scripts that screw with our expectations, but the overall story is bland and uninspired. And the alien angle was a bad misstep (someone very early in this thread said something like “[aliens] is a gutsy gamble…we’ll see if it pays off”; IMO, it failed, and was a pointless distraction.
I agree with that. I did like Season 2 but thought the alien thing was dumb. I thought that there was more stand out performances in Season 1 that were supported by a better all around cast. I do think Ted Danson and Kirsten Dunst did especially well in Season 2 but comparatively- I loved Allison Tolman, Martin Freeman and Bob Odenkirk and they were supported almost as well by Carradine (the alive one), Billy Bob Thorton, etc. There were very few characters in S1 that I could turn away from but I didn’t care much for Hanzee or Dodd in S2 and the scale of their evil was too big compared to the chaos one man (Billy Bob) caused in Season 1.
I was looking through the cast list and I was startled to notice someone I went to high school with had a bit part. I’m not surprised I didn’t recognize her, since she’s 25 years older now and she had a 1970s hairstyle in the show.
Im glad someone else agrees with me about Hanzee. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the character. Strong, silent murderous types have been done to death. He wasn’t necessarily an awful character but he was mediocre as a whole. Dodd was slightly better with his comedy schtick.
You do season 2 a disservice though by failing to mention Karl the lawyer. That character was as impressive as anyone in season 1.
I just finished watching Season 2. I agree, and thought Season 1 was much better. Season 1 had better characters and much more interesting plots. And the aliens stuff was just stupid. I didn’t think Hanzee was an interesting character at all, and the violence was overdone and gratuitous, which was probably the point, but still farcical and overdone.
Season 1 set up that ‘really bad things happened back in St. Louis’ - the type of stuff that the few folks that were there (lou, Lt. Schmidt) still remember vividly 27 years later.
Season 2 was the story of that Massacre - so - yeah - it was violent. You don’t get “enough bodies if stacked would get to the second story” with just a few mundane deaths.
Hanzee’s story was only a small part - the most interesting of which happened on the bench - his transition from “goon” to “boss” is what is interesting about him - not any of his specific actions during the season.
I do agree that the general story of season 1 was better - but it was primarily focused on 2-3-4 chars (Malvo, Molly, Gus and Lester) - and was a bit faster paced (10 episodes) once things got set up.
The ‘alien’ stuff - I think thats added to the story - but not in any direct fashion - if the UFO hadn’t shown up in the next to last episode, it would be a question mark only - but we wouldn’t have lines like “Its just a UFO Ed, we gotta go” - without it. Fact is, like many of the UFO stories of the time period - its just ‘there’ (missing time, strange lights, etc) - it actually fits well with that time. Even more so if you consider that narration during the episode itself - this is a ‘story’ written down some time in the future based on recollecitons, etc.
re: UFO sightings - I think I read that part of the reason they included it was this reported UFO “incident” in 1979 -
[QUOTE=List of reported UFO sightings - Wikipedia]
1979-08-27 Val Johnson incident Marshall County, Minnesota United States A deputy sheriff spotted a bright light which appeared to have collided with his patrol car and damaged it. The deputy also suffered temporary retinal damage from the “light”.
[/QUOTE]
So, this thread hasn’t been posted to in more than a year, but I wasn’t sure whether it was better to revive this or start a new one. Anyway …
I just finished watching Season 2 of “Fargo” on Hulu. Like most Coen Brothers stuff, I find it engaging while I’m watching, but not something that stays with me.
I’m a little tired of stories that predictably end in almost everyone dying violently. And Ed’s fate was a bit too easy to guess from the beginning.
The whole UFO thing was just a total WTF moment for me.
I hated Kirsten Dunst’s character. I could kind of predict her arc too—the one that ruins everything for everyone, but kind of comes out satisfied with herself, even though she’s likely going to prison.
I think I’ll have to think about it a little more to figure out what I liked and didn’t like about this season.
Nitpick, but while it’s based on a movie by the Coen brothers, they didn’t have anything to do with it. Really any blame or praise ought to go to Noah Hawley, who adapted the movie and wrote most of the show.
I know that, but everything about it— the plot, the dialogue, the style is clearly meant to match the Coen brothers and it does so effectively. To me it has all the characteristics of a Coen brothers work, including the shortcomings.
The season 2 couple Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons welcomed a son last month named Ennis Howard Plemons. Note that “Ennis” and “Howard” were character names from season 3, which is weird.
I think I read somewhere that the season 3 couple, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor have broken up, but not before their affair ended McGregor’s marriage.
