# Fargo S3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313 "2017-04-12T13:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/141 "2017-05-23T14:21:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I agree too. It’s just playing the notes again with nothing new to say. You probably hate cover songs too, huh? 😉 I’m loving this season. Plus it’s not really fair to compare it to seasons you’ve are ready seen resolved. I’m sure this season will resolve itself with a new outro. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/142 "2017-05-23T14:26:10Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I once had occasion to take out a little over $12k. In fact, it was right around the time when this season takes place. I’m sure that someone was duly notified but no one came sniffing around. It does seem a little weird that one withdrawal of exactly $10k would cause the IRS to show up. Same here but… Varga has already “adjusted” the books and the business has probably made a pretty big jump financially. I’m guessing it looked suspicious enough to take a peek at. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/143 "2017-05-23T16:36:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yes, exactly: or they just “enjoy” when companies fuck up and give them a legal pretext to nose around. > > BTW, recall that the bank manager warned him that the $10,000 (plus a roll of quarters) would trigger a notification. But if I understand right, isn’t the same true of taking out $9,999, because it’s so obviously intended to skirt the regulation? Or even if you take out $5,000 one day and another $5K the next, it’s “stucturing” withdrawals to evade the rule. > > So that makes me wonder: what pattern of withdrawals (in amounts over a grand, obv.) wouldn’t potentially run afoul of “structuring”? Asking for a friend. 😉 (In truth, I don’t have ten grand in the bank, or in cash or in fact any other negotiable instrument.) Actually a CTR triggers nothing. Millions and millions filed. But yes, 9999 triggers SAR, which triggers a investigation at some level. $2000 a week,\* maybe. \* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/144 "2017-05-23T16:59:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Actually a CTR triggers nothing. Millions and millions filed. > > But yes, 9999 triggers SAR, which triggers a investigation at some level. > > $2000 a week,\* maybe. \* I want to say that with the new programs there is no safe amount for long term laundering of cash. If say, you did get $15000 from selling your car private party, just deposit the whole $15000. Dont worry about a CTR. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/145 "2017-05-23T18:44:40Z")
Here’s more: [Currency transaction report - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_transaction_report) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/146 "2017-05-25T06:25:58Z")
Well, I didn’t see that coming… ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/147 "2017-05-25T12:25:56Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well, I didn’t see that coming… helluva episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/148 "2017-05-25T20:36:51Z")
Oh, no, we lost Ewan McGregor! Thank heavens we still have Ewan McGregor. Aside from that: is there any reason to believe Hawley deliberately gave Varga a name that’s so close to “Fargo”…? ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/149 "2017-05-26T01:18:00Z")
I figured someone else was going to have to die soon, but he was fairly low down on my list of likely corpses. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/150 "2017-05-27T01:55:03Z")
The wife and I are loving the show again this season, all the more since we also enjoyed _Legion_ and are coming to appreciate Hawley’s style and range more. We are both totally grooving on all the delightful little details and mind-bendy twists that are so very Cohenesque (but of course some are very Hawley). It’s a fun game for us to try and catch stuff - I’m sure we’ve missed plenty but so far I haven’t noticed anything mentioned in this thread that we didn’t catch for ourselves - quite a coup for us, because it’s a first for us to be able to hold our again against the collective might of the 'Dope. One thing we noted that may or may not be an intentional homage is the narrated (by Malvo, etc) moral tales. They really remind me of PT Anderson’s _magnolia_, where Ricky Jay narrated similar tales in the beginning of the movie. Of course these tales also come off a bit like the tale of the dybbuk in _A Serious Man_, so these may simply owe their heritage to that. One thing we caught on to right away, which other 'Dopers have come close to guessing the same thing: Chief Gloria Burgle is a ghost. Kinda. It’s metaphorical! She’s in Limbo, in more ways than one. Everything about her job is in Limbo, of course, and there’s the invisibility to technology thing, and perhaps somehow playing into it is her sort of step father whose name isn’t his real name. Then there’s the weird statement by Varga to Stussy, something about how “I might not even be here”, but he was talking about himself and not the Chief. I look forward to seeing how Hawley plays with this going forward. It might just be a fun quirk, but I’m hoping the story will bring in more elements to support this idea… to put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/151 "2017-05-27T03:29:02Z")
I loved Varga trying to research Chief Burgle … ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/152 "2017-05-27T04:57:38Z")
Burgle’s boss, fellow officers and son all see and react to her, so I doubt she’s a ghost. RIP Ray! Should’ve just graciously taken the stamp he’d wanted so long, but no, he had to get pissy about it. So Varga quotes Lenin, has a picture of Stalin on his wall, and thinks the Moon landing was a hoax. I foresee a senior White House job in his future. Having the previously-silent Asian assassin arrange his notepad, pens and calculator _just so_, then spout off tax law and drive the IRS agent out, was funny. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/153 "2017-05-27T07:02:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Burgle’s boss, fellow officers and son all see and react to her, so I doubt she’s a ghost. A UFO descends over the Massacre at Sioux Falls, but it’s a stretch she’s a ghost? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/154 "2017-05-28T02:56:02Z")
Fictional ghosts aren’t usually seen in daylight by so many folks under circumstances that make it seem like they’re entirely real and mortal. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/155 "2017-05-28T12:14:59Z")
I realize it may have seemed like I was making a strict claim that Burgle is dead and her spirit is walking the earth when I said > [@Orr\_G](#): > > Chief Gloria Burgle is a ghost. But I did follow that statement immediately with > [@Orr\_G](#): > > Kinda. It’s metaphorical! To be clear, I don’t believe that Hawley is planning on revealing that Burgle is an actual unwitting spirit a la _The Sixth Sense_ or _The Others_. Rather, her “undead” characteristic of being invisible to technology is used a metaphor to highlight that her life (at least as far as her career is concerned) is, metaphorically speaking, in limbo. I am curious to see other elements Hawley may choose to include in this theme, should he choose to pursue it. Certainly there should be some sort of resolution (a la Chekhov) to the non-metaphorical (i.e. actual) aspect of her apparent invisibility to technology, but he could just decide to leave it as a quirk with no further depth than it currently has. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/156 "2017-05-28T14:01:59Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > I realize it may have seemed like I was making a strict claim that Burgle is dead and her spirit is walking the earth when I said > > But I did follow that statement immediately with > > To be clear, I don’t believe that Hawley is planning on revealing that Burgle is an actual unwitting spirit a la _The Sixth Sense_ or _The Others_. Rather, her “undead” characteristic of being invisible to technology is used a metaphor to highlight that her life (at least as far as her career is concerned) is, metaphorically speaking, in limbo. > > I am curious to see other elements Hawley may choose to include in this theme, should he choose to pursue it. Certainly there should be some sort of resolution (a la Chekhov) to the non-metaphorical (i.e. actual) aspect of her apparent invisibility to technology, but he could just decide to leave it as a quirk with no further depth than it currently has. I alluded to it above - but Varga’s attempt to research Burgle fits right in - she doesn’t ‘exist’ to technology. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/157 "2017-05-28T15:42:34Z")
Are we going to find out how the opening scene of episode 1 fits in? Is it somehow a literal part of the story, or was it simply an example of the results of extreme mindless bureaucracy? If it’s simply an example of bureaucracy , does it relate to the county takeover of local law enforcement? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/158 "2017-05-28T21:18:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Having the previously-silent Asian assassin arrange his notepad, pens and calculator _just so_, then spout off tax law and drive the IRS agent out, was funny. It bothered me a bit that the pens etc. weren’t just _arranged_ identically to the IRS agent’s obsessive-compulsive layout—but that they were _identical pens_. How did Varga’s guy manage that? It was funny, though. And smart, to have Varga remove that particular obstacle by something other than violence or the threat of violence. Mixes it up, so to speak. —davidm: good point about the season’s first scene. Could have been mere setting up of the theme, but then again, who knows? Varga, though played by an Englishman, does seem to have Soviet Bloc affiliation of some kind or other. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/159 "2017-05-28T21:31:04Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > … > —davidm: good point about the season’s first scene. Could have been mere setting up of the theme, but then again, who knows? Varga, though played by an Englishman, does seem to have Soviet Bloc affiliation of some kind or other. Here’s another aspect I thought of regarding this: In the main story the wrong man suffers, because of having the same name as someone at a different address. In that opening scene in Germany, the wrong man suffers because of living at the same (previous) address as someone with a different name; sort of the opposite of the main story. Surely that’s not a coincidence and must have been done deliberately by the writers. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313/160 "2017-05-29T20:46:41Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Apropos of nothing, those boxes are a real novelty that can be putchased. I did notice the parallel to the robot. > > The shoes also being in the room was interesting. The series opening in East Berlin included shoes being urinated on. The bail bondsman brother mentioned at one point that he only had one pair of shoes that hadn’t been urinated on. > > Do the shoe references have some meaning, most likely symbolic, or are they just thrown in to give us something to talk about? Perhaps the shoes, the idea of turning oneself off, maybe even Ray Wise and his odd “bill of divorce” story, are all red herrings, in reference to the red herring of Ennis Stussy’s past. "Minsky"was itching my brain, and I finally found time to look it up today. [It led to this:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine) > [@](#): > > The Italian artist Bruno Munari began building “useless machines” (macchine inutili) in the 1930s. He was a “third generation” Futurist and did not share the first generation’s boundless enthusiasm for technology, but sought to counter the threats of a world under machine rule by building machines that were artistic and unproductive.[1] > > The version of the useless machine that became famous in information theory (basically a box with a simple switch which, when turned “on”, causes a hand or lever to appear from inside the box that switches the machine “off” before disappearing inside the box again[2]) \*\*appears to have been invented by MIT professor and artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky, while he was a graduate student at Bell Labs \*\*in 1952.[3] Minsky dubbed his invention the “ultimate machine”, but that sense of the term did not catch on.[3] The device has also been called the “Leave Me Alone Box”.[4] I feel better now. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-s3/784313.md?page=9)