Chefguy:
I had the same problems. There are two reasons she could have gone to California:
Style, man - style! Reasons and plot advancement are for suckers :p.
They’ve made it pretty clear she’s olddddddd school. She wouldn’t know a google search if it bit her on the ass. Curiously the same lack plagued parking-lot-Stussy’s now deceased attorney as he had to have his secretary assist him. Not happenstance, I’m sure.
Hey, the first time her attorney Googled something both he and his computers ended up dead, so maybe this Google thing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Yes, although the difference in ages there is not as extreme. The actor playing the young woman (Clint Eastwood’s daughter, as it happens) is 23, whereas the actor playing the writer is 25; the actors playing their older counterparts were born in 1952 and 1943, respectively. But the older Stussey is (according to people who spotted a plaque or something) supposed to be more like 82. Why they would make him older than the actor, when that just makes the disparity worse, I don’t understand.
Well, the step-father got killed because his name happened to be Stussy. And he’d never have changed his name to Stussy if he hadn’t gotten mixed up with the producer and wound up bent over the toilet.
I get that, but why is the explanation necessary and why go so far around the mulberry bush to get to it? I watch this series because of the quirkiness, but this just seemed like masturbation to me.
One of the recaps I read mentioned some of the episode was an homage to the Coen Brothers movie Barton Fink.
I had that feeling throughout the episode, dealing with a writer working on a script in
a dingy motel room in corrupt Hollywood, and especially when they had the shot of Carrie Coon sitting on the beach looking out at the ocean, which matched the image Barton had hanging on his dingy hotel room wall.
I think honestly this show gets episode orders that are longer than the story Hawley really has to tell (I thought the same about his recent series Legion as well). In the first season, the stuff about the blackmailing really was irrelevant to the main story and pretty much just served as filler. But I prefer something like this, where they don’t really pretend it’s anything else but a “trip around the mulberry bush” as you say, and it’s a one-episode pleasant diversion.
So far, it hasnt grabbed me like 1 & 2 did, but it is interesting.
Thinking about the age difference; could it be that the Ennis Stussy she knew was not, in fact, that young writer? Could there be something else going on? Perhaps some sort of stolen identity thing where someone came along and took Ennis Stussy’s identity, not knowing (or not caring) that it was fake?
And yes, I agree that the episode was a reference to Barton Fink. I don’t really recall the plot, but maybe there are clues to all of this in it.
A number of people speculated in that direction on the AV Club. But I don’t believe that fits with the way this episode’s script was written. It seemed to me to clearly represent a tragic and heretofore unknown backstory for this crotchety old guy who got killed due to a case of mistaken identity. Particularly when you think about the toilet reveal at the end.
So I think this is a case of questionable casting leading people to interpret the script in ways that were not intended.
Or they could have done all that to make you think that.
And the older Vivian was played by the real-life mother of the actress playing the younger Vivian.
Excellent points. I had been wondering if I were the the only one being driven crazy with the “Minnesota-isms”
Between the half-Irish accents, the disconnect from technology, and the 1980’s-looking homes, it’s quite distracting.
I think this season bothers me most since it’s the most recent and it seems to me that even in remote towns, there should be at least a few people keeping up with the times. In season 2, set in the 70’s, it was easier to overlook. Now it’s just making me nuts.
Sorry for double posting, but just watched episode 3 and don’t understand how Gloria got all the info she had while in LA. If she doesn’t use a computer, how did she track down all those leads so quickly? Did I miss something?
I think that’s kind of the point. The character is holding on to the inheritance he received from his father instead of the stamps even though the gift has outlived it’s usefulness.
I don’t think you’re doing it right.
Her trip to LA did lead to a revelation: she came to realize that his past wasn’t the reason for the murder; that she could eliminate that avenue of inquiry.
Good catch! Very likely (he’s the guy on the left): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4YgJcArLfKE/To0A2kS45xI/AAAAAAAAI1U/gqa48TpDlOk/s1600/Fargo_101Pyxurz.jpg
Could be. And did you notice the substitution of “California” for “Minnesota” in the opening credits?
Agreed. Charming, gleeful but with an unmistakable air of menace. Very sorry they cancelled Reaper. And did you know he was in two unrelated Star Trek episodes?: Ray Wise | Memory Alpha | Fandom
We had one of those when I was a kid. It was made of cheap, thin black metal and the hand was pale, glow-in-the-dark plastic.
That’s how I understood it.
