# Fargo Season 5 discussion (Starts 21NOV2023) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [November 16, 2023, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228 "2023-11-16T08:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/321 "2024-01-19T04:48:28Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > how they can expand a new car business in late 2020 when sales bottomed out is beyond me Well, they must have managed it somehow. After all, it’s a true story… ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/322 "2024-01-19T04:54:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So the whole Wizard of Oz thing didn’t seem to go anywhere. Which seems about right to me. I’ve always been willing to accept the references were both there and intentional, I just never saw any reason to believe there was deeper meaning to it beyond “Hey, look, the show is referencing the _Wizard of Oz_!” Which, again, there is precedent for in at least one Coen brothers film. So it wasn’t _really_ a _Wizard of Oz_ reference, it was just one more reference to an earlier Coen brothers film that itself referenced _Wizard of Oz_. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/323 "2024-01-19T06:43:46Z")
Well I’m glad everyone on here has explained that final episode, because my partner and I didn’t have a clue what was going on! Not sure we enjoyed it as much as the rest of the episodes. But probably one that would improve after a bit of time thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/324 "2024-01-19T08:34:35Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > I just never saw any reason to believe there was deeper meaning to it beyond “Hey, look, the show is referencing the _Wizard of Oz_!” I once saw a quote from Ethan Coen, to the effect that all those references to The Odyssey in _O Brother Where Art Thou_ were just a fun game, he’d certainly never read it, just had a layman’s knowledge that it contained stuff like a Cyclops and some Si-reens and stuff like that there. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/325 "2024-01-19T15:10:58Z")
Frankly I thought the ending was rather weak. What happened to the 40 or so gunmen inside the ranch? What happened to the Deputy’s husband - worthless shit that he was? How many bodies were eventually found in the well? A man likes a little mystery but also likes a little closure. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/326 "2024-01-19T17:44:37Z")
> [@Fir\_na\_tine](#): > > What happened to the 40 or so gunmen inside the ranch? One of the actors playing a state trooper in the shootout scene posts on the Reddit group for Fargo. The shootout ended up being cut. II was a quick battle and the gun nuts got decimated. The Coens felt the focus should be on the individual scenes rather then the shootout. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/327 "2024-01-19T18:01:16Z")
The rather heavy implication being they were a bunch of weekend warrior types who folded rather quickly in the face of well trained professionals - kind of like the Jan 6 folks (which itself was obliquely referenced - the guns Tillman was ‘appropriating’ went to that bunch of wingnuts for ‘defending’ the country in the runup to the election the next year). Odin was still deluding himself that he was some alpha male top dog type that could beat the government somehow. Tillman himself knew he was done and he was already setting up an escape route even before he got shot. And we saw what happened to Indira’s husband - she kicked him out, she got a better paying job, and got out of the hole he was still digging when he got caught. He’s unimportant beyond that. The closure there is that she managed to get out. Not a great ending personally for her - she appeared to really believe in helping people as a LEO but now plays fixer for somebody only marginally better than Tillman - but the series has always been about fundamentally decent people who have no choice but to live in a world that does not cater to their principles. I suppose Lars maybe turned his golf game around, went pro, and became fabulously wealthy but that seems rather unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/328 "2024-01-19T18:09:40Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > she appeared to really believe in helping people as a LEO Well, except the whole part about evicting people from their homes (which, in one scene, she said she was just coming from doing). So maybe she realized that whether she was on Lyon’s payroll or not, she was still working for the Lyons of the world as an LEO. Just not getting paid as much. Which, hey, I think is pretty astute. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/329 "2024-01-19T18:11:24Z")
Yeah, comes down to how much to compromise. Turns out that when your husband is a deadbeat and a parasite, you might have to compromise your principles even more ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/330 "2024-01-19T18:14:53Z")
Oh and there’s also the implication (but not confirmed) that Tillman’s first wife Linda and no doubt a lot of other people were dumped in the pit next to the windmill. I liked that they kept a bunch of quicklime next to it. That’s some attention to detail. The guy (and his father and his grandfather before him) was Sheriff and pretty much did as he pleased, which was shown on more than one occasion to include murdering anybody he didn’t like. Considering his crew didn’t bat an eyelash at that, there’s no doubt a lot of skeletons not in the closet but in that pit ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/331 "2024-01-19T18:27:27Z")
I loved this season. I haven’t seen all of them, but this is my favorite of the ones I have seen. I loved the scene where Roy came out of the hole in the ground. I was sitting here getting all worked up about the error of the cover being back on the hole and then they show the cops all surrounding him and I just had to laugh. It was delicious. I just really enjoyed the whole thing. I may watch it again back to back instead of a week apart since I have the whole thing on my DVR. The acting was just superb by all the players. I adored Jennifer Jason Lee and Juno Temple in these roles. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/332 "2024-01-19T18:31:14Z")
Yeah, Dot was so cute I pondered giving up cursing. But I don’t have her accent, so fuck it. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/333 "2024-01-19T19:19:43Z")
I figured Dot would wound Tillman and end up with him falling in the pit and Dot using the backhoe to bury him alive. That pit was a lot shallower then I thought also. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/334 "2024-01-19T19:30:27Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Not a great ending personally for her - she appeared to really believe in helping people as a LEO but now plays fixer for somebody only marginally better than Tillman - Lorraine doesn’t beat anyone. She hasn’t murdered anyone. She follows the law. If people borrow money there is debt, her job is necessary. Now, she is not a nice person, but she isnt a psychotic murdering wife beating leader of an armed militia either. So way, way better than Tillman. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/335 "2024-01-19T19:38:41Z")
I mean…she uses the threat of debt to hire/coerce prisoners to beat and rape a guy for personal reasons. That’s aside from outright buying judges and politicians. And using them to ensure Tillman was locked away without any chance of successful appeal or parole. And having hired mercenaries on call to do her bidding. Let’s not kid ourselves about how much she follows the law. She understands perfectly well (and even gave a nice speech about it) that the law is for constraining other folks, not her. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/336 "2024-01-19T20:13:11Z")
She is very much a “legal realist” ([crossthread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-explain-where-you-got-a-bunch-of-cash/996033/146)!) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/337 "2024-01-19T20:17:57Z")
I wonder how much of her revenge on Tillman is for Dot and other women, and how much is for Danish Graves (Dave Foley). ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/338 "2024-01-19T20:20:26Z")
You sure it’s not just for spite, because he condescended to her that one time they met earlier in the season? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/339 "2024-01-19T20:23:40Z")
Even further up the chain! Sure! ---
**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:** [January 19, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228/340 "2024-01-19T21:50:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > at the end, should Wayne have picked up on Dot”s unease and tension on seeing the visitor? Did you notice how he placed himself between the visitor and Dot? He could have sat comfortably on the couch. But instead he perched on the arm, between her and him. She had trouble getting him to leave the room, until she found an excuse which also got Squirt out of there. Then he took the assignment to protect the child. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-season-5-discussion-starts-21nov2023/993228.md?page=18)