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[-griffy-]

Quite liked the Barton Fink nod.

Just realized I name dropped Hudsucker Proxy last night when I meant Barton Fink, dammit!

 

[shadow_shogun]

Yay more Nigerians are scammer jabs! -_- Also, this is first disappointing episode in the whole series IMO, just felt like a waste of an episode.

 

[-griffy-]

So this show, and this season in particular, is about stories. That's the main theme of this season. Each episode begins with the pointed disclaimer that this fictional story is based on a true story that happened in MN in 2010, before all the other words fade out and leave just STORY on the screen.

The first scene of this season is that vignette in Berlin, where a case of seeming mistaken identity resulted in the authorities capturing the wrong man. Despite the evidence to the contrary, the officer isn't happy with the suspect's story, and makes a grand proclamation about the difference between a story, and the truth (missing the fact that he himself seems to be ignoring the truth and requesting a false story from the suspect).

Stories are all over the place this season. Stories we tell ourselves, stories we tell others, the reality lying somewhere slightly offset, next to these stories.

Ray Stussi tells the story of how his brother swindled him out of his fair share of the inheritance, leaving him with a car and taking the valuable stamp collection. Emmit tells the story that Ray begged for the car. These conflicting stories lead to Ray continually asking for money from Emmit and still not feeling repaid, before finally deciding to take what he feels he's owed. This story leads to the hiring of Scoot to steal the stamp from Emmit, which leads to a case of mistaken identity which leads to him creating his own alternate story by killing the wrong man, which causes Scoot to propose his own story to Ray and Nikki that they owe him money, which causes an A/C unit to go Gallagher on his head. This then leads to Ray and Nikki taking things into their own hands, which leads to a story of Ray and Emmit coming to terms with their differences and burying the hatchet, which is superseded by Nikki altering the story by leaving a tampon in a desk.

Everyone is writing their own story and overwriting the story of others and causing all kinds of problems. Which leads us to last night's episode.

Here we have Gloria investigating the murder of her step-father. Inside this fake true story called Fargo that takes place in MN in an episode set in Los Angeles, we have Gloria Burgle seeking answers by reading a story about an android (an android who himself goes through a tumultuous story before discovering he holds in his head the story of the entire universe, which leads to turning himself off), while uncovering the story of the writer of this story and his run ins with bad Hollywood people, who themselves have their own stories to tell, all predicated on swindling this writer out of money he earned by writing stories so they can make their own stories (and while investigating all this, encountering a horny cop coming up with his own story of how the night should go, and a friendly plane companion telling his own story). All this in the hopes that this story will somehow uncover the truth about what happened to Ennis Stussy, before realizing the story she's following has nothing to do with the truth of the crime at all. That disconnect between story and truth.

Meanwhile, we as the audience are watching these stories within stories, trying to also make sense of it and figure out how this story relates to the "actual" story of the show, before coming to the same conclusion as Gloria in the end.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

So this show, and this season in particular, is about stories. That's the main theme of this season. Each episode begins with the pointed disclaimer that this fictional story is based on a true story that happened in MN in 2010, before all the other words fade out and leave just STORY on the screen.

The first scene of this season is that vignette in Berlin, where a case of seeming mistaken identity resulted in the authorities capturing the wrong man. Despite the evidence to the contrary, the officer isn't happy with the suspect's story, and makes a grand proclamation about the difference between a story, and the truth (missing the fact that he himself seems to be ignoring the truth and requesting a false story from the suspect).

Stories are all over the place this season. Stories we tell ourselves, stories we tell others, the reality lying somewhere slightly offset, next to these stories.

Ray Stussi tells the story of how his brother swindled him out of his fair share of the inheritance, leaving him with a car and taking the valuable stamp collection. Emmit tells the story that Ray begged for the car. These conflicting stories lead to Ray continually asking for money from Emmit and still not feeling repaid, before finally deciding to take what he feels he's owed. This story leads to the hiring of Scoot to steal the stamp from Emmit, which leads to a case of mistaken identity which leads to him creating his own alternate story by killing the wrong man, which causes Scoot to propose his own story to Ray and Nikki that they owe him money, which causes an A/C unit to go Gallagher on his head. This then leads to Ray and Nikki taking things into their own hands, which leads to a story of Ray and Emmit coming to terms with their differences and burying the hatchet, which is superseded by Nikki altering the story by leaving a tampon in a desk.

Everyone is writing their own story and overwriting the story of others and causing all kinds of problems. Which leads us to last night's episode.

Here we have Gloria investigating the murder of her step-father. Inside this fake true story called Fargo that takes place in MN in an episode set in Los Angeles, we have Gloria Burgle seeking answers by reading a story about an android (an android who himself goes through a tumultuous story before discovering he holds in his head the story of the entire universe, which leads to turning himself off), while uncovering the story of the writer of this story and his run ins with bad Hollywood people, who themselves have their own stories to tell, all predicated on swindling this writer out of money he earned by writing stories so they can make their own stories (and while investigating all this, encountering a horny cop coming up with his own story of how the night should go, and a friendly plane companion telling his own story). All this in the hopes that this story will somehow uncover the truth about what happened to Ennis Stussy, before realizing the story she's following has nothing to do with the truth of the crime at all. That disconnect between story and truth.

Meanwhile, we as the audience are watching these stories within stories, trying to also make sense of it and figure out how this story relates to the "actual" story of the show, before coming to the same conclusion as Gloria in the end.

This is probably why this particular episode (as good as Carrie Coon was in it, and Ray Wise), bored the hell out of me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for navel-gazing storyception this week. Not that it was bad, but it just felt so meandering. Like mentioned earlier, it's kind of a one-off shaggy dog story.

I get that it's all about 'stories', but it's just so dreadfully boring this go-around.

 

[-griffy-]

This is probably why this particular episode (as good as Carrie Coon was in it, and Ray Wise), bored the hell out of me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for navel-gazing storyception this week. Not that it was bad, but it just felt so meandering. Like mentioned earlier, it's kind of a one-off shaggy dog story.

I get that it's all about 'stories', but it's just so dreadfully boring this go-around.

As a counterpoint, I find the show so well made, each moment so well crafted, that when it decides to meander like this to make a point I still enjoy it a lot.

 

[Herr Schwarz]

I wonder if this episode isn't perhaps foreshadowing the tempo of this series as a whole. That maybe there isn't going to be as much painting the walls with blood.

I just don't understand how this part affects the greater narrative just yet. Reminds me Tom Bombadil and why Peter Jackson didn't bother to film it.

 

[Cornballer]

- THR: 'Fargo' Director Talks Bringing Minnesota Nice to Los Angeles

A few quotes from this:

When it comes to detours in the Fargo universe that seem unconnected to the main mystery, but bring our hero to a different brand of life understanding, the immediate point of reference going back to the original movie is the Mike Yanagita storyline. Was that a particular touchstone on this episode for y'all?

No question. We talked about this as 'The Mike Yanagita Episode' in exactly that phraseology. That was the idea from the get-go.

What's the challenge of doing an homage that's blatant to that degree, but making this into the Mike Yanagita for your Fargo?

In a certain way it's a homage, but also it's integral to the plot and theme of Fargo season three, so it's not an add-on or a strange byway. It'll make more sense as the season plays out and as we get to the end. Part of the rationale for the episode from Noah was that these are real stories, right? This is a true story. In real life there are dead-ends and box-canyons and clues that don't play out and paths you have to take in order to come back correctly onto the main path in terms of an investigation. So this always presented as Gloria feeling like she had a lead that she had to run down and realizing, at the end of it, that the particular lead and the story that she learned and the information gleaned was not absolutely pertinent to the immediate case at hand. That's a kind of thing that cops face day in and day out in real life and that was part of the impetus for the episode as well.

When she's in Los Angeles and she's investigating this lead, when do you think she realizes that it's not going to help with the actual case at hand, but that there's the resolution she needs to find that's more personal than professional?

I don't think she realizes it until the very end, until she's back at the diner with Older Vivian and it becomes clear to her. She references it, right? She says, "This is just a story," which is part of the thematic of this season: What's real? What's true? What's a story? We're telling stories all the time. To Gloria, she realizes, "This has been a fascinating look, perhaps, into a personal story that's personal to me, but in terms of my investigation as Gloria the cop, it really doesn't mean anything."

Going back to this as a stranger-in-a-strange or fish-out-of-water storyline, what were you going for in terms of how this new setting would explore a different side for Carrie Coon and Gloria?

She's a Minnesotan at heart. She comes from our Fargo Heartland, so to speak, where much of the emotion of everyday life is buried very deep under the layers of Minnesota nice, but what we discovered working with Carrie and with Noah approaching this episode is again the theme of stranger-in-a-strange-land, where her typical demeanor and defenses, if you will, that work in the Fargo geography, she's a little bit at sea here in Los Angeles. So a little bit more emotion and vulnerability and unexpected twists and turns emotionally make themselves apparent because she's on foreign turf, so to speak. So I think what happens in the episode gives Gloria a little softer side and a little more emotional side than she had in the Fargo geography.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

As a counterpoint, I find the show so well made, each moment so well crafted, that when it decides to meander like this to make a point I still enjoy it a lot.

Yes, the show is well-made, even this episode stand-alone can be compelling.

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for such a strange jaunt, I don't know. This felt like Hawley just being really self-indulgent, which is still better than like 80% of other TV shows, but it just didn't do it for me.

 

[Cornballer]

- LA Times: On the Set: Here's what it was like when 'Fargo' brought its snowy noir to Los Angeles (lengthy article about shooting in LA)

A couple of Coon and Hawley quotes:

Hawley says: "This [episode] has a period element to it as well, but it's not really a period they've dealt with in their films. It has its own tone. But there is something interesting about bringing a character who sees the world in a certain way, into a world where people are much more cynical and calculating."

Coon, who was born and raised in Ohio, says the field trip brought up familiar memories.

“It’s very much a fish-out-of-water story for Gloria and it reminds me of the first time I came to L.A.,” she says. “I was a Midwesterner. I came in for an audition … when I first got out of the airport and I looked around, I could feel how the landscape was not part of my DNA at all. I felt like I was on another planet.”

Coon’s Gloria is the only central character to appear in the episode.

“Obviously there’s a big risk in your third hour, when things are picking up steam and everyone is invested in your characters, to go off for an hour with one of the characters,” Hawley says. “I’m interested to see how people respond to it. It felt both fun to me and important to the story. But it has to be a compelling hour if I’m asking people not to see Ewan McGregor for one of the 10 weeks of the show.”

Rain or shine, Hawley is pleased with the outcome of inserting the series into new, unfamiliar surroundings.

“Part of my goal is that if I invest you enough in that story of Gloria’s stepfather’s secret past, there may come a moment in the episode where you think, oh, she’s going to solve it,” Hawley says. “There’s some fun to do it. It’s also exploring the idea of futility. What can she really hope to do? If you can’t bring him back from the dead, at the end of the day, what good is any of it?”

 

[Zelenogorsk]

Great episode. Rob McElhenney was hilarious. It was fun going back to the 70s for a little west cost noir before heading back to the cold north. Ray Wise was also cool.

It was nice getting a Gloria centered episode since the brothers and their cohorts have been well established. Now I just need some answers on what Varga is up to.

The box that closes itself was a fun metaphor for the episode. You expect that opening up the grandfather's past will lead to something big but by the end of the episode the backstory shuts itself off from the rest of what's going on.

 

[QuantumBro]

I thought the Barton Fink references and homage was way too on the nose. I'm surprised the Coens are okay with stuff like that.

Enjoyed Gloria's misadventure and the book animation stuff. Didn't mind this episode being filler since Fargo always feels like that in between the first episode and the last three or so.

 

[Cornballer]

- Warming Glow: ‘Fargo’ Frozen Five: A Hollywood Hoodwinking And A Bathroom Breakthrough
- Slashfilm on last night's episode
- Decider: Pay Close Attention to the Episode Titles in ‘Fargo’


FX vid looking at the makeup and costuming on McGregor:
- Inside Installment 3: One Actor, Two Characters

Two brothers. One actor. Go behind the scenes to see how Ewan McGregor is transformed into Emmit and Ray Stussy.

 

[Valhelm]

Yay more Nigerians are scammer jabs! -_- Also, this is first disappointing episode in the whole series IMO, just felt like a waste of an episode.

The Ennis Stussy arc isn't really connected to the main story, except how the main story killed him. Devoting a whole episode to this plot seems weird.

Really digging this season but I was hoping to see more of the brothers and Varga.

 

[Maintenance]

The definition of filler. Coon is my favorite officer in the whole Fargo Universe though, including the movie.

Clint Eastwood's ex-wife and daughter, too.

Amazing genes, goddamn.

 

[HoJu]

Is filler like a complaint or what.maybe it's an anime thing idk.
Heard that for this and the latest leftovers, and its weird. Just because an episode isn't dedicated to the main plot doesn't mean it was useless.
Like have you seen a Coen brothers movie before.

 

[Beer Monkey]

This episode was great television, it was largely a little 44 minute Coen bros film inside of the season proper and deserves nominations in my book (which it won't receive).

 

[dead souls]

Didn't much care for this episode. It reminded me of Legion--all style no substance. Maybe Hawley's losing it?

 

[IggyChooChoo]

I thought the Barton Fink references and homage was way too on the nose. I'm surprised the Coens are okay with stuff like that.

Enjoyed Gloria's misadventure and the book animation stuff. Didn't mind this episode being filler since Fargo always feels like that in between the first episode and the last three or so.

I liked it, too. Do we know that the Coens even watch the show? I was under the impression they'd seen at least part of season one and liked it, but hadn't heard anything else.

 

[Loxley]

Wow this episode brought the season's momentum to a crawl. I suppose on it's own it was kind of interesting, but it didn't really grab me after the first two.

 

[Intheflorsh]

I liked it, too. Do we know that the Coens even watch the show? I was under the impression they'd seen at least part of season one and liked it, but hadn't heard anything else.

This is the only thing they've said about the show on record:

We're just not very interested. I mean, we're perfectly happy with it. We have no problem with it. It just feels divorced from our film somehow.

That was during season one.

 

[Pachimari]

Oh shit! All of this time I've been watching Season 2 I thought Lou Solverson was the brother of Lester Nygaard, but I confused him with Chazz Nygaard. I'm so fucking stupid. This explains why he didn't look any younger. But it turns out Lou is the restaurant owner in Season 1; Molly's father of course, damn!

 

[Theorry]

I love Nora episodes they are the best.

Oh wait wrong show.

 

[Salvadora]

Not really feeling this season to be honest.

I'm just not finding the characters or story particularly interesting.

Hope it gets better.

 

[Ruruja]

That was a turd episode and the first in the entire show for me personally.

Like somebody else said, S1 and S2 had me hooked by now but this is kinda plodding.

 

[Einchy]

While I have liked this season so far, I can understand why some might be down on it. These first 3 episodes have felt like a lot of setup and it's time we start seeing some payoffs.

 

[Daffy Duck]

I loved that episode!

Was great to get the back story in detail and not just some tid bits here or there.

So this show, and this season in particular, is about stories. That's the main theme of this season. Each episode begins with the pointed disclaimer that this fictional story is based on a true story that happened in MN in 2010, before all the other words fade out and leave just STORY on the screen.

Erm, isn't that at the start of everything (film and previous seasons) to kind of wink to people this whole thing isn't real despite what it says.

 

[| Praxis |]

That episode was absolutely great, loved it. It's just finished and had to get it out haha.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Interesting to see the divisive reactions, I liked the first couple episodes well enough but thought they felt a little too familiar after the movie and two prior seasons. This was the episode that got me hooked on season 3, really enjoyed this one and the turn it took with the Los Angeles/70s story.

 

[Pachimari]

Only got 3 episodes left of Season 2, and I gotta say this is some of the best television I've ever seen. I really liked the first season and the characters and town especially, but Season 2 has taken it to another level. I've liked all the characters this time around, maybe bar the police officer in North Dakota, but compared to the first season I didn't like the two FBI agents at all. This season feels a little bit more consistent. Can't wait to finish it tomorrow, but I'm a little concerned by the divisive reception to the third season.

 

[DiscoJer]

Interesting to see the divisive reactions, I liked the first couple episodes well enough but thought they felt a little too familiar after the movie and two prior seasons. This was the episode that got me hooked on season 3, really enjoyed this one and the turn it took with the Los Angeles/70s story.

I was actually kinda disappointed that it turned out to be so mundane - a fight over a woman.

When I first saw the book and the rocket ship award (on the previous episode when she was investigating the house), I had visions of some sort of sci-fi cult like Scientology or something

 

[IronRinn]

Caught up from last night. I really enjoyed that episode. The animated bits were especially great and Carrie Coon was fantastic.

 

[Speevy]

This is undoubtedly a high quality show, but it's neither as funny or suspenseful as any of the Coens' movies that are either of those things, so it comes off as kinda boring.

This year's basic problem is that there's a murder no one cares about. I mean how do you start with the premise of murder in a small town and make it so completely uninteresting?

All the actors are fabulous, but why am I supposed to care that this guy had an air conditioner dropped on his head? The dynamic of dual Obiwans is interesting, but I don't really see myself caring whether everyone goes to prison or dies as a result of this shady organization, or whether the other brother ultimately gets away with murder.

It's like they asked what's the most bland thing a television season could possibly be about and this is what they came up with.

The original Fargo movie had a body count of about 5 or 6 people if I recall, spaced out over time. It's not that they need a big gang war like last season. They just need a character haphazardly making increasingly stupid decisions over time that create suspense and are darkly funny. Darkly funny, suspenseful. Stop trying to ape every Coen trope. You are not Joel Coen.

 

[hydruxo]

This is undoubtedly a high quality show, but it's neither as funny or suspenseful as any of the Coens' movies that are either of those things, so it comes off as kinda boring.

This year's basic problem is that there's a murder no one cares about. I mean how do you start with the premise of murder in a small town and make it so completely uninteresting?

All the actors are fabulous, but why am I supposed to care that this guy had an air conditioner dropped on his head? The dynamic of dual Obiwans is interesting, but I don't really see myself caring whether everyone goes to prison or dies as a result of this shady organization, or whether the other brother ultimately gets away with murder.

It's like they asked what's the most bland thing a television season could possibly be about and this is what they came up with.

The original Fargo movie had a body count of about 5 or 6 people if I recall, spaced out over time. It's not that they need a big gang war like last season. They just need a character haphazardly making increasingly stupid decisions over time that create suspense and are darkly funny. Darkly funny, suspenseful. Stop trying to ape every Coen trope. You are not Joel Coen.

Yeah I have to agree with you on the bolded. The set up this season is not nearly as interesting as the first two seasons. I'm still enjoying what we've gotten so far but not quite as hooked as I was in S1 & S2 3 eps in.

 

[LiQuid!]

Yeah I have to agree with you on the bolded. The set up this season is not nearly as interesting as the first two seasons. I'm still enjoying what we've gotten so far but not quite as hooked as I was in S1 & S2 3 eps in.

I really wish I understood this thread. I hear that the murder is uninteresting yet I see a page full of people saying this episode was bad when it fleshed out the characters the murder effected...

Would all you complainers have rather we just not known the history of Ennis Stussy for the rest of the season?

 

[WillyFive]

The definition of filler.

No, this isn't even close to filler.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

I actually liked this episode more than the second one. It felt more focused and tightly directed. The second episode felt like...spinning wheels and artificial escalation. I'm not really invested at all in the sibling rivalry or the relationship between Ray and his parolee who is obviously just using him. The show just hasn't made their stories interesting to me yet.

This episode focused on Gloria and, as a result, has made me interested in her character. We know the story she's following has absolutely nothing at all to do with Ennis' murder, yet I still found myself invested and wanting to follow her as she digs up the past of her step dad.

 

[Madouu]

I absolutely loved this episode.

For me, it just managed to capture perfectly the feeling of being lost in life. How so many little events that occur, encounters that happen, findings that are discovered can give us the illusion of hiding something even grander behind them, with each one of these things, the promise of a hidden meaning. And yet, when the pieces of the puzzle don't match, when life goes back to the chaotic mess it is, some choose to give up on trying to make a sense of it (the producer, the waitress, the writer) and some keep trying.

 

[STILLethal]

I keep waiting for a Billy Bob-like character to show up but it never happens
Waited for the same thing in season 2 but no.
He's the best thing this show has produced.
This season so far - I dont care about any of the characters or find them interesting :/
Hopefully it gets better

Season 1 set the standard too high, season 2 didnt reach it, not sure if this will seeing how the first 3 eps were

 

[UrbanDandy]

I keep waiting for a Billy Bob-like character to show up but it never happens
Waited for the same thing in season 2 but no.
He's the best thing this show has produced.
This season so far - I dont care about any of the characters or find them interesting :/
Hopefully it gets better

Season 1 set the standard too high, season 2 didnt reach it, not sure if this will seeing how the first 3 eps were

I'd argue Hanzee Dent was pretty close.

 

[STILLethal]

I'd argue Hanzee Dent was pretty close.

He had no Billy Bob swag

 

[UrbanDandy]

He had no Billy Bob swag

I completely agree. However to say the bar was raised too high, I disagree with.
Most likely, this season has the dual performance of McGregor to hold it up.

 

[Lo_Fi]

I'm bad with character names, I don't think I could tell you any of the character's names yet.

So, in that context - what is the significance of her seeing the names in the toilet bowl?

This is undoubtedly a high quality show, but it's neither as funny or suspenseful as any of the Coens' movies that are either of those things, so it comes off as kinda boring.

This year's basic problem is that there's a murder no one cares about. I mean how do you start with the premise of murder in a small town and make it so completely uninteresting?

All the actors are fabulous, but why am I supposed to care that this guy had an air conditioner dropped on his head? The dynamic of dual Obiwans is interesting, but I don't really see myself caring whether everyone goes to prison or dies as a result of this shady organization, or whether the other brother ultimately gets away with murder.

It's like they asked what's the most bland thing a television season could possibly be about and this is what they came up with.

The original Fargo movie had a body count of about 5 or 6 people if I recall, spaced out over time. It's not that they need a big gang war like last season. They just need a character haphazardly making increasingly stupid decisions over time that create suspense and are darkly funny. Darkly funny, suspenseful. Stop trying to ape every Coen trope. You are not Joel Coen.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. In season 1 and 2, even though Martin Freeman and Matt Damon/Kirsten Dunst did some messed up shit, they present them as main characters and sympathetic, so that when things get tense, it really feels like you don't want them to get found out. With this season, I don't really care if what's his name and Scott Pilgrim lady get found out.

 

[Daffy Duck]

This year's basic problem is that there's a murder no one cares about. I mean how do you start with the premise of murder in a small town and make it so completely uninteresting?

How about you wait until the end of the series to decide if it was completely uninteresting?

 

[Ruruja]

I'm bad with character names, I don't think I could tell you any of the character's names yet.

So, in that context - what is the significance of her seeing the names in the toilet bowl?

Her step-dad was called Ennis Stussy (real name Thaddeus Mobley), he got the name from the toilet bowl (It was Dennis but the D was scraped out).

 

[Theorry]

Carrie Coon owning television right now.

Just crazy to know she is 36 and only started acting 6 years ago.

 

[Moff]

You got kids?!

What a weird episode in an odd season.
I still liked it, but there is just no suspense or interesting arc here that would keep me glued to the screen.

 

[Jb]

Fantastically weird episode with some great guest stars. The Coen references are maybe a little much for some but as a huge fan of theirs it doesn't bother me. Also Carrie Coon is probably my favorite cop of the entire show so far, she's effortlessly endearing and believable.
I like that they're leaning heavily into the existentialism theme like they did in Season 2, I hope we get more episodes like this one.

 

[Chumley]

Liked the episode a lot but the Always Sunny guy cameo was absolutely god awful.

He had no Billy Bob swag

No one will top Malvo the gawd

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

Liked the episode a lot but the Always Sunny guy cameo was absolutely god awful.



No one will top Malvo the gawd

Yes!

And I really like the guy. But that was just a shit character. Going on about how great Facebook is and Nigerian guys looking for money. Terrible, lazy, unimaginative bollocks.

 

[Corpekata]

I do find it weird a midwestern woman has never heard the "dropping the kids off at the pool" line, though it was still an amusing moment.

I'm liking the villain so far, even if his nasty teeth and speech pattern sort of makes him hard to watch. Has that otherwordly momentum that Malvo had but seemingly harnessed in a lawful alignment rather than chaotic.

I'm not sure an almost solo star affair was good this early in the season though. One of the big hooks for me in these shows has been the ensemble characters, and even before this episode they were feeling kind of weak so far, and one less episode to develop them probably isn't going to help.

Also they get some amazing character actors for some of these one off bit roles.