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Fargo - Season 3 - Brothers, Bridge, and Backstabbing in 2010 Minnesota - Wed on FX

Moff

Member
the last three episodes were good, but the season was still underwhelming and lacking, the billy bob thornton show that was season 1 stays far out of reach
 
One of the things that still gets me (and I'm sure the producers will have a deleted scene) is when Mr. Wrench left Meemo alive in the hotel only to be killed in the warehouse.

I don't know why. I understand that Meemo is Varga's most trusted henchmen, but Mr. Wrench is a seasoned hitman; he should've dispatched Meemo within a blink of an eye.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
Well, I couldn't even finish this season. Was bored to death toward the mid. Too bad, I found the first great. The second would have been even greater without the stupid Hanzee reveal, so it's still :

Season 1 > Season 2 >>>>>> Season 3.
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
Great season, for the most part. Doesn't dethrone the first two, but it was still a very good ride.

What I can't get to terms with is....Why the hell would Emmit get whacked 5 years after the events? 5 years?! Made no sense. Also, Nicky turning into a complete badass, alongside whatshisname, and thwarting Varga not once but twice, in the span of two episodes was a bit too much.

Other than that, I quite liked the season. The best episode was easily the one after the bus crash. Reminded me of a Sopranos episode for some reason.

What happened with that guy with the wolf hat though? Missed him here.
 
I feel like they wanted me to feel bad about Nikki's death, but I didn't. She caused Ray to die. The sex tape directly lead to his death. She shouldn't have pressed it. Just taken the money and moved on.

Wrench coming back was dumb too. He's likely on the most wanted list, as I believe he was locked up for murder. Just like last season with the woods scene(Sopranos)(which actually worked with that context), it screamed "let's pay homage to another product"(Departed), even if it didn't really make sense this time.

This season was just a pile of wasted characters who didn't have arcs, and plot points that went no where. Remember last season where even side characters like the son with cerebral palsy had a full arc? I miss that.
 

Ruruja

Member
Did Emmit's car break down due to the engine overheating or something? I thought he ran out of fuel, which made it weird when he sped off after the incident.
 
Did Emmit's car break down due to the engine overheating or something? I thought he ran out of fuel, which made it weird when he sped off after the incident.

There were some beeps that happened right before the breakdown, I assumed Nikki hacked the Mercedes (BMW?) service which lets car owners remotely shut down a vehicle in case its stolen. Or maybe she just put a timer on the engine.

Either way, Nikki Swango clearly inherited some super powers from Ray Wise, and like Batman with enough planning she is apparently able to do anything.

Yeah the Ray Wise thing is the thing that pisses me off about the whole season. At least it was sorta subtle in seasons 1 & 2, the supernatural elements and you could just say the characters imagined it (UFO, Malvo's preternatural abilities). Here though Ray Wise trips through entire episodes just yakking it up with everyone, and then he is apparently the manager of the Limbo Bowling Alley. Every scene of his could have been cut and I think it would have made the show better, and I love Ray Wise.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
The Ray Wise thing just wen't nowhere, which is probably why the ending is disappointing to me. It's not that it's ambiguous, it's that you set up this whole thing about a supernatural sense of justice that just never pays off.

Yeah the Ray Wise thing is the thing that pisses me off about the whole season. At least it was sorta subtle in seasons 1 & 2, the supernatural elements and you could just say the characters imagined it (UFO, Malvo's preternatural abilities). Here though Ray Wise trips through entire episodes just yakking it up with everyone, and then he is apparently the manager of the Limbo Bowling Alley. Every scene of his could have been cut and I think it would have made the show better, and I love Ray Wise.
It's funny because I liked the UFO thing because S2 was set up as a bit of a fable/fairy tale anyway. So in that context, having something like that happen is the same as a pumpkin turning into a carriage for Cinderella.
 
Furthermore, even once it occurs, Emmit tries to get Ray to leave the glass in, which could have saved his life while Emmit went for help, but Ray screws that up too. I'd say total accident or Ray's fault; Emmit gets no blame.

Emmit could have applied pressure to slow the bleeding while calling for help. He watched his brother bleed out while doing nothing.
 

-griffy-

Banned
There were some beeps that happened right before the breakdown, I assumed Nikki hacked the Mercedes (BMW?) service which lets car owners remotely shut down a vehicle in case its stolen. Or maybe she just put a timer on the engine.

Either way, Nikki Swango clearly inherited some super powers from Ray Wise, and like Batman with enough planning she is apparently able to do anything.

Yeah the Ray Wise thing is the thing that pisses me off about the whole season. At least it was sorta subtle in seasons 1 & 2, the supernatural elements and you could just say the characters imagined it (UFO, Malvo's preternatural abilities). Here though Ray Wise trips through entire episodes just yakking it up with everyone, and then he is apparently the manager of the Limbo Bowling Alley. Every scene of his could have been cut and I think it would have made the show better, and I love Ray Wise.
There was nothing subtle about that UFO. That was a literal UFO flying around MN.
 
There was nothing subtle about that UFO. That was a literal UFO flying around MN.

Malvo taking out an entire mob building wasn't exactly subtle either. The whole dentist thing was ludicrous. The Undertaker segment in season 2 also made no sense and let's not even bring up Hanzee's fate. The TV show has always considered themes and cinematography as more important than grounded story telling.

I enjoyed this season and thought Varga was the best villain on the TV show at actually being a villain. Everything about his character was disgusting.
 
Why did Wrench come back after the time skip?

That was a very long time to wait.

I seem to remember Emmit saying saying "Isn't it good for us all to be back together again?" Assuming it's the first time he was reunited with Si and Nikki said Emitt poisoned his best friend maybe Wrench wanted Si to have some form of vengeance over Emitt? Or just wanted them all to witness it?

Alternatively it could have just took him a while to track him down...
 

Turin

Banned
Well, I couldn't even finish this season. Was bored to death toward the mid. Too bad, I found the first great. The second would have been even greater without [REDACTED], so it's still :

Season 1 > Season 2 >>>>>> Season 3.

STOP. It's a myth. Th-That didn't happen. D:

Also, you should at least check out episode 8 if you haven't. Not that I disagree with your ranking.

Why did Wrench come back after the time skip?

That was a very long time to wait.

Might've taken him some time to process what actually happened to Nikki but still.....
 

Speevy

Banned
If this was really the end, they could have somehow incorporated William H. Macy into an episode. Like he's just getting out of prison and a truck runs him over.
 

Turin

Banned
I don't think the ending worked as well as say, the ending of 'Shame' where what might happen depended on a troubled persons decision.

Here it was supposed to be an existential commentary. One that might have more weight to it if Varga was a bit more believable.
 

Arkeband

Banned
I thought the ending was brilliant.

Hawley said that he chose Carrie Coon as Gloria Burgle after seeing her in The Leftovers and the quality that he needed was tenacity.

She is relentless in her search for justice - every opportunity she has to give up, she redoubles her efforts.

On the other hand, Varga is a phantom, nameless, an incarnation of evil. He states bluntly in the car to Emmitt that the problem isn't that the world is evil, it's that there is good in the world, otherwise, who would care?

Gloria Burgle cares, because she is inherently a good person. She even chooses a profession to serve that cause.

And in that last scene, she's risen to a position of power where she can actually pose a danger to Varga, and they're alone together in a dark room, making a bet over who is right. And the camera cuts away - but not because Hawley wants to leave it up to the viewer to figure out who "won", but to emphasize that it doesn't matter who won. There will always be Glorias and Vargas, doing this dance until the end of time, sticking to their deepest held beliefs in spite of any situation thrown at them.
 

Speevy

Banned
I don't think the ending worked as well as say, the ending of 'Shame' where what might happen depended on a troubled persons decision.

Here it was supposed to be an existential commentary. One that might have more weight to it if Varga was a bit more believable.

Exactly. Even
Anton Chigurh is tracked down, shot, and involved in a serious accident before he escapes.

If Varga was supposed to be some kind of mystical force explaining one take on the universe, why did he wander into Nikki's trap to begin with (and lose all of his men)? Why would he get caught again?

I love weird and complex characters, but this one feels like a joke with no punchline.
 

DeviantBoi

Member
Can someone explain the very first scene of the season... takes place in Germany or Russia, can't remember.

What was the point to that? Did I miss something?
 

Speevy

Banned
Can someone explain the very first scene of the season... takes place in Germany or Russia, can't remember.

What was the point to that? Did I miss something?

You didn't miss anything. I think it was trying to do what the Coens did in A Serious Man, which was describing the general philosophy of the work in an unrelated scene.

What that philosophy was still eludes me.
 

Yamibito

Member
Man, I loved this ending. It made the whole season feel more whole, in a way. A lot of the things people are complaining about seem by design, but I can understand the frustration. It's not as graceful as season two was but it's a whole lot better at telling its story than season one did, which had, in my opinion, a terrible ending and beginning. I don't like how neatly things ended in the first season, and the second and third definitely did a lot to improve upon that. There's something very striking about how little the third season makes sense compared to the previous two, which makes me think this will be the most divisive season.

I love this show a lot and I hope we get a fourth season some day, if only because I want to see Hawley telling these types of stories rather than Legion, which is more fun than engaging, imo.

Overall, Season 2 > Season 3 >> Season 1.
 

kevin1025

Banned
I liked a lot of this season, but the finale was not as strong, for me at least. Everyone's fate didn't feel like the sort of fate they'd end up with given the season they endured. Maybe some deaths were meant to happen, but the way they happened? I'm not so sure.

I guess what I mean to say is that character beefs set up by the season didn't quite work out like they normally would, leaving things fairly anticlimactic for me. And Varga's alternate facts and stretching what reality is to one person and to another, and his slipperiness in any situation... it's basically because no one knew how to put him in his place, more than him being a mastermind.

I liked a lot of those nine previous episodes, this one was a real whiff for me.
 

Fury451

Banned
You didn't miss anything. I think it was trying to do what the Coens did in A Serious Man, which was describing the general philosophy of the work in an unrelated scene.

What that philosophy was still eludes me.

Relativity of truth to some degree. Bending of facts to suit the story and ambiguity of a story.

Again, viewing this season as something of a fairytale has it make more thematic sense.

Also Yuri Gurka's past catches up to him in the bowling alley. Maybe. And Yuri was the one they were looking for in Germany, so it wasn't just thematic setup.

I agree though, the philosophy is muddy.
 

Roi

Member
This season was full of unnecessary hints/easter eggs of other Coen brother films, at first I taught it was funny, but after a few I got bored of it just like this whole season.
 

Chumley

Banned
Let me get this straight. Nikki plans the IRS thing, the annihilation of Vargas men, but then decides to flash a shotgun around for minutes on an open road. Instead of just following Emmitt. Oh, and Varga suddenly becoming Solid Snake and crawling out of the elevator was a laugh. He was a terrible and stupid villain, and trying to make a half assed "did he win?" statement with such a dunce of a character just makes me shrug. Make a statement one way or the other. Malvo ate this fool for lunch.

This season was bad. Nikki's writing defied logic and consistency. Don't buy for a fraction of a second she would have done what she did on the road.

Also, Gloria did nothing the entire time until that last scene. Absolute waste of Carrie Coon.
 

Fury451

Banned
This season was full of unnecessary hints/easter eggs of other Coen brother films, at first I taught it was funny, but after a few I got bored of it just like this whole season.

All three seasons have that. 2 had scenes directly from other Coen stuff, It's one of the more annoying things about the show tbh.
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
You didn't miss anything. I think it was trying to do what the Coens did in A Serious Man, which was describing the general philosophy of the work in an unrelated scene.

What that philosophy was still eludes me.

Read the Hollywood Reporter interview with NH that posted after the finale.
 
Season was ok. There were too many odd illogical things the characters did but the thing that (oddly) bugged me the most is when Mary eliabeth gets the shit kicked out of her. So the sounds effects and her reaction make it seem like she gets pulverized and in all likelihood she's dead. 5 mins later she's on her feet with a couple bruises and cuts. Wtf?
 
Season was ok. There were too many odd illogical things the characters did but the thing that (oddly) bugged me the most is when Mary eliabeth gets the shit kicked out of her. So the sounds effects and her reaction make it seem like she gets pulverized and in all likelihood she's dead. 5 mins later she's on her feet with a couple bruises and cuts. Wtf?

They were framing her for their plan (negated) to kill Ray.

Major damage, non critical. By design .
 

Speevy

Banned
One of the biggest problems I had with Emmett Stussey is that they didn't give him nearly enough control over all that was happening to want Nikki to kill him. So in the end you're just kind of sad for everyone.

I was saddest for Michael Stuhlbarg though. What a waste of a great actor.
 

Alpende

Member
Overall I thought this season was the weakest of the bunch although episode 8 was one of the best Fargo episodes made. Still good quality TV, just not up to par with the previous seasons. The Swango / Mr. Wrench teamup was great.
 

pixelish

Member
as someone who watched the entirety of season 3 in 5 days (i really disliked watching serialised tv shows on a weekly basis), i think many of you didn't enjoy the season because you weren't paying enough attention to the detail the show has put on for the viewers. i really suggest for those who disliked the season to watch the episodes in batches.
 

Arkeband

Banned
as someone who watched the entirety of season 3 in 5 days (i really disliked watching serialised tv shows on a weekly basis), i think many of you didn't enjoy the season because you weren't paying enough attention to the detail the show has put on for the viewers. i really suggest for those who disliked the season to watch the episodes in batches.

I agree that a few episodes are better as pairs or at least aren't strong enough by themselves. The narrative wasn't quite as strong as earlier seasons, but I enjoyed it all the same. It's still one of the best shows on television.
 
I thought it was a pretty good final episode.

However, one scene bothered me. So Stussy's car breaks down. The scene unfolds, the cop and the chick kill each other. And after the scene is down, he drives away with his car as if nothing had been wrong with it in the first place. Major plot-hole!
 
I thought it was a pretty good final episode.

However, one scene bothered me. So Stussy's car breaks down. The scene unfolds, the cop and the chick kill each other. And after the scene is down, he drives away with his car as if nothing had been wrong with it in the first place. Major plot-hole!

why?

theres no evidence he was ever there in the first place, to the cops that find them it just looks like she was caught and killed the cop.

gloria knows better but she cant do anything
 

Grinchy

Banned
I can forgive the phone in the road. Maybe he picked it up off-screen.

I just really want to understand why his car started working again.
 
Great finale. Mr. Wrench getting away with the cash, Mr. Wrench killing Emmit, Sy coming out of his coma, Gloria working for the DHS, so many great moments. I loved the last shot.

Not on the same caliber of seasons 1 or 2 but I still had a blast and it's still my favorite show on television. I'm fine with Noah Hawley doing other stuff (especially if he has no idea what he wants to do for season 4) but if someday he comes back with more Fargo I'll be there!

Just give us a Mr. Wrench spin-off show already.
 

pixelish

Member
among the 3 seasons we have, this is probably the best season that encapsulates the "this is a true story" narrative. i am 100% behind the ending because it was only right for the audience to decide whether to believe in the truth (gloria) or the narrative (varga) after what we have been put through thematically.

i know some of you were complaining that it was rather uncharacteristic for nikki to shoot the cop but if you analyse the season based on truth vs narrative, i think it makes sense. following her meeting with ray wise's character, she was chosen to do good and avenge ray's death by taking down the true evil aka varga. however, because she followed what she believed in (emmitt being the evil murderer), nikki was punished.
 

RangerBAD

Member
among the 3 seasons we have, this is probably the best season that encapsulates the "this is a true story" narrative. i am 100% behind the ending because it was only right for the audience to decide whether to believe in the truth (gloria) or the narrative (varga) after what we have been put through thematically.

i know some of you were complaining that it was rather uncharacteristic for nikki to shoot the cop but if you analyse the season based on truth vs narrative, i think it makes sense. following her meeting with ray wise's character, she was chosen to do good and avenge ray's death by taking down the true evil aka varga. however, because she followed what she believed in (emmitt being the evil murderer), nikki was punished.

Nikki was part of the "wicked" too.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
among the 3 seasons we have, this is probably the best season that encapsulates the "this is a true story" narrative. i am 100% behind the ending because it was only right for the audience to decide whether to believe in the truth (gloria) or the narrative (varga) after what we have been put through thematically.

i know some of you were complaining that it was rather uncharacteristic for nikki to shoot the cop but if you analyse the season based on truth vs narrative, i think it makes sense. following her meeting with ray wise's character, she was chosen to do good and avenge ray's death by taking down the true evil aka varga. however, because she followed what she believed in (emmitt being the evil murderer), nikki was punished.

But then why does Emmitt die anyway? Now if Wrench walked into the final interrogation room scene, with Varga smiling thinking that he's scott free, then I probably would have loved the ending.

I dunno, it just made the Ray Wise part wholly insignificant.
 
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