I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this site. And, for me, when I stop writing, it takes a lot to get me writing again. Something has to have a deep emotional impact in me to get me to find the motivation to start typing on the keys. Anger. Depression. Confusion. All of these things have resonated in me so strongly that I have found myself writing. Today, however, what has caused me to stir from my doldrums is pure, unadulterated joy. And what has caused that in me.
Ladies, Gentlemen, and my Non-Binary Friends, season five of Fargo is now three episodes deep. And it is fucking amazing.
If you know me, you know I love Noah Hawley’s Fargo. Over its first four seasons, each season has given us a different story about crime and spiritual decay (or the quest to stop it) with the backdrop of the midwest. I have said it before on this site (while during our COVID binge-watch draft) and I will say it again with all of the feeling I can muster: Season two of Fargo is the best season of television to ever exist. It is perfect; 10/10, no notes. And season one is almost as good.
The problem with one near-perfect and one perfect season of television, it makes it hard to clear the bar. Which is why it’s amazing that season three almost does that. But the comparisons are noticeable in the show’s fourth season, which is a little muddled and messy. Even though the fourth run at Fargo is still a very, very good set of episodes, it simply cannot compare to what Hawley and his ensembles bring us when the show is firing on all cylinders.
However, with the first third of season 5 in the books, there is reason to be hopeful we may be getting there again.
If you have never seen an episode of Fargo, you don’t have to worry about catching up on the previous four seasons. Each season is it’s own arc with new characters taking place in a different year. Now, if you have watched all the seasons, you do see how the stories very loosely connect to each other. But there is nothing stopping you hopping on Hulu (or F/X) and starting with this absolutely stellar season. Here is a brief, relatively spoiler- free synopsis of where we stand so far:
Dot (Juno Temple) is the pleasant wife of Wayne (David Rysdahl), living in Minnesota in the fall of 2019. After being arrested for accidentally tazing a police officer during an unruly school board meeting, Dot is found by Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm, with pierced nipples), whom he had known under a different name. Dot survives and escapes a botched kidnapping led by Ole Munch (Sam Spruell) and attempts to resume her normal life while being more and more afraid that bad things will happen. Trying to figure out exactly what the hell is going on is Dot’s mother-in-law Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Lorraine’s lawyer (Dave Foley), police officer Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani), and Tillman’s son Gator (Joe Keery).
And, of course, all of us watching at home.
As always, Fargo is bringing us a talented cast, engaging storylines, violence that see-saws from the repulsive to the deeply comical, and a brilliant blend of the criminal, spiritual and metaphysical. Season 4 seemed like a needed reboot so that Hawley (who has written almost every episode) can get right back into his wheelhouse, and it feels like we are there. This is appointment television, and because we are just getting one episode a week, we get to feel the cliffhangers and excitement of waiting to see exactly what is going to happen next. In a year full of fantastic television, Noah Hawley shows us, yet again, why Fargo needs to be listed amongst the year’s best.
Fancy Boys Club 