We need a thread for the FARGO TV show yah? Oh, yah!

Well I made it about halfway through rhe denouement, until the point it tried too hard for comedy

The viewership has been declining season over season, this might be the last one?

That would be my guess. I liked the way a character would connect some seasons to others, especially Mike Milligan across S2 and S4. 1, 2, and 4 all connected; can't remember if 3 did. I don't think there was anything in 5, was there?

Pretty sure Hawley said there are likely more seasons in the pipes, but he's also busy with the Alien show now.

Totally loved this season, more than S2, maybe more than S1 even (my previous high bar). It got the tension, the action, the humor, the weirdness, all in great balance. Ending was weird and unexpected and awesome. The "suburban mom who's secretly a fighter and weapons expert" also reminded me of Long Kiss Goodnight a bit

None of the other season have come close to S1 for me personally.

just watched long kiss goodnight for the first time a few days ago, and yes totally

Just watched S1 for first time, it’s not said out right, but Malvo lets the guy from the car lot live (who earlier was buying health insurance). I kind of took it that the car being gone and never explained was like him letting Gus live in the stop earlier in the show.

i'm rewatching no country for old men for the first time in a long time and wondering if the last chunk of the fargo s5 finale is maybe riffing on the javier bardem/kelly macdonald conversation near the end of the movie (though that doesn't seem to work out as well for kelly macdonald)

munch kind of has the anton chigurh haircut

Yeah agreed, clemenza also mentioned this upthread, except I really liked it.

Complaints: thought Moonk--the character, and the whole subplot--was a drag. He was obviously meant to evoke Peter Stormare in the movie, but the epilogue to me felt like Noah Hawley wanting to fix (like Tarantino fixing the Manson murders) Anton Chigurth's story in No Country for Old Men. "You don't have to do this" Carla Jean said to Chigurth in No Country; he did, because he couldn't not do it, but Dot manages to find the right words to say. Would have been fine without that last scene and fine without Moonk at all.

Hawley has explicitly talked about the similarity: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/fargo-season-5-finale-explained-noah-hawley-1235789647/

Kind of makes sense to drag other Coens properties into Fargo, I think of the show as riffing on their whole deal

yeah there have always been allusions to other Coen movies, from direct lifts of dialogue to things like a mysterious otherworldly stranger sitting at the bar in a bowling alley (Ray Wise in season 3).

There are boodles of these references I’m noticing. Hotel hallway in Vegas and in season 2 with ref to Barton Fink. The scene where Bear takes his niece out into the woods has the ‘you don’t have to do this’ from Millers Crossing.

“We are going crazy with boredom out at the lake.” The first show she finds on tv is a nature bug documentary like in the movie Fargo.

Hanzee grilling the guy at the store about the couple is also a bit like the No Country for old Men scene.

White Denim’s cover of “Just Checked In…” was another Big Lebowski ref.

Munch is the dybbuk

I liked the way a character would connect some seasons to others, especially Mike Milligan across S2 and S4. 1, 2, and 4 all connected; can't remember if 3 did. I don't think there was anything in 5, was there?

― clemenza, Saturday, 3 February 2024 17:35 (one month ago) link

I was looking for this too. All I found was that Jason Schwartzman (Josto Faddo from S4) narrates the voiceover in episode 5 from Season 5 called "The Tiger."

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/who-narrates-fargo-season-5-episode-5-the-tiger/