One of the most striking differences between Fargo the
series and the movie that inspired it is how the show has made a habit of
going outright paranormal, with the flying saucer in S2 and the purgatorial interlude
of S3. This is part of what made me say last week that I expected to see a dybbuk
this season. But I was still stunned to
see this episode prominently feature the walking dead. That is partly because the thing that haunts
Ephelrida and her aunt Zelmare in the episode is closer to your traditional movie
zombie than what the opening parable of the Coen’s A Serious Man posits as more
of an Exorcist-style possessing spirit, but one that inhabits dead bodies
rather than taking over living vessels. For reference:
But the surprise was even more heightened because in the case of those earlier seasons, the flights out fantasy didn’t come into play until toward the end. So even if I expected some sort of supernatural element to crop up, I never considered it would be in the first half of the run. Which is exciting, as is the fact that I still don’t feel like I completely understand everything the paranormal bits are supposed to add or represent to the story of this bizarre series. I don’t think I’m really supposed to admit that in this format, which is premised on a vague idea that I have a show sussed out so well that I can explain it to more casual viewers with some kind of authority. But I still struggle to articulate what was actually going on with the UFO or bowling alley, and I certainly can’t tell you what this zombie guy is all about at this juncture. But I'm comfortable taking the ride and hoping that things will become more clear as they go on. Or not even more clear, really, but more interesting and exciting, which are the areas the show has always delivered on.
But let’s get back to things we are sure about. The Cannons’ retribution for the attempted hit
on Lemuel and suspected hand in the stick-up from last week is to ambush a truckload of guns
with a ring of mediocre CGI, burn one unfortunate driver alive and brand Top
Goon Calamita with a hot gun barrel. It’s
a measured response, meant to allow just enough wiggle room to back off from all-out war if it turns out to have been the misunderstanding that Senator’s
meeting with Ebal confirms it to be. Loy
meanwhile dismisses the notion that the Italians could have been cunning enough
to hire two women of color to obscure their involvement in the robbery while simultaneously
sending two of their most well-known faces to fuck up the hit on Lemuel, with
the astute observation that “no one is dumb and smart at the same time.” I’m attempting to limit the amount of Trump
talk in these things, but this struck me as a nugget of wisdom that is
especially useful to keep in mind in this era when everyone who is at all
politically engaged (not least the man himself) seems to have convinced themselves
that because he won one very close, very weird election, he simply must
possess some sort of secret genius that allows him to see the secret designs of
the political world that are hidden to the naked eye. And it’s just an enormous coincidence that his
multidimensional chess game always looks so uncannily similar to what a big
giant idiot who only cared about his own immediate gratification might be doing
in the same situation.
But I digress. We may
know that his being on a television show about a mob war makes that mob war inevitable,
but from where Loy is standing it does not appear that the point of no return
has been crossed just yet. Which
explains why, while he fronts hard on Rabbi, he ultimately gears his efforts toward recruiting him than hurting him. Rabbi, for his part, sarcastically references the difference in their skin tones to make the point that however much the Italians might keep him apart, it wouldn't be any different if he tried jumping ship to a black family. And while I have a feeling the Cannons will eventually
come to regret not offing Calamita when they had the chance, I am fairly sure
this (relatively) gentle handling of Milligan will pay dividends down the line,
though I will confine predictions about the precise manner in a spoilery
section at the bottom.
In any case, Loy’s concern with securing his captive son’s safety before hostilities boil over completely contrasts notably with how no one on the Fadda side of the fence (except inside-outsider Rabbi) has spared a word of thought for how Gaetano’s attempt to start a war would have resulted in the painful death of their baby brother Zero even if it had succeeded. Which Josto points out, in a nicely effectual moment for a character that has to walk the line between being mostly comedic but also at least somewhat credible as a mob boss, it really did not. Gaetano’s plan was half-cocked to begin with, before he decided to double down on the risks by dragging Milligan into and Calamita overcomplicated it even further by playing coy about what they even wanted him to be doing. The upshot being, now the Faddas’ rivals have been upgraded to enemies, put on high alert, and have all the Family’s guns.
Loy’s plan for those guns is to exchange the bulk of them for
additional manpower from a crime boss in Fargo, one Mort Kellerman. We met Kellerman briefly back in Season 2, and
from that can surmise that he is likely to miss those men when he finds himself
shortly killed by the Gerhardts. Josto, for
his part, is looking to New York for out-of-town muscle, which all promises
an influx of bodies to drop in stylish whacking montages moving forward. But in the meantime, he is leaning on local
political connections to pressure the Cannons, starting with corrupt
ball-of-tics Odis. Odis is frankly not a
great character. I’m sure there is a
payoff to his obsessive knocking coming – maybe a sequence where he just needs
to sneak out of a door without alerting someone in the next room, or something –
but his collection of forced mannerisms somehow feels less real than Oraetta’s decades-long,
unmotivated murder spree.
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Oh yeah, Oraetta is a full-blown serial killer. And a prolific one, given the dozens of trophies and clippings Ephelrida finds in her very, very poorly secured murder closet. The killer nurse and her “special project” remain the biggest wild cards to account for, even as Oraetta insinuates herself with the Italians, while Ephelrida now holds the ring that can reveal her neighbor was the one that offed their patriarch, and Thurman’s unwitting attempt to pay off the Cannons with their own money have only drawn put the Smutneys further at the gangsters’ mercies. There’s an awful lot of hell to pay there, and I didn’t get around to mentioning how Josto is still looking to assassinate the hospital administrator, the outlaws are still in town, and marshal Deafy is still stomping around.
Plus there’s zombies.
- Olyphant really channels his Raylan Givens mojo when facing off with Gaetano and Calamita in front of the store.
- Rock remains impressive in how he is handling the heavier dramatic stuff. He’s been legitimately good at conveying the thoughtful and commanding aspects of the character, while surprisingly at his weakest when channeling his stand-up persona for last week’s cruel sermonizing with the junkie.
- Josto throwing snowballs in anger was mildly amusing, but for some reason the way Schwartzman chews on the leftover snow to calm down absolutely killed me.
- I didn't actually make note of any Coen connections beyond the dybbuk stuff, so um, let's go ahead and say that Ephelrida's struggles with Oraetta's cat are meant to evoke Llewyn Davis chasing a cat around a wintry period settings. Or something.
- Andrew Bird made fancy whistling a trademark of his career as a folk-pop musician, which he gets to show off a little when Thurman waltzes into the kitchen after paying down the debt.
- SPOILER CORNER (SPECULATION BASED ON STUFF FROM SEASON 2): So my assumptions with how this entire war will play out is that the survivors of both gangs will eventually merge together to create the more integrated, and eventually corporatized, crime organization we get glimpses of in S2 - one that had room for an Italian underboss, black lieutenant and enforcers that at least look like they could be descended from the Moskowitz Syndicate. Rabbi Milligan will marry a black woman and sire young Mike, and the mutual respect Ebal is building with Dr. Senator will also pave the way for him to make the transition to the new world order as well, perhaps even filling the doctor's consigliere role for the Cannons if he should become a casualty of the hostilities.
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