Fargo Season 3

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a

Spoiler alert

breathtaking rear-end.

[close]

[selectivememory]

Thewlis was absolutely mesmerising, part Dickensian eccentric, with smatterings I thought of Pete Townsend, Will Self and E.L. Wisty. Sinister yet utterly compelling. All angles and the smell of stale cigarettes. I liked the way the two initially seemed to think they were dealing with a mental incompetent and their entire world turned upside down with the one word: "Investment."

I'm struggling to think of a character which has stolen a first scene so completely.

Yeah, it really is a fantastic scene. I hope Varga is going to have as central role in this season as Malvo did in the first.

[NoSleep]

Not really getting the bad acting accusations toward Ewan McGregor. He seems to be playing two uncharismatic characters pretty well and I'm usually sensitive to bad acting.

Looks like it's going to be fun, anyway.

[up_the_hampipe]

Finally got round to watching ep 1. Thewlis and Winstead were standouts, especially Thewlis.

I was sad that the dopey crook had to be

Spoiler alert

killed off

[close]

so soon. He made up for much of the entertainment in this opener. I did enjoy the scene where Winstead takes control of the situation and McGregor pauses the frantic scrambling to let her know she's sexy.

[funtimefrankie]

McGregors accent was my only concern really. Threw me at times and had me concentrating for slip ups rather than being engrossed in what he was saying.

[mothman]

I didn't see it., I heard it from the kitchen, but there was a trail for this on C4 last night. No airdate specified, just "Coming Soon" which usually means 3 to 4 weeks.

[Neomod]

I enjoyed it but I do wish they had cast someone other than Ewan M in those roles. I'm not sure he's a good enough actor to pull a dual role off and I'm looking for mistakes.

I should really cut him a bit more slack.[nb]enough to hang himself eh readers[/nb]

[3D]

Spoiler alert

Why would you "invest" surreptiously in a business in order to launder money then move in Mob handed in front of all the staff to the obvious chagrin of the owners of the business?

[close]

[up_the_hampipe]

Loving David Thewlis in this. Creepy bastard. Hoping McGregor gets a handle on the accent before this finishes.

Oh and the

Spoiler alert

tampon

[close]

bit. Ewwww!

[selectivememory]

Varga stealing the show again.

Yeah, the

Spoiler alert

tampon

[close]

bit was foul.

Overall not as engaging as the opener, but since the last season really got going about three or four episodes in I'm not concerned. McGregor's accent is a problem though, especially for Emmit.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm still struggling with McGregor, both characters are bland and I don't really care if the world goes horribly wrong for them, whilst plotwise this doesn't feel like anything we haven't seen before. If it wasn't for Thewlis and Mary Elizabeth Winstead I'm not sure I'd stick with it, but hopefully it'll improve.

[a peepee tipi]

I thought that episode actually kind of hurt Varga, just a bit too playful for me, but Thewlis is really good. However, Stuhlbarg's character is still the only presence I actively like, just wish they would say his character's name more so I could remember what the fuck to call him. I like how inept he seems to be despite his influence over Emmit, lots of potential in that and I think they have a much more interesting dynamic than Ray and Swango's (the names are terribly TV in this one, aren't they? Emmit Stussy and Nikki fucking Swango). I am slowly warming up to Coon's character too, but I think that has more to do with the technological stasis of Eden Valley hitting home with me since I was raised in a similarly forgotten tiny town. Plus, while the TBL-identity stuff still takes me out of it  (I read that Varga's man is the guy the German was really after in the opening, reacted with a resounding "meh"), the sci-fi stuff leading back to the 70's could be interesting.

I really don't know about this, nothing's particularly bad about it, but nothing's particularly great. It seems that the consensus (from most of my usual haunts anyways) is that Season 2 picked up after a few episodes, but it had me hooked from the moment Peggy decided to drive off with a murderer in her windshield. I will say that while the quirkier parts of these first two episodes have been kind of a miss for me, I am really glad that nobody's retold the story of Job or recited Jabberwocky yet, that stuff was always fucking painful.

[3D]

Only Varga has really jumped out at me so far and at the moment, unlike the first and second series, I've yet to give a damn who lives or dies.

In the first series there was the concern whether Molly Solverson would make it through to the end in one piece and in the second Ted Danson's character. That hasn't happened just yet for me.

Given my previous mention of Pete Townsend,

Spoiler alert

Varga's "meet the new boss" line made me wonder if there was a vague connection in the character's development.

[close]

[No.]

[selectivememory]

(I read that Varga's man is the guy the German was really after in the opening, reacted with a resounding "meh")

Yeah, he's got the same name, but it can't be that straightforward because there's a 22-year gap between that scene in Germany and that guy showing up in Minnesota. He'd have to have been a kid in 1988. I'm presuming the link is going to become clearer in the next few episodes.

[selectivememory]

Yeah, he's got the same name, but it can't be that straightforward because there's a 22-year gap between that scene in Germany and that guy showing up in Minnesota. He'd have to have been a kid in 1988. I'm presuming the link is going to become clearer in the next few episodes.

Hmm... the German interrogator says that Yuri is 20 in 1988, so maybe at a stretch the Yuri of Minnesota 2010 is 42, but he doesn't really look it.

[NoSleep]

You thought he looked too young? He looked easily 40 (and weather-beaten) to me.

[selectivememory]

He looks pretty youthful to me. Mid-thirties maybe. But early forties is definitely plausible, so it's not really a problem for me.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The actor was born in 1980 so it does seem all a bit strange to me.

[NoSleep]

I looked younger than that when I was 40 & looked about 18-20 into my 30's. I used to get people younger than me starting off conversations, "it's all well good for someone your age to... blah, blah (trying to blag their way out of working)." Everybody looked old to me.

[Squink]

Enjoying this so far, but aren't elements of the plot distinctly similar to season 2? Specifically, an ugly-ish guy being driven further and further into a crime he maybe doesn't want to do by his much better looking and slightly crazy other half.

[Hangthebuggers]

Enjoying this so far, but aren't elements of the plot distinctly similar to season 2? Specifically, an ugly-ish guy being driven further and further into a crime he maybe doesn't want to do by his much better looking and slightly crazy other half.

And a smart female cop. And an enigmatic criminal figure with a pair of associates/henchmen doing his dirty work. Mistaken identity. Small town murders.

Yup common Fargo themes, for better or for worse.

[selectivememory]

What a bizarre and baffling episode. On the surface, it appeared to be completely pointless, but I would guess that the events will be significant in some way later on. But at the moment it seems like a very strange diversion for a series to take - especially in only the third episode.

I love Rob McElhenney, but he was really out of place in this, and he didn't really play the character any differently to how he plays Mac in Always Sunny. I really dislike Fargo when it actively tries to be funny - which it did a lot in the first series. The humour in the second series seemed a lot less forced, but the stuff in this episode was just kind of tonally jarring for me.

Also - and maybe it's silly to get hung up on details like this, but it does bother me! - again it seems strange that Thaddeus seems so young in 1975 and so old in 2010. Perhaps when he changed his identity he made up a new date of birth (his grandson said in the last episode that he was 82 when he died, which means that he should have been roughly 47 in 1975, yet he looks like he could be in his twenties) but otherwise it seems like a strange casting choice, and it had me waiting the whole episode for the reveal that Ennis wasn't actually Thaddeus.

[a peepee tipi]

Third episode in a miniseries that has already been slow-going is a filler episode, I'll still be watching but I think we can officially say this is shit.

Right with you on the age discrepancy, the actor had to be at least 20 years younger than he was supposed to be. He was also incredibly naive for someone nearing 50.

[3D]

Blimey. What was that?

[up_the_hampipe]

If it wasn't for Rob McElhenney and Leiland Palmer, I would have fallen asleep. When a show with multiple characters and storylines decides to focus an episode on just one, it's rarely the one you want it to be.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Oddly enough I really enjoyed it! Perhaps it's because I'm struggling with McGregor and so his absence was a relief, but I found it consistently well acted and the plot intrigued. Plus I love Wise, McElhenney and Melamed a great deal so enjoyed their parts in it, along with the cute robot story.

Also - and maybe it's silly to get hung up on details like this, but it does bother me! - again it seems strange that Thaddeus seems so young in 1975 and so old in 2010. Perhaps when he changed his identity he made up a new date of birth (his grandson said in the last episode that he was 82 when he died, which means that he should have been roughly 47 in 1975, yet he looks like he could be in his twenties) but otherwise it seems like a strange casting choice, and it had me waiting the whole episode for the reveal that Ennis wasn't actually Thaddeus.

That is admittedly problematic for me as well, along with the odd casting of Yuri. But hopefully there'll be some explanation that makes sense.

[selectivememory]

I didn't find it completely without merit. Wise and Melamed were both great, although maybe I've watched too much Always Sunny for me to be able to see McElhenney as anyone other than Mac. And I liked the animated bits [nb]In general I like that this show does things like that, much like the the way they had Martin Freeman narrate that pivotal episode of the second series. It often feels like this is a show that likes to remind you that it's a show, and that what you're seeing is an in-universe representation of the events they're covering, and you don't really see many other dramas doing that kind of thing at the moment.[/nb]. It's just that, as Gloria pretty much says near the end, none of it had anything to do with anything else that's happened in the series so far, other than Gloria finding that box in Ennis' house. I mean, it might turn out to be significant in some way, but if not, it's a bold move to dedicate a whole episode to the (in terms of plot) irrelevant back-story of a character who died in the first episode. But I'm going to have to assume that there was a good reason for doing this episode and it just hasn't become clear yet. I'm still very much on board with it for now.

[NoSleep]

I liked this episode, too. Especially the themes of coincidences (which looks to be the connecting "odd" theme this season, like the UFO's last year).

I suspect we'll find that "Grandad" wasn't the Thaddeus we saw in 1975, who took his name from the toilet; he'll turn out to be some other guy. The Thaddeus we saw was in his 30's at the most; just establishing his sci-fi career and rather naive.

That could also explain the age anomoly of the East German henchman; another assumed identity.

[Van Dammage]

I liked it. I'd be shocked if it's actually got no bearing on the wider plot. I can see why some didn't but I wouldn't be writing it off as "shit" just yet, it's only the 3rd episode.

The whole technology thing seems like its going to be present throughout. "It's Facebook! Everyone's on Facebook!" and then everyone except the cop being on their phones in the diner and the traffic jam. Other bits from the previous episodes as well like when the new Sheriff "Everyone know guy who sit in back seat not have cock" talks about how they need to start getting with the times and using the new technology. That odd moment where the automatic door wouldn't work for Gloria makes a bit more sense now in that context.

I don't think there's any way that Thaddeus is Gloria's stepfather. I might be giving the writers / directors too much credit here but how could they not spot the age difference? If he is the stepfather then that's a startling display of incompetence from the show. There's also the fact that they specifically say that he was 82 years old. I doubt they'd be that specific with the age and then be so poor with the casting. I imagine that there's some sort of twist in regards to his identity. Obviously with him finding the name on the toilet we're supposed to be thinking otherwise but I can't see this episode functioning solely as a backstory for him.

Nice cameo from Wise. It'd be interesting if it was more than that though. He was on the same flight as her on the way to LA, presumably coming from Minnesota so he may have some connection to the wider story. Just speculation at this point though. He's not listed as being in any more episodes but its not uncommon for shows to dick around with the cast lists for the purposes of twists etc.

[NoSleep]

Ray Wise has been busy working in Twin Peaks season 3. I wonder if his appearance here is just a little homage to Twin Peaks?