306 - The Lord of No Mercy

A_Ron_Hubbard

Director: Dearbhla Walsh
Writer: Noah Hawley

Alkaid13

Does Varga actually believe the moon landing was faked or is he just fucking with them now?

A_Ron_Hubbard

That was the grossest​ thing I've seen in a piece. Good grief.

Alkaid13

I guess having those nasty ass teeth fits in with Varga's image, rich people would've fixed those years ago, but damn man those things look like they belong on a zombie lifelong smoker with scurvy.

Alkaid13

Well that's not how I expected that confrontation to end at all.

Alkaid13

Another strong episode from Fargo this week, though not strong enough for the number one spot unfortunately.

darwinfeeshy

Man, that was some Game of Thrones shit with Ray's death. I was actually expecting Ray to pull a gun on Emmet. I wonder how Nikki will fit into the plot for the rest of season.

Loved that IRS scene as well. The mirroring of the IRS agent's stationery was very Fargo, and the asian guy finally speaks!

Dee

Poor Emmit. He seems like a legimately stand up guy but he's had his business taken over, his brother's dead, his marriage is ruined. Has there been such a hapless protagonist in this show before? I can't remember.

Hatorian

Good episode. Thought the whole Vargas fucking with his teeth was obviously symbolism for him getting involved with the cops when he shouldn't have. For someone who has been pictured as being so smart and calculated that was such a poor decision. Then to green light the execution with the cops actively pursuing the case is just stupid.

Ewan is killing it. Would be a shame if he doesn't at least get nominated this year for an award.

Hatorian

Dee said:

Poor Emmit. He seems like a legimately stand up guy but he's had his business taken over, his brother's dead, his marriage is ruined. Has there been such a hapless protagonist in this show before? I can't remember.

That seems to be the recurring theme with all 4 of the Fargo media. Good dudes make 1 bad decision and it snowballs from there

Fargo movie: seemingly good dude does something stupid to get out of money problems and things go south
Fargo season 1: seemingly good dude snaps and kills his Wife and everything goes south
Fargo season 2: seemingly good dude has to help his Wife and kill some dude and everything goes south
Fargo season 3: seemingly good dude borrows money from the wrong person and everything goes south

darwinfeeshy

Hatorian said:

Thought the whole Vargas fucking with his teeth was obviously symbolism for him getting involved with the cops when he shouldn't have. For someone who has been pictured as being so smart and calculated that was such a poor decision. Then to green light the execution with the cops actively pursuing the case is just stupid.

Idk, I feel like Varga was just doing damage control and making sure that Emmett didn't say something incriminating to the police.The police were already there, so there really wasn't much that Varga could do except limit the fallout.

Hatorian

darwinfeeshy said:

Hatorian said:

Thought the whole Vargas fucking with his teeth was obviously symbolism for him getting involved with the cops when he shouldn't have. For someone who has been pictured as being so smart and calculated that was such a poor decision. Then to green light the execution with the cops actively pursuing the case is just stupid.

Idk, I feel like Varga was just doing damage control and making sure that Emmett didn't say something incriminating to the police.The police were already there, so there really wasn't much that Varga could do except limit the fallout.

Disagree. He definitely raised the cop's suspicious level from "something isn't right here" to "there's definitely something really fishy going on here"

EDIT: if he was really smart he would have just sat in the meeting and shut up and then got involved if Emmit started saying something stupid. Or he would have said he's emits legal counsel and recommends he doesn't say anything and asks them to leave without saying anything else. But he just went in guns blazing Super suspicious style.

Alkaid13

@Hatorian
I don't feel like the William H Macy and Martin Freeman chractaers were actually good dudes though. They just seem like inept dudes who made poor decisions and had a secret asshole streak they decided to let loose. Comparetively Emmit and Meth Damon seem like actually good guys way in over their heads.

DoubleA_Ron

Great Lebowski reference this week from Varga.

A_Ron_Hubbard

Dee said:

Poor Emmit. He seems like a legimately stand up guy but he's had his business taken over, his brother's dead, his marriage is ruined. Has there been such a hapless protagonist in this show before? I can't remember.

He does seem like the most innocent lamb yet led to the slaughter by Mr. Hawley. Although Ed started off pretty innocent. Seems like Emmitt has driven past too many off ramps in the highway to hell to be truly pitied, including last night. If watching your kid brother bleed out on the carpet as he feebly calls your name is not enough to call you to account, what would?

Thomas

Glad I was eating ground turkey when Vargas decided to pick at his dead teeth.  

Dee

Hatorian said:

Dee said:

Poor Emmit. He seems like a legimately stand up guy but he's had his business taken over, his brother's dead, his marriage is ruined. Has there been such a hapless protagonist in this show before? I can't remember.

That seems to be the recurring theme with all 4 of the Fargo media. Good dudes make 1 bad decision and it snowballs from there

Fargo movie: seemingly good dude does something stupid to get out of money problems and things go south
Fargo season 1: seemingly good dude snaps and kills his Wife and everything goes south
Fargo season 2: seemingly good dude has to help his Wife and kill some dude and everything goes south
Fargo season 3: seemingly good dude borrows money from the wrong person and everything goes south

True, but those first three dudes committed terrible crimes. Emmit hasn't done anything illegal to end up where he is now... unless he knew that Varga's people were not legit, and it doesn't seem as though he did.

Alkaid13

In retrospect it's looking like the best move Emmitt could have made was to call the cops on Varga immediately, maybe the police get you on some illegitimate dealings but certainly better than the situation he's in now. Varga's while MO seems to rely on not being caught up in a major investigation so if you call the police on him he probably just leaves and pulls this scam on some other rich idiot rather than risk getting caught.

jomiha

Loved this episode. I go back and forth in my opinion of Varga. Is he as powerful as he proclaims, or is he puffing himself up? He seems to be spending a lot of time with Emmit, even though he's supposedly a globetrotter. 

I really liked the use of Son House's "John the Revelator". This song would have been a terrific pick for the Leftovers to use as well. Speaking of which,  I agree with A. Ron. There seems to be a lot of cross pollination between the Leftovers, BCS and Fargo. I dig. I dig. 

KingKobra

Very good episode this week, for me it went by so quickly, I thought there would be more when Carrie turned around. One of the brothers HAD to go, IMO in order for things to really heat up. Ray seemed to put himself in all sorts of situations that might get him killed, most of it due to his stubbornness. I'm really looking forward to see how this all plays out.


Also of note Varga does a lot of homework, but struck out with the folks of Eden Valley, because none use computers so there is no "fingerprint". He seems to be getting a little frustrated by the hiccups he's encountering and the "backwards" nature of the town may be his undoing.

emnofseattle

Alkaid13 said:

@Hatorian
I don't feel like the William H Macy and Martin Freeman chractaers were actually good dudes though. They just seem like inept dudes who made poor decisions and had a secret asshole streak they decided to let loose. Comparetively Emmit and Meth Damon seem like actually good guys way in over their heads.

Meth Damon was Todd, I believe you mean Meat Damon from last season.... 

emnofseattle

Dee said:

Hatorian said:

Dee said:

Poor Emmit. He seems like a legimately stand up guy but he's had his business taken over, his brother's dead, his marriage is ruined. Has there been such a hapless protagonist in this show before? I can't remember.

That seems to be the recurring theme with all 4 of the Fargo media. Good dudes make 1 bad decision and it snowballs from there

Fargo movie: seemingly good dude does something stupid to get out of money problems and things go south
Fargo season 1: seemingly good dude snaps and kills his Wife and everything goes south
Fargo season 2: seemingly good dude has to help his Wife and kill some dude and everything goes south
Fargo season 3: seemingly good dude borrows money from the wrong person and everything goes south

True, but those first three dudes committed terrible crimes. Emmit hasn't done anything illegal to end up where he is now... unless he knew that Varga's people were not legit, and it doesn't seem as though he did.

And I don't agree with William H Macy being a "good dude" during the Fargo movie we learn the reason he needed the money from the kidnapping scene is that he was making loans against his father in laws assets and they were calling the notes. 

johnnytruant

Anyone else get a pulp fiction vibe from Ray realizing they forgot the money once they're at the motel? 

Melia004

darwinfeeshy said:

Man, that was some Game of Thrones shit with Ray's death. I was actually expecting Ray to pull a gun on Emmet. I wonder how Nikki will fit into the plot for the rest of season.

Loved that IRS scene as well. The mirroring of the IRS agent's stationery was very Fargo, and the asian guy finally speaks!

I will be shocked if Emmitt doesn't end up made up as Ray before the end of the season, possibly working with Vargas to fool Nicki.

Anyone else get a Leftovers twinge from the final scene? Music seemed intentionally Nora-ish.

Cory

Does it snow in New Mexico (outside of sound stages)?  I guess there's mountains in New Mexico though, right?

Not really digging this season.

hisdudeness915

Thomas said:

Glad I was eating ground turkey when Vargas decided to pick at his dead teeth.  

That's like 3 weeks in a row I've been eating while watching this show and gotten completely grossed out. Vomit, dick cup, and now teeth-picking. At this point, I have only myself to blame I suppose. On the other hand, challenge accepted, Hawley. Let's see if you can actually make me vomit. Same time next week then

DaveyMac

That tooth picking grossed me out more than anything in previous episodes. 

I liked this episode quite a bit, but I also feel like Varga was a bit too obviously sketchy with the cops. I thought he'd be a cooler customer than that.

Also, related to last week's podcast, but Jim and A.Ron were talking David Thewlis movies, and I just want to recommend a Mike Leigh film called Naked. Thewlis is one of the leads in that film. It's been years since I've seen it and don't remember the details, but I remember being impressed, but also kind of repulsed. 

Dee

@DaveyMac I immediately thought of Naked when listening to that conversation on the podcast. I haven't seen it for years, but I remember being blown away by how good David Thewlis was, and also repulsed by his character.

alexander.klassen

Jim and Aron still seemed to be floating the idea that the Varga crew was responsible for Ennis' death, but this episode tied that theory up, plunged it into an ice fishing hole, and covered it in asphalt. After the meeting with the police about Ennis' murder, Varga tells Yuri to break into the Eden Valley Police Station to take a look at a case file for which "the victim's name is... Stussy. Same as our benefactor." The way he says it indicates that he's just as perplexed by the coincidence as anyone, and Yuri's reaction doesn't indicate that he knew anything about it either.

While I agree that suffocating someone with glue doesn't seem like Scoot's style, I think it would be very Fargo for him to have bungled the home invasion so badly that it happens by accident.

Doctor_Nick

The Gavrilo Princip sandwich story is also not true.

Alkaid13 said:

Does Varga actually believe the moon landing was faked or is he just fucking with them now?

In retrospect?  There's been no indication Emmitt and Sy are actually dirty other than taking Varga's money.  When your lawyer starts unexpectedly dying, partnership papers start getting slung around and the hooks start going in, what was the downside of the police again?

Alkaid13 said:

In retrospect it's looking like the best move Emmitt could have made was to call the cops on Varga immediately, maybe the police get you on some illegitimate dealings but certainly better than the situation he's in now. Varga's while MO seems to rely on not being caught up in a major investigation so if you call the police on him he probably just leaves and pulls this scam on some other rich idiot rather than risk getting caught.

Thomas

hisdudeness915 said:

Thomas said:

Glad I was eating ground turkey when Vargas decided to pick at his dead teeth.  

That's like 3 weeks in a row I've been eating while watching this show and gotten completely grossed out. Vomit, dick cup, and now teeth-picking. At this point, I have only myself to blame I suppose. On the other hand, challenge accepted, Hawley. Let's see if you can actually make me vomit. Same time next week then

Agreed, should know better at this point.  Took me a few seasons of Tosh.0 to realize I was an idiot for trying to eat during that too though.