210 - "Palindrome"
A_Ron_Hubbard
Cincinnati, OH
in Fargo
Director: Adam Arkin
Writer: Noah Hawley
A man, a plan, a canal; Panama!
Writer: Noah Hawley
A man, a plan, a canal; Panama!
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I'm not sure why to make of Peggy's hallucinations except to say that her desire to actualize could be the result of her intentional denial of the fact that she has poor mental health (she has to constantly be reminded of gravity of her actions and her symptoms are exacerbated by stress.) The more I watched, the more it seemed that she was not running away from Ed, but from herself. The fact that she still wanted to go to California even after her "burden" died confirms for me that Ed had nothing to do it with. Ed also says as much.
Hanzee being the son of the maid and Otto (if I understood that right shed a little more light on why he had the change of heart. Having never been fully accepted and treated as second class will bring that out of anybody. Maybe as things developed with Rye and the whole situation for worse and worse if could be that he just got tired of that life and saw no way out for himself except to exterminate the Gerhards. (That choose of word is intentional)
I've got nothing on Hank and his pictorial Esperanto or three alien.
As for Mike Milligan, all he needs is a TPS report. That was hilarious and strangely, I felt bad for him.
Questions that I hope you guys can answer:
Was it always late 70's? Mike is told that the 80s are over. I thought it was more like early to mid 70's was there a major time jump?
Why didn't we get a resolution with Molly's Mom's cancer? Who introduces cancer and such a heartwarming story with no definitive ending.
Did the kids get the buckle or the belt from Hazee...or worse?
I've got others, but I'll leave these three for now.
I've always loved the end of Raising Arizona, so loved the beginning of this finale.
The dude told Mike the 70's were over.
I think we know Betsy dies. No reason to end the season with her death.
Hanzee's story is left open enough to give us more story in future seasons. Perhaps the deaf kid is the one from season 1 - raised up under Hanzee.
And I just happened to watch Fargo 1x06 these week and the boss eating the freshly killed and fried fish says just about the same thing Hanzee said on the bench. Hanzee was tired of "this life" but he didn't give it up quickly after Sioux Falls. Maybe one of those fighting boys becomes that boss. That was definitely at least young Fringe hit man on the field.
* As mentioned, I loved the Raising Arizona-Esque "I had a dream" montage.
* The visual end of all the Gerharts (including Simone) was pretty powerful.
* Loved that Ed died in a meat locker. And loved that he was able to self-actualize in his dying moments.
* Peggy's "just like in the movie" delusions caught me by surprise, but were entirely believable for her character.
* The story Lou told about the South Vietnamese Chinook pilot is a true story. It moved me when I saw the PBS documentary about the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon this past year, and Patrick Wilson nailed it.
* I know this season worked for me because I'm excited to do a Season 1 rewatch in the coming weeks, and I'm excited for a Season 3! As much as I enjoyed Season 1, I wasn't sure they could pull off a second season.
One thing I can't remember for the life of me is, what happened to Charlie Gerhardt? Was he killed off? The last I remember is him being in the jail cell. Have we seen him since? Unless I forgot his death, he is the last surviving Gerhardt and should be out of prison in a couple years.
Oh, one more comment I forgot to make:
War Pigs!
I was on the fence about the UFO thing, and I almost thought it wasn't going to be mentioned this episode at all, which might have been an interesting nod to how absurd the last episode was. But then they had a throw-away line about that too that messed it up for me. It was a decent episode overall, but my least favorite of the season by far.
I still think this season was incredible, and I can't wait to see what they come up with for season 3.
Here, here! I think as long as the Solversons are involved, it'll be great.
Clearly you can say that and people will. But I hope for next season they think about the balance between being Coen-esque and adequately serving your own story. It takes place in the Coen universe, but does that universe extend into the writer's room? How far does it extend into the audience? They should think about those questions.
I liked some things and didn't like others. It hit some flat notes. If you had bad feelings last week, this didn't salve your wounds.
I can definitely see where you're coming from on those points. I do think the language is a good insight into Hank's character, and the UFO might even be an interesting element. I suppose they might have both worked better for me if they had been earlier in the season. Like if I learned something about how Hank deals with loss, and then I get to see him in action after that revelation. Or if the UFO thing had time to settle in and didn't feel like the climax of the season. I don't entirely disagree with the show's choices, but maybe it's most accurate to say that I like where they're going with almost all of the characters, but I wish the pacing of their progression had been a little different. But who knows! I might feel differently on a re-watch.
The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. It probably would have worked perfectly for me if the mob boss had looked more like Hanzee. Maybe George Lucas can make a special edition and fix it for me! I was pretty satisfied with the episode overall and agree with many of the positive points made above.