304 - The Narrow Escape Problem

A_Ron_Hubbard

Director: Michael Uppendahl
Writer: Monica Beletsky

Graham

Good episode but not nearly as good as Leftovers or BCS this week. I guess it'll have to continue being destined to be third.

mwspiak

So I'm only on the opening scene but I'm 99% sure that the voice over is MR Billy Bob Thornton!!

We're off to an aces start.

CretanBull

Fargo wins the week!

emnofseattle

i get the feeling Sy throwing a Denver boot on Rays car is illegal

emnofseattle

So I don't understand? Is Varga threatening Emmit with gangs of favela kids with glocks? I don't think occupy Wall Street is a credible extortion threat....

Doctor_Nick

I don't think Varga's extorting him at this point, he's trying to scare him a little and entice him with the chance of being really wealthy.

emnofseattle said:

So I don't understand? Is Varga threatening Emmit with gangs of favela kids with glocks? I don't think occupy Wall Street is a credible extortion threat....

Now that there's nothing incriminating in the safe deposit box, I still don't understand why Emmit and Sy aren't contacting the authorities.....

darwinfeeshy

"She's using her poontang to hoodwink and bamboozle."

adobo1148

Did anyone else recognize Lou solverson's wife as officer Winnie Lopez?

adobo1148

Ray on a power trip, masquerading as Emmet, was reaching mic drop proportions.

Hatorian

The $10k withdrawal is definitely going to come back to be a big thing.

DaveyMac

Well that took me back to my elementary school days with Peter and the Wolf in music class.

I liked this episode. Mostly because of David Thewlis. He's just so fun to watch. The whole cast did a good job, though. 

I'm just wondering if we are going to get the whole script for The Big Lebowski in by the end of the season. It's crazy how many lines this season are straight out of that movie. Not to mention the whole mix-up with characters of the same name same name.

And yeah that was definitely Lorne Malvo reading Peter and the Wolf. 

emnofseattle

Hatorian said:

The $10k withdrawal is definitely going to come back to be a big thing.

Definitely, because it's TV

But I wonder how much the FBI would actually look at that, banks have to report over ten grand withdrawals, but legitimate businesses probably withdraw that money all the time, Sy could even spin that he withdrew the money to prepare for a claim against a company vehicle to a Subaru owner.

emnofseattle

Doctor_Nick said:

I don't think Varga's extorting him at this point, he's trying to scare him a little and entice him with the chance of being really wealthy.

emnofseattle said:

So I don't understand? Is Varga threatening Emmit with gangs of favela kids with glocks? I don't think occupy Wall Street is a credible extortion threat....

Now that there's nothing incriminating in the safe deposit box, I still don't understand why Emmit and Sy aren't contacting the authorities.....

I'm sure it will be revealed sometime, I thought Ofc Lopez was not long for this earth when short Asian karate guy and Yuri were eying her and Sy through the window. Like Sy is not that great at handling this. He won't contact the authorities, when a police officer shows up and he's trying to keep hush he's just looking more suspicious. Like instead of this charade with the officer he should've just said "I was driving the car, I slipped on ice and I got scared and that's why I left, the company has insurance here's the information" and that may have been the end of it. Happens all the time, a hit and run with no injuries and a perpetrator with money I guarantee wouldn't get the book thrown at them.

And he's looking suspicious to the karate kid and Yuri because he won't discuss the vehicle accident in the lobby where they can hear and know he's not ratting them out.

I thought Sy was pretty smart first few episodes, now he's looking like kind of a boob.

DoubleA_Ron

A.Ron called it in the podcast for 302: Ray was going to end up disguising himself as Emmit at some point this season.  That very same cast also featured listener feedback re: the Biblical comparison between Esau / Jacob and Ray / Emmit.

Both of these were literally realized this week... pretty cool.

Also loved the outro music for this episode, "You Don't Know", one of my favorite Galactic songs.

Hatorian

emnofseattle said:

Hatorian said:

The $10k withdrawal is definitely going to come back to be a big thing.

Definitely, because it's TV

But I wonder how much the FBI would actually look at that, banks have to report over ten grand withdrawals, but legitimate businesses probably withdraw that money all the time, Sy could even spin that he withdrew the money to prepare for a claim against a company vehicle to a Subaru owner.

Yea but it wasn't the business taking it out. It was just the owner. It's definitely going to play a part because 1. TV 2. The bad guy is a financier so the money trail obviously is important.

A_Ron_Hubbard

adobo1148 said:

Did anyone else recognize Lou solverson's wife as officer Winnie Lopez?

Unfortunately, no.  Betty was Cristin Milioti  while Winnie is played by Olivia Sandoval.

Alkaid13

I will say the one thing Fargo has over BCS and Leftovers is that I find it consistently more funny. It really is just hard to play third fiddle against the other two shows.

bennytube

I was so distracted by why they would have Billy Bob Thornton narrate Peter and the Wolf rather than go with an existing recording that I couldn't pay attention to what was happening in the opening scenes.  ("Did they orignally associate kettle drums and gun shot?"  They did!)

If anyone's interested in listening to the common children's recording next to the episode, I've posted it here: http://theskinnyonbenny.com/sound/peterandthewolf.m4a  

Of course, I don't have any permission to post that.  I won't leave it up forever (unless I just forget about it, which happens).

Alkaid13

I could maybe see Emmit sort of believing Varga's "uprising of the masses" spiel because he's just not all that bright. It does seem Varga himself is a bit paranoid, though I guess if I was an international criminal I'd be pretty paranoid myself.

I'm still not sure where they're going with machines not working right around Gloria, I guess it's the "supernatural" aspect of the season but what's the in-world explanation? Gloria is part alien? She has a kind of terrible superpower? It's all just one giant coincidence?

emnofseattle

Alkaid13 said:

I could maybe see Emmit sort of believing Varga's "uprising of the masses" spiel because he's just not all that bright. It does seem Varga himself is a bit paranoid, though I guess if I was an international criminal I'd be pretty paranoid myself.

I'm still not sure where they're going with machines not working right around Gloria, I guess it's the "supernatural" aspect of the season but what's the in-world explanation? Gloria is part alien? She has a kind of terrible superpower? It's all just one giant coincidence?

I'd be perfectly happy if Gloria's thing is just a quirk that's never explained. After the flying saucers last season I don't want to see what they can come up with

Alkaid13

I guess it can just be a weird thing like maybe Malvo was the devil in S1 but nothing much came of it. I feel like they're going to have some key piece of technology fail her at an inopportune time though.

adobo1148

A_Ron_Hubbard said:

adobo1148 said:

Did anyone else recognize Lou solverson's wife as officer Winnie Lopez?

Unfortunately, no.  Betty was Cristin Milioti  while Winnie is played by Olivia Sandoval.

Oh man, that sucks, would have been a great call back. They do look similar I must say

KingKobra

emnofseattle said:

Hatorian said:

The $10k withdrawal is definitely going to come back to be a big thing.

Definitely, because it's TV

But I wonder how much the FBI would actually look at that, banks have to report over ten grand withdrawals, but legitimate businesses probably withdraw that money all the time, Sy could even spin that he withdrew the money to prepare for a claim against a company vehicle to a Subaru owner.

Remember they are now laundering money from said business connections. Now normally they probably would't pay attention/make a quick review, but now there is a murder and accident connected to these persons it won't take much to spark a little digging (it now gives them the "key". I'm guessing it will help Gloria in the end.

I did enjoy this epsidoe more than I have the previous, but it was a tough battle to beat out the Leftovers and BCS this week. Now that the case has some legs, things should start to get interesting in Fargo

Dee

Ewan's accent has veered off into Irish.

Alkaid13

@A_Ron_Hubbard
By the way, leitmotif is pronounced "light-mow-teef".

Thomas

It kind of bugged me that Vargas was talking about how low profile he likes to be, yet he is moving around with two very out of place goons.  An eastern European (who dresses very eastern European) that just angrily stares at people, and an asian man constantly listening to headphones and not making any facial expressions.  Low profile Vargas?  Really?

CretanBull

Thomas said:

It kind of bugged me that Vargas was talking about how low profile he likes to be, yet he is moving around with two very out of place goons.  An eastern European (who dresses very eastern European) that just angrily stares at people, and an asian man constantly listening to headphones and not making any facial expressions.  Low profile Vargas?  Really?

It's not that he's trying to be low profile in that sense, it's that he's trying not to flaunt his wealth - those aren't the same.  A certain part of what he does relies on a level of intimidation and having a bit of a dangerous aura about him.  Standing out in that way is good for business as it makes things easier.  What he's trying to avoid is flashy cars, big houses, expensive clothes etc. that will make him a target when the 99% wakes up to the 1%.

James

Alkaid13 said:

I could maybe see Emmit sort of believing Varga's "uprising of the masses" spiel because he's just not all that bright. It does seem Varga himself is a bit paranoid, though I guess if I was an international criminal I'd be pretty paranoid myself.

I'm still not sure where they're going with machines not working right around Gloria, I guess it's the "supernatural" aspect of the season but what's the in-world explanation? Gloria is part alien? She has a kind of terrible superpower? It's all just one giant coincidence?

It's set in 2010, while most of the world is still in recession, and anger at the big banks (and the fact that, once again, many people lost homes, jobs and life savings while the rich came out richer) is still at its peak. He could be talking about the rise of right-and-left-wing populism that, instead of leading to out-and-out revolution can be corralled and directed (at least for a while) by demagogues (i.e, Brexit, Trump, Le Pen).

Gloria is being (I think) set up as Varga's perfect foil: she hates machines and machines don't know that she exists. This pretty much makes her invisible to Varga in the same way that he thinks that he has made himself invisible to the world. When she finally confronts him his shock will be palpable as this individual almost literally materializes out of nowhere to arrest him.

Thomas

CretanBull said:

Thomas said:

It kind of bugged me that Vargas was talking about how low profile he likes to be, yet he is moving around with two very out of place goons.  An eastern European (who dresses very eastern European) that just angrily stares at people, and an asian man constantly listening to headphones and not making any facial expressions.  Low profile Vargas?  Really?

It's not that he's trying to be low profile in that sense, it's that he's trying not to flaunt his wealth - those aren't the same.  A certain part of what he does relies on a level of intimidation and having a bit of a dangerous aura about him.  Standing out in that way is good for business as it makes things easier.  What he's trying to avoid is flashy cars, big houses, expensive clothes etc. that will make him a target when the 99% wakes up to the 1%.

I took it as he doesn't want to stick out.  He doesn't want people to look at him any differently than a normal person.  That is where I don't agree.  You could be right, his little speech was left open for some interpretation and I was not sober when watching it.

Hatorian

Listening to the podcast the 10k withdrawal is going to matter because Varga is using the business to launder money.