Fargo - Season 2 Review
Noah Hawley does it again with Fargo Season 2!
This season of Fargo starts off with a blackmail gone wrong and as the story moves forward, it compiles into a triple murder, a body getting crushed in a meat grinder and things just gets bigger and bloodier with every passing episode. Typical Fargo! Things are less fancy this season. People have huge sideburns, wear leather and use latest IBM typewriters because, well, this time the story is set in the year 1979.
The Gerhardt family is losing control over their part of the town as its head, Otto Gerhardt, suffered a life threatening stroke and is now in a paralyzed state. Dodd, his eldest son, is desperate to take control of the family but is made to wait for his turn as Floyd Gerdardt, his Bad-ass wife, steps up to lead the crime family. They are on the verge of war with the fellas from Kansas City lead by the seemingly unstoppable and ruthless human being, Mike Milligan. In the midst of this war, the lives of many civilians gets wrapped up and chewed out. Two of them are a couple, Peggy and Ed Blomquist. Peggy is a hair-stylist who feels like she is trapped in an endless, repetitive life and wants to find her true self whereas Ed is a Butcher who just wants a shop of his own.
Detective Lou Solverson investigates a triple homicide and as he goes deeper into the investigation, things get dark for him. Along side Lou is his Father-in-law and Sheriff, Hank who has incredible chemistry with him. Lou’s got drama at home too. His wife is suffering from Cancer and his young daughter, Molly Solverson (You will know this name if you’ve watched season 1) just might lose his mother. So, yeah, this season is much bigger in scope than the previous one.
Noah Hawley had tremendous pressure of making this season as good as its predecessor and he certainly managed to do so. In fact, this season goes way beyond the previous season in terms of thickness of story, characters, set pieces and almost every other aspect. It is also darkly comedic in an unprecedented way. Keeping it simple, this season felt more like Fargo than the original Fargo ever did.
Even though no character out of the gazzilian characters stands out, all of them function perfectly as an ensemble. The dynamic, dialogue and tension between them is exceptionally handled. Some characters had very vague motivations or probably no motivation in some cases for the things they were doing. This bothered me for quite a lot of time and I wish it had more clarity. Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Ten Danson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart and Zahn McClarnon gave spectacular performances. Absolutely loved Nick Offerman as Karl Weathers also.
Fargo season 2 goes to places one can only imagine and shows us things so real and ruthless it’s hard to forget. It is a great story and is certainly very hard to believe that it is a true story. Episode 9, The Castle is my personal favorite. Shit gets downright nasty and violent as the episode goes on and ends with a breathtaking and surprising yet confusing scene.
Glad it didn’t face the same fate as True Detective season 2, which was a complete disappointment. Fargo season 2 transcends season 1 spectacularly with a compelling and deeper story and well realized characters. Fargo, the TV show, has now established itself as a great and independent entity from the classic 1996 movie. Season 3 will premiere in 2017. We have a long way to go for more Fargo.
