Take Three: Fargo

Fargo: Season 1, Episode 3 “A Muddy Road” (B+)

I liked the construction of this episode because it filled in some of the blanks of what happened to bring our good friend Lorne to Minnesota in the first place and connected all of the plotlines to help them converge in the present moment. There’s something wonderfully simplistic about the episode ending with Molly, Gus, and Greta sharing milkshakes in Molly’s father’s restaurant, and that’s part of what makes this show so great (and feel so much like the movie, reminiscent of that extraordinary buffet scene). Despite the condemnation she continues to receive from Bill, Molly is proving herself to be a competent detective, planting a photo of Lorne in the files she conveniently happened to drop while she was visiting Lester to try to elicit a reaction out of him, which she did. It was fortuitous that she came by just as Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench had stopped by to pay him a remarkably uncomfortable visit. Gus coming forward to say that he had met Lorne was brave, and it’s good that he now gets to work with someone as kindhearted as Molly. Lorne clearly and rightfully thinks that his intimidating nature will help get him out of any possible trouble, like being caught on camera dragging a man out of his office by his tie, and he’s now taking his devilish tactics and utilizing them to more deadly effect. Telling the blackmailer that he was taking over the job before killing Stavros’ dog while he got the information he needed to blackmail Stavros was both disturbing and intriguing, as so many things on this show are.