Saturday, June 7, 2014

What I’m Watching: Fargo


Fargo: Season 1, Episode 8 “The Heap” (A-)

It’s really not often that you find a show secure enough in its timeline that it can make a year-later jump in the middle of an episode. Sure, this is a limited series, though apparently a second season is very much a possibility, which is excellent news, but it’s still pretty jarring – in a very good way – to see such a transition that fast-forwards past the duller parts and picks up in entirely different circumstances. Of course, nothing is going to stay tranquil for long, and the two long, lingering sequences in which it becomes clear that trouble is afoot are incredible. I had noticed Keegan-Michael Key as one of the less than attentive FBI agents in last week’s episode, and in this hour realized that his “Key and Peele” costar Jordan Peele was the other FBI agent. That comic duo is a perfect fit for this universe, and I love that the newly uncovered photo of Lorne might help turn them into dogged detectives like Molly. Things worked out just great for her, and she and Gus moved quickly to put her into a similar position to that of one Marge Gunderson. Lester managed to make the Widow Hess situation work for him by fighting against her excessive details by attacking her sons with staples, and it won him both his secretary as a wife and the top insurance award. Hearing Lorne’s voice at the bar and seeing an almost unrecognizable and social version of him at a table flushed all the color out of Lester’s face, and it was an amazing way to end this transformative hour and prepare for what are sure to be two intense, involving, and ultimately deadly final two hours.

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