What I’m Watching: Fargo

Fargo: Season 3, Episode 5 “The House of Special Purpose” (B)

This episode started out in a fashion very typical for this show and its universe, with the sex tape that Nikki made with Ray posing as Emmit being watched by his wife, prompting her immediate departure and unwillingness to listen to any of his excuses. Ray proposing while they were making it was far from romantic, but it seems the two are now intertwined for good. It’s not great timing since Gloria and Winnie showed up at Ray’s door ready to interrogate him, only to be stopped by a truly stubborn Moe, who refuses to believe the true story that they’ve concocted. As all of this was playing out, V.M. made his presence known in an unpleasant and I believe unnecessary scene featuring some hateful, anti-Semitic slurs directed at Sy and his wife and a rather disgusting desecration of his favorite mug. Sy calling Nikki to threaten her didn’t produce the desired effect, and somehow she seems to have survived the horrific beating that she took from V.M.’s guys who were following Sy. The arrival of Hamish Linklater’s IRS agent to audit Emmit’s books is going to lead to much more hurt considering how V.M. reacted to the news of an innocent conversation between Sy and Gloria about inconsequential matters. I was pleasantly surprised to see Mary McDonnell show up as Ruby Goldfarb, and I’m eager to see what role she’s going to play in all of this, eager to buy a company that isn’t even close to Sy’s to try to sell at this point.