What I’m Watching: Fargo (Season Finale)

Fargo: Season 3, Episode 10 “Somebody to Love” (B)

So, that’s it. Looking up news about whether a fourth season has been commissioned, I came across a quote from creator Noah Hawley that he would need a really great idea for a fourth season in order to make it worthwhile. I wish that had been true of this year too, since it started out with some fantastic casting choices that should have been terrific and then didn’t go far with it. The only real element of this finale that served as a strong and memorable finish was when Nikki and the cop shot each other at the same time, leaving Emmit to return to his life with the option to get off scot-free and get back on the right track. While Ewan McGregor’s double performance was certainly strong, I still contend that Mary Elizabeth Winstead was the best player this season, making Nikki a completely captivating and superb villain who in many ways was much smarter than everyone else. I don’t quite agree about David Thewlis’ V.M. Varga, who got himself caught by Gloria, now working for Homeland Security, and was still going on about how he was going to manipulate events to get off. Why Emmit needed to get shot by Mr. Wrench five years after Nikki died doesn’t make much sense to me, and it’s a paler version of season one or even season two, where bad people who made the wrong choices had to pay the price long after they thought they got away with it. I was waiting for so long for this to really become something, and I’m sad that it didn’t manage to do so. This is hardly bad television, but it’s not nearly as great as this show used to be.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nikki