Fargo

[a2thezebra]

I just finished the first season. Eh.

[insertnamehere]

Watch season two, I prefer it to season one, which is still good, but leans a bit too much on the original movie for me to really love it.

[a2thezebra]

Where can I watch it? I watched the first season on Hulu which doesn't have Season 2 yet.

[Ricochet]

Wasn't there a thread for this? Or did I just comment on it in the "Watch TV" topic or whatevs.

Anyway, I very much liked Season 2 overall. I don't think it's clean of quoting the Coens either, if that's an issue for some like INH, but the acting, pace, absurdness and style are all there. And the music - augh. It has a sort of jump-the-shark moment that even I can't really fully defend (although it's not exactly unintegrated in the lore, either), but otherwise it was real smooth start to finish. One of Patrick Wilson's finest roles. I found myself not fully empathising with Dunst's role (which is strange, because this factor usually isn't relevant for me to appreciate something), but towards the late part of the season, she also steamrolls it.

[insertnamehere]

Wasn't there a thread for this? Or did I just comment on it in the "Watch TV" topic or whatevs.

Anyway, I very much liked Season 2 overall. I don't think it's clean of quoting the Coens either, if that's an issue for some like INH, but the acting, pace, absurdness and style are all there. And the music - augh. It has a sort of jump-the-shark moment that even I can't really fully defend (although it's not exactly unintegrated in the lore, either), but otherwise it was real smooth start to finish. One of Patrick Wilson's finest roles. I found myself not fully empathising with Dunst's role (which is strange, because this factor usually isn't relevant for me to appreciate something), but towards the late part of the season, she also steamrolls it.

The music was one of the best parts of the show!

Spoiler: show

And are you referring to the UFO? Becuase I absolutely loved that. I did think that the finale was the weakest episode, though. Hanzee becoming a white dude from the first season is harder for me to believe than aliens.

[Ricochet]

Wasn't there a thread for this? Or did I just comment on it in the "Watch TV" topic or whatevs.

Anyway, I very much liked Season 2 overall. I don't think it's clean of quoting the Coens either, if that's an issue for some like INH, but the acting, pace, absurdness and style are all there. And the music - augh. It has a sort of jump-the-shark moment that even I can't really fully defend (although it's not exactly unintegrated in the lore, either), but otherwise it was real smooth start to finish. One of Patrick Wilson's finest roles. I found myself not fully empathising with Dunst's role (which is strange, because this factor usually isn't relevant for me to appreciate something), but towards the late part of the season, she also steamrolls it.

The music was one of the best parts of the show!

Spoiler: show

And are you referring to the UFO? Becuase I absolutely loved that. I did think that the finale was the weakest episode, though. Hanzee becoming a white dude from the first season is harder for me to believe than aliens.

I'm sorry, that's what I meant, too, about the music. Wrong shout, I guess.

Spoiler: show

It was fun, no doubt, but it's also a bit eyebrow-raising that it was inserted spot on the main hero needing a bit of "deus ex" in his fight. Why not simply descend at random during the entire bloodbath? I didn't think the resolution was weak, although yeah, no comment on Hanzee's anticlimactic exit. Check the name of the episode - "Palindrome". I think a lot of things actually came full circle, and there were plenty standout moments: Lou's wife's preach; Peggy and Lou in the car; Milligan getting what he des-oh wait; and I just loved every scene with the Solversons, what a couple, so yeah, the final scene as well.

[insertnamehere]

SEASON THREE!

EWAN MCGREGOR PLAYING TWO CHARACTERS!

CARRIE COON FROM THE LEFTOVERS AS SMARMY POLICE CHIEF!

MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD AS CONNIVING LADY OF THE NIGHT!

NOAH HAWLEY IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING UP THE STELLAR LEGION WITH ANOTHER AMAZING SEASON OF TELEVISION! (la la la, I can't hear you, Rico)

FX CONTINUING TO BE THE BEST TELEVISION CHANNEL FOR QUALITY SHOWS!

GET HYPE!

[Ricochet]

Is there any hairdo Coon won't look amazing with? Mon dieu.

That was MEW? Hell if I noticed.

[insertnamehere]

Well, I really liked it. Seems to be a little controversial in terms of reception.

This season took the "this is a true story," nature-of-truth stuff that had always been lodged inside the Fargo canon, and put it to the forefront. Liked the integration of "timely" subject matters like social media and the ALTERNATE FACTS/FAKE NEWS political hysteria.

Plus, it had Ray Wise as a supernatural obscure Biblical character. How could I dislike the season after that?

OVERALL SEASON RANKINGS: 2 > 3 > 1

[insertnamehere]

I also love that finales of shows with Carrie Coon always end up posing serious questions to the audience that are designed never to be answered.

[Ricochet]

I just watched episodes 8 through 10 today, which on the whole proved a certain surge of excitement, but also reminded me why I ended up so far behind in the first place (well, three weeks behind, but still). If said cold (or controversial? how so?) reception refers to the season feeling overall samey and not having the same spunk or coherence as the previous seasons, I'd more or less agree. In context of The Leftovers and Twin Peaks running around the same time, to send my brain cyllinders into overheat, this Fargo season, up to the episodes I mentioned, was a bit of a chore honestly. I didn't dislike it, I didn't heavily put it on the scales of comparison with the previous seasons, but its attractiveness felt pale and its creative flame bit of a colder candle. Some things are worth a rewatch, especially figuring out just want kind of a creature Varga was (jfc this man's facials and quaint sly chatterblab). I'm sure there were big underlying themes and that this having felt the dreariest in the season's succession speaks of something - but idk. Can't help reaching for the "underused" tag as far as Coon goes. Molly in S1 was a silent, blooming justiciary; Lou in S2 was a straight out of the gate one. Which kind was Gloria, then - her standalone drift-off episode was pretty great, but, if anything, wasn't she too much of a replica of the previous patterns of justice and moral compass?

If things end here - and I am indeed a bit doubtful they can scrub the barrel for more of the same tropes for much longer - it'll still be a fairly beautiful end.