By Kaleena Rivera | TV | December 6, 2023 |
By Kaleena Rivera | TV | December 6, 2023 |
After quiet, unassuming Minnesota housewife Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon (Juno Temple) is booked following her arrest at an unusually raucous school board meeting (even by 2023 standards), it probably takes the average audience member roughly 1.5 seconds to determine that Dot’s far more than what she appears to be. Her paranoia over whether or not her fingerprints would appear in a nationwide database, along with viewer suspicions, soon bears out when two masked assailants arrive at her home several days later.
It’s a mental image that breeds familiarity for fans of the original 1996 film, an intentional move for series creator and writer Noah Hawley; while the first season had close thematic ties to the movie—going so far as to reveal what eventually happened to that money-filled briefcase buried beneath the snow—subsequent seasons were distanced further and further until even Minnesota was left behind with nothing but the series’ title remaining. Three years after that deeply flawed (though I believe still serviceable) swing of a fourth season, Hawley has brought the anthology back to familiar ground with seemingly ordinary citizens thrown against extraordinary circumstances in a setting that easily lends itself to coziness or isolation.
For the newest season, the “aggressively pleasant” tone of “Minnesota nice” is felt rather than seen, as things begin badly (Dot’s arrest) before descending into vaguely hellish (a violent siege on a gas station), and that’s just episode one. Here “nice” is mainly a pretense, much like Dot’s wholesome Minnesotan accent that drops off once the bullets go flying. The veneer is what helps keep the social fabric intact, but as we’re so often reminded by those in positions of power, some are able to disregard it at will, whether it’s uber-capitalist Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Dot’s sneering mother-in-law, or Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm), the most unsettling Fargo villain since David Thewlis’s turn as the repugnant V.M. Varga in season 3 (though Tillman’s all-too-real fundamentalist libertarian/cult leader is leagues scarier than the latter’s fairy tale-like villainy).
Unsurprisingly, it’s the good guys who are beholden to social norms. Viewers will recognize Deputy Indira Olmstead’s (Richa Moorjani) rigid moral compass as being similar to that of Frances McDormand’s now-iconic turn as Chief Marge Gunderson—alas, Olmstead is saddled with a husband who isn’t nearly as gentle-hearted or thoughtful as her film counterpart. Despite the pressure to do otherwise, Olmstead is determined to get to the bottom of Dot’s kidnapping, in spite of the victim’s claim of it having never occurred in the first place (if only the deputy could get a glimpse at Dot’s newly implemented ‘home security’ system). Her investigation will no doubt be aided by Deputy Witt Farr (a welcome Lamorne Morris), now marked in more ways than one by his run-in with Dot, whose good-guy nature is challenged by the doltish cruelty of Sheriff Tillman’s son and direct report, Gator (Joe Keery; who knew he was one backwards cap and a few handfuls of pomade away from portraying the polar opposite of Stranger Things fan favorite Steve Harrington?).
Hawley’s return to Minnesota may be a return to form, but it’s also infused with a fantastical creepiness, whether it’s the thoroughly unexpected needle drops—I experienced a slight jolt upon hearing “This is Halloween” as Gator and his knucklehead partner make their way to a gas station (numerous Nightmare Before Christmas references abound, as Hawley tells EW)—or the mythos that surrounds Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), the revenge-seeking hired goon with a mysterious origin story that reaches back hundreds of years. Fargo is no stranger to the strange or unexplainable—the brief but blatant appearance of a UFO in season two is proof enough—but this newest entry feels something like if Home Alone was reimagined by A24.
What appears to be the season’s greatest strength thus far (acknowledging that we’re only four episodes in) is that, more than anything, it feels like a culmination of its previous installments. The aim here doesn’t seem to be to break ground as much as it is to reestablish a Fargo universe baseline. Although there’s an abundance of familiar territory here, not only is there no evidence of Hawley growing tired of this world, he appears to be just as enamored with it as ever. It will take the remainder of the season to determine if he’s exhausted the story resources available to him, but as of right now, the dark pleasure of watching these characters circle around one another is more than enough to keep me tuned in from week to week.
Fargo season 5 is currently airing on FX on Tuesday nights, available to stream on Hulu Wednesdays.
Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba. When she isn’t trying to decide what’s the funnier name (it’s between “Danish Graves” and “Ole Munch”), she can be found on Bluesky here.