FALLING IN LOVE WITH FARGO

 

Fargo, the series, languished on My List on Netflix for at least two years or longer, un-watched and repeatedly bumped by other series. I added it to that list as soon as it came out, but something always seemed to demand my attention ahead of buckling down to watch this series. It finally got some sense of urgency for me after season 4 came out and I kept hearing all this chatter about how good it was. So with the new year underway, I finally decided that 2021 was gonna be the time to get my ass in gear and get into this show. After finishing the last episode of season 4 this week, man, am I ever glad I finally took the time to get into this! I won't get into any plot spoilers here, so don't worry if you've not got started or haven't seen it all yet. I just wanna make some generalized comments.

If you're not familiar, the series is loosely connected to the 1996 feature film from the Cohen bros of the same name and is an anthology series where each season tells a different story with a different cast, for the most part. There is connective tissue that runs throughout the series, creating a singular universe where all these stories take place and all these people live, but you gotta pay close attention to spot all these connections because they aren't always obvious and that's part of the fun of it all.

But the biggest draw has to be the craft that goes into creating all of these incredibly well rendered characters. The complexity and "layering", a term I use with particular gravitas, are spectacular and their stories play out like watching a pinball get shot into the game field, bouncing off all these seemingly random events and happenstance. It's thrilling and unexpected and the consequences of each reaction spawn their own set of responses, exponentially increasing the complexity of the interacting plots weaving around each other. It's all gloriously choreographed and punctuated with some dazzling violence, all the while couching it in the politeness and amiability of the mid-western culture it uses as its foundational context. It's an example of some first class, grade A writing for the screen.

The other half of the equation for all these characters after the writing is, of course, the casting and their performances and all four seasons are chocked full of wonderful players doing some of their best work. A consistent trait in all of this is how so many of these performers manage to find completely fresh ways to play these roles that, in many cases, show a versatility beyond what you might expect from that actor. For example, the big revelation in terms of performances in season 4 comes from Chris Rock, who I've never seen do a dramatic role like this and he pulls it off brilliantly. In season 3, Ewan McGregor is virtually unrecognizable and it took me a few episodes to realize he was actually playing two parts! In season 2, Jesse Plemons steals the show as the affable, but daring "butcher" and season 1 belongs to Billy Bob Thornton, who makes the best hair style choice since Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men!

There are recurring themes throughout the series that stylistically tie it all together. There's the "good person" who gets caught up in a bad situation. There's the vagaries of chance undermining the best laid plans of corrupt schemers. There's the intersection of the ordinary and the extraordinary. There's the surprising connections that span decades and miles of distance that flow through all of this storytelling like subterranean river systems. All of it is so meticulously balanced and threaded through each season that you can only stand back and marvel at the wonderful tapestry of it all.

So, if you're like me and you've been procrastinating on this show for a while, STOP! Get on this shit and enjoy the wild ride!

NOTE: Don't let Netflix push you into watching the newest season first. I fucking HATE how they default to this. Start with season 1 and watch the damn thing in its proper order. Season 4 isn't on there just yet, so you may have to resort to other sources if you're impatient like me.