Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Episodes: 10
Duration: 54 min (per episode)
Fargo: Season 2 (DVD) – Series Review
If you’ve seen season one of Fargo, or read our review about it, you will know that Fargo is not a series for people with a weak stomach. Molly Solverson saw quite some cruelty then, but what her father Lou saw back in 1979 while he was still a state cop really beats all your worst fears. While season one focused on Molly’s investigation, season two turns to Lou, jumping back in time to the period where changed men came back from the Vietnam war, emancipation was happening, and Ronald Reagan ran for president.
It’s early 1979 when Rye Gerhardt (Kieran Culkin) walks into the Waffle Hut in Luverne, Minnesota. Rye is the youngest son of Otto Gerhardt (Michael Hogan), who used to run the family business in organized crime in Fargo, North Dakota. Ever since Otto had a stroke though, Rye and his brothers Bear (Angus Sampson) and Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan) are all on edge to become the new head of the family business. Rye, who is trying to earn some fame by running some projects of his own, followed Judge Mundt (Ann Cusack) to the Waffle Hut, trying to force her to unfreeze his business partner’s assets, but things turn ugly quite fast. Rye ends up shooting everyone around, but gets hit by a car when he hobbles outside.
When Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst) and her husband Ed (Jesse Plemons) are having dinner later that night, Ed hears a sound in the garage and discovers that his wife hit Rye and drove home with him stuck through the windshield, believing him to be dead, and made dinner. Rye wasn’t dead though, and now tries to kill Ed. Ed, a butcher’s assistant, gets Rye first, and so, all of a sudden this happy, ordinary young couple find themselves in a huge mess. Peggy convinces Ed that it’s best to cover everything up, hoping it will all go away. Meanwhile, Lou Sovelverson (Patrick Wilson) is charged with the investigation of the shooting at the Waffle Hut, which he does with the help of his father in law, Sheriff Hank Larsson (Ted Danson).
At the same time, Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) and the Kitchen brothers (Brad Mann and Todd Mann), members of a Kansas City based gang, try to overtake the Gerhardt’s territory, now that Otto has basically turned into a plant. His wife Floyd (Jean Smart) won’t let them take over that easily, and thus it doesn’t take long before Kansas City and the Gerhardts are at war. For the Gerhardts, it’s not only Kansas City who form a threat, but also the killer of Rye needs to be put to justice. Ed and Peggy don’t know what they’ve got coming yet, but unfortunately, they soon will.
There are many things happening all the time (and by things we mostly mean murders) which gives the series a good flow, but it also makes it quite raw, as there’s not much left for your imagination. Often there are scenes where you know someone is going to get killed, or at least hurt, but the directors chose to increase the suspense, often more by calm (too calm) conversations, rather than downright threats. Nonetheless, the murders often happen in cold blood, and without any reservation, which might sometimes raise the question as to whether it is really necessary to show everything so plainly.
The story involves quite a lot of characters, other than the ones we already mentioned above, who each add their own bit of side story. They help to understand the main characters better, as they are close to them, and influence them in the choices they make. Thus it is nice to see that none of the characters is trivial, but they all have a specific role to play.
In this series, there are often split screens being used, which speeds up certain scenes, while at the same time it enabled the directors to make certain comparisons. The series is full of small references to all kinds of things, and also the music plays a big part, as it is often used to change the whole feel of a scene in just an instant. All of this lifts the series up quite a bit.
When it comes to acting, this series is an absolute gem. The characters all have quite complicated personalities. While Patrick Wilson is very convincing as the good cop, who tries to deal with a sick wife and his past in Vietnam, Kirsten Dunst is marvelous as the ordinary young woman who slowly starts to lose her mind due to the series of events that happened after she hit Rye Gerhardt.
Lastly, there are quite some extras to enjoy. Some are more trivial than others, such as a commercial by the character Skip Sprang, yet fun to watch. Others leave cast and crew to talk about certain things, such as the character Ronald Reagan, or a view on Lou Solverson by Patrick Wilson and Keith Carradine, who both played this character, be it in different seasons. This last one was definitely interesting to watch, as it really exposes the link between seasons one and two.
Conclusion
Fargo Season 2 tells a bloody story about two gangs caught up in a war and about the ordinary Ed and Peggy, who all get tangled up in one big gruesome story. Nonetheless, elements such as music and humor make the series airy enough, while the acting performances will suck you in. This season is definitely worth the watch, but beware, it’s not for sensitive souls.
Fargo: Season 2 (DVD) - Series Review,
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