We were all anticipating the finale of Season 3 of Noah Hawley's FARGO, and what we got was not exactly what we were expecting. The final scene ended on an ambiguous note, territory writers and producers should enter at their own peril – remember THE SOPRANOS. Sometimes, what looks good on the printed page and in the table reads, falls flat in execution. The fade to black with the season's chief villain's fate unresolved will no doubt enrage many viewers who have no patience with ambiguity of any kind and consider it a cop out. But I think it fits with the overall theme of this season of FARGO.
As in the past two seasons, this year's story concerned predatory evil in the heartland and how honesty and decency must stand up to it in the end and prevail in an often heartless world that so often doesn't make any sense. In season 3, evil was well represented by V.M. Varga, a predatory Capitalist who takes advantage of the system to insert his way into thriving businesses and bled them white, pocketing a fortune for himself and leaving wreckage, and a few dead bodies, behind in his wake. The good is again represented by a decent member of law enforcement, Sheriff's deputy Gloria Burgle, who is determined to get justice for a family killing, despite not much to go on. Grafted onto this story is a tale of sibling rivalry between Ray and Emit Stussy; Ray is one of life's losers, a parole officer who resents being cheated out of an inheritance by his wealthy brother, and schemes with his parole girlfriend, Niki Swango, to get back from Emit what he feels is rightly his. Emit, the parking lot king of Minnesota, and his loyal partner Sy Felts, are Varga's latest victims, and over the course of this season, these characters squared off against one another, as simple things, like a breaking and entering to steal a collectible 3 cent stamp, set of a series of events that culminate with Raymond being killed by Emit, Sy poisoned, Gloria sidelined by her dimwit superior and Nicki a path to get revenge for Ray.
These plot threads play out marvelously in the season finale, as Niki's plan reaches fruition and she, with the help of Mr. Wrench, gets her a final confrontation with both Emit and Varga, though sadly, things do not work out well for Niki in the end. I know many would have loved to have seen her and Mr. Wrench drive together (they made such a powerhouse couple), but if just wouldn't have been FARGO if that had happened. Niki had blood on her hands and that cop pulling up in the middle of her highway showdown with a fleeing Emit was just fate taking a hand. Emit seemed to partially redeem himself by patching things up with his wife and children and we get a Christmas dinner scene that suggests he has found the right priorities, but it is only a reprieve before justice sneaks up behind him when he goes to the refrigerator to get the jello. Gloria's persistence does pay off and she gets a better job, which sets up the final confrontation with Varga, who like a true snake, managed to slither away after that well staged shoot out at the storage facility.
Which comes to the final scene, where Varga and Gloria sit across from each other in a NYC interrogation room, each waiting to see who will come through the door, either a deputy to escort Varga to a cell on Rikers Island, as Gloria assumes, or, as Varga counters her, a functionary who will tell her to take the cuffs off him and allow him to walk away free. The clocks ticks, the two of them wait
and the screen fades to black. In seasons 1 and 2 of FARGO, set in the early 2000's and 1979 respectively, honesty and decency ultimately stood up and triumphed in the face of monstrous evil, but in season 3, set in 2010, before time skipping to 2015, it is suggested that the forces of decency have lost ground in a country ravaged by the Great Recession, where the old rules have all but disappeared as material gain is all that matters. It is a place where those who cling to old grievances (like the Stussy brothers) refuse to be grateful for what they have and move ahead, and are easy prey for the cunning. Maybe it's no longer even a 50/50 shot justice will prevail; we just have sit and wait to see who come through a door. I half expected Ray Wise to show up one last time.
As always with FARGO, the acting by stellar cast was excellent, but the high honors go to Ewan McGregor as both Stussy brothers, and David Thewlis as Varga, a villain whose only joy seemed to come from consumption, not only of food, but of other people's hard work. That he seemed to take no nourishment from either was emblematic of his predator's nature. And who could forget his rotten teeth. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Niki was one tough girl who truly loved her loser of a man. Carrie Coon's Gloria was another one of FARGO's pantheon of great public servants. All praise to the great Michael Stuhlbarg, his Sy in this season was about as far from the Arnold Rothstein he played on BOARDWALK EMPIRE as one could get; a true mark talent. Russell Harvard returned as the deaf Mr. Wrench from season 1, the one character to link all three seasons – his character having appeared as a child in season 2. There was also great work from Shea Whigham, Mary McDonnell, Hamish Linkletter, Olivia Sandoval and I don't want to leave out Andy Yu as Meemo, Varga's lethal right hand man.
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