Fargo Season 3 (spoilers)

Let’s face it, the motivation of most of the people who create “entertainment” is just to pick up a paycheck.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it is the main reason why I show up for work every day.  Of course, there are some people whose motivation is to actually entertain people.  It is an unusual artist like Noah Hawley whose desire is to both entertain and raise philosophical posers, such as is it true that the future is determined but the past is uncertain?

Fargo just wrapped up its third and possibly final season.  Noah Hawley has other things on his plate, like the entertaining but maddeningly obtuse Legion, and frankly if he wants to call it a day after three suburb seasons of television more power to him.  In an industry where everyone wants their show to go on forever, it is nice to see someone decide not to churn out another season of pap just because someone will pay them handsomely to do it.

When I heard there was going to be a TV series based on Fargo, but without the Coen Brothers’ active involvement, I thought it was the silliest idea I’d ever heard.  How could anyone, especially someone not named Coen, recreate the special intersection of greed, fate, and, well, general pinheadery that made Fargo one of the most special films of the past few decades?  But season one demonstrated that Noah Hawley couple not only capture the Coens’ unique world view, but also create memorable, quixotic characters and get rich performances out of a cast of actors both familiar and brand new.  Season 2 was almost as good, and with season 3 there was another small diminution in the result.  It is still one of the best shows on TV, but as I said about Twin Peaks, you can only be non-linear for so long until non-linear becomes linear.

I guess my main criticism of season 3 is that the main bad guy, VM Varga (David Thewlis) is a far cry from the spectacular Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thorton) in season one or Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) in season 2.  Varga is despicable, but the character is overwritten and frankly not credible.  It’s a fine line, and Thewlis is a good enough actor to sell it, but in the end, no one who speaks as floridly as Varga would last five minutes in the evil business.

Season 3 did see the acting you expect to find in Fargo, most notably Ewen McGregor’s brilliant turn as non-identical brothers Ray and Emmit Stussey.  Playing identical brothers is difficult, but playing brothers so physically distinct must have been even harder.  Then there is the problem of playing opposite yourself in many scenes, where you have to play one side of the conversation and then take off your make-up, put on the other character’s make-up, and do it over from the other side. 

McGergor was ably assisted by Carrie Coon in the wise Minnesota female police officer role, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a morally dubious woman who did have a code, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Emmit Stussey’s partner.  All did fabulous work, week in and week out.

I did not care for the police chief Moe Dimmick, played by Shea Whigham.  Hawley has had bad bosses before, but they had some redeeming quality.  Bob Odekirk’s character in season 2 seemed like a sexist jerk, but then he sponsored an African student studying in America.  Dimmick is just a dimwit; as Roger Ebert said about a similar character in the movie Die Hard, he exists only to be wrong.  But he’s a minor character and it’s a minor quibble.

Let’s get back to the philosophical point being made by Hawley.  Season 3 began with a surreal exchange in soviet Russia, where an innocent man is being interrogated by a soviet official.  It is obviously a case of mistaken identity, but the official points out that the state can’t make a mistake, so the man must be guilty.  This scene is bookended with the final scene, where Varga tells police office (now Homeland Security agent) Gloria Burgle that what happened in Minnesota in 2010-11 is up for interpretation, but his future is certain, and it does not include him eating mashed potatoes at Riker’s Island.  Someone other than him was convicted of the murders that occurred; therefore, he must be innocent.  Official imprimatur becomes reality.  We know he’s wrong, but the events of the show make a good case.

It’s all great, but there is a sense that we are reaching diminishing returns here.  As much as I’ve enjoyed three seasons of Fargo the Series, I’d rather Hawley stop a year too early than a year too late.  Fargo is too great of a motion picture to have its reputation sullied by something as mundane as mediocre television.