[S02.E10: Palindrome]

My vague take on the sexism scene:

They wrote a little soliloquy for Peggy that very much described the desperation of being a modern woman (even now) and trying to do "everything", and then Kirsten Dunst acted the hell out of it, so much so that some of us who have experienced that felt it in the gut and believed it as part of her actions. After all, everyone cheered when she got to beat up misogynistic Dodd, right?

But then we were swiftly told those feelings were stupid.

After all, murdering mobsters decided to get more murdery because of her.

They chose to write the dialogue, they chose to direct Kirsten Dunst that way. I'm not sure what to make of the reasons for those choices, but yes, it left me feeling annoyed. They could have had her find another way to make excuses for her feelings of mediocrity, or perhaps Dunst could have used the slightly dopey-er set of acting tools she used when talking about being actualized. Because that speech didn't feel like delusion to me, and I doubt anyone here would question the racism experienced by Mike and Hanzee as being part of the makeup of their choices.

All this said, I'm a person who hasn't been super enchanted by this franchise, and had to FF through a lot of the speechifying in the final few episodes, so perhaps I am suffering from confirmation bias.

How were we told that Peggy feeling societal pressures of "having it all" is stupid?

Lou was terse with her when he reminded her that "people died" but that was directed at her leaving the scene of an accident with a person lodged in her windshield.

Her feelings about being torn between family and career are valid, but they are certainly not an excuse to leave the scene of an accident with a person stuck in your windshield.

Or are you merely objecting that they portrayed a female character in a negative way?

I'm having trouble grasping the point of your post.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

What was the evidence that the reconfigured Hanzee is Malvo? I think it's a cool idea, and my hat's off to anyone who was able to get this, if the show indeed contained an indication that it is so. I just want to know what I missed, because I didn't pick up on it. 

I didn't pick up on anything either. Other than the wolf-like way they were portraying him stalking about.

Then there was his new identity of Mr. Tripoli, and that seems to run contrary to Malvo.

 

Also, as to whether the dialogue between Lou and Peggy in the car was sexist: Maybe, but if so, it was the believable unconscious sexism of two people in the Midwest of 1979, not a sexist agenda being perpetrated by Noah Hawley. If anything, it showed how well he understands and feels for his characters, their time, and their place. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

Exactly.

I think that rant upthread against Noah Hawley was over-the-top and very misplaced.

Being hypersensitive to the point that you brand a writer a sexist for a mere portrayal of sexism doesn't seem healthy.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

I just got off the phone with the women's studies department at my university.

They are also calling the Peggy and Lou scene in the prowler sexist.

I tried convincing them otherwise, but they wouldn't listen to me and ended up calling me a sexist.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

I assumed they meant Buffalo, MN.

I think I remember seeing a New York plate on his car in the episode he first showed up.

I took note of it because Buffalo used to have the Italian mob and I wondered about KC's connections to the Italian mob.

I just brushed it off as infighting between KC and Buffalo with the Gerhardts being caught in the middle.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

The Gerhardt's flag wasn't a Nazi symbol.

Eagles have been a common symbol on coat of arms and family crests for centuries.

Plus, Otto's father left Germany after WWI.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

Let's talk about our last moments in 1979.http://previously.tv/fargo/fargos-bonnie-and-clyde-reach-the-end-of-their-story/"> Read the story

Oh for Pete's sake!

You do know this isn't really a true story, don't you?

At least you put it in quotes. ;)

Good review.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

Well that was a let down. It started out great and I liked the Peggy and Ed stuff, but after that, it just kind of fell flat for me. I have a rotten memory so I don't recall what happened in the S1 finale, but I know it was way better than this. I know, it's two different seasons blah blah blah, but I think I was just expecting something a lot more intense throughout. It was so... talky. I can't believe it but I actually was checking out some stuff on my tablet during some scenes.

Someone jog my memory... in S1, does Lou have a little limp? For some reason I thought he did, so I was just waiting for something to happen to his leg, but it never did.

ETA- I was so surprised to see grown Molly again. What a nice surprise. (and the rest of her family too) Did they not show Allison Tolman's name in the opening credits?( Wait, do they even have the cast names in the opening?) I know they do at the end. Whatever, it's always nice to see someone show up that you are not expecting.

You wanted explosions and a good old car chase like an episode of Mannix?

I was disappointed that they didn't have Lou stop to help the Swedish bikini volleyball team change a flat tire on the way back to Minnesota.

[S02.E10: Palindrome]

Besty's vision was a tribute to Rasing Arizona. I can't say that it was word for word the same little speech that Nicolas Cage gave at the end of the movie, but it was damn close.

The entire opening sequence was fantastic, especially the Black Sabbath music.

I was amused at how Mike ended up in a tiny office. He wanted to be a big bad crime boss, and the corporate boss told him they have drones for that.

Hilarious!

[HBO Picks Up The Leftovers For A Third And Final Season]

One of the few things that keeps this show from Emmy greatness and TV immortality is a lack of humor like this. :) We don't need belly laughs; just a nod to the silliness of it all now and then. Guess Kevin doesn't do "dad humor." (Although, his "Because it's stupid!" line was pretty hysterical.)

I'd give Liv Tyler an Emmy for her performance on these last two episodes.

She pulled off being very threatening and dangerous with a smile on her face.

It was damn good acting.

[HBO Picks Up The Leftovers For A Third And Final Season]

I was initially a little sad to think there would only be 3 seasons--but 3 means it's actually possible to rewatch some time in the future. I've never rewatched Lost or BSG or even BrBa. And a plan of 3 finite seasons is very different than a show being canceled after 3 seasons due to ratings.

If they let this go beyond three seasons it would be a mistake. They can wrap up the story in a way that doesn't meander and I think it will make the plot more focused.

As much as I loved the Sopranos, it was time to end that. They had covered what they needed to cover and it was beginning to wander aimlessly.

Three seasons of the Leftovers sounds about right.

Besides, it isn't wise to keep leftovers hanging around too long.

[S02.E09: The Castle]

I still don't know what to think about this episode.

I was more taken aback by how they lapsed into a few frames of Frank Miller-style comic book shots of Hanzee firing his weapon than the UFO.

Ok, I like the episode but I'm so invested at this point in the series, they could have gotten away with a lot more than they did.

Martin Freeman sounded too prissy Brttish as narrator, I would have like a neutral American dialect or a MidWest dialect.

I halfway want to be critical, but what's the point?

It was still good.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

I was sitting at work today laughing at the scene between Hanzee and the store clerk. How could Hanzee not have known that "I'm looking for a red-head" would be interpreted as him looking for a woman? I think that I lost it when the clerk told him maybe he could find a "fat-type girl" at the bar. I wonder if the actors had trouble getting through the scene straight-faced.

That was another nod to the movie Fargo.

[Fargo Future Season Speculation: There May Be Snow]

So that would be more jitterbug.

I agree that was pre-rock'n'roll, but surprisingly Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940s_in_music) notes:

"In 1941 Les Paul designed and built the first solid-body electric guitar."

We could have main characters listening to radio dramas and Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas."

Early Rock and Roll is usually described as being a blend of several different generes of music.

Jitterbug and big band swing music certainly were an influence as were country, gospel and blues.

I heard the term post Rock last year and it made me feel strange.

That Halsey song, "New Americana" is probably the epitome of post Rock. It is hauntingly catchy and cool.

Say, what if they took season three of Fargo into the future?

I'd be up for that too!

[Fargo Future Season Speculation: There May Be Snow]

The 50s will always have Elvis. And Chuck Berry, a lot of harmony singing groups, and Sinatra. But I would really love to see them do a 60s story.

I'm probably being too nerdy here, but I think 1950 was before Rock and Roll.

Rock and Roll didn't really get started until 1953. Mid to late 50s, sure lots of Rock and Roll.

But when Otto rose to power in 1950, that was before it ramped up.

Again, I'm being nerdy about the timeline.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

Maybe Hanzee decided to join the Kansas City mob, since it was obvious they are taking over. Thus, the haircut. Wants to look professional. 

 

Maybe he meant to kill Dodd all along, and Ed and Peggy were just incidental.

You know, that makes more sense than my theory of connecting the haircut to him being smitten with Constance.

I sure as hell hope they explain what that was all about.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

Hanzee might have killed Dodd on Bear's orders.

We don't know that he didn't switch to Bear's side.

[Fargo Future Season Speculation: There May Be Snow]

I liked your post. You are totally right, and I hadn't even thought about an Otto story, and think it would be a great idea to sort of fill in the rest of the story. But I disagree about relevance. I don't think it has to be current to be relevant. Plenty of television is set between the present and ... I don't know, but any time before that. Not trying to be snarky, and I did like your post, but I think people would watch it.

I guess the writers and directors are clever enough to make 1950 relevant to today's viewers.

However, I think it would be challenging with the pre-Rock and Roll era.

They have relied a lot on music to help set the tone this season and that era is a long way removed from the Fargo style we've seen develop.

But I agree, it probably could be done. I just think they'd opt for something easier.

Who knows?

In "Oh Brother were art thou" the Cohen brothers made Mississippi in the 1930s seem cool.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

Ed didn't buy the Hamburger Helper. He just looked at it.

Even better!

And he did it with that signature Jesse Plemmons blinking gaze. He almost has a bovine quality about his face which made it even better.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

And 2015, everywhere. Like you, I know they've been dealing with racism, whether explicitly shown in episodes or not.

I spent a year in Montana in the 1980s and was shocked at the amount of racial tension between Indians and whites.

I'm not talking about institutional racism, but how people interacted on the streets of Great Falls.

It was very screwed up. As an airman stationed there, the locals, white or Indian weren't very friendly to us either.

I was glad to get the hell out of there.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

Ed didn't buy the Hamburger Helper.  He just looked at it.

That is about all I'll do to Hamburger Helper too.

The happy little glove mascot, who sounds suspiciously like the Pillsbury Doughboy, is a friend to lazy moms everywhere.

When I was kid I gobbled that crap up, but not now.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

I do not like how race has been brought up in the past couple of episodes. We have gone almost the entire season with no mention of Milligan or Hanzee's race, it was;t much of a factor at all in the early parts of the season. Now out of nowhere they throw in some racial hate toward each of them, making it an issue. Is this supposed to make us forgive their murders?

While there were a couple of posters upthread who seemed to think that Hanzee was justified in killing the bartender, I don't think the writers were sending us that message.

I wouldn't come to the conclusion that having a racial slur tossed one's way is green light to commit murder.

Racism happens in real life, so I don't have a problem with it being depicted in TV shows.

[Fargo Future Season Speculation: There May Be Snow]

I think there will be Gerhardts left standing, especially Bear.

I still say he was the unnamed Fargo mob boss from season one.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

My favorite music pieces so far have been "Man of Constant Sorrow" and the piece from War of the Worlds, just brilliant.

There has been some great music in this season.

[S02.E08: Loplop]

So, is that what the Sheriff's daughter found hanging in the sheriff's office? Were they drawings of UFO investigations. Does that tie in with the UFO the Gerhardt son saw just before he got hit by the car?

I don't think it was drawings of investigations, but possibly an alien alphabet.

Most likely stuff he read in books that claims to be UFO symbology, but is of very questionable origin and accuracy. Fraudulent in other words.

I'm guessing Hank saw something in the sky at some point and started reading books on UFOs.

[Fargo Future Season Speculation: There May Be Snow]

If they do a third season I wouldn't mind seeing Otto's rise to power. However, I don't think they'd do something set in the early 1950's.

I think that decade is too far in the past to be relevant to 2015 viewers.