welcomerain

It's odd how such a terse and understated show can be so emotionally affecting. I felt guilty about predicting Bruce's suicide as if I'd caused it. I bawled like a child at the end.

Next week's episode is titled "There Rust And Let Me Die". It's a quote from Shakespeare; Juliet is addressing her dagger. I think Bruce wants to end it.

Well, Emmit pretty much just stood there and watched Ray die. If calling 911 had gotten the paramedics there in time to save Ray, then yes, what Emmit did could be considered murder, legally. Can anyone prove that? Probably not. I think manslaughter at worst. Murder would be a stretch.

Well put. That's why I liked Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels much more than I liked Snatch. In the former, the protagonists played an active role in events. In the latter, they were at best spectators.

Gloria's attempt at an investigation ended exactly as I thought it would: Failure, demotion, scriptwriter ex machina. Since she's the designated Brave Heroine, we're supposed to admire her chutzpah or something, but all I can think is how both she and Moe did everything wrong. She made a point of sassing him in the open, and proceeded to disregard everything he said, this man who was going to be her boss in much less time than it'd take to close such a case. He was probably right to prevent her from leading the investigation into her own stepfather's death or any related crimes, but he could have taken advantage of her initiative and energy and kept her on the reservation. Neither of them had the sense not to lock horns, and if it weren't for some heyoka or another playing some tricks for the greater good, Emmit might have gotten away with it. Ray Wise is the merriest devil and the grimmest angel. I love him with a love beyond love.

Not necessarily. People arriving at the afterlife looking exactly as they did at the moment of death is a normal trope in movies and TV. And if Paul intended to send them back to the mortal world in short order, there really is no reason to do more than patch up their wounds and send them on their way. I want to see Gus Fring's entrance into the afterlife, in that case.

Agreed on all points. Especially stopping a prison bus. The crew are continually drilled in the relevant procedures, and they are good procedures. Sadly, they get tested for real, more often than you'd think.

It should have been the first thing they did, if only to forestall Nikki later claiming that they caused the injuries. I think a booking photo would be enough for that. No, I'd take her to a doctor to forestall a later lawsuit. Internal injuries can go bad quickly.

I note that the hypothesis that Goldfarb is behind Varga is still viable. Whether it turns out to be what the writers intended or not, it's brilliant.

Post-offense behavior can be really off the wall for first-time criminals. It takes a while before you can step over inert bodies and get on with what you were trying to do, as the philosopher said.

So Gloria snuck in after Syringe guy? This police station is as secure as the Public Library.... I'm beginning to think doors/locks don't mean much in Fargo-verse. Everyone's already in the room when people get there; Emmit at Ray's, Varga at Emmit's, Meemo at the motel, Yuri at the Library, they even drilled out Emmit's SAFETY Deposit box . Somebody call ADT! Amen to this. It's like the brig on ST:TOS. That thing only existed in order for people to break out of it.

I think Varga is in Emmit's house because it's more comfortable than a semi-trailer. Gloria was in uniform -- she wouldn't have had too much trouble getting almost anywhere at that police station. We saw that Nikki had been moved to a general holding area -- she wasn't in the interview room anymore -- so that made it easier for Gloria to get close. One thing I thought would be important from the first episode -- when Maurice is going down the stairs, his shirt gets caught on a bannister and a piece rips off. Later we see that Gloria notices the ripped shirt among Maurice's things. I thought she'd put those pieces together to place Maurice at Nikki's apartment building, but nope. Another thing from the first episode -- Gloria is downstairs in Ennis's house, in the kitchen She hears a noise from the second floor but finds nothing. Was anyone else in the house? Will we ever know? The episode spent a few minutes making the point that Gloria could not go almost anywhere at that police station. There were forms, don't'cha know. But maybe you're right, and the general holding area is less secure than the interview rooms. That would be terrible station design, but I've been to St. Cloud many times, and it may not be the most up-do-date place.

Does anyone else get the feeling that a lot of this episode was left on the cutting-room floor? I have no idea why Varga was in Emmit's house. I have no idea how Gloria got into the holding cell comma although if it involves her invisibility to electronics, she has now been upgraded to having super powers. I'm surprisingly okay with that. That and a few other transitions were missing for me. Did anyone else think that?

The argument wasn't about whether she was chief, but rather whether she was able legitimately to act in St. Cloud. The outcome of her acts was about exactly what I'd predicted, in fact: She gets told to take time off or get fired. The only new thing that made Gloria's case plausible to anyone was the syringe, which was an oddly unforced error by whoever hired the killer. There was no great reason to kill Nikki that I can see, and it could only serve to draw suspicion, especially if it went wrong. Nobody would believe anything she said at that point, and Moe is right about one thing: Her case would look dismal to a jury. In fact, the only thing that surprised me this episode was the thing that surprised practically everyone, and I jumped in delight. Otherwise, the myth of the badass hero cop who breaks the rules just got busted. She may get saved by writerly intervention, as the mythical ones often do, but really she's managed to screw up everything she's touched. I recall Mr. Wrench being called a "lepton" by a jerk in a bar. This season the epithet of choice is "leptard". Can't wait to see what leapt into the writers' heads in the next season.

I immediately had a flashback to The Grifters during Ray's death scene. Hm, John Cusack as Ray and Emmit would have been a very different season. Joan Cusack as Nikki would have made it even more different. Or maybe as Gloria?