S04.E05: The Birthplace of Civilization

[meep.meep]

Am I the only person who thought that they were going to poison Doctor Senator with the sugar in the coffee?  Especially after the scene in the other cafe.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

Am I the only person who thought that they were going to poison Doctor Senator with the sugar in the coffee?  Especially after the scene in the other cafe.

In the entire Godfather trilogy, I only remember one Corleone ordered poison kill...Eli Wallach during the opera in #3. Never thought Gaetano would kill anyone with poison. 

[eelpout]

so this may sound odd, but was something going on with the audio in this episode? The background noise (traffic etc.) kept going from loud to completely silent at points of conversation. I think it was a directorial choice because it didn't seem random, but want to make sure others heard it too.

[seacliffsal]

14 minutes ago, eelpout said:

so this may sound odd, but was something going on with the audio in this episode? The background noise (traffic etc.) kept going from loud to completely silent at points of conversation. I think it was a directorial choice because it didn't seem random, but want to make sure others heard it too.

YES!  I definitely noticed this and was uncertain if it was my t.v. or the show.  It now seems like it was the show.  It was completely distracting and really took away from the scenes (and maybe this was the intention...).

[Gimmick Genius]

On 10/19/2020 at 7:57 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Haha, I thought Ziro was downright restrained compared to his uncle. I would have gone for that icing first!

Gaetano isn't Ziro's uncle. Ziro is the youngest son of Donatello Fadda, the old boss. Josto and Gaetano are his older brothers. Josto is still single, engaged to that large woman with the politician father. 

[SoMuchTV]

51 minutes ago, Gimmick Genius said:

Gaetano isn't Ziro's uncle. Ziro is the youngest son of Donatello Fadda, the old boss. Josto and Gaetano are his older brothers. Josto is still single, engaged to that large woman with the politician father. 

My bad! In my defense, I was replying to another post, so we both got it wrong 🙂

 

[Ellaria]

On 10/19/2020 at 2:28 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Despite maybe two minutes of screen time, I'm still more invested in Rabbi and his loyalty towards Satchel/Loy's son (who is totally going to be Mike) than a lot of other stuff that is going on.

On 10/19/2020 at 12:52 PM, Razzberry said:

Poor Ben Whishaw is just being wasted in this.  

Yes to both of these comments. He is a commanding presence when he is on screen and I suspect that Rabbi has a pivotal role to play in the coming episodes (based, in part, on his last name). 

 

On 10/20/2020 at 10:44 AM, Ottis said:

Like others, I struggle this season because i don't care if any character is killed. Usually there is someone in Fargo who you empathize with, and hope finds a way out. This season, they are all equally annoying in some way, except Doctor Senator, who represented a number of things about being Black in that era, leadership and wisdom. But then they killed him, so ...

And not buying Chris Rock. I liked his speech a few eps back about the bankroll of money and what it does to people who don't have it. I think he works better as being mentally cruel. When he sat at the dinner table, with the kid eating cake, and said he would spray the couple around the house and wait for their daughter to come home, I just kept thinking I don't see a gun, and there are two of them and one of him, and he isn't particularly imposing. He should leave the physical violence to others.

Disappointed that Doctor Senator is gone because he was one of the two characters that I connected with. The other one is Rabbi. 

Chris Rock is trying hard, maybe too hard. He isn't convincing me that he is a ruthless gangster. Something is off with his performance.

This was the best episode by far but I am still not invested in the story. It all seems fairly predictable. That's OK as long as it is accompanied by strong character narratives which, IMO, we aren't getting. I still don't understand why certain characters do what they do: love of violence or death, sheer stupidity, greed. I'm not sure whether to admire Ethelrida or dismiss her as an all-too-curious teenager.

Gaetano and his crazy eyes continue to kill my enjoyment of this season. He is just another cruel, sloppy, one-dimensional gangster. No nuance whatsoever.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ellaria Sand

[EtheltoTillie]

On 10/21/2020 at 6:42 PM, eelpout said:

so this may sound odd, but was something going on with the audio in this episode? The background noise (traffic etc.) kept going from loud to completely silent at points of conversation. I think it was a directorial choice because it didn't seem random, but want to make sure others heard it too.

We had some cable trouble and glitchy sound and picture. We switched to watching on Hulu. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 10/19/2020 at 4:59 AM, paigow said:

So milk and sugar in coffee gets you killed, but a good sundae will save your life... hopefully, Nadine made it out alive... 

How does Ethelrida survive to narrate this story??? She is too stupid...surprised that nobody followed her to the hotel. 

I thought the coffee scene was a triple nod to Goodfellas. Kid with a broom serves the wrong drink and gets shot by a Joe Pesci equivalent. Oh, yeah, combined with “You think I’m funny?  What’s so funny?”  And the bar looked like the one where the guy tells Joe Pesci to go get his shine box. 
Sstill find it hard to believe Doctor Senator walked away from that trap. 

[J-Man]

On 10/20/2020 at 6:33 AM, Eulipian 5k said:

Did Ziro repeat one of his middle names as "Corleone"?

According to the closed-captioning, his middle name is Guglielmo. (Italian for "William.")

[FoundTime]

On 10/19/2020 at 4:31 PM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

We are to believe that Doc and his driver were lying there in the street in full daylight and nobody says or does a thing.  All for the dramatic lighting of the headlights of the car as Loy observed/grieved

For me, this brought to mind Michael Brown, whose body was also left in the street for hours. My understanding is that for the Black community especially, this is the height of disrespect and calls to mind when lynching victims were left hanging for hours as an example of the powers of the state. I might be reading too much into this, but criminal gang wars notwithstanding, I certainly thought of Brown and could easily believe that Loy and his gang would know the history of how lynched bodies were treated.

[foxfreakinmulder]

On 10/22/2020 at 1:46 PM, Ellaria Sand said:

Chris Rock is trying hard, maybe too hard. He isn't convincing me that he is a ruthless gangster. Something is off with his performance.

I agree. I think it's because he delivers his lines while standing stiff as a board. And when he wants to look mean he squints his eyes.

This episode felt longer than it's scheduled time frame I kept checking how much time was left.