S02.E02: Before The Law

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The Gerhardts get a surprising offer, and two unlikely murderers do their best to clean up their mess.

[AimingforYoko]

Last week everyone was wondering who this season's Lorne was. Well, we met him tonight. He's from Kansas City and he goes by the name of Mike Milligan. Just an electric performance by Bokeem Woodbine.

Ed's a pretty chill guy. He seemed to have no problem with the disposal, short of a momentary breakdown in the garage.

I was totally picking up on a vibe with the beauty shop owner as regards to Peggy, it was confirmed when she dropped Peggy off at home.

If anybody wondered, the ending narration is from War of the Worlds.

[Primetimer]

Let's rank the criminal offenses of 'Before The Law'!

Read the story

[annzeepark914]

Geez, how's about a little programming with all those commercials?  It felt like 3 minutes of program and 10 minutes of commercials.  

 

It's getting more interesting as we get into the story.

[ToastnBacon]

Geez, how's about a little programming with all those commercials?  It felt like 3 minutes of program and 10 minutes of commercials.  

 

It's getting more interesting as we get into the story.

Way too many commercials!

I'm watching it off DVR and it is even a pain to fast-forward through them all.

[bmoore4026]

This episode ended with the prologue to the War of the Worlds album, that makes it one of the best TV episodes of all time.

 

Though I do wish they played the opening to Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Edited October 20, 2015 by bmoore4026

[atir]

I think i missed the last few minutes. The credits started (I thought), but it was 5 minutes early. What happened at the very end?

[DrScottie]

At least this time, Steve Buscemi's sock wasn't hanging out of the grinder.

Edited October 20, 2015 by DrScottie

[thuganomics85]

Well, I'm not quite sure I actually wanted this question answered, but thanks to that fireplace scene, I guess it's safe to say that Jesse Plemons really did put on a lot of weight for this role.

 

Floyd clearly seems to be the best choice at leading the Gerhardt family, now that dad seems to braindead, but, of course, Dodd ain't having none of it since he's a big old sexist.  I'm guessing Dodd is going to cause a lot of problems going forward for the organization.  Did like that Bear actually seems open-minded to Floyd as the leader.  Loved the scene with Floyd/Dodd.  Jean Smart did a lot, without going too over-the-top or broad with it.

 

Betsy finding the murder weapon was pretty cool.  Molly was lucky to get such awesome parents.  Really enjoyed the scenes between Lou and Hank.  It's nice seeing a relationship between a son in-law and father in-law, and it isn't filled with awkwardness or hatred.  They aren't the best of friends or anything, but there is respect there.  And even though swapping war stories has been done a lot, I always find it interesting when it involves World War II and Vietnam, since both of them were so different, and effected people in different ways.

 

Glad to get more of the Joe (Brad Garrett) and Mike (Bokeem Woodbine) in this one.  Mike in particular, seems to be getting set-up to play a major part in this season. Have a feeling he and Hank will be meeting again, and it might not end as peacefully this time around.

 

Peggy cracks me up.  Kirsten Dunst is killing it in this role.

 

Everyone who called Ed using the meat shop to dispose of Rye's body, gets a gold star!  And free dinner!  Just.... don't get any meat from that particular butcher shop! I knew Lou wasn't going to find out this early one, but it was good to see them interact for the first time, and I'm glad it looks like the main cast will be interacting a lot, and not just always off on their own stories.

 

The music was awesome.

 

It's only two episodes, but I think I'm really going to enjoy this season.

[VCRTracking]

The meat grinder... *BARF*

 

Was that Richard Burton's voice at the end?

 

Milligan reminds me of a Dave Chappelle character.

[Spartan Girl]

The meat grinder scene was so gross...does this mean Ed is going to sell the human meat? God that would be gross even for THIS show...then again, we saw a dog eat severed human parts earlier this episode, so who knows.

Betsy is awesome. Why did they have to give her cancer?

Edited October 20, 2015 by Spartan Girl

[shapeshifter]

Does Bokeem Woodbine steal every scene he's in? I guess he can't help it.

Question about his character here: Occasionally he slipped out of the Minnesotan lilt to a hint of ghetto speak. Is that accidental or on purpose? I guess it depends upon how he speaks to his inner circle, but the twins aren't exactly conversationalists. They seem to go more for hand gestures, heh.

The meat grinder scene was so gross...does this mean Ed is going to sell the human meat?

So now I'm thinking this happens IRL more often than we would know, and I'm wondering if some cases of Parkinson's might really be Kuru from eating meat tainted by human brains.

[annzeepark914]

So now I'm thinking this happens IRL more often than we would know, and I'm wondering if some cases of Parkinson's might really be Kuru from eating meat tainted by human brains.

Oh, God...say it ain't so.

[ToastnBacon]

If anybody wondered, the ending narration is from War of the Worlds.

Do you know what the music was that they cut to immediately after the narration?

I like the episode and I have high hopes for this season.

I'm digging Mike's 70s Afro and his banter, but I keep thinking of Lionel from the Jeffersons. I'm not convinced that Mike is this season's equivalent of Lorne Malvo.

Mike seems more like he is part of a well defined crew, while Malvo was a free agent of pure evil.

The UFO mystery was solved for me tonight. The Mylar balloon that Molly found was creating a reflection of the approaching car's headlights.

That's my explanation and I'm sticking with it.

A thought on the "War of the Worlds" narration. I'm saying it was symbolic of the Kansas City crew coveting the Gerhardt Empire and their impending invasion.

Just as the Martians were undone by local cold and flu viruses, will the KC crew be undone by not being able to cope with something unique to the Upper Midwest?

Minnesota nice?

Edited October 20, 2015 by ToastnBacon

[atir]

Surely he isn't going to try to sell the meat???! That was real squicky, tho. Just imagine having to clean all those parts and pieces of the grinder. He'd have to become a vegetarian after that.

But he'll still need to get rid of the ground Rye, get rid of Rye's clothing & wallet, and get the windshield & car repaired. At some point, he's going to wonder about that missing shoe.

[ToastnBacon]

Surely he isn't going to try to sell the meat???! That was real squicky, tho. Just imagine having to clean all those parts and pieces of the grinder. He'd have to become a vegetarian after that.

But he'll still need to get rid of the ground Rye, get rid of Rye's clothing & wallet, and get the windshield & car repaired. At some point, he's going to wonder about that missing shoe.

Most butcher shops have a scrap bin that a dog food company or animal fat rendering company comes by to empty a couple of times a week. He can easily dump the ground Rye in there.

I hope he remembers Rye's belt buckle in the fireplace.

[Nutjob]

So.... Peggy took all that TP. Now I really am wondering what's up with her, what with her being all OCD, then stealing TP, out by the Waffle Hut for some unknown reason and not willing to call in hitting Rye with her car despite it being an accident, etc. Just what, exactly, is she hiding?

 

I was waiting for a call back to the wood chipper--looks like we got in in the form of a meat grinder.

 

The scene with Hank, Mike and the twins was pretty tense, especially at the end when Hank turned his back on the car and walked away. I was afraid he would get ambushed, and glad it didn't play out that way.

[hendersonrocks]

Ahhh, this show is so good. I did wonder where Brad Garrett went between the meeting with the Gerhardt's in North Dakota and the Waffle Hut drive-by in Luverne, though. (He was missing from the typewriter store scene too.) 

 

My biggest nitpick as a Luverne native is that the show is kind of making it seem like the distance from Fargo/Gerhardt's to Luverne is not that far. With both Rye and the KC guys, as a viewer it seemed like maybe it was an hour or two between when they left ND and got to Luverne. If you take the interstate it's almost 4 hours, if you take the back roads it would be close to 5. And it's not a straight shot, either: the interstate goes straight from Fargo to Sioux Falls, from where you need to go about 30 miles straight east on I-90 to cross into Minnesota and hit Luverne. I hope we find out at some point why the judge was in Luverne to begin with. 

 

I think it will be a while before I buy hamburger and/or see Jesse Plemons the same way again.

Edited October 20, 2015 by hendersonrocks

[atir]

I hope he remembers Rye's belt buckle in the fireplace.

Oh, that's what that was. I couldn't tell on my wee tv. Jesse isn't the smartest criminal. Of course he got thrown onto this crime, but still.

[Uncle Benzene]

Do you know what the music was that they cut to immediately after the narration?

 

Jeff Wayne -- The Eve of War: 

 

From Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds (1978): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Wayne%27s_Musical_Version_of_The_War_of_the_Worlds

 

My dad and I must have listened to it 100+ times back in the day. He probably still has the cassette. Heh. It's pretty awesome.

[shapeshifter]

He'd have to become a vegetarian after that. But he'll still need to get rid of the ground Rye...

Not until now did I get the dark humor in naming the character Rye. I doubt Ed will become a vegetarian, but I don't imagine he'll ever order hamburger or ham on rye again.

[Ohwell]

The scene with Hank, Mike and the twins was pretty tense, especially at the end when Hank turned his back on the car and walked away. I was afraid he would get ambushed, and glad it didn't play out that way.

I was scared to death for Hank that whole time, literally biting my nails.

 

 

 

Yeah, shapeshifter, I said "literally."  ; )

Edited October 20, 2015 by Ohwell

[cpcathy]

Yes. definitely thought Hank's getting shot was a possibility, you could see the fear in his eyes. If he had been killed, I would definitely think that Ted Danson should not play cops (he played one in The Onion Field, and was promptly killed).

[meep.meep]

Does Bokeem Woodbine steal every scene he's in? I guess he can't help it.

Question about his character here: Occasionally he slipped out of the Minnesotan lilt to a hint of ghetto speak. Is that accidental or on purpose? I guess it depends upon how he speaks to his inner circle, but the twins aren't exactly conversationalists. They seem to go more for hand gestures, heh.

So now I'm thinking this happens IRL more often than we would know, and I'm wondering if some cases of Parkinson's might really be Kuru from eating meat tainted by human brains.

Why in the world would you leap to such a conclusion?  No one in the episode had Kuru or Kreutzfeld-Jacobs or scrapies.

 

I found the episode waaaaaaaaay too long, unnecessarily gruesome, and boring.  Needed a better director and some serious editing.

[Rhetorica]

I love Mike Mulligan and know that's wrong. Peggy's going to be in over her head soon. I don't think she will be one to hold it together when things begin happening. I hope Floyd puts her boys in their place.

[ToastnBacon]

 

I found the episode waaaaaaaaay too long, unnecessarily gruesome, and boring.  Needed a better director and some serious editing.

The number of commercials made it run long. Even watching it on DVR the commercial breaks disrupted the flow.

[meep.meep]

I'm sorry, but it wasn't just the commercials.  There were many many overly long scenes.  How long did we have to watch Jesse Plemons stand in front of the fire burning stuff?  The scene of him with the truck on the street was endless and unnecessary.  You can leave some stuff out and people will get the point.

 

I thought it was amazing how bad this episode was after how good the pilot was.

[candall]

Oh, he was burning Rye's clothes in the fireplace?  When I glanced up, I only saw the fireplace between his naked legs and assumed he was burning his own clothes, bloody from the cleanup.  Nice job detailing that car--maybe make the hole less human head-shaped.

 

Rye's clothes were one of the nits I had to pick about disposing of a body via meatgrinder.  Clothes, hair, teeth--not grinder compatible.  Lower intestinal tract/bowel/feces?  Also, explaining to your boss how 135 pounds of burger appeared overnight.

 

I could have watched a whole hour of Jean Smart and Jeffrey Donovan being intense.

 

Personal taste, but I just don't care for Patrick Wilson.  All those Carradines look alike--isn't there one out there who could have played young Keith?

[Anela]

I watched the episode earlier, and I've not lost my appetite. I should have waited until I'd eaten dinner, before reading this. ;)

 

I liked it, but I'm too tired to really contribute more. 

[bentley]

I miss last year's theme song. I was hoping it would be the official song for every season.

 

I'm afraid the hair salon owner is going to have to die, unless Peggy is willing to put out, which I don't think she is.  You can just tell this thing is gonna snowball and their crimes are gonna start piling up, all to cover the original crime. Speaking of Peggy, how stupid is she?? You don't let someone in your house when there may still be lingering evidence of a murder. I was fully expecting to see bloodstains in the bathroom or some other telltale sign. And why, unless there's only one bathroom in the house, do you let her into the bathroom that has proof of your work theft? People snoop in bathroom cabinets, everybody knows that. And then for the icing on the cake, she walks to the garage and stands there in the doorway staring at the big, honking evidence of the crime she just committed. Naturally the snoopy guest is right behind her and sees it too. For Pete's sake, she and her husband are top candidates for America's Most Stupid Criminals.

 

 

I love Mike Mulligan and know that's wrong.

 

It's not wrong. It's sooo right. It's been a while since Bokeem Woodbine had a role worthy of his talent. He smiles and never raises his voice and still scares you to death. The standoff with Mike, his crew and the sheriff was so tense. The Ted Danson character held it together but you could tell when he walked away he was shaken. If he'd pushed it, his body would probably still be missing.

 

I guess Mike's silent henchmen are the precursor to the Peter Stormare villain in the movie.

[mlmiller707]

I am confused. The murder took place at a WH in ND or MN. I believe it was MN, why was a judge from ND there? They are 3 hrs from each other. What type of business do the ND (Michael Weston's family) own? How did these mobsters from KC know about them and a recent stroke? Thanks

[FoundTime]

I thought it was interesting how Molly's dad took on the perspective of Bob Odenkirk's Chief in S1, in actively being not suspicious of the possibly sketchy behavior of someone known to them in the community -- and of course we know Molly to be very skeptical of that, not taking it for granted that because you know someone, they couldn't be involved in anything bad. I don't need for the series to sketch that out any further, but I liked the contrast/juxtaposition, and am happy to draw my own conclusions as to how Molly came to have her perspective.

[Fisher King]

It's not because of Plemons but this show is trying to fill the void that the loss of Breaking Bad left in my television soul. And I welcome it gladly. It's not the same show but it gives me that same range of emotions.

 

The acting is top-notch. Ted Danson only gets better with age. Was he ever this good in his younger roles? Cheers, okay. I did like him in Bored to Death. Kirsten Dunst is lovely as ever and killing it with every quirk that is revealed ~ more to come I'm sure. Bokeem Woodbine may be evil but he's a very likable demon. I never knew Jean Smart could be as good as she is here. I've not watched anything Jeffrey Donovan was in before but he looks like the right choice to play a Christopher Moltisante type muck-up.

 

Loving the music, which doesn't feel like typical, overplayed music of the era.

 

I thought Hank was a goner after his encounter with Milligan and the Kitchen brothers.

 

Yes, I'll also pass on the Gerhardt on Rye.

Arrg, the commercials were way too abundant.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Fisher King

[Christina]

Jeffrey Donovan was awful with accents on Burn Notice, and isn't doing much better here. It's bothersome to me.

 

I couldn't help but notice the bread throughout the Gerhardt home. I wonder what they smuggle in it? I mean, I love bread, and would eat every bit of it, but it was loaf after loaf after loaf of deliciousness in every scene with the family. Way too much to not have a nefarious purpose.

 

I am confused. The murder took place at a WH in ND or MN. I believe it was MN, why was a judge from ND there? They are 3 hrs from each other. What type of business do the ND (Michael Weston's family) own? How did these mobsters from KC know about them and a recent stroke? Thanks

 

I don't think those questions have been answered yet, but Jean Smart's character made a whole spiel to Jeffrey Donovan's character about the business being an empire, so the stroke info probably didn't take long to make the rounds.

[Etta Place]

I have never been so glad we decided against having sausage for dinner as when we were watching this episode afterwards.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Geez, how's about a little programming with all those commercials?  It felt like 3 minutes of program and 10 minutes of commercials.

The actual episode itself without commercials was just over 58 minutes long. Normally an hourlong show is about 40-43 minutes without commercials and a half hour show is usually about 20 minutes without commercials, so a 90 minute show should run close to 60 minutes. This episode was pretty close.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Richard Burton's opening narration to "War of the Worlds"!!!!!!!!!!!!!  and a snippet of music from it.  What a genius epilogue to this ep.  I'm up for more music from a Moody Blue (Justin Hayward was prominent in the WOFW project).  Sooooo much of it could be applied!

 

I was very glad to see some semblance of sense being built in with the expansion of the investigation across agencies.  

 

The "confrontation" on the country road with the three KC boys instantly took me back to the fantastic moment from last year when Malvo talked his way out of further LE entanglement and went on his merry way.  That had an ultimate menace factor.  This one wasn't bad, but it didn't come close to matching Malvo's.

 

I get the feeling that typewriter dude has a looooot more behind him than just being a very bad business man.  He has a bit of Saul Goodman in him.

[JudyObscure]

meep.meep quote:

You can leave some stuff out and people will get the point.

 

I agree. Watching Ed carry the body into the butcher shop was all I needed to know what was going to happen.  A shot of him working the meat grinder would have been more than enough until we needed to see the fingers fly off.  Showing us  so many long shots of the ground meat and the frozen arms just seemed like the director was gleefully playing to the  ewww factor to no real narrative purpose. 

 

After missing the premiere, because apparently we can't record to CD, I was really excited to finally see an episode and I was ultimately disappointed.  Last season it was Molly who kept me going through the dark side of the story, her niceness, her sincerity, her frustration at work, her crush on the guy she married.  This year I didn't feel that connection with anyone, even though I'm sure I'm supposed to have it with her father.  So it's just bad guys vs more bad guys with bad locals thrown in and not enough light to balance the dark.  My opinion, subject to change.

[Ottis]

Betsy is awesome. Why did they have to give her cancer?

 

 

I think those two points are connected. Makes us root for her, just as you did, vs. be indifferent.

 

Surely he isn't going to try to sell the meat???!

 

 

Intentionally? No. But I would not be surprised if a series of events led to the meat being sold by someone else at the shop, who doesn't realize its source.

 

This was a way better episode than the pilot. Some hidden menace (I was sure Ted Danson was done for at the roadblock scene), some quirkiness (the meat grinding, and the cop stops by) and not too much silliness.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Ottis

[preeya]

When I saw the meat grinder scene I immediately conjured up thoughts of Satriale's Pork Store (Soprano's).

[RustbeltWriter]

I liked everything about this episode except the music. There was just too much of it and stylistically it was all over the place. They don't need to try so hard.

[BonnieD]

 

I hope he remembers Rye's belt buckle in the fireplace.

Loving this season better than last. The characters, the storyline, the fight for criminal empire, all of it. That said, I have to nitpick about this burning clothes in a fireplace things they seem to love to do in crime shows. ARGH! Clothes don't burn easily! Ever tried to burn fabric? It lets off a horrible black smoke and is more likely to char and melt into a nasty goopy mess than burn cleanly--especially given the polyester fabrics in vogue in the 70s. No one would burn something like that in their fireplace and would have a tough enough time doing it in a firepit in the back yard.

Ditto what was said about disposing of body in meat grinder. It's just not that easy to completely obliterate all the parts. It would've been cleaner and less chance of getting caught to weigh the body down and dump it in deep water in a lake somewhere. But I know they were eager to utilize his butcher background for the sake of story. And when cleaning up the crime scene, the first thing he should've done was destroy the entire windshield and dispose of all glass, only then moving on to blood removal. But I suppose if people didn't make boneheaded illogical moves, no one could solve the crime.

[Nutjob]

Loving this season better than last. The characters, the storyline, the fight for criminal empire, all of it. That said, I have to nitpick about this burning clothes in a fireplace things they seem to love to do in crime shows. ARGH! Clothes don't burn easily! Ever tried to burn fabric? It lets off a horrible black smoke and is more likely to char and melt into a nasty goopy mess than burn cleanly--especially given the polyester fabrics in vogue in the 70s. No one would burn something like that in their fireplace and would have a tough enough time doing it in a firepit in the back yard.

Ditto what was said about disposing of body in meat grinder. It's just not that easy to completely obliterate all the parts. It would've been cleaner and less chance of getting caught to weigh the body down and dump it in deep water in a lake somewhere. But I know they were eager to utilize his butcher background for the sake of story. And when cleaning up the crime scene, the first thing he should've done was destroy the entire windshield and dispose of all glass, only then moving on to blood removal. But I suppose if people didn't make boneheaded illogical moves, no one could solve the crime.

I think that's all kind of the point, though. Ed and Peggy aren't professional criminals--he's really only doing all of this for her, and so while he might think he's covering everything up, we can see all the mistakes he's making that will likely get him caught by both law enforcement and the very professional crime family who is also looking for Rye.

[meep.meep]

Since I was a Negative Nellie, I will mention one tiny positive about the show:  right after the main title is shown, if you listen carefully you'll hear the little bell sound that a Selectrics makes when you hit the carriage return.

[annzeepark914]

The actual episode itself without commercials was just over 58 minutes long. Normally an hourlong show is about 40-43 minutes without commercials and a half hour show is usually about 20 minutes without commercials, so a 90 minute show should run close to 60 minutes. This episode was pretty close.

But this isn't a 90 minute show.  I don't think I've ever watched a program on TV that has had as many commercials as this one and it's really annoying...to the point that it's almost ruining Fargo for us (but not quite...Fargo's worth hanging in there but with loud grumbles).  I don't remember the first season as having so many ads to the point that we were bothered by them.

 

Back to the program.  Why in the world didn't he just go out into the woods, far from the town, and leave the body (w/o any ID) until he could bury it come spring thaw?

[Ohwell]

I don' think Ed is supposed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer (I know, I know) so it really doesn't surprise me that he would take the clothes and try to burn them instead of taking the body out into the hinterlands somewhere.

 

Heh, I'm watching Bookeem Woodbine right now in the movie "Life."

[bosawks]

Murder aside those tighty whities really needed to be burned.....

[chitowngirl]

 

The acting is top-notch. Ted Danson only gets better with age. Was he ever this good in his younger roles? Cheers, okay. I did like him in Bored to Death.

He was good in Body Heat, a pre-Cheers role.

[Rickster]

But this isn't a 90 minute show.  I don't think I've ever watched a program on TV that has had as many commercials as this one and it's really annoying...to the point that it's almost ruining Fargo for us (but not quite...Fargo's worth hanging in there but with loud grumbles).  I don't remember the first season as having so many ads to the point that we were bothered by them.

 

One of the things that happens a lot these days with this type of cable drama is to give you a couple of relatively long commercial free stretches in the first half hour, then really back end load the ads, so it can seem worse than it really is in minutes of commercials.

[Conan Troutman]

Makes me glad I can watch this show on Netflix a day later. It didn't feel too long for me, although I agree that a couple of scenes didn't absolutely need all of their length.

 

Loving the season so far. That scene with Hank and Milligan was really chilling. Danson, Woodbine and Dunst are already strong favorites for season MVP for me, so hopefully none get killed too early. Dunst's Peggy intrigues me the most so far. I severely doubt we've seen her last crime for the season, curios how deep down the rabbit hole she'll go.

 

I'm also curios about the role the aliens will play. Obviously there won't be actual aliens within the events, but it seems they do serve a narrative purpose. Maybe it's a play on the role of the audience, who isn't only observing, but changes events by its mere presence/existence? Rye probably wouldn't have been hit by the car and the events would've unfolded in an entirely different way, a way that wouldn't have been as satisfying to the audience. I doubt it's exactly that, but maybe something along the line.

 

The obvious reference would be "The man who wasn't there", but out of curiosity I googled the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books - and the first one was released in 1979, the year the show is set. It's something about time travel, which we won't get of course, although we did travel backwards in time from season one to season two. Peggy seems to have the Lester role from last year, who (same as Jerry Lundegard in the movie) functioned as the protagonist, in the same way the murderer was always the protagonist of his story in "Columbo". The way the pilot begins is that you'd assume Rye would take that role, but he doesn't - because of the UFO/audience intervention, he gets hit by Peggy, who thereby "steals" his role. Maybe we're choosing her adventure instead...