S01.E01: The Crocodile's Dilemma

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The cop lost his integrity, but saved his life.  Did he choose well, or poorly?  Either way, I loved this iteration of "These are not the droids you are looking for."  Soooo menacing.

Now, the nurses/clerks in the ER remembered Malvo.  Was there no paper work?  Why was he there to begin with?  If he was not there for treatment, wouldn't that be a yoooooge point of suspicion?  That he interacted with Lester and Lester is later connected to all that mayhem?  No way Lester escapes without at least an indictment.   I know.  I know.  Suspension of disbelief.  Ugh.

[random chance]

Aside from the name of the show, the accents, the dark humor, and the demeanor of some people - there's really no spoilers from watching the movie. It's a really great movie I highly recommend watching.

Thanks, good to know!  If I see it streaming somewhere I'll give it a shot. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

The cop lost his integrity, but saved his life. 

Somehow I don't think Lorne was going to kill him unless it was absolutely necessary. I think he mainly wanted to create an alibi for killing the police chief earlier at Lester's house. Now he's been placed as being somewhere else within the same relative time frame and the deputy cop will remember the encounter but be hesitant to report it.

[Rapunzel]

Thanks, good to know!  If I see it streaming somewhere I'll give it a shot. 

I believe it's available on Netflix Instant if you have it. It is a great film and if you liked the Pilot episode of the series you should find it pretty enjoyable. It is a bit violent, however, though just some scenes - not non-stop throughout or anything - and it fits with the story so it's not just gratuitous. The acting is top notch and you'll see why Frances McDormand won an Academy Award for her role.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Rapunzel

[Ohwell]

The movie Fargo is playing Monday night on the FXM Channel (I've got Verizon and it's channel 232) at 8 pm, and then again at 10 pm.  As others have said, I highly recommend it.

Edit:  8 pm Eastern

Edited April 20, 2014 by Ohwell

[Red Bridey]

My DVR stopped recording at the one hour mark; I had not realized it ran about 15 minutes later, and it appears it will not be re-aired before Episode 2.  Damn it!  It appears that the last 15 minutes were pretty important.  So who is dead?  Lester's wife and the nice sheriff whose wife is pregnant? 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Yup.  And Lester seems to be out and about slick as you please, recovered from his physical traumas.  

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Billy Bob Thornton was solid, although I agree with a post I read on AVClub, that Lorne comes off like if Raylan Givens from Justified was just flat-out evil, as oppose to very dark grey.

I see that as a plus, not a minus.  He is charismatic enough that we believe in his persuasive abilities and find ourselves as viewers having to fight against the character's charm, kind of like with Vic Mackey on The Shield.

My only real disappointment initially was having the lead detective who was expecting a baby be male instead of female - and hey presto! Problem solved. 

Edited April 21, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[JC65]

One nitpick, and I admit it's very minor, was when the deputy mentioned the "staties" as in State Police.  Minnesota doesn't have State Police.  There's the Highway Patrol and there's the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and in my 35 years of living in Minnesota I never heard either referred to as "staties".

Another question was the letter jackets worn by the Hess boys.  They were black with a yellow(?) T on them.  Bemidji HS are the Lumberjacks and have blue and white gear.

Honestly these issues seem even more trivial when I see them in writing.  Overall I enjoyed the show.  I've actually heard worse Minnesota accents in real life.

[Catherinewriter]

Did I miss a scene to explain what happened next to Lester after he knocked himself out?

Also, people keep asking how Malvo got out of the house. Was the house clearly without a basement exit? If so, where was this shown?

[Lemon Tree]

I watched this episode because I love Martin Freeman, and I was supposed by how much I liked it, given that I had very mixed feelings about Fargo the film.

A few thoughts:

I found BBT's performance mesmerizing. I haven't seen him in many other performances, and never realized how much screen presence he had! However I started feeling iffy about the Lorne character about half way through when I realized that he was just messing with people to cause trouble. I preferred the character when he seemed to have a moral code, psychopathic and twisted as it was.

I truly enjoyed Martin Freeman's performance, although I was thrown off a few times though when Freeman displayed certain mannerisms that seemed very Watson-esque, mainly head tilts and specific facial expressions. It was a strange feeling, a sense of, "Wait, where did that come from? How did you get here? How did you -oh wait, no, you're gone now."

The bullying scene and hammering scene didn't quite work for me, as I felt both were quite over the top. The hammer scene in particular felt too sudden and horrifying. I think it would have worked more for me if the murder was less intentional- perhaps if he tried to push her away but shoved her stronger than he intended, and she fell over and hit her head. That would still give us the sense that Lester is starting to lose it but make it easier to relate to him despite having done something awful. I guess I prefer my nerds to descend into darkness more gradually. :)

Finally- when Lorne shot the sherif, some of the blood got onto Lester's shirt. The blood, along with the gunshot wound on Lester's hand, and especially the bloody clothes from his wife's murder will make things tricky for Lester indeed.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Lemon Tree

[roughing it]

At some point, I thought I heard the name "Stan Grossman", maybe he's Lorne's boss?  Stan Grossman was Mr. Gustafson's business partner in the movie.

[Milburn Stone]

Caught up with the pilot last night. Liked it.

 

How the heck do you guys know the Billy Bob character's name is Lorne? I didn't catch any name for him in the episode. (But obviously it must have been said once.)

 

The only thing that strained credulity for me was at the very end. How could whoever admitted Lester to the hospital not have noticed the puncture wound on his hand? Isn't taking a look at the entirety of an injured person's body routine? Wouldn't they have at least put a bandaid on it?

[John Potts]

Liked it. It definitely kept the "feel" of the film without being a remake (I also saw the second episode before the first without realising it, so I was spoiled as to who died).

 

Lemon Tree The bullying scene and hammering scene didn't quite work for me, as I felt both were quite over the top. The hammer scene in particular felt too sudden and horrifying… I think it would have worked more for me if the murder was less intentional

 

I felt the whole “What, you’re going to hit me!?” was a bit OTT – if he’d had the hammer in his hand and (say) thrown it at her following the nagging it would’ve seemed more “real”. Actually picking up the hammer made it more deliberate murder.

 

Dougal The initial Lester/Lorne relationship kept reminding me of Strangers on a Train.
A Boston Gal  There's a big Anton Chigurh vibe going on with Lorne (besides ridiculously bad hair), although I think Lorne has a very interesting backstory while Chigurh had none.

 

 

I agree (on both counts). While Lorne has that same quiet menace as Chigurh, I felt Lorne was more believable. Chigurh was too much of a terminator-like caricature, which until we see Lorne survive a massive explosion and walk away*, I feel he's more "real".

 

* I was going to say "Survive a car crash", but he's already done that!

Edited May 3, 2014 by John Potts

[Valny]

Got the dvd from the library,so I'm doing a rewatch! 

 

Man, this ep was even better the second time around.  I remember on first watch,that I thought it didn't start to get good until Lester's hammer time scene with his wife! then all hell broke lose, and shit got real.  But this time, I enjoyed it all and didn't think it moved as slow as I did when I originally watched. Can't wait to rewatch the rest.

[SunnyBeBe]

I just realized that I never saw the first season!  It’ll be a treat. I’m going to watch it this weekend if I can find it anywhere streaming.