S03.E02: The Principle of Restricted Choice

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Gloria deals with the aftermath of a crime, Vargas makes a move, and Ray and Nikki move on to Plan B.

Promo:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

[AimingforYoko]

The ol' message written in menstrual blood, complete with used tampon left at the scene. That's your ride or die chick right there, Ray.

I'm a little confused about logistics, why is everyone reading the St. Cloud paper?

[Primetimer]

A computer novice learns the hard way that technology in the Fargo-verse is nobody's friend.

View the full article

[rhys]

Bear with me--I have a small TV. What document did Nikki put the tampon on?

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, rhys said:

Bear with me--I have a small TV. What document did Nikki put the tampon on?

It was a receipt for a safe deposit rental, dated December 10, so it was recent.  Nikki must have thought Emmit rented the box for the stamp.

Anyone else puzzled that Emmit didn't question whether the murdered Stussy might have been a distant relative?  I expected some kind of comment about that.  Midwesterners are always looking for familial connections. 

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

I'm a little confused about logistics, why is everyone reading the St. Cloud paper?

Maybe the news is more local than a Minneapolis paper.  ?? 

If this is happening in 2010, why was there an article about drive-through restaurants on the front page of the paper, as if they were something new? 

Also, the small print of the blue donkey -- I've seen that before but the only one I find on Google is the one by Marc Chagall, and it's not the same one.  Anyone know about this?

[Armchair Critic]

Holy shit, be careful who you google!

[WaltersHair]

I hate that they had to go there with the tampon. Just, ew.

The watercolor of the donkey is a stock image:

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/watercolor-illustration-donkey-258360857?src=Iiklp8UftF0PlfRmyg3DvA-1-6

I'm confused about the St Cloud vs Minneapolis locations. St. Cloud isn't that big and is far enough away from the twin cities to be a weird choice for a newspaper.

Quote

Anyone else puzzled that Emmit didn't question whether the murdered Stussy might have been a distant relative?  I expected some kind of comment about that.  Midwesterners are always looking for familial connections. 

Yes. Especially with a name like Stussy.

Not finding the chief/son story interesting. The story seems to just die when it switches to Eden Valley.

[thuganomics85]

I honestly wonder if the scene of Ray's boss talking about Nikki's ass was originally in the script, or after shooting last week's tub scene, Noah Hawley was like "Whelp, I guess whenever we're not showing Mary Elizabeth Winstead's ass, we might as well talk about it!"

Thought it was better then the premiere, but still a bit of a slow burn.  I'm still most interested in Emmit and Sy, and how they are now stuck with this V.M. Vargus character and his cronies.  David Thewlis is perfectly creepy in this role, and I just love how daft Sy and especially Emmit are about the entire thing.

Did enjoy the Ray/Nikki stuff more this go around, since it's focusing more on Ray's relationship with Emmit.  It's the classic tale where the brothers actually seem to legitimately want to work things out on some levels, but both Nikki and Sy just keep making things worst: likely due to their own personal reasons.

Sy wrecking Ray's car and then hitting a pedestrian's car accidentally cracked me up.  As did several of his lines.  Michael Stuhlbarg is still one of the highlights.

Despite my love for Carrie Coon, Gloria's kind of dull right now.  And I actually kind of understand the new captain's (Shea Whigham!) reaction to finding out she didn't use computers and her snippet remark about it.  Sure, it's nice to not always rely on technology, but there are still times when it can really help.  Granted, I kind of suspect there hasn't been that much craziness in Gloria's career until now.

Was that the world's worst undertaker or the world's most honest undertaker?  Or maybe both?  

I think that was Adam Godley (Elliot from Breaking Bad) as the parking attendant guy that V.M. parked the mysterious truck in.  Which I'm sure will totally be slave girls, like Sy predicted!

[SlipperyPete]

Well, I think season 3 is pretty good so far.

Best scene of the episode was easily Ray and Sy in the diner. I laughed especially loud when they were both putting emphasis on the word "tone". I love how the waitress took away Ray's plate while he was reading the paper. He tried to tell her he wasn't done but put up no real fight. This is a guy who is just so used to going along with whatever it is the people around him want to do. Whatever it was that happened with those stamps, I bet Ray just rolled right over.

There was also a nod to the character Stan Grossman from the movie. Seems like old Stan recognized that Jerry may have been right about parking lots as a great investment.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

No.  I did not, and will not, do a search for V.M. Whatshisname.  

So much in a show like this depends upon the villain(s).  So, far VMV intrigues and is menacing enough for me to invest a little more.  I didn't much care for Meema? the Asian murderer.  I get that quirky/different is a staple of this genre.  All I saw was an actor trying too hard to be something approximating such.

I genuinely enjoyed the no-nonsense and quick method of the demise of the lawyer.  After countless depictions of such scenes where everyone talks and talks and somehow it gets screwed up, this one was no muss, no fuss - with jusssst enough exposition giving us a taste of a clue about the opening scene last week. 

I don;t much care, but i am confused as to the new chief.  It seems he is the chief of the County police and is simply absorbing the municipality PD.  Why would he seem to be wholly ignorant and surprised of the library/station and its woeful lack of technology?

I really want this season to work.  So far, it isn't quite there.  

[annzeepark914]

This 3rd season I'm finding it hard to pick up on the dialogue.  Some characters talk way too fast.  And the start/stop style of speaking sentences (and not finishing them) that Emmit & Sy do is irritating.  Are they that dimwitted?  The chief of police not even unpacking the computers is too bizarre.  Do small town chiefs of police even have that option?  I'm in it for the long haul but find myself thinking wistfully of Lester & Malvo and their hijinks.

[Bannon]

7 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

The ol' message written in menstrual blood, complete with used tampon left at the scene. That's your ride or die chick right there, Ray.

I'm a little confused about logistics, why is everyone reading the St. Cloud paper?

Eden Valley, MN, is close to St.Cloud, MN. They both are a liittle more than an hour's drive fro Minneapolis. The Parking Lot King lives in Eden Prarie, MN, a southwestern 2nd ring suburb of Minneapolis. The confusion between the two towns is one factor in the wrong house being robbed. If the Parking Lot King was reading the St. Cloud paper (I don't remember), thats a little strange. People in Eden Valley reading the St.Cloud paper makes sense.

[Bannon]

I almost didn't watch season 1 of the show, because the 1st episode had a confrontation early on, between the protagonist, and an old high school nemesis, and his two thick-headed sons, which was way too cartoonish, and really made me roll my eyes. I stuck with it, however, and ended up really enjoying the season. Season 2, I thought, was simply masterful, getting the, yes, tone, exactly right, writing and acting.

I hope this season gets its stride soon, because the cartoonish element is, for me, way, way, over the top. The Parking Lot King's bookeeper, in particular, is really rubbing me the wrong way. No, in Minnesota, the important employees of prominent businesspeople aren't allowed to run their Hummers into other vehicles in parking lots, and simply leave the scene. I know the show takes liberty with reality, even to the point of flying saucers, but having a major character acting this way is a mistake. I hope things get reeled in a little bit. 

[luna1122]

Loved the Stan Grossman callback.

NIkki's brand of revenge is pretty gross, but eloquent. I do wonder what their plan was even if they'd gotten the stamp. Emmit would have immediately known Ray was behind, and if Ray tried to sell it, it'd be flagged immediately, I'd think. Were they planning on running immediately? Probably not, they don't seem to actually plan much of anything. Also, Nikki has not iota of guilt or remorse over the murder; I kind of think it's not her first.

I also wondered at Emmit not even commenting on the name Stussy. And I do like Carrie Coon, but Gloria being so technologically backward in 2010 is off putting. I remain amused at the motion sensor doors never working for her. "You do see me, right?" And I'm intrigued by the double life of her stepdad and want to see where all that goes. That item she picked up as protection in the house did seem indeed to be the same award in the old newspaper photo. Somebody called that last week; good catch.

Beware who you google.

Edited April 27, 2017 by luna1122

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, Bannon said:

Eden Valley, MN, is close to St.Cloud, MN. They both are a liittle more than an hour's drive fro Minneapolis. The Parking Lot King lives in Eden Prarie, MN, a southwestern 2nd ring suburb of Minneapolis. The confusion between the two towns is one factor in the wrong house being robbed. If the Parking Lot King was reading the St. Cloud paper (I don't remember), thats a little strange. People in Eden Valley reading the St.Cloud paper makes sense.

Ray and Emmitt were both reading the St. Cloud paper, they should've been reading the StarTribune.

[teddysmom]

I can kind of buy that Gloria isn't techno savvy. It's a small town, probably not a lot of crime, and the way she's done things works fine. I work with people who are only as computer literate as they need to be, if they get stumped, instead of trying to figure something out, they have their kids do it for them at home, or one of their employees, ie me. They think the kids are geniuses because they have skills that about 95% of the population have. My boss would rather cut something out and glue it on a piece of paper than figure out how to use a computer program.

Their theory is "why should I do this" that's what I pay you to do.

[luna1122]

11 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

I can kind of buy that Gloria isn't techno savvy. It's a small town, probably not a lot of crime, and the way she's done things works fine. I work with people who are only as computer literate as they need to be, if they get stumped, instead of trying to figure something out, they have their kids do it for them at home, or one of their employees, ie me. They think the kids are geniuses because they have skills that about 95% of the population have. My boss would rather cut something out and glue it on a piece of paper than figure out how to use a computer program.

Their theory is "why should I do this" that's what I pay you to do.

The recap kind of sums of my reaction to the whole thing:

Quote

Now, Fargo without a healthy measure of unlikelihoods would not be Fargo at all, but we are being asked to believe that a Generation Xer (a) is happy to use a telex machine; (b) found a telex machine connected to another telex machine somewhere in 2010; and (c) could pick a telex machine out of a lineup. This is Luddism on such an unlikely scale that in the absence of an explanation that a computer killed her parents, I call bullshit.

Gloria grew up in the age of computers. There are folks of all ages and generations that aren't computer savvy, but it's pretty unusual and odd for someone of her age to refuse to use a computer, particularly in regard to her job. How that's even been able to fly with any other police department is pretty head scratching. But this is Fargo, which is an alternate universe anyway, so I can go with it.

[Bort]

29 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

I can kind of buy that Gloria isn't techno savvy. It's a small town, probably not a lot of crime, and the way she's done things works fine. I work with people who are only as computer literate as they need to be, if they get stumped, instead of trying to figure something out, they have their kids do it for them at home, or one of their employees, ie me. They think the kids are geniuses because they have skills that about 95% of the population have. My boss would rather cut something out and glue it on a piece of paper than figure out how to use a computer program.

Their theory is "why should I do this" that's what I pay you to do.

Not wanting to use computers at home is fine. Not wanting to use them when your job depends on it makes no sense at all. Especially since it seems like a new chief has been brought in to replace her, and not having the computer system set up might have been a factor. On the other hand, the police station doubles as a library, so...

[teddysmom]

Quote

Gloria grew up in the age of computers. There are folks of all ages and generations that aren't computer savvy, but it's pretty unusual and odd for someone of her age to refuse to use a computer, particularly in regard to her job. How that's even been able to fly with any other police department is pretty head scratching. But this is Fargo, which is an alternate universe anyway, so I can go with it.

 

I agree Gloria's kind of young to be so anti technology, I get the feeling that staying away from technology in this season may end up being for the best.

It does seem that everyone in this season of Fargo is a little denser than usual.  Nicki's bright, but she clearly didn't think thru that Emmit would figure out who took the stamp. 

An attorney not knowing how to use Google is beyond crazy. 

There does seem to be a lot of unfathomable pinheadery going around.  Which is a phrase I am co opting and using every chance I get from now on. 

[Ohwell]

6 hours ago, SlipperyPete said:

I love how the waitress took away Ray's plate while he was reading the paper. He tried to tell her he wasn't done but put up no real fight. This is a guy who is just so used to going along with whatever it is the people around him want to do. Whatever it was that happened with those stamps, I bet Ray just rolled right over.

I don't know about the stamps, but I could empathize with Ray about the waitress taking his plate before he was finished.  It happened to me once when I still had some bacon on the plate, and the waitress just came up and swiped it away.  Left me speechless and there wasn't much I could do because the bacon was gone, lol.  I left her much less of a tip though. 

I will forever hate Nikki because of the tampon thing.  That was gross and unnecessary and now I hope she meets a humorous death. 

[Bannon]

2 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

 

I agree Gloria's kind of young to be so anti technology, I get the feeling that staying away from technology in this season may end up being for the best.

It does seem that everyone in this season of Fargo is a little denser than usual.  Nicki's bright, but she clearly didn't think thru that Emmit would figure out who took the stamp. 

An attorney not knowing how to use Google is beyond crazy. 

There does seem to be a lot of unfathomable pinheadery going around.  Which is a phrase I am co opting and using every chance I get from now on. 

Nothing wrong with unfathomable pinheadery, with the right characters. Habitual criminals, even criminals who can score high on an IQ test, being pinheads is the norm, and a great source of humor when written well. When you have a bookeeper/treasurer type, however, for whom appearances of propriety, in other scenes, is very important, deliberately crashing into multiple cars in restaurant parking lots, and then roaring off, at that point the writers aren't even trying to have characters with coherent psychology, and scenes are just being written on an ad hoc basis. Not good. Hopefully, somebody in the writers' meetings started exercising some discipline after this episode.

[teddysmom]

10 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I will forever hate Nikki because of the tampon thing.  That was gross and unnecessary and now I hope she meets a humorous death. 

Yeah I had barely gotten over seeing the tampon in the drawer when the attorney gets thrown off the parking lot.   That's a lot of yelling WTF at the tv in a very short period of time. 

Quote

Nothing wrong with unfathomable pinheadery, with the right characters. Habitual criminals, even criminals who can score high on an IQ test, being pinheads is the norm, and a great source of humor when written well. When you have a bookeeper/treasurer type, however, for whom appearances of propriety, in other scenes, is very important, deliberately crashing into multiple cars in restaurant parking lots, and then roaring off, at that point the writers aren't even trying to have characters with coherent psychology, and scenes are just being written on an ad hoc basis. Not good. Hopefully, somebody in the writers' meetings started exercising some discipline after this episode.

I'm going to hold judgment until the season is over.  I'm used to crazy shit in one episode being explained satisfactorily in the next. 

I think there's something going on with Sy & Ray that we don't know yet. He seems to hold way more of a grudge than Emmit does. 

[rose711]

How old is Gloria? Her stepdad was in his 80s.

[Mrs Shibbles]

Not only does Gloria shy away from technology, but it doesn't seem to like her, either.  Another door sensor at the police station missed her, and her ex couldn't hear her talking from her cell phone.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Mrs Shibbles

[AzureOwl]

So now that my theory that Varga was the Yuri mentioned in the East German prologue has been debunked (he is merely Yuri's employer) I think I will move on to the next theory.

Do we think it's a coincidence that Ennis moved to Eden Valley in 1980, the year after the Sioux Falls Massacre and its related U.F.O. sighting? The timing seems a little suspicious.

2 minutes ago, rose711 said:

How old is Gloria? Her stepdad was in his 80s.

Didn't she say she was 14 when Ennis married her mother in 1982? That would make her 42 years old in 2010.

Edited April 27, 2017 by AzureOwl

[rose711]

Also how big is the town where she works?

[luna1122]

2 minutes ago, rose711 said:

How old is Gloria? Her stepdad was in his 80s.

I don't remember the exact conversation, when she was talking to the funeral director, but she mentioned being 6 in 1982. So she'd be about 34 in 2010.

[AzureOwl]

1 minute ago, rose711 said:

Also how big is the town where she works?

Just a bit over 1,000 people, according to Wikipedia. Calling it a town is being overly generous. 

[Bannon]

5 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Yeah I had barely gotten over seeing the tampon in the drawer when the attorney gets thrown off the parking lot.   That's a lot of yelling WTF at the tv in a very short period of time. 

I'm going to hold judgment until the season is over.  I'm used to crazy shit in one episode being explained satisfactorily in the next. 

I think there's something going on with Sy & Ray that we don't know yet. He seems to hold way more of a grudge than Emmit does. 

Oh, sure, this can be recovered from, and if he had merely smashed up Ray's Corvette, I wouldn't have as much an issue; maybe Sy has something on Ray which Sy knows precludes Ray doing anything. When he clipped another car, and roared off cackling,however, now you have a character who has their psychology change from scene to scene, and that is never a good thing. Hopefully, this is a one-off.

[AzureOwl]

2 minutes ago, luna1122 said:

I don't remember the exact conversation, when she was talking to the funeral director, but she mentioned being 6 in 1982. So she'd be about 34 in 2010.

I'll recheck, but I believe I'm the one who misheard. I just checked and Carrie Coon is 36, so your estimate makes more sense. 

[Bort]

12 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

I think there's something going on with Sy & Ray that we don't know yet. He seems to hold way more of a grudge than Emmit does. 

Sy seems to have a sense of entitlement where Emmitt is concerned. Acts like his partner/brother when he's not, and Emmitt lets him. I bet the Stussy brothers would have made up long ago, I think Sy has been egging on their fued for years. 

[AzureOwl]

1 minute ago, Bannon said:

Oh, sure, this can be recovered from, and if he had merely smashed up Ray's Corvette, I wouldn't have as much an issue; maybe Sy has something on Ray which Sy knows precludes Ray doing anything. When he clipped another car, and roared off cackling,however, now you have a character who has their psychology change from scene to scene, and that is never a good thing. Hopefully, this is a one-off.

I don't know, Sy has been pretty consistent in my opinion.

So far, every single time he has interacted with Ray or been in the same room with him, Sy has projected a seething and barely concealed hatred towards Ray. This was just the first time that we've seen him actually act on it.

[MisterBluxom]

Does anyone have any idea just what Nikki is trying to become? It might be a world championship bridge team (with her P.O. partner). But something just seems wrong there. I mean, if they compete together, they will be seen in public and someone will likely recognize them as the Parole Officer and the criminal. So, that would seem to be a problem.

But, why would she seem to think she could become a high level player? She doesn't seem to spend most every waking hour reading and practicing and that is really required of anyone trying to become a serious bridge player.

So, maybe - and this would seem to be highly likely - maybe she has a cheating system in place? It is  not very difficult to cheat at bridge. But it is just such a foolish waste of time because there is no prize money given to the best players. The only way to make money by cheating is to find a pair of (wealthy) players who will play for money. But after two or three sessions of big losses, most any pair would get suspicious - or just get tired of losing money and break it off.

I just find the entire bridge aspect of this season to be confusing. Can anyone shed any light on what is going on with Nikki and bridge?

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, PreviouslyTV said:

A computer novice learns the hard way that technology in the Fargo-verse is nobody's friend.

View the full article

Nah, silly PTV reviewer, they didn't need to hack Google, in 2010 it was quite common for less-novice users than Irv to click on a link and download malicious software. 
But re:

Quote

. . .Irv is accosted by a stranger who has some surprising knowledge about Irv. (Unlike Irv, we do know a bit about the stranger -- namely that he must be Yuri, the Ukrainian sought for murder in 1988 East Berlin as referenced in the season's opening scene.) . . .

. . . I did not recall this at all, so thanks for the recap.

 

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

. . . It's the classic tale where the brothers actually seem to legitimately want to work things out on some levels, but both Nikki and Sy just keep making things worst: likely due to their own personal reasons. . .

—which is, interestingly, the opposite of the tale of two brothers that we are currently watching on Better Call Saul.

7 HOURS AGO, THUGANOMICS85 SAID:

. . . Sy wrecking Ray's car. . .

I expect to see Ray having to get in via the passenger side next week, and I also expect to see the fate of the red Corvette continue to mirror poor Ray's. Typically, it would be revealed that Nikki has a hotter, hipper boyfriend pulling the strings, and maybe she would wind up dumping the other guy for twu wuv with Ray in the end, but I expect she will either ride off into the sunset alone (or maybe with Emmit?) or maybe die by scarf strangulation in a convertible a la Isadora Duncan. Anyway, more thoughts later. 

[Bannon]

52 minutes ago, AzureOwl said:

I don't know, Sy has been pretty consistent in my opinion.

So far, every single time he has interacted with Ray or been in the same room with him, Sy has projected a seething and barely concealed hatred towards Ray. This was just the first time that we've seen him actually act on it.

Clipping somebody else's car (other than Ray's), while knowing that you are in full view of multiple  people in a restaurant,  and roaring off,  has nothing to do with hating Ray; it's just overtly reckless sociopathy. Now, Sy may be a sociopath; we don't know him well enough yet to tell. He is, however, in all his other scenes, concerned with appearances. People concerned with appearances don't openly, deliberately, smash a strangers' car in a parking lot, and then engage in hit and run; the odds of getting arrested are way, way, too high. Like I said,maybe it is a one-off, and if so, not a huge concern.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Bannon
Typo

[Bort]

I gotta say, VM (if I may call him that) has to be ecstatic to have found the ideal operation to suit his needs that's owned by a dipshit. That instance of Emmitt trying to hide from him behind a GLASS WALL had to have validated picking Stussy Lots.

[Wouldofshouldof]

If you want to know the story of the stamp, here's what I read somewhere:

Spoiler

Emmit and Ray's dad said he would give one of them the car Ray drives (Camaro?) and one of them would get the stamp (it may have been a whole collection).  Ray, citing his status as the older brother, claimed he got first choice, and took the car.  Of course the stamp(s) ended up being worth far more, and Ray felt cheated forever after.

[Lorimac]

Does anyone have any idea just what Nikki is trying to become? It might be a world championship bridge team (with her P.O. partner). But something just seems wrong there. I mean, if they compete together, they will be seen in public and someone will likely recognize them as the Parole Officer and the criminal. So, that would seem to be a problem.

But, why would she seem to think she could become a high level player? She doesn't seem to spend most every waking hour reading and practicing and that is really required of anyone trying to become a serious bridge player.

So, maybe - and this would seem to be highly likely - maybe she has a cheating system in place? It is  not very difficult to cheat at bridge. But it is just such a foolish waste of time because there is no prize money given to the best players. The only way to make money by cheating is to find a pair of (wealthy) players who will play for money. But after two or three sessions of big losses, most any pair would get suspicious - or just get tired of losing money and break it off.

I just find the entire bridge aspect of this season to be confusing. Can anyone shed any light on what is going on with Nikki and bridge?

I agree with you that Nikki is cray-cray, but while you are thinking she is much more calculating than she looks, I am thinking that she is just a dope, plain and simple. She thinks she can compete at bridge on a master-level because she is deluded (maybe narcissistic behavior?). I mean, she believes that her boyfriend's chi is holding her back. and that indicates the level of her delusion. Perhaps she thinks that she got a bad deal in life so karma owes her something wonderful - to be a master bridge winner. Preemptively blaming Ray's chi may be a way to set up an excuse when she fails at bridge. ("See, it was him , not me that led to this disaster.") But the while thing with the tampon is SO out there - no matter how angry or frustrated I may be at any given moment, the idea of whipping out a tampon as revenge would NEVER cross my mind. Besides, DNA, anyone?

[Lorimac]

Everyone is analyzing the technology thing, but I think it has something to do with Gloria's failure to be able to trigger an automatic sensor. Also, unless I am mistaken, when she talks on a cell phone, her message does not get through to the other party on the line. (Didn't that happen more then once so far? I know there are Eagle-Eyed Forum Spotters who could tell me this.) And this is why she did not use computers in her police station - it isn't that she isn't tech-savvy; it is that they don't work for her. I'm not saying that she's an alien BUT..........

Irv did what he did because he is old and back in 2010 oldsters were not aware that clicking on an attachment could bring down a system. Hell, in my office someone did that just last year and mucked everything up for weeks.

[AzureOwl]

36 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Clipping somebody else's car (other than Ray's), while knowing that you are in full view of multiple  people in a restaurant,  and roaring off,  has nothing to do with hating Ray; it's just overtly reckless sociopathy. Now, Sy may be a sociopath; we don't know him well enough yet to tell. He is, however, in all his other scenes, concerned with appearances. People concerned with appearances don't openly, deliberately, smash a strangers' car in a parking lot, and then engage in hit and run; the odds of getting arrested are way, way, too high. Like I said,maybe it is a one-off, and if so, not a huge concern.

That's not sociopathy, that's just run of the mill stupidity.

Sy didn't clip that woman's car on purpose, he just had such poor control of his overly large dick-mobile that when was speeding away he hit the woman's car. There was nothing deliberate about it. And then panicked and ran.  

Emmit and Sy have shown that they are just as stupid as Ray, despite what they would like to believe. 

14 minutes ago, Wouldofshouldof said:

If you want to know the story of the stamp, here's what I read somewhere:

  Hide contents

Emmit and Ray's dad said he would give one of them the car Ray drives (Camaro?) and one of them would get the stamp (it may have been a whole collection).  Ray, citing his status as the older brother, claimed he got first choice, and took the car.  Of course the stamp(s) ended up being worth far more, and Ray felt cheated forever after.

Spoiler

That doesn't track with what Ray described in the first episode. Ray called it "an older brother taking advantage of a younger one". Despite appearances, Emmit is the older one. I think they way it went is that when their father died he left the corvette to Emmit and the stamps to Ray. Emmit, realizing their worth then offered to trade and Ray accepted. 

 

11 minutes ago, Lorimac said:

I agree with you that Nikki is cray-cray, but while you are thinking she is much more calculating than she looks, I am thinking that she is just a dope, plain and simple. She thinks she can compete at bridge on a master-level because she is deluded (maybe narcissistic behavior?). I mean, she believes that her boyfriend's chi is holding her back. and that indicates the level of her delusion. Perhaps she thinks that she got a bad deal in life so karma owes her something wonderful - to be a master bridge winner. Preemptively blaming Ray's chi may be a way to set up an excuse when she fails at bridge. ("See, it was him , not me that led to this disaster.") But the while thing with the tampon is SO out there - no matter how angry or frustrated I may be at any given moment, the idea of whipping out a tampon as revenge would NEVER cross my mind. Besides, DNA, anyone?

I think Nikki's problem is that she is smarter than average, but nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is. 

She clearly has a great mind for numbers, given how she timed and executed Maurice's death, and she probably thinks that will be enough to take her an Ray to the top of the bridge world. 

She also seems to have a tendency to overthink things, which is the opposite problem to most would-be criminals on this show. Witness how she immediately jumped to the conclusion that Emmit had pulled some complicated anticipatory counter-move with the stamp when the reality was that he just send the frame to get fixed. 

[teddysmom]

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I don't know, Sy has been pretty consistent in my opinion.

So far, every single time he has interacted with Ray or been in the same room with him, Sy has projected a seething and barely concealed hatred towards Ray. This was just the first time that we've seen him actually act on it.

Clipping somebody else's car (other than Ray's), while knowing that you are in full view of multiple  people in a restaurant,  and roaring off,  has nothing to do with hating Ray; it's just overtly reckless sociopathy. Now, Sy may be a sociopath; we don't know him well enough yet to tell. He is, however, in all his other scenes, concerned with appearances. People concerned with appearances don't openly, deliberately, smash a strangers' car in a parking lot, and then engage in hit and run; the odds of getting arrested are way, way, too high. Like I said,maybe it is a one-off, and if so, not a huge concern.

 

NYT review of this episode mentions that there's probably more to Sy than meets the eye.  This is also someone who was okay with borrowing $1M from a "guy".   So logic may not be his strong suit. 

[Razzberry]

random thoughts -

Carrie Coon is great but terribly miscast as a north country cop.

Do bridge players actually get sponsorships like race car drivers? 

I shudder to think about next week's bodily fluid.

Sy Feltz - love him, but his 'Minnesota Nice' veneer is cracking on the wrong person.  Ray is small potatoes compared to Varga.  "He wants to BE you." could be projection.  Nevertheless, I laughed my ass off at the restaurant scene.

[Bannon]

13 minutes ago, AzureOwl said:

That's not sociopathy, that's just run of the mill stupidity.

Sy didn't clip that woman's car on purpose, he just had such poor control of his overly large dick-mobile that when was speeding away he hit the woman's car. There was nothing deliberate about it. And then panicked and ran.  

Emmit and Sy have shown that they are just as stupid as Ray, despite what they would like to believe. 

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That doesn't track with what Ray described in the first episode. Ray called it "an older brother taking advantage of a younger one". Despite appearances, Emmit is the older one. I think they way it went is that when their father died he left the corvette to Emmit and the stamps to Ray. Emmit, realizing their worth then offered to trade and Ray accepted. 

 

 

That's the problem when I watch a show with the sound turned down too low, late at night, and don't have the close captioning on. I thought he was laughing after hitting the woman's car, and I missed the "oh geez!". OK, that scene makes a lot more sense to me now. Thanks.

[little black cloud]

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. . .Irv is accosted by a stranger who has some surprising knowledge about Irv. (Unlike Irv, we do know a bit about the stranger -- namely that he must be Yuri, the Ukrainian sought for murder in 1988 East Berlin as referenced in the season's opening scene.)

Did I miss something? How do we know that he must be Yuri?

[Wouldofshouldof]

1 hour ago, AzureOwl said:

That doesn't track with what Ray described in the first episode. 

I may have mixed up which one is older.  Reading is Fundamental!

[TimWil]

I hate Ewan McGregor and David Thewlis in this and have no interest in following this story at all. I love Carrie Coon but that's not enough. I'm out. Oh well. Two out of three great seasons ain't bad.

[Milburn Stone]

3 hours ago, Bannon said:

...if he had merely smashed up Ray's Corvette, I wouldn't have as much an issue; ...When he clipped another car, and roared off cackling,however, now you have a character who has their psychology change from scene to scene, and that is never a good thing.

I thought when Sy clipped the innocent car, his reaction was more "oh fuck" than cackling.

Are those David Thewlis' real (horrible) teeth? Or prosthetics?

Shea Wigham is one of America's finest actors.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, AzureOwl said:

Sy didn't clip that woman's car on purpose, he just had such poor control of his overly large dick-mobile that when was speeding away he hit the woman's car.

Sy's poor control over his vehicle was because it was icy and snowy. More stupidity. One should not careen recklessly around a parking lot in that weather.

[Bannon]

3 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

I thought when Sy clipped the innocent car, his reaction was more "oh fuck" than cackling.

Are those David Thewlis' real (horrible) teeth? Or prosthetics?

Shea Wigham is one of America's finest actors.

As I said above, I had the sound turned down too low (had sleeping children in a guest bedroom), and closed captioning off, so I misinterpreted the sounds Sy was making as laughter, which made the scene kinda' nonsensical to me, given what we have seen of Sy so far. Amazing how not being able to see the actor's face can lead to a misinterpretation, if the audio isn't heard clearly.

I can only hope Mr. Thewlis' teeth are not actually that bad.

Shea Wighman is a criminally underused actor, indeed.