S01.E08: The Heap

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Molly faces pressure to close the case, while Lester starts to feel like a new man.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd4orPpkGaI

[lumibutterfly]

Random time skip in the middle of the episode? The fuck? (but happy to see Gus and Molly together)

[SimoneS]

Yeah, the time jump was disconcerting, but it was nice to see Gus, Molly, and Greta as a family. I was glad that Gus became a postman. Unlike Molly, he was clearly not up to being a police officer.

 

Wow, Lester really is a sociopath. He has no guilt for his actions and has become super confident since getting away with his crimes.

[whyjen8]

One year later.....everyone has haircuts.  I really like Malvo's makeover, Billy Bob looks sexy with his hair pushed back.

Speaking of hair...."12 hours ago I was picking your pubes out of my teeth" was funny as hell.  Will not be surprised if we see her in Vegas.

Lester is not only a sociopath he's a douche.  Enjoy it while you can Lester.

Was that seriously a foster kid?  He looked too old to be any kind of kid, can there be foster men?

Edited June 4, 2014 by whyjen8

[lumibutterfly]

The foster kid could be 16-17, lots of boys get their growth spurt before/around then. It made me so happy to see Gus delivering mail, like he was always meant to do.:)

[HunterHunted]

Lester's douchery is like what happens when someone hits the jackpot the first time the gamble. They get all of this positive reinforcement for maladaptive behavior. Lester got away with murder ads it got him sympathy, flirtation from women who were previously out of his league, and a go for broke swagger. It doesn't help that there is a subset of salesmen who are very successful because they are sociopaths.

I worry so much more about Gus being in the line of fire. Even with Molly being pregnant, he's just not suited to the profession.

[Tara Ariano]

Are we talking about the kid at the end, with Bill? He could be from overseas; a lot of Somali refugees moved to Minnesota, so he might have had assistance in adapting past the normal age cutoff. Forgive me if we're talking about someone else; I watched the episode mid-last week and didn't rewatch that bit for my post. SPEAKING OF MY POST:

 

Here's my post about a great Molly moment in the episode.

 

@HunterHunted: after the time jump, Gus isn't a cop anymore. He's now working for "U.S. MAIL" (pointedly NOT the USPS, I guess because they wouldn't sign off).

[lumibutterfly]

I just could not deal if they kill off Gus or Molly. I don't think that's likely, though, I think Lester will get his just deserts.

[The Wild Sow]

Aw, now that was more like it!

 

It almost had the feeling of a finale, but there are still 2 episodes to go - and Lester certainly has to still get his comeuppance.

 

But, ah, Gus & Molly together.  And her pregnant.  And him a mailman!  Not quite "designing stamps" but still postal work & a nice throwback :-)

 

Not only has everyone had a haircut, Lester has definitely been dippin' into the Grecian Formula (or whatever the equivalent is for blond men.)  BBT looked great & yes, sexy with the makeover.  I was a little suprised Mr. Wrench didn't show up at his table.  Well, yet, anyway!

 

The show did surprise me a bit; I was sure the guy visiting Mr. Wrench in the hospital would be "Mild-Mannered Minister Frank Peterson" now posing as a hospital chaplain!  Garrotting the guard in the john did NOT cross my mind!  Wonder where he left the body?

 

 I'll be counting the minutes till next week.

Edited June 4, 2014 by The Wild Sow

[Dust Bunny]

As a Minnesotan, two things:

 

1. Martin Freeman has developed the most subtle, smooth, and authentic Minnesotan accent on the show. Maybe being from Britain, he recognizes and works harder on the subtle differences between regional, and even city, accents. I want to claim him as an honorary Minnesotan.

2. Not only did they pronounce "Faribault" correctly, closed caption spelled it accurately,

 

This show is a masterpiece. 

Edited June 4, 2014 by Dust Bunny

[aliya]

1. I fell asleep for a moment and when I woke up, Molly was pregnant and Lester was winning a salesman award. I thought someone on the show was having a dream.

 

2. Why do people expect Lester to get punished? People get away with worse everyday. Now, if he keeps messing with Malvo, he might have an issue, but short of that, bad people often get away with their bad deeds. I wouldn't be surprised. I don't need Lester to go to jail or die for the show to have a suitable  ending.

 

3. Loved the scene of Molly and Gus in bed. "We're doing good." I didn't get the connection between the stamps from the movie and being a postal emplooyee, but nice catch.

[lumibutterfly]

As a person who really wants Lester to get caught - I've watched plenty of shows that are all morally ambiguous. I want Molly to win here.

[Fisher King]

No, yah, Lester's new found self-assurance means he's definitely gonna pay. He should have just ignored Malvo in the bar. That's one badass you don't welcome back into your life.

.

[thuganomics85]

Certainly wasn't expecting a time jump.  Not surprised Gus is now a mailman, because he never really was cut-out to be a police officer, but I'm glad he and Molly are already hitched.  Molly's pregnant, but I'm glad she's still an officer, at least.  Surprised Bill is still the chief; man, I guess they really can't be too picky over there.

 

Lester though... we'll see, but the signs seem to be pointing towards a major fall for him.  He not only got away (for now), he's now a big-shot salesman, married to his beautiful co-worker, hitting on other beautiful women as well, and just being generally smug. Yeah, I see something bad in store for him.  Probably thanks to Lorne.  Glad to see he's at least change his looks, after everything he did. But I wonder what will come out of him letting Mr. Wrench go.

 

I know they gave them names tonight, but as far as I'm concerned, the FBI agents will always be Agent Key & Peele to me.

 

Two episodes left.  I can't even fathom how everything is going to play out at this point.  Or who will be left standing.

[Jodithgrace]

For one horrible moment I thought that this was the finale because i thought that the one year later thing was kind of an epilogue..and I thought, OMG he's going to get away with it! At large and livin' large! I mean, that little Salesman of the year had every intention of cheating on his brand new wife! And Malvo too..though in some ways he was kind of the angel of death and so it almost worked that he got away after putting a sizable dent in the populations of MN and ND.

 

But thankfully I heard the magic words, "stay tuned for scenes from next week's all new Fargo" So there are two more to go. Plenty of time for Molly and the mailman to solve the case and justify her (former) last name, Solverson.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

This one so did not work for me.

 

Zero mention of the king and/or the melted snow which revealed the loot.  Do we simply assume Malvo figured it out?  What became of the King?  His business?

 

Nothing ever became of the menacing stake out of Gus and the walkie talkie.  Fie on that.

 

I was bored with Molly's angst/navel gazing.  At least she had the intelligence to not voice her problems about the case to the widow.  I hope she lives happily ever after with doofus Gus and absent the red sauce he'll never be able to give her.  Puke.

 

The "pubes" line was fantastic, though.  I also loved seeing the joy on BBT's face as he had the writhing cop in his death throes on his back.  The dude loves his work, eh?

 

Odds that Lester showed up in that moment and discovered Malvo by pure chance?   To me, the preview is a giant misdirection.  Seems to me Malvo forced it and decided to make Lester either be with him, or to take him out. 

[spaceghostess]

Loved Molly and her dad, and his questioning (but not really, because he knows his daughter) her choice of taking the "direct route". Their scenes are tiny treasures.

 

And was that Stephen Root at Malvo's table in Vegas? This show gets better and better.

[thuganomics85]

 

And was that Stephen Root at Malvo's table in Vegas?

Yeah, I saw his name in the credits and there was a clearer shot of him in next week's previews.  I'm curious to see if he's another person Lorne is trying to con, or if it will be something completely different.  Either way, I"m looking forward to it, because Stephen Root is awesome.

[fauxphysician]

This show is such a delight! I love that it doesn't do the TV tried and true expected-- for instance, when Gus was in the car talking to Molly and the  camera started panning to the left over the theme music, Malvo did NOT appear suddenly and shoot him. Loved too, how Lester has evolved into a more suave Sam Hess, but the mere sight of Malvo  causes his swagger to collapse and the sad sack/loser mannerisms to re-appear. Bravo Martin Freeman!

[Haiti D]

Is there a resolution to the blackmail plot? Last I recall, the fish fell from the sky and the Phoenix King's son died. During the flash forward, Bill mentioned finding the kid at Phoenix Farms so I presume the owner is still around.

Speaking of the Lost Boy, something makes me doubt that kid's authenticity. I partly believe he's scamming Bill.

I like how some scenes parallel the movie, for instance Molly and Gus together in bed is very close to the same scene in the movie. Even some of the conversation points have parallels.

The intrigue keeps building and I have no idea how this will end, it's thrilling.

[Milburn Stone]

Count me as one who thought the time jump was awesome.

 

I'm very suspicious of the African "kid." The story he told was totally his, and could have been totally fabricated. The only thing Bill can corroborate is that he saw an African lad shoplifting in Phoenix Foods, and he thought and assumed this was the boy he and his wife had agreed to adopt. Does Bill have a picture of the correct kid, so that he can verify this? I heard no evidence of that. The African lad could have seen a great chance in the fact of this misunderstanding, and taken advantage of it. Could he in fact be a terrorist who is embedded here? The FBI guy's mention of The Patriot Act to Molly on the phone put the thought in my head.

[Jodithgrace]

Well, if the kid suddenly turns to Bill and his wife and announces, "I am your captain , now!" We'll know.

[whyjen8]

Bill mentioned hanging flyers so I assumed the man-child from Sudan picture was on those.  I dunno, that was a highly detailed story on how he was lost and found.  I took it to parallel Lester happening upon Malvo in Vegas.  Coincidences happen.  Maybe the entire scene was just to show us what a nice guy Bill is.  That's why I love this show, predictable it ain't.

[Spartan Girl]

I was so pissed at Bill's blantant close-mindedness and disregard of Molly's intelligence that I almost wanted Malvo to kill him too.  But after the stuff with the African boy (which I felt was really out of place with this show, but then again, everything is out of place on this show), I calmed down.  I do want him to get fired from being police child since he obviously sucks at it.

 

Not too happy about the year time skip, but at least Molly and Gus are married.  That made me happy.  And Gus being a mailman is probably for the best.  He's a good guy, just not a good cop.  I hope to God they stay safe; there's no way this show would kill a pregnant cop...right?  Right?!

 

Lester's douchery is like what happens when someone hits the jackpot the first time the gamble. They get all of this positive reinforcement for maladaptive behavior. Lester got away with murder ads it got him sympathy, flirtation from women who were previously out of his league, and a go for broke swagger. It doesn't help that there is a subset of salesmen who are very successful because they are sociopaths.

 

 

Word.  I am so past ready for him to go down.

[bosawks]

I aspire to be as awesome as Molly's wall.

[Domestic Assassin]

Jimmy James!!  (And the blind radio station owner from O Brother Where Art Thou?  But he'll always be Jimmy James! to me).

[Milburn Stone]

Bill mentioned hanging flyers so I assumed the man-child from Sudan picture was on those.

 

I missed that mention. Okay, the fully-grown Sudanese "kid" is probably really their adoptee. I won't worry about that anymore.

 

An amazing thing about Martin Freeman's performance (and the whole show): When Lester had become the fully transformed confident creep, and then it all began to disintegrate at the sight of Malvo, I felt his anxiety in the pit of my stomach. In other words, I identified with him! I shouldn't, but I did. Show, how are you doing this to me?

[DrLar]

I guess Molly is stuck with a  desk job while she's this pregnant, her board on Malvo/Lester has grown bigger, but I think the only think that can get her Lester is Malvo and those tapes he has..

[Curious5]

I vote the best scene is when Lester sees Malvo in the bar. I always vote against "slow" but the time it took for Lester to see Malvo and us waiting for Malvo to turn his head to possibly look at Lester was excellent!

Rest of the show too slow. I probably want more action - like Longmire. I get the marriage and nesting but too long on Molly's family scene. Did get a kick when Molly had on the police shirt - just like Margie in the movie.

The scene with Bill and the foster guy was stupid!.... unless...unless... that is no foster "kid" and it shows to everyone how STUPID Bill really is. I do feel bad that the police chief is played as an idiot but there are some of them out there.

Where is the body of the murdered cop? Malvo seems quite relaxed waiting for the thug to wake up - not worried about anyone finding him. If they had followed up with a scene later about the murdered cop being found it would have been better. Just jumping to a year later was a bit too jumpy.

[Ohwell]

I was confused when I saw Gus's daughter a year later because she got her hair chopped off and she looks like a boy now.

 

I was bored with Molly's angst/navel gazing.  At least she had the intelligence to not voice her problems about the case to the widow.  I hope she lives happily ever after with doofus Gus and absent the red sauce he'll never be able to give her.  Puke.

I'm bored with Molly, too.  I get that she's still thinking about Lester, Malvo, etc., but she just bugs the hell out of me for some reason.   Lester and Malvo truly deserve to go down, but she annoys me to the point that I hope they get away with it.  Like I said before, she's no Marge.

[DrLar]

I don't know how old Mrs. Hess is in the show but could she have a baby by now? also she never "revenged" her not getting the 2 million, I think

 

I was kind of hoping Lester somehow stumbled upon the King's million or something.

[FineWashables]

God, I loved this episode.  So satisfying in so many ways.  

 

I loved that Molly and Gus and his daughter all ended up so happy together.  Only Fargo could do this and not have it come off like a romcom cliche.  Loved that Gus stopped being a cop and fulfilled his dream of delivering mail.  Loved the realism of it being a year later and the case still being unsolved -- thank you, show, for not wrapping everything up tidily by the end of the episode.  

 

I, for one, have no desire to see Lester get caught.  Loved, loved, loved his metamorphosis from cringing milquetoast who always went unnoticed into a confident guy whose stories have everyone in stitches and who got the woman everyone wanted.  I was completely entertained by this and I gotta say, he's done some job acting this part.  From victim to sociopath, he's played this so convincingly.  Loved him attacking the Hess kids with a stapler.

 

Thanks too for not making me look at Billy Bob's bangs any more.  Just -- no.  Why Lester decided to poke the bear by going up to Billy Bob in the bar I do not know, unless he's ready to add someone else to his hit list.

 

"12 hours ago I was picking your pubes out of my teeth."  Best line on TV maybe ever.

 

Finally I want to say how impressed I am by the way they made this show from the movie.  They didn't duplicate plots or characters but the whole feel of the show is so very true to the original movie.  People are quirky in believable and interesting ways without getting all "Firewalk with me."

[annzeepark914]

I've enjoyed reading all these comments - & I share so many of the thoughts, opinions expressed re: last night's episode.  Lester's new look (at the salesmen's convention in Vegas) took me by surprise (heh...almost didn't recognize the dork except he started making those Lester facial gestures, eye rolls, etc).  Taking his award with him into the bar to show off (and hopefully score) was perfect!

[AuntiePam]

I'm only watching two shows right now -- Fargo and Game of Thrones.  I couldn't help but compare Lester with Theon/Reek in this week's episodes -- both of them assuming personas that they couldn't quite hold on to.  So that led to comparing Ramsey Snow and Pearl Nygaard, both emasculating. 

[Tara Ariano]

I wrote a little something about Lester too.

[Nutjob]

 

Here's my post about a great Molly moment in the episode.

I love this, and I loved when it happened to Molly. I also get the rage tears, and it sucks, because it makes people assume you are a weak girly girl. But really... it's just how the rage comes out! Like it's so strong it takes liquid form and forces its way from the body!

 

I loved this episode. At first the time jump was a little jarring, but when Gus walked up to that house (!!!) I found myself hoping that Molly was inside. Her being Marge Gunderson-levels of pregnant was just a bonus.

[Wilson Cat]

Lonesome Rhodes wrote:

 

This one so did not work for me.

 

Auntie Pam wrote:

I'm only watching two shows right now.

 

Nor for me.  I was bored.  Bored bored bored. AuntiePam wrote how she's only watching two shows right now.  So am I.  And at this point it may be cut down to just one, because Fargo is leaving me cold.  My second show is Orphan Black, and IMHO the show runner of Fargo should take a few lessons from that excellent series.  Questions are NOT left unanswered, the audience is trusted with refreshingly clear resolutions (most often in a single episode) yet still leaves enough out there that you cannot wait until the next episode to air.  Fargo is full of gaping plot holes, over-the-top characters, ridiculous amounts of graphic violence, and I don't really have much hope for the final two episodes.  They say this is definitely a single-season series.  I feel that's a wise decision.  I wouldn't tune in again for Season 2.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Wilson Cat

[Ottis]

 Before we saw Malvo at the table in Vegas, I kept expecting him to surprise Lester by sitting next to him at the bar, and explaining how much better off Lester is now after he was "a bad boy." Just a nice, even monologue on the benefits of being a sociopath and taking control of your life. That would be much better than Lester confronting Malvo. I guess we'll see.

 

Also, I was distracted and FF'd past the time skip, so the first scene I saw was everyone at the dinner table and Molly getting up pregnant. I thought wow, that was a ballsy timeshift - not even any notice! Take that, Battlestar Galactica! And then I rewound and noticed new footage and realized I had skipped past the "one year later" notice. OK, so less ballsy. But still appreciated.

 

I assume all these pieces ... the grocery king, the detectives in the file room, etc., will all come to be linked at the end? Can't wait to see how.

[iMonrey]

Did anyone else think Lester was going to end up sleeping with his brother's wife, like he did with Hess's wife? I'm kind of surprised they didn't go there.

 

If they don't give us some kind of resolution on the supermarket owner's story, we'll have wasted most of the season on a plot that ended up going nowhere.

 

I know FX isn't the only network that does this, but why do they always go "Only one more episode left . . . until the season finale!" Why can't they just go "Only two more episodes left?"

[Kobo Duram]

I know there have been various comments posted about whether Malvo is a demon, or the devil, or some such being.  I didn't put a lot of stock in that conjecture, because I thought it would be too far of a departure from the original Fargo, to now introduce a supernatural/scifi element to the story.

 

So, although I haven't been keeping a close tally, I'm starting to unavoidably notice a growing tally of supernatural things that are happening with respect to Malvo.

 

It began with Malvo's disappearance from Lester's basement.   I thought that there must be a benign explanation; another door, or a window.

 

Then, I notice that during the shootout scene last week, where Malvo is killing upwards of twenty people, someone exclaims like they got the jump on Malvo, and they're about to blow him away, but then you distictly hear the sound of the gun dry firing, and then the dry firer dying to Malvo's gun.

 

This week, when Malvo is killing the guard in the bathroom, the lights flicker unexplicably during the killing... and somewhere in my memory I think I recall lights flickering during a Malvo killing in the past.

 

So... I'm suppose I'm starting to buy into the Malvo/demon theory.

[Pike Ludwell]

Unlike some of the other posters, I wasn't bored at all. If the first episode had moved like this, then that would be boring. But we are nearing the conclusion of this interesting story, so a slow build up of suspense like this works for me. You just know something important is going to happen soon, so just sit back and enjoy the suspense.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Democritus

[Ohwell]

I did like Key & Peele last night.

 

I think part of my annoyance with "Molly" is just that the actress who plays her isn't very good.  Sometimes, with some of her facial expressions, I just want to punch her in the face (she'd kick my ass though--that is, if she could catch me--because she's much bigger than I am).  I think I read somewhere that this is her first acting role?  If so, it shows.

[cali1981]

You have to wonder if Lester, having gotten away with a lot of shit, has developed a king sized case of hubris and whether, based on the tease of upcoming events, it's gonna his ass killed.  Why would he even want to make any contact with Malvo (unless it's the other way around).  Any sane person would bundle up the wife and get the hell out of Dodge on the first available flight.

[whyjen8]

With all the WTF moments from Fargo so far the biggest one for me is Who the Fuck, brings Chex Mix to the ballet?!

[Pike Ludwell]

You have to wonder if Lester, having gotten away with a lot of shit, has developed a king sized case of hubris and whether, based on the tease of upcoming events, it's gonna his ass killed.  Why would he even want to make any contact with Malvo (unless it's the other way around).  Any sane person would bundle up the wife and get the hell out of Dodge on the first available flight.

 

Maybe Lester doesn't think it's a coincidence that Malvo is there, and he wants to confront him and see what this is all about. After all, his being there is rather far fetched. If that is the case Lester is acting rationally. However, it could be one of those unusual coincidences, like the African guy bumping into his foster father in the supermarket.

[AimingforYoko]

I did like Key & Peele last night.

I asked last week what happens when you fuck up and you've already been assigned to Fargo, it looks like my answer is The File Room.

[DrLar]

Yeah too much coincidence that Malvo is in the same hotel where the insurance salesman convention is, and I thin they announced Lester was the winner before so he would know he'll be there... Maybe he's there to blackmail him or something.

[Soobs]

This was my favorite episode so far. I thought the pacing was great, I loved the surprise time jump and how a pregnant Molly re-aligned with the movie. I loved how cocky Lester has gotten and I can't wait to see his fall, if it comes. He's no Malvo, that's for sure. I liked the scene between Bill and Molly (but you get a cake with an assault rifle made of frosting on it!) and I even liked Bill's small, redemptive moment for taking in the kid.  I have more faith that they will stick the ending.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Soobs

[AuntiePam]

Any thoughts on the significance of this episode's title?  "The Heap"?  Heap of what? 

[Yeldarbe]

I think it has to do with the sorites paradox. From Wikipedia:

 

The sorites paradox (/soʊraɪtiːz/;[1] sometimes translated as the paradox of the heap because in Ancient Greek: σωρίτης sōritēs means "heap")[2] is a paradox that arises from vague predicates.[3] A typical formulation involves a heap of sand, from which grains are individually removed. Under the assumption that removing a single grain does not turn a heap into a non-heap, the paradox is to consider what happens when the process is repeated enough times: is a single remaining grain still a heap? (Or are even no grains at all a heap?) If not, when did it change from a heap to a non-heap?

Just replace Sand with Files!