- Malvo flips the script on the blackmail operation. Molly sets a trap, and Gus debates whether he should come clean. Lester's return to work has complicated repercussions.
- "Fargo" - "A Muddy Road" - April 29, 2014
We open on an a tall office building. Inside its quiet halls a man works at a cubicle by the window, an aquarium as his screensaver. He looks around and seems frustrated. He looks again and sees Lorne down the hallway and starts saying "Shit, shit, shit" to himself. He starts pleading with Lorne who drags him down the hall by his tie in full view of other employees and security cameras. He drags him all the way to the parking garage. The man pleads with him as Lorne shows him a knife. Lorne strips him to his underwear and throws him in his trunk. The man feebly pounds on the trunk. We see from his vantage point the car crashing. When it does he runs off in to the snowy woods. This is the car crash from the opening of the pilot. He scampers through the woods in his undies and sits in the snow. He freezes to death. This is how Molly and Vern found him.
We cut to Molly, chewing on her lip and thinking while driving her cruiser.
Molly goes to the office building and takes witness statements. They all heard different things: drugs, gambling, pedophile. The security guard shows her the tape and she says it's hard to tell much from the picture. They freeze it on the best vantage of Lorne. They wonder if this is their Bemidji murderer. She says it could be. She looks at the picture and says "Who are you?"
Lorne goes to the personal trainer at his gym and shows him he got bronzer on the ransom note. The trainer pulls him aside and tries to plead his case and asks him not to tell Helena. Lorne tells him he actually works for Stavros. He asks him to squeeze an exercise ball to calm down and says he has two questions and a comment. He asks him why $43,613. He says he wants to start a Turkish bath. He asks what the note meant about "knowing about the money." The trainer says he doesn't really know, he was bluffing off of what Helena said to him about her husband's nefarious dealings. Lorne's comment: "You're an idiot." He says the good news for the trainer is that Lorne is now taking over the blackmail and now the trainer works for him. The trainer says he's confused. Lorne says the first thing they need is a new blackmail letter.
Gus sits in the Duluth precinct house and thinks back to his encounter with Lorne. He looks up the license plate number. It was Lester's car. Gus feels guilty. He goes to see the Lieutenant, who is in the john trying to do his, um, business and none too pleased to be bothered. He tells the Lieutenant about the car and how it belongs to one of the victims of the Bemidji murders. The lieutenant is angry that he pulled over a stolen car and let it go with a warning. Gus says it wasn't listed as stolen at the time. The LT says it's Sioux Falls all over again. He tells him to call Bemidji and tell them he screwed up and to look through mugbooks for the driver.
Lester sits in his kitchen, hearing his wife's nagging voice in his head. The house is still a mess. He flashes back to Vern being shot again.
He heads to work. They welcome him back kindly. They wonder if he's ready. He says he can't sit around all day. They ask if he wants to take the papers out to Gina Hess about Sam's policy. He says he will.
He heads out there. The house is for sale and the boys are shooting arrows into the for sale sign. They harass Lester as he enters the house. She answers the doors and calls the boys wolves.
When she hears he's from the insurance company she's excited and invites him in. She apologizes for the boys and asks when she gets her money. He offers his condolences. She just wants to know about the money. He says in cases of murder they have to wait for the coroner. She recognizes him as the guy from the double murder whose wife was killed. They have a drink. She says he should get back out there, since he's not a bad-looking guy, if a little small. She asks if he liked his wife and says she didn't love her husband and notes Lester knew him and says it never got better. She met Sam at a strip club in Vegas. Lester says he's never been to a strip club. She throws her leg over his head and gives him a tease. She says Sam promised her the good life and now she's stuck in the Yukon with her idiot sons. She starts flirting with him and asks what she has to do to get that money quick. The boys see her sitting on Sam's lap and the younger one shoots the older one in the butt with an arrow. When Lester looks out he sees Beard and Sideburns lurking in the woods behind Sam's house.
Lorne purchases some Adderall out of the back of a van from a scruffy guy who is also offering clean urine, blood and other medical stuff. He tries to sell him a zombie survival kit. Lorne declines.
Molly has lunch with an old friend who is impressed that she's a cop and that she has a gun and stuff. She asks about the Vern-Pearl murders. She asks if Molly's dating anyone. Molly says no. The friend moved to St. Paul after high school, she's divorced since her husband cheated on her and now she's online dating. She says from time to time you get a bad egg like the one who stole all her panties and the one who had a harelip. But now she's dating a guy named Roger who took her to Acapulco, where he had spider eggs laid in his neck and they crawled out while they were having sex. Now she's decided to stay in Minnesota.
Stavros's dog awakes and runs outside where he is met by Lorne. Stavros calls out to his dog. Lorne lets himself in and replaces Stavros's regular prescription with the Adderall. All the while Stavros is calling the dog, who is named King. He sees the dog, dead outside his door. There is another ransom note by his body. Stavros is sad, angry, and scared.
Molly drives home from lunch and hears an ad for Lester's insurance agency.
Beard and Sideburns drive through town.
Lester looks at his hand wound in the bathroom at work. It is getting infected. He squeezes pus out of it. Beard and Sideburns visit Lester at work. They stand silently looking at him. His phone rings and it's a tow lot in Duluth calling about the car. They continue to look at him and around the office, which is otherwise empty. The tow lot tells him to come with $150 cash to pick it up. He addresses Beard and Sideburns. Sideburns signs at him, Lester looks to Beard for translation who says: "Sam Hess." They say they saw him with Sam's wife through the window and wonder if he was celebrating. They surround his chair on either side. Just then Molly shows up to talk to him. He pretends to have been giving them an insurance quote. Beard plays along.
Molly wonders who they are. He says they had question about vacation insurance. She pretends she's interested in talking about life insurance in case something happened to her and who would take care of her dad. She drops a folder and Lester goes to help her pick it up and inside he sees the screengrab of Lorne in there and it throws him just a little. He offers to give her the long speech and she says she's got time but instead he hands her a pamphlet and tells him to give her a call and says he has to close up, hurrying her out with a smile.
Lorne goes to see Stavros who is very upset about his dog. He no longer thinks it's his wife who would never hurt an animal. He shows Lorne the new ransom note that has now raised the price to $1 million. Lorne asks who else knows about the money. Stavros says no one, it's impossible. Stavros pops pills, which are now Adderall. Lorne notices the stained glass behind Stavros' desk and asks if he's Greek Orthodox. He says he and God have something akin to a New Year's resolution. He wants the dog killer found. Lorne proposes moving onto the property to better protect him. He tells Lorne to get it done.
Gus is looking through the mug books and can't find any sign of Lorne. His daughter sits at his desk with him. He seems frustrated. She asks what's wrong. He tells her he made a mistake and now he has to call another jurisdiction and tell them because of him their suspect got away. She tells him it would be better to do in person.
Molly shows Bill the suspect photo of Lorne from the security video screen grab and tells him that she "accidentally" showed it to Lester and he says it was like he saw a ghost and Lester knows him and not from a casual chat. Bill is "super ticked" and isn't listening to Molly on Lester. He says to put out an APB on screengrab guy and leave Lester alone and turns his back on her. She is frustrated.
Gus goes to see Molly to fall on his sword. His daughter says to tell the truth and say he's sorry which is what he always tells her to do. He explains what happened, that he gave the guy a warning but then he had a feeling so he ran the plates and the car belonged to Lester. She is surprised and said Lester said his car was in the shop. Gus says Lester wasn't driving. Molly shows him Lorne's picture and he's surprised now and says that's him. She's curious why he didn't ask for the guy's license and registration. He says he asked but he threatened him. He's very embarrassed and says he was a really dangerous looking guy with really scary eyes. His daughter comes in and asks for a dollar for the vending machine. Molly gives her a token. Molly asks about his daughter and he says she's 12, Greta, and her mother's been gone 10 years. It's just the two of them. If she was going to be angry, she isn't now that she sees why he did what he did. She asks them to have a burger before they head back. Gus says he doesn't want to be a bother. She says it's none and maybe a clue will fall out. She goes to put out an APB on Lorne.
They go to her dad's place, Lou's. Lou asks if they're alone and Greta says a very pretty lady is joining them. Lou notices Gus's uniform and asks if he knows this guy Ben Schmidt, turns out it's Gus's boss. Lou calls him a prick and says they worked on a joint task force once in Sioux Falls. (Which is something that the LT mentioned earlier to Gus as well as being a debacle but didn't elaborate.) Gus agrees he's a prick. Molly enters and says she needs a milkshake tonight, a double. Greta has one too. Molly orders burgers
Gus says it's strange Lester never reported his car stolen. Molly says Lester's mixed up in nasty business. Molly asks Greta if she has a boyfriend. She blushes and says no. Gus says she's too young. Molly tells him to keep telling himself that. She then recounts the spider egg story-- sans sex. They are both perplexed. Molly says she's not sure if she wants to live in a world where something like that can happen to a person. They all drink their milkshakes in happy silence.
Lester goes to see his brother Chaz, who's working in his gun case in his garage. Lester asks him which ones make the biggest hole. They head out, protective earmuffs on and Lester lets off some stress firing an automatic weapon while Chaz cheers him on.
Lorne reads from the Bible in voiceover, it's a passage about Moses.
Beard and Sideburns hang out in an ice fishing shack.
Stavros pops pills, very fidgety. He hops in the shower. The shower, inexplicably begins to run red, as if it is blood. Stavros freaks out. Lorne goes to his car and covers up to three huge containers of pig's blood.
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