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Fargo: The House of Special Purpose (2017)
Fargo: Season Three
Continuing to connect the Dots!
Speaking of "identity theft" and "invisibility," here comes insidious villain, V.M. Vargas, whom Billy Bob introduces as the "Wolf", Vargas, like a wormy, computer virus has made his way into Emmitt Stussy's company. Emmitt takes a short cut when he needed money, during the bank bubble in 2008, and got a loan form an unusual source, without asking too many questions. In the opening episode, Emmitt wants to return the money to get it off the books, so the IRS doesn't look too closely. Short cuts have consequences and Emmitt's now has a silent, but deadly partner. Vargas is a sinister kind of evil. who binge eats then purges or spews the impute from his body in the form of pithy, one liners, like Mike Milligan from season two. The bulimic nature of Vargas not only explains his horrifyingly bad dental work, but may also be symbolic of how his invasion into the Stussy Company through stealth means is like a tapeworm, devouring everything in his path. Vargas is parasitic; eating everything in his path, while purging from his body his own identity while taking leeching off the life of another. He informs Emmitt that Stussy's belongs to him and intends to use Emmitt's "identity" to make himself and all his money "invisible" from the world. Vargas is afraid the "masses" are about to storm the gates of the wealthy and he intends to protect his wealth by hiding it in plain sight: Stussy INC!
"Into the Fire," also shows brief connections between characters which not only move the plot along, but also raise the question, as Hawley did in the first two seasons, how do humans connect with the world around them and how much other people's perfections of us affect our own identity. Does perception equal reality, or is there a discernible objective reality we (mankind) can share with others. He between Nikki and Gloria, as they walk past each other on the sidewalk outside the parole office. Gloria is going in to talk with the brain bashed suspect's parole officer, Ray, while Nikki has just left him with the news about a bridge sponsor. In this passing, both women sniff each other out and know instantly, the other woman poses danger to her. In her meeting with Ray, she learns her suspect's parole officer has the same last name as her step-father, Stussy. As she takes his business card, Gloria knows this is no coincidence. She's connected one of the dots.
Gloria has one other passing connection, which yields results. She meets a perky, talkative beat cop named, Winnie. Gloria is trying to wash her hands after a bathroom break, with no luck, when Winnie asks for a tampon. Winnie should have asked Nikki; Nikki would have had one. Winnie is a chatty, Cathy and could easily be dismissed by Gloria, who is quiet. However, over the first four episodes this season, we've seen Gloria and know she has a naked, innate sense of understanding human flaws without passing moral judgment. We also know after she passes Nikki, Gloria instinctively knows a "Tigress" when she sees one. Winnie may talk a lot, but she, like Gloria, listens and knows a lie when she hears one or just stammering like she heard from Sy. Winnie also knows about Gloria's murder case because there hasn't been murder in that small Minnesota town in years and while investigating Ray's accident, she learns the car that hit Ray's Corvette belongs to his brother, Emmitt Stussy's company. Winnie connects the other dot, Emmitt, and where he lives, Eden Prairie, not Eden Valley. Thus, Hawley, brings back another theme from seasons one and two: how do humans connect with the world. Gloria likes human connections and listening to learn. The way Carrie Coon's eyes light up when Winnie brings her the connecting dots in person, not over the phone, in a text message or email. Gloria refuses to believe perception equals reality and does not all other people's perception of her to move her from the path she is traveling. Gloria moves at her own speed and changes directions when her instincts, senses, tell her two. So, Hawley once more begs the questions" Does our perception of things or people, create their own reality, or is there an objective reality we all can know? Do we allow people's perception of us to shape or reshape up into someone or something new. Remember, how Hank Larson, from season two wanted to create a new language based on symbols because he believed words could mean different things to different people, thus causing the ability to communicate with other people more difficult. Moreover, our inability to communicate with each other on a human level becomes the source of all the ills that plague the earth. Each season, Hawley shows characters trying to connect to an ever-changing world. Some connect with their minds, other with their senses, but these connections are often miss-perceptions, like Hawley's opening scrawl, "This is a "True" story."
Tonight's episode continues the "turth" verses "perceptive truth" when Ray and Nikki send a porno of Ray disguised as Emmitt having sex with Nikki in disguise. Gloria has another conflict when she and Winnie bring Ray in for questioning. She knows he won't like it, but as she puts it "you don't have to like the truth for it to be true." The new sheriff dismisses her once more and says cut Ray loose cause she cannot prove the "truth," and he won't let her try.
Fargo: The Narrow Escape Problem (2017)
Season Three: So Far
(Spoiler Alerts)
Last Week's episode of Fargo: "Into the Fire," put the bow into the tie, which connects it to seasons one and two. While no Solverson's have appeared yet, nor any Fargo, syndicate hit men, we are starting to see the themes, variations and parallels, which have been Hawley hallmarks of previous two seasons. We have steady, unassuming cop, Gloria, trying to solve a crime and a dismissive, new boss pushing her to "move along cause there's nothing to see here." We have identity switches, mistakes and not one but two evil entities: a female tigress, named, Nikki, who is transforming a likable, looser named, Ray Stussy, into her evil twin and an insidious, evil virus, named V. M. Vargas infecting the life of Emmitt Stussy, Ray's calculating twin brother. I normally do not comment on this show: there is no need too. No one complained at all about seasons' one or two; however, so many reviewers have questioned this season's slow pace and bemoaned that Gloria is flat compared to Solverson clan: Molly, her dad and Grand- Paw, Hank.
Gloria, like Molly, is a smart cop from a small town, who is underestimated, unappreciated and unassuming she is pushed aside by others. Glory sticks to her guns when others are telling her to pack it in. However, Glory is quieter and more contemplative than Molly. Which, at first, may make her seem flat; however, over the first four episodes, we learn Gloria is reserved. She mostly listens and watches others rather than interject herself into situations. We also learn early on Gloria is also dealing with a divorce; her husband has left her for another man. So, a less observant viewer could easily see a flat-line whenever Gloria is on camera.
Yet, make no mistake, Gloria has a heartbeat. She loves her son and even feels duty bound to her step-father, Ennis Stussy, after her mom dies. Even though Ennis barks at her at times, she and her son have dinner with him on a regular basis. She tells her son in some many words: hey, he was married to my mom, ya know. We see this duty turned into to dogged determination once she finds Ennis murdered. Gloria returns Ennis' house because her son forgot the birthday present, "Grand-Dad," made him. From that moment on, Gloria moves calmly but assuredly into Sheriff mode after she finds Ennis dead in the, kitchen tied to a chair, suffocated: his nose and mouth sealed with super glue and his house ransacked by an assailant looking for something.
Gloria will only feel released from this duty once she finds his killer. This could get complicated because Gloria's Eden Valley police department is being absorbed into the County, and she will have a new boss. Hearkening back to season one, Gloria's new boss blows into town,takes one look at her tiny department, chides her shoddy policing because she has not embraced computers and still uses file cabinets. He takes one look and dismisses her as a lousy cop. He promises to return, however, with a new organizational plan, which includes forcing Gloria to embrace technology as his, new authority. Here, when begin to we see the brilliance of Hawley's character creation and plot line come together. In the first two seasons, the Solverson Clan is mocked by big city or county police officers because, their small-town values can't solve modern problems. Now, Gloria now finds herself in the same boat. Even though she has been Eden Valley's Sheriff for a while with no complaints, she is pushed aside. She is invisible. In fact, Noah Hawley, takes his theme of small town people and values as invisible to the "real evil" and "progress" to a new level when he takes Gloria from figurative invisibility and changes it into literally invisibility: from the first episode, we learn sensor, technology ignores Gloria or fails to sense her presence.
Gloria can't walk through automatic doors, use a cell phone, without it dropping or even get soap from a sensor dispenser or dry her hands under a motion, activated hand dryer. Maybe, Gloria relies on her own senses, instincts and old-fashioned detective work because it has always worked in the past, so why fix something Gloria doesn't see as broke. Remember, last year, Ed told Peggy she was always trying to fix things and sometimes there is nothing broken. I'll talk about Peg Blomquist in a few moments. Then again, it might just be that technology has been no friend to her! Hawley hammers this point once more as Gloria's job as Sheriff disappears with the county take over of her office and she is caught in the undertow of "Modernization." However, Gloria cannot worry about her disappearing job, or identity. She has a murder to solve. Someone has killed her step-dad and she intends to find the murderer. Perhaps the slow space of the show so far is mirroring Gloria's steady, methodical policing and her personality.
In addition, Hawley reintroduces a new "Wolf" or "Cat/ Tigress" in season three: Nikki Swango. Billy Bob Thornton's narration of the musical "Peter and Wolf" composition from "Into the Fire" makes this connection for us. As in season one, a "Wolf", Thornton's character, Malvo, transforms a loser named Lester, into a stone-cold killer and his evil twin. Nikki the "Tigress" is transforming a loser, Ray, into a stone-cold killer and her evil twin. In addition, Hawley's Nikki is an evil version of Peggy Blomquist, played brilliantly by Kristen Dunst last season. Peg Blomquist stumbles into crime on her journey of self-actualization, but our Nikki is already a stone-cold criminal and is trying to self- actualize through a "Mind-Bridge" connection with her evil twin, Ray Stussy.