Jeff Alexander is a freelance writer who has lived in Minnesota since 1975. He is the author of “A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know from Watching Television” and has written for Television Without Pity, Previously.TV, Time, and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He once stayed next door to Ethan Coen on vacation. Follow @mgiant on Twitter.
Quick recap: Prey becomes predator and vice versa, as the finale proves that what goes around comes around. • Complete season recaps Real good? An outstanding conclusion to the series. Most long-form stories — particularly morality plays, as this has inevitably turned out to be — have to choose between being unpredictable and being satisfying. Read more →
Quick recap: What happens in Vegas refuses to stay in Vegas, after Lester fails to take Malvo’s hint until far too late. • Previous episode recaps • Photos: ‘Fargo’ in still life Real good? Probably the best episode yet. Fargo has taken its time, and then some, but there’s no question that it’s used that Read more →
Quick recap Molly tries to set Bill straight, but he remains willfully obtuse. Plus Lester finds his groove, Malvo settles his accounts, and a year goes by. Real good? The scope of this epic tale expands dramatically in tonight’s episode. Molly is forced to let go of her (almost entirely correct) theory so that everyone Read more →
Quick recap While Molly is out of commission, Malvo pays off a few debts. Also, Lester talks and Lester walks. And does a few other things too. Real good? With the supermarket blackmail scheme over, Malvo is drawn back into the main plot, which is only to the good. In the aftermath of last week’s Read more →
Biblical-style restitution descends on Northern Minnesota, along with plenty of snow and something you won’t believe. Read more →
Quick Recap Lester and Malvo get chatty, while Molly and Gus get closer. To the solution of the case, that is. Real good? While the pursuit of the mystery takes a few steps forward, most of tonight’s progress is in the field of unraveling the mysteries of life. There are long stretches of philosophical filibustering, Read more →
Quick recap: The killer gets collared and gets a name, and Lester is dragged out onto the ice. But both manage to get away; one of them for longer than the other. Real good? Lots of nice character moments this time around, as the various dragnets slowly close in on Lester and Billy Bob Thornton’s Read more →
Another solid episode that does what it needs to do in terms of plot and character, with a few dark philosophical asides about the sometimes random horror of human existence. The show is maintaining its steady and deliberate but inexorable pace, and that’s a good thing. Until my DVR packs up with eleven minutes of the episode left, that is. Minnesotans like to be punctual, so maybe Fargo should stop treating its time slot like a vague suggestion. Read more →
Quick recap: Deputy Molly looks for Chief Vern’s killer, while Fargo mobsters arrive in town to look for Sam Hess’s killer. It doesn’t go well for either of them, because said killer has moved on to a new gig in Duluth. There, Officer Grimly has begun wrestling his severely overmatched conscience. Meanwhile, Lester is just trying to mind his own business and get away with an entirely different murder. Read more →
Note: This is the first in a series of recaps of the new “Fargo” TV series on FX. Spoilers abound. Is “Fargo” the FX TV series like “Fargo” the 1996 Coen Brothers movie? Yes and no. Both are set mostly in sleepy, outstate Minnesota towns disrupted by the arrival of shady characters. And both seem Read more →
Jeff Alexander