Fargo Season 3 Discussion Thread (renamed) (1 Viewer)

[Hollywoodaholic]

Some really nice directing in this episode: The transposition of Nikki's image in the spilled blood beside Ray's head. The shot of Nikki in the cell overlaid with Gloria in the bathroom stall (the metaphorical implication being they are both imprisoned at that point - Gloria by the bureaucracy). And that bus crash sequence was amazing, including that shot running parallel to the bus traveling in silhouette along the road on the other side of the woods with the windows illuminated from the inside. Still trying to figure how the got that one running parallel from a distance.

I'm holding out no hope for Moe at this point. Looks like he's going to stay a dick.

Varga reveals even MORE evil... he will open your Christmas gifts while you aren't around!

 

[Tommy R]

Great episode, but not enough Varga!

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

And again, not even Coon's larynx shows up in the cell closed circuit camera recording.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I never doubted that Nikki really loved Ray, but this episode did a good job leaving you guessing. Her wanting to talk to Gloria seems to lean to caring.

I don't like Emmit developing a hard, cynical outlook. But, I guess his breakdown at the end shows he's just trying to come up with some way to cope with all this madness.

The season has really redeemed itself from any early weakness (which may not have even been there). I checked the time last night and said, "Nooooo!" when I saw it was almost over. I used to only do that with Better Call Saul and Twin Peaks: The Return!

 

[SamT]

Ok, liked this episode a lot. I especially like Gloria insisting on solving the case against her superiors.

1- Why the bad guys still chasing Nikki? Especially now that Ray is dead.

2- Who was the guy sitting next to her in the bus? He looked familiar.

3- The guy who attacked her in prison. He is a famous actor, have we seen
him before?

 

[TravisR]

I never doubted that Nikki really loved Ray, but this episode did a good job leaving you guessing. Her wanting to talk to Gloria seems to lean to caring.

Yeah, I think her silence was just related to her presumably not liking the police or worrying that they'd use anything she said to pin the crime on her.

Ok, liked this episode a lot. I especially like Gloria insisting on solving the case against her superiors.

1- Why the bad guys still chasing Nikki? Especially now that Ray is dead.

Those Russian guys are still trying to kill her from the motel last episode.

2- Who was the guy sitting next to her in the bus? He looked familiar.

It's

Spoiler

the deaf assassin dude from the first season.

3- The guy who attacked her in prison. He is a famous actor, have we seen
him before?

It's DJ Qualls. He arrested Badger back in the second season of Breaking Bad.

 

[SamT]

The Russian guys wanted her because of Ray. Now he is dead.

It's DJ Qualls. He arrested Badger back in the second season of Breaking Bad.

Wow, I have no recollection of seeing him in BB. The way they used a known actor for such a small role, I assumed it implies we have seen him before in Fargo universe.

 

[Greg_S_H]

They were also trying to make him the next David Spade back in the '90s. He may still have a role, since I think he's one of the bus attackers. Maybe.

I think Varga's men think Nikki is in on some scheme with Sy. They maybe think she's a part of selling to the widow Goldfarb, since they were following him. It fits into the whole mistaken identity thing, with Varga thinking that couple was working against him when it's all just coincidental timing.

Just remembered: Nikki saw some object under the dresser in the picture of Ray. That's probably going to be key in Varga's downfall.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Is there a longer thread on the HTF that has been started by someone who does not care about the subject of said thread? I trust I make myself obscure.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It'd be even longer if Josh hadn't ducked out on it. But if what Varga did to that World's Greatest Dad mug isn't going to bring him to the yard, nothing will!

 

[Greg_S_H]

Somewhere in Heaven, a kitten named Ray is drunk off its ass in front of its beer bowl. Meanwhile, Ray Wise has been cast as the lead in the remake of Oh God!.

Regarding DJ Qualls:

Mr. Wrench: Not the time to lose one's head.
Nikki Swango: No.
Wrench: That's not the way to get ahead in life.
Nikki: No.
Wrench: It's a shame he wasn't more headstrong.
Nikki: Hmm.
Wrench: He'll never be the head of a major corporation.
Nikki: Okay, that'll do.

This conversation took up a hell of a lot of snow, mind you. Meanwhile, if Wrench is as smart as I think he is, he's calculating how to make the trip to Canada fun and memorable so the even-gorgeous-when-she's-bleeding-out MEW will see him as boyfriend material.

Remind me again: is this post- or pre-season one? I would assume Numbers is already dead.

 

[TravisR]

The whole opening act of that episode was fantastic. Although it's a real good thing none of those guys had guns.

Remind me again: is this post- or pre-season one? I would assume Numbers is already dead.

Yeah, it's after the first season which I'm pretty sure was set in 2006 or maybe 2007.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Once again, comparisons to the Coen Bros. work make themselves evident...

Ray Wise all philosophical in the bowling alley was reminiscent of Sam Elliot's conversation with The Dude, if not in substance at least in terms of the setting.

This was probably the strangest episode yet of season three, with questions regarding the nature of Ray Wise's character. An angelic messenger perhaps? I briefly thought that Nikki and her newfound friend might have passed on to another realm, but the appearance of Yuri dispelled that notion. (Is the reference to the Cossack massacre going to play into the larger narrative in some fashion?)

Stranger and stranger it gets. But still incredibly enjoyable.

- Walter.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't think it dispels that notion at all. Marrane basically tells her she is in Purgatory and that it isn't her time and that they'd normally keep Mr. Wrench, but he still has a role to play and is on the path to redemption. Yuri is not so lucky, and dialog from the time skip indicates that he is dead.

It was an odd episode, and one that appears to have really inhibited discussion in this thread.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I just finished watching this very strange episode and had lots of questions.

However, Greg pretty much makes clear what I was kind of thinking....

Perhaps our escapees just passed through Purgatory and were told it's not their time yet.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was watching Trainspotting, and Tommy's sex tape looks to have the exact same staging as Ray's. I don't have the Fargo episode to make a direct comparison, but I wonder if it was an intentional reference.

 

[Dheiner]

I think Ray was portraying a "Wandering Jew" reference.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

All I have been thinking about today is that scene inside the bowling alley.

It's brilliant. I agree it's a real throw-back to the scene in THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

If we are correct, and that is purgatory, it was very well played. It also gives new meaning to Ray Wise's character and his interactions with various characters during this season.

 

[Dheiner]

oops.

 

[Dheiner]

All I have been thinking about today is that scene inside the bowling alley.

It's brilliant. I agree it's a real throw-back to the scene in THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

If we are correct, and that is purgatory, it was very well played. It also gives new meaning to Ray Wise's character and his interactions with various characters during this season.

Well.... No Purgatory I'm aware of involves returning to earth. I think Ray's character (Yes, an obvious throwback to Elliott in Lebowski.) is mainly an observer, with the ability to intercede as he sees fit.