{"id":1844,"date":"2015-10-22T18:52:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T02:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=1844"},"modified":"2015-10-22T18:52:03","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T02:52:03","slug":"gory-and-groovy-the-triumphant-return-of-fargo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/gory-and-groovy-the-triumphant-return-of-fargo\/","title":{"rendered":"Gory and Groovy: The Triumphant Return of \u201cFargo\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Declan Hertel\r\nEntertainment Editor<\/pre>\n
When my father asked me several years ago if I had ever seen \u201cFargo,\u201d the Coen Brothers\u2019 1996 cinematic masterpiece, I told him I hadn\u2019t. Without saying another word, he went into our living room and turned it on. <\/p>\n
There was no question about it: \u201cFargo\u201d immediately became one of my top three films of all time.<\/p>\n
It was sometime in 2012 when I heard that a television show was to be made, also called \u201cFargo,\u201d that continued to build on the setting and themes of the film: somewhere in the frozen Midwest, in or around Fargo, ND, there are people too desperate and ambitious for their own good, ruthless-yet-quirky criminals who would gut a man for a buck, and good-hearted, innocent police officers forced to come face to face with the darkest face of mankind. <\/p>\n
The news filled me with a delight and anticipation I had never felt for pop culture before.<\/p>\n
Much to my delight, the first season was unbelievable. It was near-perfect in every facet. \u201cFargo\u201d ran to nearly universal acclaim, and though it was initially touted as only a miniseries, it seemed like FX, and creator\/show-runner Noah Hawley would have been insane to not make another season. <\/p>\n
That is precisely what they did. The new season premiered on Oct. 12. <\/p>\n
Early reviews stated that it was even better than the almost flawless season one, and I am pleased to announce that two episodes into the second season, it looks like they were right: \u201cFargo\u201d round two is absolutely killer.<\/p>\n
Centering on the \u201cSioux Falls Incident,\u201d an event oft-mentioned but never explained in season one, season two takes us to Luverne, Minnesota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1979. <\/p>\n
The nation is reeling from Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War; and as is the way in the \u201cFargo\u201d universe, someone with too much ambition and too little brain creates a huge problem in a small town for both the local police and criminal populace.<\/p>\n
This season stars Patrick Wilson (\u201cWatchmen\u201d) as Lou Solverson, a State Trooper recently returned from combat in Vietnam, Kirsten Dunst (\u201cOn the Road\u201d) as Peggy Blomquist, a hair stylist with a creeping obsession with having a better life, and Jesse Plemons (\u201cBreaking Bad\u201d) as Ed Blomquist, Peggy\u2019s dutiful husband and local butcher. <\/p>\n
All their performances thus far are pitch perfect, especially Kirsten Dunst as one of the most compelling characters I\u2019ve ever seen in any medium. The aforementioned are just scratching the surface of an amazing cast, which includes Ted Danson (\u201cDamages\u201d), Nick Offerman (\u201cParks and Recreation\u201d), Jean Smart (\u201c24\u201d), and Bruce Campbell (\u201cEvil Dead\u201d) as Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
Thus far, season two\u2019s most promising aspect is that while it\u2019s retained the dark charm, murder, and mayhem that is the essence of all things \u201cFargo,\u201d it is absolutely coming into its own as a piece of television. <\/p>\n
If I have but one real criticism of season one, it\u2019s that it stuck too closely to the movie in terms of plotting and characterization, at least early on. Not so with season two, which takes place almost ten years before the movie, and almost twenty before season one.<\/p>\n
The only thing this season needs to do is make the \u201cSioux Falls Incident\u201d something worth remembering, and with a vehicular mansla
\nughter cover-up, two crime syndicates facing off, and a brutal triple murder already, I can\u2019t wait to see how this season escalates.<\/p>\n
I feel the phrase \u201cmust-see TV\u201d is a clich\u00e9, but I am using it here. \u201cFargo\u201d is truly must-see TV. When \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d and \u201cMad Men\u201d ended, all of a sudden the honor of \u201cBest Show on Television\u201d was up for grabs. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m calling it now: \u201cFargo,\u201d by midway through this season, will have one major entertainment news outlet declare it as such. And they will be right. <\/p>\n
If you have any love in your heart for black comedy, for murder mysteries, for perfectly executed drama, for the art of the television show, the verdict is simple: if you are not watching \u201cFargo,\u201d you are criminally misusing one hour of your time every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When my father asked me several years ago if I had ever seen \u201cFargo,\u201d the Coen Brothers\u2019 1996 cinematic masterpiece, I told him I hadn\u2019t. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":825,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/825"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}