TV #3 of 2024:
Fargo, season 5
I like sporadic elements of this season of Fargo. The gas station shoot-out in episode one is a remarkably tense action sequence, and Jon Hamm and Juno Temple are both acting up a storm with those accents. As ever for this anthology series, the midwestern pleasantries masking dark feelings and the bumbling criminals getting in over their heads are a fun combination, as are the new ways that showrunner Noah Hawley has found to remix such themes from the original Coen brothers movie. I especially appreciate how much of this latest plot hinges on a domestic abuse victim who has managed to escape a terrible situation in the backstory and now must fight ferociously to avoid getting dragged back into it or letting it consume the new life she’s built in the meantime.
But that’s certainly muddled by a finale in which — spoiler alert — a powerful ally triumphantly condemns the villain to a lifetime of prison rape, and everything the season is trying to say about debt winds up feeling under-developed and contradictory. (The literal centuries-old sin eater turned hitman never works for me, either, although I acknowledge that reality on this program has been a little loose ever since that UFO showed up back in season two.) A strong conclusion perhaps could have served to redeem the aimlessness, but this one opts instead for a perfunctory wrap-up, a one-year time jump, and some unearned character epilogues. Overall a disappointing end to a promising start, which sadly seems like it’s been the case for Fargo more often than not at this point.
[Content warning for gun violence, torture, racism, and gore.]
★★☆☆☆
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