This season weaves a more complex plot involving more side characters that makes the cast even more stacked than the previous one. Two characters from season one appear here, though as versions of themselves that are 20+ years younger. Lou Solverson (formerly played by Keith Carradine) is a Minnesota State trooper living in Luverne, MN with wife Betsy (Cristin Milioti) and young daughter Molly (formerly played by Allison Tollman).
In 1979, Solverson (played here by Patrick Wilson) is sent to investigate a shooting at a late-night diner where a judge was killed. The shooter is Rye Gerhardt (Kieran Culkin), the youngest son of a crime family from Fargo who becomes entangled with butcher Ed Blumquist (Jesse Plemons) and his wife Peggy (Kirsten Dunst). This entanglement becomes a misunderstanding that helps to spark a war between different organized crime families and syndicates.
Another ingredient that helps to foment the mob war is patriarch Otto Gerhardt (Michael Hogan) suffering a stroke and leaving wife Floyd (Jean Smart) in charge. Floyd has to try to wrangle her elder son and hothead Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan), along with their other son Bear (Angus Sampson) and ‘adopted’ son/muscle/Native American Hanzee Dent (an icy Zahn McClarnon).
The cast and plot continues to expand to include characters played by Ted Danson, Bokeem Woodbine, Brad Garret, Nick Offerman, and Rachel Keller. Like the previous season, the characters become part of a plot that recycles scenes, bits of dialogue, rhythms, and themes from all the other Coen Brothers’ films. While each season exists as its own story, season two seems to match and borrow more from No Country For Old Men and Miller’s Crossing. The quiet brutality of No Country can be seen in the body count that doubles the previous seasons’ with a number of shootouts that match the mob war (and plot) of Miller’s.
A side plot pivotal to the season’s extra layer of commentary involves an unexpected actor cameo-ing as Ronald Reagan, whose campaign stops in Minnesota takes Solverson off his case. An incredible sequence of Reagan speaking at a campaign rally is interspersed with a bloodbath involving other characters that says a lot about capitalism and the pursuit of the American Dream. The Native American character of Hanzee Dent is used masterfully to add to this commentary.
Also notable in this season is the amount of abuse and violence inflicted on specific characters. Echoing the escalating violence inflicted on Steve Buscemi’s character in the film Fargo, two characters suffer similar amounts of escalating violence. Though, sadly, no wood chippers appear in this season.
Another way that this series creates and expands the Coen-verse is by filling these 11 episodes with different covers of songs used in previous films. Two different versions of Kenny Roger’s ‘Just Dropped In’ (made famous during a dream sequence in The Big Lebowski) are used as outros for episodes while other covers of tracks from O Brother, Where Art Thou create the perfect mood for scenes in this season. It wouldn’t be a stretch to guess that T Bone Burnett was the music supervisor (even though he wasn’t).
Season two received eighteen Emmy nominations, three Golden Globes nominations, and won four Critic’s Choice awards. Each cast member, including the minor characters, deserve all the praise and nominations the series received. One standout is Jean Smart, whose role grows from wife to mob leader in just a few episodes, dominates during an interrogation scene. Her performance here was one of many in 2015 that could be the beginning of the Jean Smart-assance.
All seasons of Fargo are currently streaming on Hulu.
- Eric Beach