Fargo 1.7: The Bungling and the Brave

Fargo continues to pick up steam, with its second exceptional episode - 1.7 - in as many weeks.

Last week, in the blizzard, Molly gets shot by Gus at the end of a literally blindingly harrowing scene. This week, we learn that the shot went "clean through," and caused no lasting damage.  But the time in the hospital gives Molly and Gus some good time to draw closer together, as well as leaving Molly isolated from the ground-changing developments back in Bemidji, which sets her up for another evocatively symbolic frame of her face at the end of the episode.

The most important action - and it's brilliant - concerns Lester's framing of his brother Chaz.  Last week, we saw Lester at his crafty best, leaving the hospital, carefully planting evidence in his brother's house, and returning to the hospital with no one knowing he had left.   This week, we see him reaping the rewards for this hard work.

Chaz is arrested for the murders.  No one including his wife supports him.   The painfully dumb sheriff of course buys Lester's "confession" that he witnessed his brother's murders - hook, line, and sinker.   And Lester, intent on pressing his advantage, has some great sex with the widow of the guy whose bullying started all of this.   It's just one of the perks of being an insurance agent intent on giving personal service to the policy holders.

The police in this fine series are almost all morons - the exceptions being Molly and Gus - and 1.7 makes this point yet again in a horrifying and hilarious scene in which the two FBI guys argue about a sandwich in a car while Malvo massacres everyone in the building outside their window.   Malvo then unsurprisingly makes his escape with ease.

And this leads us to the last scene.  Molly learns that Lester's brother, not Lester, has been charged with the murders, and knows that this is wrong.  In her absence, the bungling police did it yet again.   The expression on her face as this episode ends is just priceless, as is this wild and off-beat series.

See also: Fargo Debuts with Two Psychos



A story about another kind of killer ...  The Silk Code

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