Fargo S02 E02: Before the Law

                                                        

I’ve already told you my opinion of Fargo and why I think it’s one of the best dramas on television. I’m going to watch this show and do short reviews for all my friends. Enjoy!

Wives

We pick up where we left off on the end of episode one. Poor Ed Blumquist is so in love with his pretty wife that he’s even willing to go against his own conscience and civic duty: don’t call the cops; don’t let anyone know how the car got damaged; clean up the blood; get rid of the body.        

We don’t know much about their marriage except that Ed wasn’t getting any loving between the sheets and, if he did, it was only when he begged for it. Peggy looks like a girl who is comfortable telling lies. She tells Ed, she hit a deer when he heard movement in the garage. She stole toilet paper from her boss. Those lies are going to trip her up. Peggy may think she has everything under control, but she’s out of her league with Mama Gerhardt.                               

Floyd Gerhardt is a smart woman, certainly smarter than the three boys she gave birth to. She is very involved with her husband’s business and I’m guessing she knows the location of several bodies. She’s tough. With hubby out of commission because of a stroke, Floyd has to keep on top of things and that means speaking to her business associates and the Kansas City Mafia who wants to take over.                                        

Her son, Dodd, has no respect for women. He should move to Iran.  He has a bad temper and even disrespects his 19-year-old daughter, saying she’s too young to learn the family business. Floyd, bless her heart, reminds Dodd that girls grow up to be women who change little boys’ diapers. The meaning is not lost on Dodd.

Kansas City Mafia

Mike Milligan and the Kitchen brothers have to be both one of the funniest and scariest killers I’ve ever seen on the screen. Mike (Bokeem Woodbine) is a smooth talking young man, but his smooth tongue only softens the intended threats.
                                                           

 
Maybe, it’s the way Mike smiles as he’s handing out options that show just how dangerous this man is. His encounter with Sheriff Larson is outright scary, but luckily Larson understands what the smile means. I love Mike’s Afro hairstyle and disco clothing. The Kitchen brothers, who are obviously twins, never speak. They don’t have to. They’re busy scaring you to death with their silence and big guns.

Conclusion

While Ed puts his butchering skills to work making Rye-burger-meat, Lou stops at the Waffle Hut with his cancer-stricken wife, Betsy and little Molly, who is already proving to be a good observer. She finds a balloon that leads to mom finding Rye’s gun; the gun that killed the people at the Waffle Hut.          

The gun has Rye’s prints on it. Now, we have three separate teams looking for Rye. Lou and Hank the story’s protagonists are like sitting ducks in a pond filled with sharks, but they are smart law men who take their time putting the clues together.

This show, even with the gore and horror of dealing with gangsters, is easy on the mind. The scenery is a stunning contrast to the blood that drips on the floor of the butcher shop as Ed, his mind numb and probably regretting his choice of life partner, grinds Rye into the industrial size meat grinder. What I’m especially enjoying about this season is the use of the split-screen that shows what each character is doing at that same moment.