Earth gave us the perfect winter watch 11 years ago

The announcement that FX would remake a film as iconic as Fargo was immediately met with skepticism, as the 1996 neo-noir classic Joel And Ethan Coen is considered one of the most perfect films ever made. Beyond the fact that it would be impossible to see anyone in the roles made iconic by Frances McDormand, William H. MacyAnd Steve Buscemiit would be difficult for a television series to replicate the offbeat, existentialist style perfected by the Coen brothers.

Fortunately, Noah Hawley used the brand name of Fargo create a completely unique dark comedy detective series it hinted at some of the same areas of interest for the Coen brothers without ever touching on familiar elements. What could have been nothing more than a bland, derivative retread ended up becoming a compelling companion piece to one of the Coens’ most beloved classics.

Noah Hawley’s FX Series ‘Fargo’ Is a Reinvention, Not a Remake

Fargo ended up becoming one of the best drama shows on television, as each of its five seasons told a unique story with a new set of actors. The first season of Fargo has enormous empathy for its unique protagonists, who are all simply trying to find their way given the unpredictability of life. It may be a chilly show about the bitterness of the winter season, but Fargo is often moving and quite unexpectedly touching.

Of all the seasons of Fargo, the first year of the series has the most in common with the original film. While Macy’s character in the film is responsible for staging his wife’s fake kidnapping, the series focuses on insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman), who accidentally kills his wife after a bitter argument. Lester’s crimes were not premeditatedso he is forced to seek help from the elusive stranger Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton), a hitman who helps him cover his tracks. The original film featured one of the greatest cinematic heroes of all time, McDormand’s Marge Gunderson, who serves as the inspiration for some of the series’ police officers. Assistant Molly Solverson (Alison Tolman) is Minnesota’s most effective and efficient law enforcement officer, but she is constantly underestimated and ignored by her boss, Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk). She eventually finds a worthy partner in the kind-hearted officer Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks), a widower who is also trying to care for his young daughter, Greta (Joey King).

Fargo is best when examining the inevitability of these characters reaching destinies they’re not entirely comfortable with. Although Lester expresses some remorse early on, he is convinced by Malvo that he could avoid facing legal consequences if he played his cards right. This inadvertently creates a monster, as Lester ends up becoming more selfish and aggressive. At the same time, both Gus and Molly are reluctant heroes who don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. Gus realizes he must fight back to protect his family, and Molly realizes she must prove herself as a leader when Oswalt and the other cops won’t listen to her. Fargo becomes strangely a series on found familiesas the show’s heroes and villains discover they were meant for each other. Gus and Molly share a romance that couldn’t be sweeter, and Malvo and Lester push each other’s buttons in ways that continue to get darkly hilarious.

‘Fargo’ Season 1 Is the Most Interesting FX Series

Although subsequent iterations will become more ambitious and feature larger casts, the first season of Fargo established precedents for enigmatic storytelling it made the series more interesting. An example of this is the episode “The Heap”, in which bumbling FBI agents Bill Budge (Keegan-Michael Key) and Webb Pepper (Jordan Peele) fail to prevent Malvo’s chain of terror. This helps emphasize the fact that trusting a higher power (like federal law enforcement) is futile, and that characters like Gus and Molly are left to fend for themselves. At the same time, Fargo expertly shows that there is no overarching quality that defines all criminals, because they are ultimately just vulnerable people who turn to their worst impulses. Some of the funniest characters in the show are Mr. Key (Russell Harvard) and Mr. Numbers (Adam Goldberg), two zany hitmen who end up embarrassing themselves when they follow a mob hit.

It’s fun to follow all the rewards that come when each of the characters meets their justified destiny, but Fargo works best as a series about the nature of storytelling. Malvo ultimately tells a story about his own existence, and Lester’s attempts to live up to those standards are what condemns him to a horrible fate. In the same way, Gus begins to understand that recognition is not what matters, because it is more important to be seen as a hero in his daughter’s eyes. This idea is underlined by the relationship between Molly and her own father, the former cop Lou (Keith Carradine), whose importance in the overall narrative takes on great importance thanks to a clever plot twist in the second season.

What is impressive Fargoand what could only have been achieved by a ten-episode television season is that every character is fleshed out in specific detail, as is even a background actor like supermarket magnate Stavros Miles (Olivier Platt) ends up having a full arc. Fargo is a series that has become more complex, star-studded, and more satirical as it has progressed, but the “lightning in a bottle” that Hawley captured in the show’s first year was truly extraordinary.

Release date

2014 – 00/00/2024

Showrunner

Noah Hawley

Writers

Noah Hawley

Franchise(s)

Fargo