Fargo season 2 episode 3 review: The Myth of Sisyphus

It occurs to me that previous Fargo reviews may have seemed awfully confusing to a non-viewer.

That’s because until roundabouts now the show has been awfully confusing, with a myriad of characters all off doing their own thing in their storylines.

But they’re beginning to intersect.

The third chapter of the season may not have a standout set piece scene like Ed and Peggy’s dinner from hell in the premiere or Ed and Lou’s tense late night conversation at the butcher’s last week, but the main thrust of the season is starting to reveal itself.

And it’s all thanks to Detective Lou, whose midwestern can-do attitude takes him face-to-face with the Gerhardts — and gives him the chance to prove how tough he can be.

Up until now we’ve only been told about how ruthless and powerful the Fargo family is — okay, maybe Dodd’s been a bit scary.

In this episode, when Lou and his fellow officer approach the compound to talk about Rye and his involvement in the triple homicide at the Waffle Hut, you get a real sense just how formidable Floyd and her boys are.

Lou doesn’t back down, talks a little smack, and there you have it. Two key players in the story who had yet to meet, but surely will do often in due course, are now well acquainted.

But that’s not all Lou does during his day in Dakota. He also meets Mike Milligan, who is delightful and menacing all at once — he’s real fun to watch, you got to give him that.

The purpose of their standoff, which involves a little more weapon pointing that the previous one (literally a minute before), isn’t so clear that this point.

There were some good jokes, and Milligan is a terrific face for the otherwise faceless Kansas City mafia, but beyond Lou realising what situation he’s now in the midst of I don’t think this scene has all that much to say.

Why Rye Why

The adventures of Solverson aside, the main story of this episode is the race for Rye, with Dodd’s Native American lieutenant Hanzee (Zahn McClarnon) inching ahead of Milligan’s Kansas clan.

Hanzee is an interesting one. We don’t know him well yet, but that opening scene - in which he cradles a cuddly rabbit minute before skinning it - is an indication that he’s got something there, that he’s not just a pawn in this game.

He’s clearly a dangerous guy, and smart too. With the help of Dodd’s daughter and her seductive midwest drawl, he gets to the typewriter fella before Milligan and drags him out into the quarry for Dodd to interrogate.

The guy doesn’t stand a chance. He gives up what he knows, which isn’t much, and it buried brutally in steaming cement. Now the Gerhardts know how close Milligan is to Rye, and they have to get there first — Hanzee is told ‘by any means necessary’.

Crash into tree

But of course we the viewer know that Rye isn’t anywhere to be found. He was killed by Peggy’s car and Ed’s blade.

Having spent most of the last episode cleaning up, Ed thinks everything is back to normal. Peggy, however, in the dangerous game she’s playing has set it up so that they might just get caught.

Her boss knows she crashed the car, she overhears the Solversons discussing the possibility that Rye’s mystery disappearance was in fact a hit-and-run.

So she drags Ed out to crash the car for real, and get it all fixed up.

But it slides on black ice and crashes into the tree the wrong way round. Second time’s the charm and it works out — but you can’t help but feel something’s going to come of that panicked miscalculation.

Such is Fargo, where the best laid plans always go awry.