Fargo continues to be one of the most artificially written shows i've ever seen. It really is remarkable. They decided they are going to hit certain plot points and heck everything else.
- Good to have it settled Hank was being an awful stupid cop not checking on Peggy before leaving.
- Fat Edd, who was already tired from running away from the police station, outruns a car!!!!! Amazing. Hank and Lou had a car, started from the same position, knowing where Ed goes, against a tired and 'heavyset' person -- who then had to carry Dodd's body from the basement to a car! -- and they still getting there before Peg and Ed leavs! HOLY SHIT.
- 'Damn it, we dubbed it a 'massacre' in S1, so we got start dropping bodies'. Cue Hanzee going over the edge and shooting everybody on sight.
- Dunno whatever that Peggy zoning-out supposed to mean but good thing it happened. Why, how else can we have Dodd escape!
- Dodd leaving Peggy alive and turning his back to her even after recognizing she's a threat and delighting in the thought of killing her. You see, he's just misogynist enough for us to have a convenient 'turning of the tables' scene.
- Hanzee shoots everybody except the store owner that has the newspaper and phone next to him. You see, he's just sloppy enough because how else are we going have the cops raid the cabin and have Hanzee flee? How else are we going to go through with the plot we wanted to at the expense of everything else?
- Cops are sitting on their hands doing nothing to find Peggy and Ed. Thank god for that phone call!
I don't know how to put it. It's sad people look at this as 'best show ever' material. There's fun to be had watching Fargo. You just need to check-out your brain and let any criticism fly by - don't think too hard about it. Do that and you'll enjoy the cinematography, editing, acting, the preposterous-ness, some of the humor and the soundtrack (what was the drum beat at the end?). Don't watch it for the plotting or characters.
Just as a possible answer to a couple of these points:
I think it's been shown that Hank isn't in the right state of mind to be doing much of anything properly. The scene when his daughter goes over to his house and sees all the cryptic writing all over the walls? That was clearly supposed to illustrate that.
Maybe I need to go back and watch both episodes (since the timeline isn't shown to completion until both had aired) but IT seemed like they were in no hurry to get there since according to Hank the Gerhardt's had left. I'm fairly certain they didn't drive over to Ed's house
right away
Hanzee shooting people isn't at all unusual for this show. It trades in acts of violence. Always has always will. I seriously doubt the showrunners "backed" themselves into a corner with last seasons massacre talk and are now just throwing Hanzee at people to fix the problem. They have an idea where they are going with him and every other character.
I'll give you Peggy zoning out. It seemed a little easy BUT she did have a conversation with an imaginary man in Dodd's place not 24 hours before so does it really stretch credulity that much that she wouldn't notice?
Dodd keeping her alive? That actually makes total sense for his character. He's a misogynist, as you yourself pointed out (which wasn't new to this episode, he's been subjecting his daughter and mother to it all season) who sees women as Satan. He clearly doesn't think they're capable of intelligent thought. No threat to him. You argued that he was already taken down by her so he should be wise now but that would be underestimating how highly he thinks of himself. The man thinks no one can take him on certainly not a woman. I'm sure he saw it as dumb luck the first time and it wouldn't happen again. Just my opinion but that seems totally on point with who his character has been all season.
Hanzee didn't shoot the store owner because the store owner told him what he wanted to hear and wasn't a complete bigot. He may be brutal but he wasn't killing without compunction until the bar. He was tired of the mistreatment which was the EXACT reason why he chose to kill Dodd....and why he wanted to get the haircut and run away. I have no doubt had he had the chance and a little time he would have slipped away easily regardless of whether or not the store owner identified him. Has he given you the impression at all this season that he's worried about cops finding him or his ability to get away with violence when he needs to? No I didn't think so
As for the cops....which ones? The two who actually give a shit about finding them? Hank, who we established isn't all there and Lou. Sioux Falls don't give a shit. Christ that other cop doesn't want to have anything to do with any of the stuff going on. SO basically it's left to Lou to handle a gang war, an assassin indian on the run AND the crazy couple. Gotta prioritize homie.
I think it's
sad that you would actually be disheartened by other people enjoying this show. I for one certainly watch it (and all Cohen bros films) thinking of them as taking place in a parallel universe to our with just a smidge of Looney Tunes in it but to say that the plot or characters are poorly written is just not knowing how to find the subtlety underneath the bombast
I wanted to add an addendum to your later post
Fargo is a perfect example for a show where the characters serve the plot, no matter how stupidly and ridiculously the events and characters need to be twisted to hit that plot. What's generally considered as good\competent writing doesn't have it or minimizes it. Fargo relishes in it. Every other show gets torn apart doing that kind of stuff; Fargo gets lauded. It's bad writing, bad plotting, paper-thin characters all in the service of the plot.
Please explain this dissonance between Fargo and everything else, where the former's fault and flaws get ignored or marginalized. It was the same for S1.
Like i said, you can enjoy Fargo but it's disparaging to watch it being praised as this or that despite it's bag of issues that sadly gets swept under the carpet.
You're on point that Fargo is a show about characters first and plot second but I think that's in keeping with the tone of most of the Coehn brother's films. They've always relished putting "regular" people in uncomfortable or unbelievable circumstances and this show is certainly trying to emulate that. I can understand not appreciating the show because of this, and even because of some of the reasons you stated earlier, but it's not disparaging by any stretch that it would receive praise for executing what it sets out to do marvelously well. The show is a technical masterpiece (this season) unlike anything I've seen on television before so it should be getting lauded just for that but if people can appreciate the wonderful writing as well why is that so insulting?
Bad art is always subjective sometimes that shit is just bad and everyone knows it but at some point you have to ask yourself why am I the only one that feels this way about the show? Are there merits to it I'm not picking up on? Is it just not my cup of tea? I'd argue for you it's the latter and you're letting it get in the way of your judgement.
