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NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
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Re: Fargo

#76 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:37 am

cdnchris wrote:I haven't watched the second episode yet but the first episode had me intrigued. Thewlis' scene in the episode was wonderful. And yes, his teeth may steal this season.

I was also impressed with McGregor's Minnesota accent. Both of them. I'm only really thinking of that now because of a video that showed up on Facebook showing Pacino's attempt at a Cockney accent (from a film I wasn't even aware existed).
Thewlis in this has a ready made audition tape for a Malcolm McLaren bio-pic.

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diamonds
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:35 pm

Re: Fargo

#77 Post by diamonds » Mon May 01, 2017 7:59 pm

Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted a link to this article about Fargo and "prestige television" in general: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv ... estige-tv/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I liked both seasons of Fargo. I liked the first season more than the second, especially toward the end where
SpoilerShow
the aliens intervened,

but last week's episode was the first time the show has ever outright bored me. I can't say I necessarily disagree with Thurm's argument that the show feels formulaic now, the characters all reduced to familiar tropes and placed in the context of heavy Coen pastiche. Of course it is only two episodes in, but I'm curious to hear if members of this board have feelings on this idea that Fargo may be emblematic of a larger problematic trend in television.

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Anhedionisiac
the Displeasure Principle
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:25 pm

Re: Fargo

#78 Post by Anhedionisiac » Mon May 01, 2017 9:58 pm

diamonds wrote:Of course it is only two episodes in, but I'm curious to hear if members of this board have feelings on this idea that Fargo may be emblematic of a larger problematic trend in television.
It's possible. I've also noticed that most of the currently airing "prestige" shows (Fargo, The Americans, Better Call Saul, etc) have had disappointing returns. They're clearly still quality series, but they also feel stagnant, rehashing previous tricks without breaking new ground, stylistically or otherwise. I'm not sure that it's what Zoller Seitz or Thurm had in mind exactly, but it's hard not to think of the Cahiers du cinéma writers railing against the "Tradition of Quality" style of French cinema. I wish there was more space for less commercial television, series that go bolder and wilder, but we may have to wait a while, the high budgets and long-term logistics involved probably make it even harder for ambitious young people to break through.

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MoonlitKnight
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Fargo

#79 Post by MoonlitKnight » Tue May 02, 2017 10:26 am

diamonds wrote:I liked both seasons of Fargo. I liked the first season more than the second, especially toward the end where
SpoilerShow
the aliens intervened,
You're aware they actually appeared in the very first episode of Season 2 (just before Kieran Culkin's character is hit by a car), right? I'm personally most curious to see if there'll be a connection to the first 2 seasons (the character[s] of Lou [and Molly] Solverson being the links between the first and second seasons). So far this season seems to have a slower burn to it than the first two, so we'll see how things unfold.

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mistakaninja
Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2013 5:15 pm

Re: Fargo

#80 Post by mistakaninja » Tue May 02, 2017 10:38 am

Moses Tripoli also connects the first two seasons, along with Numbers and Wrench.

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diamonds
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:35 pm

Re: Fargo

#81 Post by diamonds » Tue May 02, 2017 5:41 pm

MoonlitKnight wrote:
diamonds wrote:I liked both seasons of Fargo. I liked the first season more than the second, especially toward the end where
SpoilerShow
the aliens intervened,
You're aware they actually appeared in the very first episode of Season 2 (just before Kieran Culkin's character is hit by a car), right? I'm personally most curious to see if there'll be a connection to the first 2 seasons (the character[s] of Lou [and Molly] Solverson being the links between the first and second seasons). So far this season seems to have a slower burn to it than the first two, so we'll see how things unfold.
I am. I just found it a bit puzzling as some sort of payoff (or lack thereof?) If that was the point, fine, but that doesn't move me. The best thing to come from that storyline was Hank's bit about language in the final episode, a simultaneously tragic and heartwarming gesture. Danson's acting during the sequence where he explained it was wonderful.

As for this:
mistakaninja wrote:Moses Tripoli also connects the first two seasons, along with Numbers and Wrench.
I'm afraid I'm in the camp that found the Triploi part pretty contrived. It served little purpose other than to connect the two seasons, and even from what little we know about the interior lives of both characters, they didn't look or feel like the same person. (I know, I know, facial reconstructive surgery, another instance of writing trying to force a false connection).

MongooseCmr
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:50 pm

Re: Fargo

#82 Post by MongooseCmr » Tue May 02, 2017 6:03 pm

diamonds wrote:Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted a link to this article about Fargo and "prestige television" in general: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv ... estige-tv/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I liked both seasons of Fargo. I liked the first season more than the second, especially toward the end where
SpoilerShow
the aliens intervened,

but last week's episode was the first time the show has ever outright bored me. I can't say I necessarily disagree with Thurm's argument that the show feels formulaic now, the characters all reduced to familiar tropes and placed in the context of heavy Coen pastiche. Of course it is only two episodes in, but I'm curious to hear if members of this board have feelings on this idea that Fargo may be emblematic of a larger problematic trend in television.
I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for a "prestige tv" backlash to begin to brew. The Sopranos is nearly two decades old and we're still riding on those concepts it pioneered. I've only been digging into tv drama for a fraction of the time and I've long since been tired of them.

On topic, I've enjoyed what we've seen of this season so far, especially the smaller cast (definitely agree with mfunk that season 2 was a mess even if i liked it in parts more than he seemed too), but I really have to question how many more times I can hear this story be told. It's the fourth iteration of Fargo now, and I'm starting to feel almost guilty for watching it yet again over something more fulfilling. The fast food allegory in that article is apt

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D50
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 2:00 am
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Re: Fargo

#83 Post by D50 » Tue May 02, 2017 8:25 pm

I'm pretty picky as to what I watch, and with the exception of streaming each episode of Fargo, I haven't watched tv for years - so this season is fairly exciting. I like the introduction of the Bridge tournament culture, which is fascinating and totally new to me. They've tweaked the commercial ad a.i. I think as you can't surf another tab while it's playing, it senses this and boots you out. Even working outside the browser (in a txt file) lands you in the penalty box. Each time you start from the beginning, and have to go through all of the previous ads. Took me 3 times to figure this out.

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MoonlitKnight
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Fargo

#84 Post by MoonlitKnight » Wed May 03, 2017 3:42 am

MongooseCmr wrote:The fast food allegory in that article is apt
Come now, 'fast food' TV is largely what the broadcast channels are now. At worst, it's TGI Friday's or Ruby Tuesday's. =;

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diamonds
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:35 pm

Re: Fargo

#85 Post by diamonds » Wed May 03, 2017 8:17 am

An In-N-Out burger is better than a McDonald's burger, but they're both fast food!

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Fargo

#86 Post by tenia » Wed May 03, 2017 9:20 am

MongooseCmr wrote:The Sopranos is nearly two decades old and we're still riding on those concepts it pioneered.
Which is funny because the article places both The Sopranos AND Breaking Bad as references despite them having premiered 10 years apart from each other and Breaking Bad having ended only 4 years ago.

It's also interesting because, in the end, it just feels like a TV critic ranting about what he simply sees as a few over-rated TV shows. It's all the more glaring that the article actually only gives away a surprisingly small number of examples to further support his point. True Detective is only present through a small promo pic (and it's of the abysmal second season), no mentions of TV shows like Mad Men, Mr Robot, Game Of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire. Even more glaring is the lack of mentions of shorter "HBO-type" mini series like Night of, Mildred Pierce, John Adams, Olive Kitteridge, Show Me a Hero, Generation Kill ?

And no mention of Six Feet Under or Rome ?

Finally, it's just the opposition of stuff he likes (The Americans, The Young Pope, Hannibal) VS stuff he simply doesn't (Fargo) but the article doesn't give any demonstration the issue comes from Prestige TV actually being more often than not simply over-rated stuff.

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MoonlitKnight
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Re: Fargo

#87 Post by MoonlitKnight » Wed May 03, 2017 10:58 am

diamonds wrote:An In-N-Out burger is better than a McDonald's burger, but they're both fast food!
You realize TGI Friday's and Ruby Tuesday's are not at all classified as 'fast food' but rather 'casual dining,' right? :?

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Fargo

#88 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat May 06, 2017 1:35 am

Have they changed the aspect ratio this season?

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Polybius
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:57 pm
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Re: Fargo

#89 Post by Polybius » Sun May 07, 2017 7:22 am

This last episode (with Gloria's largely fruitless trip to L.A.) was probably my single favorite of the series so far. That's an odd thing to think, considering the ongoing nature of this show's narratives, but it's true, nonetheless.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Fargo

#90 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun May 07, 2017 10:59 am

That was a real triumph of storytelling. Well-timed too, considering Carrie Coon was wholly absent from last week's episode of The Leftovers.

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Roger Ryan
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
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Re: Fargo

#91 Post by Roger Ryan » Sun May 07, 2017 12:33 pm

I lost track of all the Coen Brothers' films referenced in this most recent episode: not only was the whole Schrödinger's cat mind-bender featured prominently in A Serious Man given a workout here (note the story told by the Ray Wise character), but that film's "Sy" (Fred Melamed) shows up as well. Then there was the never-decaying desk bell from Barton Fink, a film which the episode gave another nod to by having Carrie Coon's character assume the same body position on the beach as the model in the photo which hung above the typewriter in Fink's hotel room. There was even a replica of the decorative exterior lighting fixture from the bowling alley in The Big Lebowski hanging on the motel facade.

Nonetheless, the episode was my favorite as well (so far) from the third season. I thought the use of the "Useless Machine" was a nice original addition to the philosophical leanings borrowed from the various Coen films.

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Quot
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:11 am

Re: Fargo

#92 Post by Quot » Sun May 07, 2017 1:42 pm

To me, the whole "fish-out-of-water" aspect of this episode (specifically, the awkwardness of Coon's attempted connections with characters from this alien environment) certainly made it reek of one homage in particular -- I would dub this the Mike Yanagita episode.

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jazzo
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Re: Fargo

#93 Post by jazzo » Sun May 07, 2017 5:31 pm

You could even argue that the seventies storyline/flashback is a riff on Barton Fink's whole "Faulkner" premise of the writer living out of his hotel, beholden to writing a movie that will never get made, in some sort of purgatorial hell.

There were certainly a lot of references this episode; much more, on average, than there has been in the last two seasons, but for some reason, they still don't bother me as much as they did in season one.

One of my favourites of the series, too.

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MoonlitKnight
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Fargo

#94 Post by MoonlitKnight » Thu May 25, 2017 1:03 am

I was uncertain about this season at first, but it's building to a nice slow burn. I think it actually may be closer in style to the original film than the first 2 seasons, given that a fair amount of the characters are bumbling, incompetent idiots who clearly haven't thought their schemes all the way through. The Peter and the Wolf-themed episode (narrated by Lorne Malvo himself, Billy Bob Thornton, no less) was a particular standout.

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Polybius
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Re: Fargo

#95 Post by Polybius » Fri May 26, 2017 4:47 am

MoonlitKnight wrote:The Peter and the Wolf-themed episode (narrated by Lorne Malvo himself, Billy Bob Thornton, no less) was a particular standout.
A close second to the Planet Wyh outing, for me.

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D50
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Re: Fargo

#96 Post by D50 » Sat May 27, 2017 1:18 pm

Meer sir my sir?

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denti alligator
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Re: Fargo

#97 Post by denti alligator » Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:06 pm

I thought this season was a noticeable notch better all around than the last season. which I wasn't all that thrilled about. The sense of the inescapable and uncontrollable destruction that meets most of the characters, even those who push back against it, is held through to the final second. I admire that. Plus Thewlis put in a great performance.

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MoonlitKnight
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Fargo

#98 Post by MoonlitKnight » Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:36 am

I've heard rumors this may be the last, season... which would make the ambiguous ending even more apt. Besides, given that they reused some of the previous tropes this season (namely a highly driven female cop investigating a complex murder case only to be constantly undermined by her lazy, corner-cutting [male] boss every step of the way), it may suggest there's not much left in the well here. I think Season 2 might have suffered in the minds of many people because its climax actually happened in the penultimate episode rather than the last one, which was served as more of a 'winding down.' I definitely didn't see
SpoilerShow
Mr. Wrench
being the main connection to the previous seasons coming. As for my most satisfying moment in the finale:
SpoilerShow
seeing Meemo's lifeless body being hauled out on a gurney after the warehouse massacre. \:D/ I can't put my finger on why, but I hated that little shit with a passion (ditto the Russian -- though we never actually learn his fate). :-k

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Fargo

#99 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:42 pm

Sad to see it go, but more than understandable why this might be the end. Hawley not only has Legion, but also has two films in development at Fox Searchlight.

This was a really good season, and in many ways there was a sense of finality to it. One that may have always been there since nearly every character on the show has been doomed in one sense or another.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Fargo

#100 Post by Roger Ryan » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:41 am

I thought this third season had greater consistency than the second season as well. The final three episodes, in particular, were riveting. I've been reading some critiques and blogs that expressed dismay with the ambiguous ending, but...
SpoilerShow
...it was the perfect ending for a season with multiple references to the Schrödinger's cat trope borrowed from A Serious Man. Until those five minutes elapse (and is the clock actually working in the investigation room or is it broken?), both Varga's prediction and Burgle's prediction about what will happen are both true and untrue at the same time.

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