Last night we started watching Fargo Season 5, “Nadya, just the first episode then sleep,” and by this evening we binged all 10 episodes. It’s been a while since nine hours flew by like one.
Fargo is the only series that hasn’t dropped the ball after five seasons. It has this “cozy, old-school” vibe, like it’s supposedly 2019, but the feel is all late 20th century. The only jarring thing in the fifth season is the “all husbands—infantile and a bit cuckoo, all wives—strong women, sometimes victims, and also a bit cuckoo,” but given its other merits and the overall Fargo format, it’s forgivable. Overall, the plot is quite… naive… but again, it is compensated by the way it’s filmed, turning the series into a piece of art. Generally, there’s some caricaturization, but it seems intentionally stylized.
Exler wrote well: “… It’s specifically emphasized that the main villains are precisely Trump’s core electorate. Sheriff Tillman, never without his cowboy hat, a definite alpha male, abuser, racist, zealous Catholic and all that, and why his hat doesn’t scream MAGA in giant letters is like a script oversight. The sheriff’s wife must, first, shut up, second, do as her husband commands, and third—there will be no third, because the first two are enough for a happy married life. And if the wife disobeys, then the sheriff will beat her deadly, because how else to command respect from a woman who swore before God to belong to you body and soul? No other way.”
Now I want to rewatch the first season. It was absolutely beautiful, and I’m not sure that the fifth surpassed it, comparing the emotions post-viewing. But the emotions from the first season remain with me (it was very good), yet ten years on I barely remember it (well, I remember faces).
Now it’s time to get to True Detective.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 