Well, okay now. Here's the thing. You see, I never watched the TV version of Fargo until this season. I decided to watch it mainly because of Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She's from North Carolina, you see. It doesn't snow much in North Carolina. That's what I hear anyway, and of course we get plenty of snow up here in Fargo. Anyway, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays one of the main characters, along with Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon. Oh, and also David Thewlis. McGregor actually plays two of the main characters, the Stussy brothers, Emit and Ray. The Stussy brothers are twins. They have a long-standing feud over a stamp that ended up in Emit's possession. To hear Ray tell it, that stamp, which Ray traded to Emit for a corvette when their Dad died, is the reason for Emit's financial success. Emit became the parking lot king of Minnesota. Ray believes that Emit knew the value of the stamp and swindled Ray in the deal. Ray has been involved in some shadings dealings in the past, but he now works as a Corrections Officer, or, as some would say, parole officer. Well, he did anyway, but he ends up getting fired, when his superiors learn that he has shacked up with one of the parolees assigned to him. This of course is where the character played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead comes in. I just love the way that name sounds. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She's a real cutie, you know. And a good actor too, I might add. Now where was I? Oh yeah. Ray has no qualms about using his position as a parole officer to coerce people under his supervision to do favors for him. Oh, but not Nickki Swango - the character played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead - she's way too smart for him, you see. Anyway, Ray coerces one of the men under his supervision to go to his brother's home and break in and steal the stamp. Ray had it all written down for him, but he lost the piece of paper, and he ended up in a rural community with a similar name to the community where Emit lives, and even manages to find a man, living in that community, with the same last name as the Stussy brothers. The poor man also named Stussy ends up dead. And it turns out that he is the stepdad of Gloria Burgle - played by Carrier Coon - the police chief of the small community. Although, because of some jurisdictional consolidation, her small community's police force got absorbed into a bigger force, and she lost that prestigious title, and now has to report to a man who appears not to be particularly competent, wouldn't you know.
Meanwhile, there is a whole 'nother plot developing with Emit. A stranger shows up, a man named V. M. Varga - played by David Thewlis. It's immediately apparent that Varga is not the sort of man you say "no" to, unless you are willing to deal with serious consequences. We learn that Emit had recently taken a business loan from the company that Varga represents, and that Emit never really knew much about the company he was borrowing from, and that the two parties had very different perceptions of the nature of the loan. Even though the company Varga represents had loaned the money under terms favorable to Emit, at a time when no one else was willing to loan Emit money, Emit seems to have genuinely believed that it was a regular business loan and that once he paid the money back, there wouldn't be any lingering consequences of that load. But Varga explains to Emit, in terms that leave no opportunity for any misunderstanding, that they are partners in perpetuity, and that Emit's business will be used to launder money for some considerably larger operation, and that Emit will become very, very wealthy. Emit resists with conviction, the first couple of times that Varga comes calling, but Varga proves to be a very persuasive fellow.
Back to what happened the night that Chief Burgle's stepdad - well okay she's not Chief anymore - got murdered by the man that Ray sent to steal the stamp from Emit. The murderer shows up afterward at Ray's upstairs apartment, and Nikki is there. The man threatens Ray - blaming him for how it all went wrong, and threatening to go to the police unless Ray pays him money he is demanding. Ray and Nikki realize instantly that their lives are about to be changed in a big way, and a very bad way. When the murderer leaves the apartment, Nikki starts desperately trying to loosen the air conditioner in the window, using a big screwdriver. At first Ray has no idea what she's doing, then he catches on and joins her. As luck would have it, the man exits the front door of the apartment building and then stops to light a cigarette, directly under the window and the air conditioning unit, giving Nikki and Ray time to dislodge the air conditioning unit, which falls and hits the murderer squarely on the head, killing him. This would seem to take care of Ray's problem, because dead men don't talk, and it doesn't seem that there is any way for anyone to connect Ray to the murder of the unrelated man who shares his last name with the Stussy brothers. However, thanks to crime scene evidence, the name of the murderer has been identified. Gloria begins to notice the unlikely coincidences, especially after she gets some help from another policewoman, who was investigating another incident involving Emit's lawyer. The parole officer assigned to the man who murdered her stepdad has the same last name as her stepdad. And, wouldn't you know it, the name of the community where the parole officer's brother lives is awfully similar to the name of the community where her stepdad lived. Are these just coincidences?
Meanwhile, there is a whole 'nother plot developing with Emit. A stranger shows up, a man named V. M. Varga - played by David Thewlis. It's immediately apparent that Varga is not the sort of man you say "no" to, unless you are willing to deal with serious consequences. We learn that Emit had recently taken a business loan from the company that Varga represents, and that Emit never really knew much about the company he was borrowing from, and that the two parties had very different perceptions of the nature of the loan. Even though the company Varga represents had loaned the money under terms favorable to Emit, at a time when no one else was willing to loan Emit money, Emit seems to have genuinely believed that it was a regular business loan and that once he paid the money back, there wouldn't be any lingering consequences of that load. But Varga explains to Emit, in terms that leave no opportunity for any misunderstanding, that they are partners in perpetuity, and that Emit's business will be used to launder money for some considerably larger operation, and that Emit will become very, very wealthy. Emit resists with conviction, the first couple of times that Varga comes calling, but Varga proves to be a very persuasive fellow.
Back to what happened the night that Chief Burgle's stepdad - well okay she's not Chief anymore - got murdered by the man that Ray sent to steal the stamp from Emit. The murderer shows up afterward at Ray's upstairs apartment, and Nikki is there. The man threatens Ray - blaming him for how it all went wrong, and threatening to go to the police unless Ray pays him money he is demanding. Ray and Nikki realize instantly that their lives are about to be changed in a big way, and a very bad way. When the murderer leaves the apartment, Nikki starts desperately trying to loosen the air conditioner in the window, using a big screwdriver. At first Ray has no idea what she's doing, then he catches on and joins her. As luck would have it, the man exits the front door of the apartment building and then stops to light a cigarette, directly under the window and the air conditioning unit, giving Nikki and Ray time to dislodge the air conditioning unit, which falls and hits the murderer squarely on the head, killing him. This would seem to take care of Ray's problem, because dead men don't talk, and it doesn't seem that there is any way for anyone to connect Ray to the murder of the unrelated man who shares his last name with the Stussy brothers. However, thanks to crime scene evidence, the name of the murderer has been identified. Gloria begins to notice the unlikely coincidences, especially after she gets some help from another policewoman, who was investigating another incident involving Emit's lawyer. The parole officer assigned to the man who murdered her stepdad has the same last name as her stepdad. And, wouldn't you know it, the name of the community where the parole officer's brother lives is awfully similar to the name of the community where her stepdad lived. Are these just coincidences?