Let me preface this by saying that I am a proud liberal and proud feminist, but I find this season to be anti-man and that is a problem from a story standpoint. I had to stop this episode mid scene to write this review. The scene is the conversation between the officer and her husband. I get it, the husband is supposed to be echoing the toxic masculinity of Hamm's character BUT, how delusional does one have to be?!? He just woke up on the floor of his garage after passing out after playing indoor golf on an expensive system for 12 hours then complain about his wife not supporting him, despite her being the sole breadwinner and they being in massive debt. AND she cleans the house (which is in good order) and cooks their meals, like what is he talking about? And why is she with him?
One great thing about the past seasons of Fargo is their ability to write compelling characters and relationships and viewers could understand and like even the worst of characters. Like you can understand the Gerhardt clan's relationships, you can understand the twin brothers conflict. There is love under the conflicts and dysfunction. Despite excellent actors the relationships in this season are nothing but cringe. Hamm's son is dismissed by his cold father, Leigh's character is noxious and I don't know why anyone would want to be around her money or no-though I suppose her son being a momma's boy makes some sense.
I think part of the problem is that they are being too obvious with their themes-parasitic debt conglomerate, toxic masculinity of old school religion and the lawless nature of childish libertarianism. And as a result, all of the characters are 1 dimensional-even the best character-Juno Temple's Dot is just a badass mother tiger er lion, er Lyon.
Maybe it is the toxic extreme conservative themes that are a bit triggering, but I simply do not find Hamm's or his son's or the cop's husband's or Leigh's characters or stories compelling. But that being said, there is still a great deal to love about Fargo-the setting, the cinematography, the music, the occasional character moments and the hope that things will get better and the bad guys will get their just desserts.
One great thing about the past seasons of Fargo is their ability to write compelling characters and relationships and viewers could understand and like even the worst of characters. Like you can understand the Gerhardt clan's relationships, you can understand the twin brothers conflict. There is love under the conflicts and dysfunction. Despite excellent actors the relationships in this season are nothing but cringe. Hamm's son is dismissed by his cold father, Leigh's character is noxious and I don't know why anyone would want to be around her money or no-though I suppose her son being a momma's boy makes some sense.
I think part of the problem is that they are being too obvious with their themes-parasitic debt conglomerate, toxic masculinity of old school religion and the lawless nature of childish libertarianism. And as a result, all of the characters are 1 dimensional-even the best character-Juno Temple's Dot is just a badass mother tiger er lion, er Lyon.
Maybe it is the toxic extreme conservative themes that are a bit triggering, but I simply do not find Hamm's or his son's or the cop's husband's or Leigh's characters or stories compelling. But that being said, there is still a great deal to love about Fargo-the setting, the cinematography, the music, the occasional character moments and the hope that things will get better and the bad guys will get their just desserts.