True story? In a frozen northern place a writer has some leeway. Whoever penned this one took a large one. Let's dispense with normal people first off. What we have here is a total disregard for, well, normal, according to humanity, the law, and base morality. This is one wicked good twisted tale.
A great cast from another place, maybe Venus...or hell? Never mind the punch drunk brawl at the open school board meeting (this is about the only event that may have happened sometime some place). Let's key on the arrested mother, housewife Dot (a deliciously bent Juno Temple), and daughter in law of some kind of wretched uber-wealthy matriarch (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who seems like the devil in Prada. Until the sheriff enters, that is. Using some warped religious zealotry the sheriff, played by John Ham, assumes the top spot of actual depravity.
Fargo started its run of a series with a loose premise of normal folk getting in over their heads in extraordinary bad situations to whit they did the unthinkable.. The FX Fargo is a huge return to form, but, this isn't that same Fargo. The new Fargo is over-the-top, near cartoon characters. Acting out in the strangest ways. What this means is there is no sense, and no need for sense, to hook the viewer. It is very much like watching a train wreck. Using one's own need to know you just keep watching for, well, anything. Brilliant.