I have mixed feelings about the 1996 Coen Brothers movie “Fargo”: I can appreciate the craftsmanship, yet it’s also not really my thing, with its moments of extreme violence. I feel much the same way about the stylistically faithful TV series (9 p.m. Central Tuesdays on FX), but I think I’ll stick with it a while thanks to Billy Bob Thornton’s hitman, Lorne.
Almost everyone in “Fargo” is someone you love to hate or hate to love. Martin Freeman’s life-insurance salesman Lester sucks at life, but he’s so put-upon by everyone that a viewer roots for him. The cops – Allison Tolman’s Molly on the Bemidji beat and Colin Hanks’ Gus in Duluth — aren’t outstanding at their jobs like most TV cops, but they mean well. The pilot episode cathartically kills off the most despicable characters: Crime magnate Sam Hess, who still bullies Lester two decades after high school; and Lester’s incredibly mean wife.
Lorne has two great monologues that push the pilot episode from average to quite good. In the diner, he tells Lester about “the shit they make us eat – our bosses, our wives …” and that a key to survival is to remind them every now and then that, deep down inside, “you’re still an ape.” Nearly as great is the way Lorne gets out of a speeding ticket in Duluth by telling Gus that maps used to say “Here be dragons.” They don’t anymore, but Lorne warns Gus that if he starts down a certain investigative path at this traffic stop, he’ll – generally speaking – encounter dragons; he also throws in a subtle threat at Gus’ daughter. I was actively rooting for Gus to not ticket Lorne, as I believed every word Lorne said. While Peter Stormare was good in the movie, the TV show delves more deeply into the hitman’s “there are no rules” mindset, and Thornton is perfect in the role.
Right now, it seems like Lester would be well advised to completely throw in his lot with Lorne. There’s no way in hell he could ever outsmart this guy, and they are natural allies-by-circumstance considering that they both know the other is a murderer. On the other hand, we viewers see that Lorne is not to be trusted, even in an anti-hero sort of way. While he kills two of Lester’s enemies and encourages Lester to tap into his “ape” nature, there is evidence that it’s all a big game to Lorne. He encourages a motel worker to pee in his boss’ gas tank, phones the front desk to report him, then sits back in his room and enjoys the ensuing show from the window. He also plays a prank on the Hess kids regarding their dead fathers’ will purely for the twisted fun of it.
The pilot episode hints at a huge crime syndicate, which the characters call “Fargo” because it’s based out of Fargo. That’ll be fodder for future episodes, as will character development for the two villains and the two good cops. Gus’ relationship with his daughter – who gives him Vikings score updates while he’s on patrol – could be good stuff.
I suspect the western-Canada-filmed “Fargo” will need to be more than just OK in order to get northerners to keep tuning in. The barren snowscapes and exhaust-spewing cars and references to minus-10-degree weather (by the way, Hollywood writers, Minnesotans tend to say “10-below” rather than “negative-10”) might have an exotic appeal to those who live in nicer climates. But they have to be a real turn-off to people who just survived an awful winter – or are still in the process of doing so, judging by recent weather reports.
Likewise, the exaggerated Minnesota accents – while somewhat amusing in a single movie or episode – could get a little silly in an ongoing series. And in both the film and TV show, the level of meanness and/or detachment of the characters rings false. While “Minnesota nice” is a stereotype (people are basically the same level of niceness throughout the U.S.), I find that the coldness of many “Fargo” characters doesn’t ring true, either, particularly the passive-aggressive cruelty that Lester’s wife doles out. It’s so over-the-top that it flirts with parody; then again, it does keep a viewer firmly in Lester’s camp even after he kills her with a hammer.
This is the tone of “Fargo,” both the movie and TV series: Real (if exaggerated) people in real (if exaggerated) places mixed up in moments of shocking violence. Since I doubt “Fargo” will turn into a mystery show a la “The Killing” or “The Bridge,” how long a viewer tunes in probably will depend on their taste or tolerance for extreme characterizations, extreme cold and extreme violence. It’s one extremely good performance that’ll bring me back next week.