Fargo: Season 3 Episode 7 "The Law of Inevitability" Review

"You mash a potato, you know what you get?  Mashed potatoes?"

-Moe Dammick

The seventh episode of Fargo's third season follows Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) getting arrested for Ray Stussy's (Ewan McGregor) death.  Nikki asks for a lawyer and refuses to give any information to the police.

Both Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) and Winnie Lopez (Olivia Sandoval) are reprimanded by their superiors with Lopez ordered to go back to her assigned duties and Gloria's job threatened.  Unperturbed, Gloria has Winnie deliver the news of Ray's death to Emmit Stussy (Ewan McGregor) to gage his reaction.  He acts very strangely when he hears the news, but Sy Feltz (Michael Stuhlbarg) blames it on the alcohol.  Winnie decides to question Ruby Goldfarb (Mary McDonnell), who Emmit and Sy were meeting with, while Sy gives Emmit a ride home.  The two of them have a brief fight with Emmit accusing Sy of working with Ray, but Sy quickly assures him that isn't happening.  Emmit finds V. M. Varga (David Thewlis) in his house and they bond with Emmit admitting he feels free.  Sy goes home and breaks down sobbing in front of his wife.

Yuri Gurka (Goran Bogdan) travels to the Eden Valley police station to steal files, but Officer Donny Mashman (Mark Forward) walks in on him.  Yuri very casually threatens Donny and convinces him to leave without stopping Yuri.

Gloria walks in on one of Varga's men, Golem (DJ Qualls), disguised as a police officer, trying to inject Nikki with an unknown substance.  Gloria fights him off, but the useless police force subdues her and lets Golem escape.  Gloria and Moe Dammick (Shea Whigham) question Nikki, who tells them to follow the money.  Moe is irritated and decides to have her transferred to the state penitently. On the way, she is seated next to a familiar face, deaf-hitman Wes Wrench (Russell Harvard).  Yuri walks into the middle of the road causing the bus to crash.  He starts cutting open the caged door of the bus to get to Nikki.

What Works:

This is probably my favorite episode of they season so far.  I'll start with the cinematography.  This episode has many standout shots: the floor-plan shot of Ray's apartment, the wide shot of Emmit and Varga sitting in Emmit's house, and pretty much the entire bus crash sequence.  All of these look amazing and are visually delicious.

Most of the cast gets some time to shine in this episode.  Both Ewan McGregor and Michael Stuhlbarg are great.  Emmit losing it in front of Winnie is really funny and later we get scenes of both of them breaking down in tears.  Both are powerful, especially Stuhlbarg's.  Him telling his wife that the world is wrong is simply heartbreaking.

David Thewlis only gets three scenes in the episode and only one with dialogue, but it's a great scene.  He tells the story of a crooked man to Emmit and it's a really nice scene showing a kinder side of Varga.

Goran Bogdan has his best episode so far as his subtle threats towards Donny are fantastic.  I have found him mostly underwhelming this season, but I loved him here.  The final shots of the episode show him cutting through the cage coming for Nikki and it's terrifying.

I also really appreciate how Nikki would not say anything to Moe except for asking for a lawyer.  That's 100% the right move for her and it was satisfying to watch Moe try everything to get a reaction out of her only to fail every time.

Gloria gets some very funny moments as she jumps through bureaucratic hoops to get access to Nikki.  But, we also get to see her be a badass as she takes down Golem.  She's a character we can really root for in this sea of moral ambiguity.

Finally, the bus crash sequence is excellently done.  Not only is the cinematography great, but we get the return of Wes Wrench, which was jaw-dropping when I first saw it.  It also gives us a terrifying cliffhanger in the form of Yuri.

What Sucks:

I think Moe Dammick may just be my least favorite Fargo character.  His outright rejection of everything Gloria has to say has passed far beyond absurdity.  It's utterly ridiculous and frustrating to have this guy continue to be a roadblock for Gloria.  It's not even well-written antagonism.  He's just being ignorant for "reasons".  It's sloppy writing and motivation to slow down our protagonist and it's frustrating.

Verdict:

Apart from Moe being the worst, "The Law of Inevitability" is a great episode of Fargo and the best of the season so far.  Every character gets a great moment, the cinematography is stellar, and the finale has an awesome cliffhanger with a fantastic return of a great character.  "The Law of Inevitability" has certainly got it going on.

 9/10: Great