Fargo: Season 1 Episode 9 "A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage" Review

"That's quite a pickle."

-Lou Solverson

"A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage" gives us some insight into what Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) has been up to since he left Duluth.  He spends six months integrating himself into the life of Burt Canton (Stephen Root), a dentist, in order to gain access to Burt's brother, who has bounty on his head and is in the witness protection program.  Malvo gets a job as a dentist in the same office, becomes engaged to a woman named Jemma (Helena Mattson), and they become good friends with Bert and his wife.  The night before Bert is going to take them to spend some time with his brother, Lester Nygaard spots him in the Las Vegas hotel.  When Lester tries to talk to him, Malvo brushes him off.  But this is a new Lester, who doesn't back down.  They get into a confrontation in an elevator, and when Lester refuses to back down, Malvo shoots and kills Jemma, Bert, and his wife.  Lester flees with his new wife, Linda (Susan Park), back to Minnesota, but both Lester and Malvo know that this isn't over.

Back in Bemidji, Lester proposes that he and his wife take a vacation to Mexico.  Before they can leave, Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) comes to collect a statement from them about the Las Vegas murders on behalf of LVPD.  They manage to get rid of her.

Malvo arrives back in town, and Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) catches a glimpse of him, but isn't sure it was Malvo.  Malvo tries to track down Lester, but is unsuccessful.  He goes to Lou Solverson's (Keith Carradine) diner, but Lou gets a bad feeling about him and doesn't give him any information.

FBI Agents Pepper (Keegan-Michael Key) and Budge (Jordan Peele) arrive in town and team up with  Molly, impressed with her work on the Malvo-Nygaard case.

As Lester and Linda get ready to flee the country, they stop by Lester's office to get their passports.  In a moment of brutal coldness, Lester fakes a back injury to get Linda to go inside to get their passports.  He even gets her to wear Lester's coat when she goes inside.  As she gets the passports, Malvo appears and shoots her in the head, but realizes he killed the wrong person.


What Works:

This is a great episode.   Seriously, everything works here.  The episode's opening showing us the lengths Malvo went through to get close to Bert is insane and somehow makes this monster even more terrifying than he already was.  When we see how easily Malvo executes his "friends" and "finance" in the elevator, it's shocking and not at all what I was expecting.

Continuing with Malvo, it was great to see Lou size him up immediately, seeing him exactly for what he is.  It's a really great scene, and it's awesome to see Billy Bob Thornton and Keith Carradine have a scene together.

Finally, the ending of this episode might be the most brutal thing I've seen in a TV show.  Lester sends his own wife to her death.  Unlike the murder of his first wife, which was passionate and emotional, this is cold, brutal, and detached.  This is the moment when Lester himself becomes a true monster.  You can argue that what he did to his brother and nephew is the moment, but this is the point where there can be no redemption for Lester.  He is as bad as Malvo.  And it's a great moment seeing him pull this amazing strategic move in such a heartless manner.  It might be my favorite moment of the show.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for ya, don't cha know.


Verdict:

This is one of the best episodes of the season, for sure.  It's got multiple iconic moments, and some fantastic acting all around.  Plus it's an awesome setup for the finale.  You couldn't ask for more from a penultimate episode.


 10/10: Amazing