Fargo: Season 2 Episode 2 "Before the Law" Review

"Wake him up."

-Dodd Gerhardt

"He's dead, I think."

-Hanzee Dent

"Weak."

-Dodd Gerhardt

"Before the Law" picks up with four members of the Kansas City Mafia arriving at the Gerhardt Family compound.  Kansas City offers to buy the Gerhardt's out, but let them continue to run everything, they would just report to Kansas City.  Before any decisions are made, both Floyd Gerhardt (Jean Smart) and her oldest son, Dodd (Jeffery Donovan) claim that they are in charge of the family now.  Bear Gerhardt (Angus Sampson) and Dodd's daughter, Simone (Rachel Keller), side with Floyd, while the Gerhardt's hitman, Hanzee Dent (Zahn McClarnon) sides with Dodd.  With Rye Gerhardt (Kieran Culkin) still missing, Hanzee is sent to track him down.

But Hanzee isn't the only person after Rye.  Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine), a member of the Kansas City Mafia, believes that Rye is the most likely of the Gerhardt's to flip on the family and help Kansas City.  He and his bodyguards, Wayne and Gale Kitchen (Todd and Brad Mann), interrogate Skip Sprang (Mike Bradecich) and learn about the judge Rye was going after.  Mike and the Kitchen Brothers make their way to Luverne, Minnesota, but they are quickly run out of town by Sheriff Hank Larsson (Ted Danson) for their suspicious behavior.

Hank and Officer Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) learn that one of the victim's from the Waffle Hut shooting was a North Dakota judge.  Due to the interstate nightmare this case will become, Lou takes over the case from Hank.  Lou decides to make a quick stop at the Waffle Hut to take another look, and his wife, Betsy (Cristin Milioti), and his daughter, Molly (Raven Stewart) find a gun in the bushes.

Meanwhile, Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst) goes into work at the hair salon to keep up appearances, while Ed (Jesse Plemons) cleans all the blood out of the garage and cleans up Rye's body, which he takes to town after the butcher's shop closes and carves up in a meat grinder.  He is nearly caught by Lou, who shows up to buy bacon, but manages to complete his grizzly task.

Peggy's boss, Constance Heck (Elizabeth Marvel) who has a crush on Peggy, gives her a ride home, but asks to use the bathroom.  Peggy lets her in, and she accidentally sees Peggy's car with the windshield still broken.

What Works:

This episode does a gret job of getting everyone heading in the right direction for some nice, juicy conflict.  We have the Kansas City Mafia and the Gerhardt's on a collision course on both the hunt for Rye, and back in Fargo.  Not to mention the internal feud between Floyd and Dodd that isn't going to go away easily.  Plus, Ed and Peggy are constantly on the verge of being caught.  It's very exciting and tense watching these character interact.

We get a lot of new characters this episode, but they're all very memorable.  We get a few new Gerhardt's, plus Mike Milligan, who is just excellent.  There are a ton of character in this show, but Fargo does a great job of keeping them all distinct and making the story easy enough to follow.

My favorite part of the episode is watching poor Ed grinding up Rye's body.  Ed is such a sweet and nice guy, and watching him do this horribly grotesque thing is simply wonderful.  Plus, the scene where he is trying to avoid getting caught by Lou is really tense.  

What Sucks:

This episode is pretty much just resetting the board after the insanity of the premiere.  Nothing too crazy happens this episode, but that's ok.  I think we needed a bit of a breather anyway.

Verdict:

"Before the Law" is about as good as a second episode of a season can be.  It's got a tough job, getting us from the events of the premiere, to setting up the rest of the season.  This episode does a great job of it.

 9/10: Great