Fargo: Season 2 Episode 1 "Waiting for Dutch" Review

"You're the comic in a piece of bubblegum!"

-Dodd Gerhardt

"Well, I mean, says you!"

-Rye Gerhardt

Fargo season two follows the Gerhardt crime family, which is based out of Fargo, North Dakota.  The family is run by Otto (Michael Hogan), who is assisted by his wife, Floyd (Jean Smart), and his two oldest sons, Dodd (Jeffery Donovan), and Bear (Angus Sampson).  They realize they are losing money due to the Kansas City Mafia moving in on their turf.  While they try to figure out what their next move should be, Otto suffers a stroke, leaving the position of leader in the Gerhardt family ripe for the taking.

Meanwhile, Otto's youngest son, Rye (Kieran Culkin), who owes Dodd money, is working with Skip Sprang (Mike Bradecich), a typewriter salesman, who's accounts have been frozen by the state.  Skip asks Rye to convince Judge Irma Mundt (Ann Cusack) to unfreeze the accounts, in exchange for a percentage of his profits.  Rye tails Irma to a waffle house in Luverne, Minnesota and attempts to change her mind.  Irma sprays bugs spray in his eyes to get him to go away.  Rye shoots and kills Irma, as well as the two restaurant employees.  As he makes his escape, he sees a U.F.O. fly by.  He walks after it and is hit by a car.

State Trooper Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson), is at home reading to his young daughter, who will grow up to become the hero of Fargo's first season.  His wife, Betsy (Cristin Milioti)is suffering from cancer.  Lou gets called put to investigate the murders at the waffle house, as does Laverne's sheriff, Hank Larsson (Ted Danson), who is Lou's father-in-law.  Lou decides to let Hank and the local PD have the case.

Ed Blumquist (Jesse Plemons), a butcher's assistant in Laverne, who enjoys the quiet small-town life, returns home to his wife, Peggy (Kirsten Dunst), who dreams of going to California.  Their sex life is as active as Ed would like, but while they discuss that over dinner, Ed hears a noise in the garage.  Peggy tries to distract him but Ed goes out to find the car damaged and Rye Gerhardt attacks him.  Ed stabs Rye to death is self-defense, and Peggy convinces Ed to not call the police and to help her cover up the crime.

The final scene shows the Kansas City Mafia planning to make an aggressive move on the Gerhardt's now that Otto is down for the count.


What Works:

"Waiting for Dutch" is terrific premiere to the second season.  It does a great job of introducing us to most of the main characters.  We don't spend a ton of time with the Gerhardt's, but we get a handle on them.  We really get to know the rest of our characters, however.  We perfectly understand both Ed and Peggy and there struggles in their marriage and their life.

We also get to see Lou and Molly Solverson from season one, but this time they're younger selves.  We already know where these characters end up, but it's exciting to see how they get there.

The acting is fantastic from everyone.  Kristen Dunst and Jesse Plemons are great.  Patrick Wilson works as a young Keith Carradine.  And all of the Gerhardt's do a great job, especially Jeffery Donovan and Kieran Culkin, who is only in this one episode, but certainly leaves an impression.

The diner scene is awesome.  You know things are going to end poorly as soon as Rye walks into that diner, and the episode delivers with some spectacular violence.  Plus Rye getting hit by the car out of nowhere was simply great, which leads to the excellent reveal that Peggy is the one who hit him.  I did not see that coming, and the sequence was masterfully done.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for ya.


Verdict:

Season two of Fargo has an extremely strong start, with memorable characters, great acting, an interesting story, and spectacular violence, right out the gate.  One of the best episodes of the series.


 10/10: Amazing