Fargo: Season 3 Episode 8 "Who Rules the Land of Denial?" Review

"Mustache."

-Meemo

The 8th episode of season 3 of Fargo picks up with the crash of the prison bus shown from the perspectives of Yuri Gurka (Goran Bogdan), Meemo (Andy Yu), and Golem (DJ Qualls).  Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Wes Wrench (Russell Harvard) manage to escape the bus, but are still handcuffed to each other.  They flee into the woods with Yuri and Golem in pursuit, while Meemo has to hunt down some witnesses.  The hunt through the woods lasts over a day and the killers murder some hunters and get their hands on crossbows.  They finally manage to catch up with Nikki and Wes and injure both of them, but Wes manages to cut off Yuri's ear and together, he and Nikki decapitate Golem.

Then things get weird.  Nikki and Wes make their way out of the woods and find a strange bowling alley (which may or may not be purgatory) in the middle of nowhere.  Inside, Nikki talks to Paul Murrane (Ray Wise), who shows her a cat which is implied to be the reincarnation of Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor).  He tells her the story of a group of Jewish people that had been massacred in the Ukraine long ago.  Paul then gives the two a car and sends them on their way to combat the wicked.

Yuri arrives at the bowling alley soon after and is bleeding badly.  He too meets Paul who reveals that Yuri is a descendant of those who committed the massacre in the Ukraine.  The spirits of the dead, as well as the woman Yuri murdered in the first episode, Helga (Jennifer Boudreau), visit Yuri and it is implied that he dies.

On Christmas Day, Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) hears about the bus crash and goes to the scene and learns Nikki escaped.

Sy Feltz (Michael Stuhlbarg) goes to Emmit Stussy's (Ewan McGregor) house, but Meemo and V. M. Varga (David Thewlis) don't let him see Emmit.  They give him a spiked cup of tea, which puts Sy in a coma.

We jump to three months later and Emmit is visiting Sy in the hospital.  As he leaves, Gloria and Officer Winnie Lopez (Olivia Sandoval) harass him with questions.  Emmit goes out to his car to find it missing and Ray's Corvette parked there instead.  He goes back to his office to find dozens of pictures of the stamp that killed Ray on that wall.  He goes home and gets drunk.  When he wakes up, he finds a mustache similar to Ray's glued to his face.  Wracked with guilt, Emmit has a breakdown.  Varga and Meemo try to drug him, but Emmit fakes taking the pills and pretends to be asleep before fleeing his house.

At a new police station and now just a deputy, Gloria finally signs her divorce papers before Emmit walks in and says he wants to confess.

What Works:

This is definitely my favorite episode from season 3 of Fargo.  The first half of this episode is phenomenal and some of the best stuff this show has ever done.  The chase through the woods is thrilling.  I could have had a whole episode following Nikki and Wes working together to survive.  It was a blast to watch.  The fight scene and Golem's death are incredible and probably my favorite moment from the entire season.

The bowling alley scenes are bizarre and feel like something we'd see in Twin Peaks instead of Fargo, but I loved them.  Things are left intentionally ambiguous and when we get into more supernatural elements, I'm okay with that.  Ray Wise is fantastic as always and the end of Yuri is simply bizarre and leaves a lot to the imagination.

The second half of the episode is also solid.  Ewan McGregor is great as the paranoia and the guilt get to him.  Watching him spiral out of control, yet somehow manage to outsmart Varga and Meemo was great.  He also gives us a very exciting cliffhanger.

Finally, watching Meemo dance around Emmit's house is just absurd and I love it.  It's such a weird character trait for a hitman to have, but it's really awesome.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Verdict:

"Who Rules the Land of Denial?" is by far the best episode of season 3.  It's thrilling, badass, bizarre, and epic.  The first half is some of the best stuff Fargo has ever done and the second half gives us some great development for Emmit.  This episode has absolutely got it going on. 

 10/10: Amazing