Fargo: Season 3 Episode 9 "Aporia" Review

"You just added a zero to your salary."
-V. M. Varga




The penultimate episode of Fargo's 3rd season follows Emmit Stussy (Ewan McGregor) as he confesses his role in his brother's death to Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon).  When V. M. Varga (David Thewlis) discovers what Emmit is up to, he sends Meemo (Andy Yu) to kill two people with the last name Stussy.  They also pay a man who has been in-and-out of prison his entire life and can't survive as a free man to confess to the crimes.  Gloria is forced to release Emmit and neither of them are happy about it as Varga and Meemo pick Emmit up from jail.  Gloria has a drink with Officer Winnie Lopez (Olivia Sandoval) who comforts her.

Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Wes Wrench (Russell Harvard) launch a raid on Varga's semi-truck he uses as his base.  They manage to steal hard drives with financial information.  The force a meeting with Varga and he and Nikki face off in a game of wits.  Nikki comes out on top when Wrench manages to get the upper-hand on Meemo.  Nikki gives Varga 24 hours to pay her $2 million.  In the meantime, she sends some of the Stussy Lots financial information to the IRS.


What Works:

This episode of Fargo has a pretty simple plot.  There are really only two storylines going on as we wind down and I appreciate that.  This season has been very complex at times, I'd argue even too much so.  It's nice to see they can tell a much simpler story that is just as engaging, if not more so.

This might be Carrie Coon's best episode of the season.  For the first time, we really get to see her open herself up emotionally and we learn more about her life and how the breakup with her husband came about.  She's been a very cold and logical character throughout the entire season, but it's great to see another side to her.  Her scene with Winnie at the end of the episode is both very funny and very sweet.

Nikki and Wes' raid on Meemo's convoy was awesome.  The two of them are a formidable duo and it's great to watch them take Varga and Meemo down a peg or two.  For the first time, Varga doesn't get his way and it's really satisfying to watch how upset and frustrated he gets when dealing with Nikki.  She is truly a match for him and their game of wits is a lot of fun.

Finally, I really like Varga's plan of having people named Stussy murdered.  It's a pretty ingenious way to get Emmit out of prison and I'm always up to watch Meemo causally murder more people.


What Sucks:
My only real problem with this episode is one I've had all season:  Moe Dammik (Shea Whigham) is just the worst.  He's such an utter buffoon who ignores all logic and reason and it's beyond frustrating.  He is, without a doubt, my least favorite character in the entire series and single-handedly brings the season and this episode down.


Verdict:

This episode does what every penultimate episode should do; set us up for the finale and get us excited for the end.  "Aporia" succeeds in doing that and also gives us some awesome action and some really fun scenes to boot.  Moe Dammick aside, this episode has got it going on.

 9/10: Great  

  

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