Fargo

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Nobody watching?

 

[Captain Scumbag]

There are a few ways in which I'm still hopelessly stuck in the 20th century, and one is my tendency to wait for US shows to air in the UK. New series starts tomorrow night on More4, so I'll start then.

Really looking forward to it. Thought the first series was the best thing on TV last year, and I really like the idea of going back to see Lou as a younger man in the 1970s. Should be ace.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Ahh I didn't even realise it was him.

 

[Modernist]

Enjoyed the first series, hoping for more of the same.

 

[Destruction]

Good coat porn in the first series, I'll be watching again.

 

[spireite]

I watched the first ep of the new season. It seems OK. Maybe I just need to get used to the new characters. My main worry with S2 is the fact that Freeman and BBT absolutely carried the first season (especially Thornton). That's not to say the story and direction etc wasn't good, but those 2 absolutely NAILED it. They've thrown a fair bit of acting talent at this one and I just hope it works without 'the guys'.

 

[JoeJoeJoeJoe]

Loved the diner scene. Solid first episode.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Will watch. Very much enjoyed the first series.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

My main worry with S2 is the fact that Freeman and BBT absolutely carried the first season (especially Thornton). That's not to say the story and direction etc wasn't good, but those 2 absolutely NAILED it. They've thrown a fair bit of acting talent at this one and I just hope it works without 'the guys'.

I think it's a potential problem for any second season in an anthology series. The viewers know the reset button has been hit. They know it's a new story with new characters. But for many there’s still a degree of expectation that the second season will be enjoyable for almost exactly the same reasons as the first. Comparisons are inevitable.

The second season of True Detective got a lot of flak. Much of it was deserved, but a lot of it really amounted to little more than “I miss Marty and Rust”. People missed those characters. People missed that buddy cop dynamic. And even though they understood at the outset they weren’t getting that, they wanted something similar. And they never quite got past the disappointment of not getting it.

I hope the same doesn’t happen with Fargo. I don’t think anyone carried the first season (it was a solid ensemble piece, and if anyone anchored the whole thing it was probably Allison Tolman), but Billy Bob clearly had a blast and there’s no denying the show was at its most wickedly funny and entertaining when he was on screen. But if the second season premiere is any indication, we’re not getting a replacement. We’re not getting another charismatic sociopath in the Lorne Malvo or Anton Chigurh mold. But that’s fine.

The first season may have been set in 2006, but the story could have been set at any point in the last 25 years. It wasn’t about a particular time or place. It had the timeless quality of a fable, and Billy Bob playing the devil worked perfectly within that. This season, however, is more anchored in a particular time. It’s tapping into that post-Watergate funk – that period of decline and malaise (described by Carter in the opening montage) in the mid-to-late 70s, just prior to the election of Reagan. The lost certainty. A quiet sadness permeating everything. An inescapable sense that nothing is as it should be, and may never be again. I’m not sure Lorne (or someone like him) would fit into this. I'm not sure if UFOs do either, but I'll suspend judgement for now...

I loved the opener, and not least for its ambition. Bolder. Wider in scope. Greater socio-political texture. Aesthetically more playful and daring. I didn’t want a simple re-tread – another funny-but-brutal morality tale in which rural folks confront evil. I’m glad the folk making this appear to have something else in mind.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

I get the sense the UFO is something that we saw and will never hear about again. Just a quirky plot device designed to distract Rye (and us) before the crash.

 

[G-Dragon]

Loved the first season of Fargo. Definitely one of the best TV shows I have watched. Only watched the first episode of 2nd season, thought it was pretty solid.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

It's not a true story lol

 

[Son of Cod]

Interesting that you draw the parallel with True Detective, Scumbag. I haven't watched the second season of True Detective. However, I read The Black Dahlia (after reading you and Carel banging on about James Ellroy) a short while after I watched season one and it really diluted the True Detective buddy cop thing. True Detective S1 was at its best, for me, when the main characters were being forced to go well out of their comfort zones. Going into the ghetto with the biker gang and pursuing the finale culprit into his pit of despair. The BIG moments.

Really enjoyed Fargo S2E01, anyway. It felt like some of the sets/locations were the same as the first season. I get that Wilson is Molly's dad from the first season, but is it supposed to be in and around the same town? Didn't miss any of the previous season's characters, though. Kirsten Dunst is potentially gonna be a demon manipulator and Ron Swanson is already calling it.

Spoiler

We're not supposed to have figured out why there is a shoe in a tree outside the waffle place, right?

 

[SALTIRE]

Need to see the first series, but I quite fancy it. The film was great fun.

 

[RavenBish]

The film is shite and always will be.

 

[spireite]

The film is shite and always will be.

Mate what are you doing

 

[Dave-Vale]

Channel is this on? I thought the first season was a Netflix original? Can't see this on there..

 

[Captain Scumbag]

I get the sense the UFO is something that we saw and will never hear about again. Just a quirky plot device designed to distract Rye (and us) before the crash.

Richard Burton and Jeff Wayne say otherwise! Sorta.

Really, really good again.

 

[Whitechapel]

Channel is this on? I thought the first season was a Netflix original? Can't see this on there..

Channel 4. Should be able to catch the first 2 episodes on All 4.

 

[JoeJoeJoeJoe]

loving this

 

[JustinQPR]

Mike and his twins are superb.

Really annoys me that I can't take him seriously though. Close your eyes when he's talking and he is Dave Chappelle!

 

[Dave-Vale]

Channel 4. Should be able to catch the first 2 episodes on All 4.

Got in from work the other night and it was being repeated on C4.

Crazy kid from Breaking Bad is in it. Spotted him straight away.

 

[Nilsson]

Episode 4 is really good. Loving this season. Excited to see what comes of Ed and Peggy especially.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

So, just when I think they can't make this second season any better, they cast Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Wasn't sure this was doing it for me as much as S1 but really enjoying it now. Shaping up very nicely.

 

[spireite]

loving this show. It's very well put together.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

This just gets better with every passing week. Great episode tonight.

 

[iesty wfc]

had this on my planner for months and only just getting round to watching it. gripping stuff