Fargo Season 5
I was thinking after the sixth episode of Fargo how it’s not only amazing viewing but how important what it’s saying is.
Noah Hawley is one of those story tellers whose work always seems to speak to me. This is the fifth season of Fargo and I’ve found every season to be both creative and entertaining. Even the one season that misfired for me I appreciated for what it attempted. I hold his show Legion in lofty regard, possibly the best show to deal with a comic book character, it’s up there with the best moments of Doom Patrol for showing what can be accomplished in this medium.
Each season of Fargo has had an exceptional ensemble, and this season is no exception. Jon Hamm plays a sheriff in North Dakota. He is in league with a far right militia, he spouts Biblical Law but kinky as hell in private. Jennifer Jason Leigh is brilliant as a successful businesswoman who has acquired much of her fortune through debt collection. Her attorney is played by Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame. Juno Temple plays Leigh’s daughter-in-law, who has a secret past. This is a perfect role for Juno Temple after playing Keely on Ted Lasso. It is such a difference in characters and it showcases her versatility as an actress.
What I find important about this particular season is what it has to say and I think that’s framed well with this bit of dialogue between Jennifer Jason Leigh’s and Jon Hamm’s characters:
JJL: So what you want is freedom with no responsibility.
JH: I guess so.
JJL: You know the only one who gets to have that?
JH: The president?
JJL: No. A baby. You want to be a baby.
To me this sums up a lot of what Hawley is saying with this season, and we see it borne out in episode six particularly in two of the male characters, the sheriff played by Hamm, and the police officer’s husband played by Lukas Gage. Hamm confronts a wife beater, but we soon see that his Bible-based misogyny and hypocrisy extends to beating women as well. He preaches strict Biblical values when confronting others but is super kinky in the bedroom (not to kink shame anyone, just pointing out the hypocrisy). He talks about the law but violates it whenever the law becomes inconvenient for him. Gage’s character is a would be pro golfer who can’t make it. He blames the equipment which he’s purchasing and running up the family credit cards buying more and more of. His wife supports him financially and is about to break under the strain of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt he has put them under, but in this episode he tells her that she isn’t good enough. He says he wants a wife. Someone who will cook for him, have sex with him whenever he wants it, he wants her to support him completely in his efforts without ever raising the stress of the financial burden. Both men want to be a baby: someone who gets all their needs and desires met without ever having to do anything themselves to make this happen or have responsibility for any consequences.
The brilliant thing about the way Hawley executes this theme is that not only does he show how problematic it is when these characters behave this way, he shows how prevalent it has become in our society and how damaging it is that it has become the credo of a major political party. Hamm’s character is a sheriff and is in league with a militia that’s stockpiling weapons. Two FBI agents are investigating him for multiple felonies, but their bosses in the Justice Department are more afraid of what these people will do if prosecuted than they are of the fallout of allowing the law to be broken.
I can’t wait to see how this all concludes. So far by showing the problem and how it impacts the people around these adult babies, it’s powerful story telling.
