Fargo

[Essay21 2,387]

The pilot set the bar ridiculously high and the show hasn't lived up to that, but it's been very good.

[hank213 1,823]

wtf was that all about?

[hank213 1,823]

somebody get in here and explain the fish goddamit or i'm bailing on the show.

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

lol nothing to explain, other than it seems vaguely biblical. Billy Bob didn't do it, but the first born son was iced in what has to be considered (by the Greek, at least) as an act of god. I imagine it's going to spin him unhinged.

[hank213 1,823]

what is this Hitchhiker's Guide? just any old random nonsense can happen at any time simply because there is a need for a plot twist?

 

i'm not happy about this. they've set this in a world where there are rules. quirky rules and large bouts of coincidence sure, but at least there were still some basic boundaries. this fish thing, man, i don't think i'm interested in watching a show like this.

 

 

it reminds me somewhat of why i quit watching lost. early on the writers put a polar bear living on a tropical island. that's when I said to myself "Nope, not interested. This is going to be weirdness simply for the sake of weirdness and I have no interest in a show with absolutely no rules."

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

I'd like to beat you bloody, for comparing this show to lost.

[hank213 1,823]

well then they shouldn't pull this bullshit. admit it, a truckload of fish falling from the sky to kill off a character is pretty far out there. then factor in that at least some of the fish were alive while falling from the sky and we've gone from highly improbable to utterly ludicrous.

 

make a case for why it is acceptable. i'd like to hear it because there is a small part of me that is still so enamored with the first episode that i'm willing to hang in there while the rational side is screaming "RUN." maybe you can stoke the irrational fire enough for me to see it through the season.

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

I don't admit it, this kind of thing is sprinkled in all of the Coens movies, and I thought it was funny.

[timwakefield 68]

I'm kinda with Hank. I'm loving the show, but the fish scene was lame.

 

First of all, they lifted it straight out of Magnolia. I mean, just straight up stole "let's have it raining fish (frogs) to coincide with an emotional zenith." Second of all, it wasn't beautiful and cathartic like in Magnolia. It was just unbelievable and confusing.

 

I also didn't love nervous Colin Hanks shooting the female cop. Too obvious.

 

I'm really loving the show otherwise but the end of that episode was bad.

[Theraflu 1,035]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals

 

Occurrences:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals#Occurrences

[timwakefield 68]

Yeah I know it's a real phenomenon, I think Magnolia actually taught us that (as in, the narrator explained that it's happened and perhaps even how it happens), but I still didn't like it in Fargo.

 

Probably my main gripe was that it's straight out of Magnolia, not just having it happen but having it happen at a time when characters are having emotional breakdowns or epiphanies or whatever, and also that Magnolia did it so much better. Magnolia treated the event with appropriate reverence and amusement and wonder. In Fargo it just sort of happened. Magnolia is also all about strange coincidences and mysterious connections so it didn't seem out of place like it did in Fargo.

 

Here's the scene in Magnolia if y'all haven't seen it (see it now) or don't really remember it.

 

[SuitedAces21 2,723]

calm down already

[timwakefield 68]

I'm perfectly calm Dude.

[Theraflu 1,035]

Maybe give it another episode to explain itself?

[timwakefield 68]

I'm certainly not writing the show off, and I'm sure they'll get into what that was all about. There were just a few things at the end of that episode that seemed cheesy.

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

Also, it's not straight out of Magnolia, exactly. Magnolia used it as a massive god in the machine, across like 10 story lines, linking them together, randomness, coincidence or fate, all of it wrapped together, in a really funny way. I'm sure Magnolia is not unknown to the writers and creators. We used to call that shit homages back in my day, not ripping off. You sound like old men.

 

This rain of fish, is the punchline of a season long joke. So you have this super religious guy, who earnestly believed him finding that snow scrapper and cash, was god's divine intervention. So much so, that he basically made a stained glass alter, to the Miracle of the Scraper.. BBT manipulated that earnestness, recreating the biblical plagues, and making him think that god was legitimately raining down plagues on him, to get him to repent. He was so crazy, by his own religious superstition, and BBT's tricks, that he burred a million ****ing dollars in cash, randomly in the snow. To pay it forward, or some half assed religious shit.

 

When the truth of it is, it wasn't god's intervention that put the money there, it was a bloody Steve Buchemi. It was pure coincidence, not providence, that the Greek found that cash, put there by a killer. And it was a killer, not god, that brought the plagues down on the Greek. So, his kid gets killed, by a rain of fish. IF you wanted to kill the kid, in both a way that was an act of pure bad luck, and something that could be read as no question an act of god by the religious, a rain of animals will do the trick. Maybe you can think of another narrative device that would have worked there, maybe it was lazy story writing, but I have a hard time coming up with something better there, that is going to send the Greek into a religious despair.

[timwakefield 68]

You make a strong argument, but it doesn't change the fact that I was disappointed in the scene and other things at the end of the episode. The fish rain as an idea might not suck, but I just didn't think the way they did it was successful, and the fact that Magnolia did it so much better made it feel even more disappointing cuz I couldn't help but compare.

 

I liked the whiteout, and the shootout and fight that happened during it (although as I said I didn't love Hanks shooting the other cop), and I liked Lester's strange temporary escape (although it was hard to believe). I'm not saying the show has jumped the shark already, just mentioning some specific criticisms I had.

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

My favorite Lester stuff, is the way his descent into sociopathy is going. It's subtle and terrific, my favorite part of the show.

[Theraflu 1,035]

I don't understand your Hanks issue, either. He's nervously trying to protect this lady he likes, after admitting earlier that he has no business being a cop. Also, he may not have shot her; I believe there were gunshots before he fired, possibly from Mr. Numbers. Or she could be wearing a vest.

[Theraflu 1,035]

As a whole, the episode was absurdly dark. The Glenn Howerton kill scene was brutal. Setting up the autistic kid with a gun in his bag is crazy. I'm totally in, but this was definitely the darkest episode so far.

[timwakefield 68]

I don't understand your Hanks issue, either. He's nervously trying to protect this lady he likes, after admitting earlier that he has no business being a cop. Also, he may not have shot her; I believe there were gunshots before he fired, possibly from Mr. Numbers. Or she could be wearing a vest.

 

I like his character, I just thought that him shooting the other cop in the whiteout was obvious. Like you said he might not have actually shot her and whether or not it was him I'm betting she'll survive, but it just seemed like a boringly obvious event, compared to the shock and horror we're meant to feel.

 

And yeah, Lester is easily my favorite part of the show. Freeman totally nails it, and his character arc has been great. I totally didn't expect him to get the kid involved.

[GWCGWC 83]

This thread is total bullshit. I expected at least 30 BigD posts about Fast and Furious 7 and what Paul Walker's death will mean to the future of the franchise.

 

Fargo is not good tv but actually really bad tv because the acting, cinematography, and dialog is all way above average while the story and premise is completely flawed.

 

I'm still going to watch it even though it offends me. I'm really not happy that this is being touted as a good show by people who absolutely know better.

 

What's the connection between the opening scene with the mob boss of few words giving the orders and then sucking on a fish head AFTER taking off his crabs legs bib and the fish falling from the sky at the end? Not a god damned thing. The bib removal annoys me to no end.

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

Perhaps I'm just part of the #TarantinoGeneration but I care way, way more about Cinematography, dialog and acting than I do about plot.

[Essay21 2,387]

I actually agree. I think it's fallen WAY off since the pilot.

[hank213 1,823]

Perhaps I'm just part of the #TarantinoGeneration but I care way, way more about Cinematography, dialog and acting than I do about plot.

 

maybe. but even tarantino spun an interesting yarn where characters behaved consistent with their established natures and the absurdly implausible wasn't key to story advancement, at least that was the case with the early films.