Spoilers for Season 1 of FX's Fargo below!
Over winter break I had the chance to watch Season 1 of FX’s Fargo. Although the original film Fargo (1996) dir. Coen brothers, is one of my favorites, I put off watching this series worried it would ruin the source material, as some TV shows based off classic movies do. But after seeing that Ewan McGregor won Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television at this year’s Golden Globes, I decided to finally check it out. And I am so glad I did.
Although McGregor doesn’t arrive until season 3 of the series, I was pleasantly surprised to see Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Hobbit franchise) in the leading role as Lester Nygaard, an extremely introverted insurance salesman. We quickly learn that Nygaard’s life is far from the pleasant demeanor he gives off in every interaction. From a constantly belittling wife, a little brother that outshines him at every turn, and a bully from his high school days still pestering him, Lester puts up with a lot in his life.
But eventually everybody cracks, and by the first episode’s end Lester has killed his wife, unintentionally gotten his high school bully killed, and witnessed the police chief’s murder at the hands of mysterious hitman Lorne Malvo, played by Billy Bob Thornton. But despite being involved with all these events, surprisingly Lester doesn’t run and hide like viewers expected him to. After all so far in the episode we have seen Lester numerous times avoid conflict as much as he can. But much to my surprise, Lester thrives in spite of all the chaos around him.
In a matter of seconds Lester comes up with a plan to make it look like he was victim rather than a killer, giving him time to develop a false story. Later, Lester escapes a hospital to plant evidence against his brother for the crimes. He even plants an unloaded gun in his nephew’s backpack to give the police a false lead, further showing that the once ‘puts up with anything’ Lester is now far gone. With this new confidence, and his brother behind bars, Lester begins a second chance at life and a year later even winning ‘Salesman of the Year.’
In a matter of ten episodes, viewers were treated to a complete 180° of Lester’s character making his eventual death-by-cracked-ice just as gripping as seeing what got him there in the first place. Because even though there is a clear development of his character throughout the season, the pin point that started it is even clearer, the second he runs into the wall in his basement, knocking him out. Because although initially viewers saw this as a desperate attempt of showing his innocence, when it is revealed that he hid the hammer that killed his wife behind the same wall, Lester’s initial look of innocence is taken away. Although Lester killed his wife in a moment of passion, the fish poster on the wall shows that he was capable of killing her from the moment we meet him.
