Fargo: Who Shaves the Barber?
May 28, 2014 8:06 AM - Season 1, Episode 7 - Subscribe
Lester's plan comes to fruition, Malvo goes full-auto vengeance on some fools, and we get another view from last week's snowstorm.
But most importantly, Key and Peele as FBI agents, you guys. Seriously.
But most importantly, Key and Peele as FBI agents, you guys. Seriously.
The massacre scene reminded me of this bit of cinematic beauty (violence and swear words, if you're at work).
posted by Etrigan at 8:15 AM on May 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 8:15 AM on May 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
In the opening sequence all I could think was, "I was wrong, Oswalt really doesn't know [*] and it's clear that he has genuine affection for Lester. And Lester ... is he about to talk himself into a corner? Is ... he ... hold on ... wait ... No! He pulled it off!"
By far my favorite opening sequence ever. I was a little choked up just because of how emotional the both of them were while simultaneously realizing with my Rational Brain that I should be mad that Lester is weaseling (if only "cockroaching" were a verb) his way out of this situation. He's far more capable than I gave him credit for in earlier episodes.
My prediction that Molly and Malvo would never meet [*] has been proven wrong, barely. I don't know if the flashback was implying that she recognized his face in the blizzard or not. I don't think I heard her mention afterward having seen or recognized him. Still, doesn't matter - they were close together. Of course in No Country for Old Men Sheriff Bell and Chigurh were near each other and never really interacted, so I still hold one little bit of hope that this is how it'll play out.
(Can you tell I'm a big fan of No Country and its message about the good guys carrying on even in the face of continued unknowable badness in the world? I love that there's no real resolution. You just gotta keep doing your job.)
On a technical note, I know that scenes are filmed out of order but someone dropped the ball - when Lester goes back to work he has no bandage on his hand and he's using it to carry his briefcase. I forgot to keep watching to see if it was missing when he visited the Widow Hess.
Favorite lines:
"I'll get you a new one, I swear."
"Let's just say there's a lot of blood ... hello?"
posted by komara at 8:44 AM on May 28, 2014 [6 favorites]
By far my favorite opening sequence ever. I was a little choked up just because of how emotional the both of them were while simultaneously realizing with my Rational Brain that I should be mad that Lester is weaseling (if only "cockroaching" were a verb) his way out of this situation. He's far more capable than I gave him credit for in earlier episodes.
My prediction that Molly and Malvo would never meet [*] has been proven wrong, barely. I don't know if the flashback was implying that she recognized his face in the blizzard or not. I don't think I heard her mention afterward having seen or recognized him. Still, doesn't matter - they were close together. Of course in No Country for Old Men Sheriff Bell and Chigurh were near each other and never really interacted, so I still hold one little bit of hope that this is how it'll play out.
(Can you tell I'm a big fan of No Country and its message about the good guys carrying on even in the face of continued unknowable badness in the world? I love that there's no real resolution. You just gotta keep doing your job.)
On a technical note, I know that scenes are filmed out of order but someone dropped the ball - when Lester goes back to work he has no bandage on his hand and he's using it to carry his briefcase. I forgot to keep watching to see if it was missing when he visited the Widow Hess.
Favorite lines:
"I'll get you a new one, I swear."
"Let's just say there's a lot of blood ... hello?"
posted by komara at 8:44 AM on May 28, 2014 [6 favorites]
In the opening sequence all I could think was, "I was wrong, Oswalt really doesn't know [*] and it's clear that he has genuine affection for Lester. And Lester ... is he about to talk himself into a corner? Is ... he ... hold on ... wait ... No! He pulled it off!"
Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing at this point. Oswalt is either key to this whole thing or is just screamingly incompetent.
I don't know if the flashback was implying that she recognized his face in the blizzard or not. I don't think I heard her mention afterward having seen or recognized him.
Molly: "Did we get him?
Gus: "Who?"
Molly: "Malvo. I had him, until this other fellow popped up."
She definitely knows him.
On a technical note, I know that scenes are filmed out of order but someone dropped the ball - when Lester goes back to work he has no bandage on his hand and he's using it to carry his briefcase. I forgot to keep watching to see if it was missing when he visited the Widow Hess.
Nope, he's not wearing it at that point. I think that was a conscious decision -- now that he's out of the hospital and cleared of suspicion and back at work, the bandage is no longer necessary.
posted by Etrigan at 9:08 AM on May 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing at this point. Oswalt is either key to this whole thing or is just screamingly incompetent.
I don't know if the flashback was implying that she recognized his face in the blizzard or not. I don't think I heard her mention afterward having seen or recognized him.
Molly: "Did we get him?
Gus: "Who?"
Molly: "Malvo. I had him, until this other fellow popped up."
She definitely knows him.
On a technical note, I know that scenes are filmed out of order but someone dropped the ball - when Lester goes back to work he has no bandage on his hand and he's using it to carry his briefcase. I forgot to keep watching to see if it was missing when he visited the Widow Hess.
Nope, he's not wearing it at that point. I think that was a conscious decision -- now that he's out of the hospital and cleared of suspicion and back at work, the bandage is no longer necessary.
posted by Etrigan at 9:08 AM on May 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
"She definitely knows him."
Augh, you're totally right. I must have blocked those lines out in my continuing struggle to bend this show's reality to meet my personal desires.
posted by komara at 9:30 AM on May 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Augh, you're totally right. I must have blocked those lines out in my continuing struggle to bend this show's reality to meet my personal desires.
posted by komara at 9:30 AM on May 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think it's interesting how they're showing the contagion of character. Malvo's character is spreading to Lester. What would have happened had Lester never met Malvo?
posted by grubby at 4:36 AM on May 29, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by grubby at 4:36 AM on May 29, 2014 [11 favorites]
When Oswalt is talking to Lester at the beginning, he lists off a couple of crazy local cases from the past that he's aware of, then says that he's still never heard of anything as crazy as this one (isn't that pretty much what he said?)...That's interesting to me since it's been established that the events of the original film did happen in the world of this show, only nine years prior. Granted, the film was based in Brainerd and this is Bemidji, but they're not that far apart, you'd think that the Lundegaard kidnapping case would have been a pretty big deal in the area.
Obviously it's not like a hole or anything, I just thought they might have taken the opportunity to drop a reference right there.
posted by doctornecessiter at 7:03 AM on May 29, 2014
Obviously it's not like a hole or anything, I just thought they might have taken the opportunity to drop a reference right there.
posted by doctornecessiter at 7:03 AM on May 29, 2014
Granted, the film was based in Brainerd and this is Bemidji, but they're not that far apart, you'd think that the Lundegaard kidnapping case would have been a pretty big deal in the area.
They're a hundred miles apart, and Oswalt was probably talking about cases he (or at least the Bemidji PD) was involved in.
posted by Etrigan at 7:51 AM on May 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
They're a hundred miles apart, and Oswalt was probably talking about cases he (or at least the Bemidji PD) was involved in.
posted by Etrigan at 7:51 AM on May 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think Oswalt's focus was that "nothing like this" had ever happened there, in his jurisdiction. It's different when it happens in your own sleepy little town, where you work and live, when there haven't been any major fatal incidents since a fire in the 70s.
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2014
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2014
One thing I suspect will happen: somehow Malvo is going to see Molly's diagram on the hospital window, which will make him upset with Lester.
posted by ceribus peribus at 8:25 AM on May 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ceribus peribus at 8:25 AM on May 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
Malvo is going to see Molly's diagram on the hospital window
Or the whiteboard left with Mr. Wrench that has his (Malvo's) name on it.
posted by troika at 9:07 AM on May 29, 2014 [5 favorites]
Or the whiteboard left with Mr. Wrench that has his (Malvo's) name on it.
posted by troika at 9:07 AM on May 29, 2014 [5 favorites]
"Here you are, and your friend is dead, and you're gonna spend the rest of your life in jail. And for what?"
I was really waiting for her to say "And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day."
posted by The Deej at 10:51 AM on May 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
I was really waiting for her to say "And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day."
posted by The Deej at 10:51 AM on May 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
That's interesting to me since it's been established that the events of the original film did happen in the world of this show, only nine years prior.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but where did you get 9 years from? Fargo the film was set in 1987, Fargo the show in 2006.
posted by Green With You at 11:04 AM on May 29, 2014
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but where did you get 9 years from? Fargo the film was set in 1987, Fargo the show in 2006.
posted by Green With You at 11:04 AM on May 29, 2014
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but where did you get 9 years from? Fargo the film was set in 1987, Fargo the show in 2006.
You're totally right, my mind pushed the movie events forward a decade.
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:20 AM on May 29, 2014
You're totally right, my mind pushed the movie events forward a decade.
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:20 AM on May 29, 2014
One thing that bugs me about Lester's hand injury - wasn't he taken to hospital with police involvement after the initial shooting, and wasn't he, at the hospital, stripped of his civilian clothes and put into ward clothes and wouldn't he have been examined and poked and prodded by a plethora of nurses and doctors and was not, in fact, his hand bandaged by the staff at the hospital, and wouldn't there have been a police report of this whole state of affairs? You find a guy unconscious at a crime scene and he's got a bleeding injury in his hand, doesn't somebody take some notes on that or something?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:17 PM on May 29, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:17 PM on May 29, 2014 [5 favorites]
Yeah, the undiscovered hand injury bugged me too. I had forgotten about it in light of everything that's happened since.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:19 PM on May 29, 2014
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:19 PM on May 29, 2014
A friend's comment on the series to this point: "Oh, he is evil...and I don't mean Malvo."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:41 PM on May 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:41 PM on May 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Malvo is going to see Molly's diagram on the hospital window
Or the whiteboard left with Mr. Wrench that has his (Malvo's) name on it.
Yes the whiteboard felt like a big setup to me.
posted by flyingsquirrel at 9:50 PM on May 29, 2014
Or the whiteboard left with Mr. Wrench that has his (Malvo's) name on it.
Yes the whiteboard felt like a big setup to me.
posted by flyingsquirrel at 9:50 PM on May 29, 2014
What else was written on it? I know she wrote other things, but I only remember a big LORNE MALVO. Or was the other stuff erased?
posted by troika at 7:47 AM on May 30, 2014
posted by troika at 7:47 AM on May 30, 2014
Wrench wrote "partner?" on it.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 7:56 AM on May 30, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 7:56 AM on May 30, 2014 [3 favorites]
...and "deaf."
posted by flyingsquirrel at 12:02 PM on May 30, 2014
posted by flyingsquirrel at 12:02 PM on May 30, 2014
What happened to the extortion subplot? Is it out of the picture now, since the fish tornado killed the firstborn son?
posted by mecran01 at 1:49 AM on May 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mecran01 at 1:49 AM on May 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm sure it's just on hold while Malvo sorts out his own shit, and we'll see Stavros again real soon.
posted by Etrigan at 7:28 AM on May 31, 2014
posted by Etrigan at 7:28 AM on May 31, 2014
Okay, I'm behind, so I just watched it. One thing that struck me is that when Lester is telling Oswalt about the murder, the look on Oswalt's face is a mix of incredulous/devastated and I honestly couldn't tell if it was because he was totally buying into Lester's story and how awful it all sounded or if he somehow knew that Lester was lying and was upset because he was finally seeing Lester, a guy he thought he knew, as the evil person he really is. I honestly couldn't tell. Even as Lester was walking out of the station a part of me was still wondering if Oswalt was letting him go for now, but knew he was lying.
Lester's whole demeanor at the Widow Hess's house was creepy as hell. I love Martin Freeman in everything I've seen him in and I pretty much find him universally attractive but for the first time ever, I was watching him and thinking "gross".
Also, Gus asking Molly if he could get her a "pop" made me laugh.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:55 PM on May 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Lester's whole demeanor at the Widow Hess's house was creepy as hell. I love Martin Freeman in everything I've seen him in and I pretty much find him universally attractive but for the first time ever, I was watching him and thinking "gross".
Also, Gus asking Molly if he could get her a "pop" made me laugh.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:55 PM on May 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
NPR story about deaf actor Russell Harvard, who plays Mr. Wrench. Warning: final paragraph contains spoilers for future episodes.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:23 AM on June 2, 2014
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:23 AM on June 2, 2014
Who shaves the barber?
Schoolbus driver to Gordo: No funny stuff today.
Bunny Lebowoski kidnapping: No funny stuff.
Abby in Blood Simple: I ain't done nothing funny.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:36 AM on November 22, 2015
Schoolbus driver to Gordo: No funny stuff today.
Bunny Lebowoski kidnapping: No funny stuff.
Abby in Blood Simple: I ain't done nothing funny.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:36 AM on November 22, 2015
But most importantly, Key and Peele as FBI agents, you guys. Seriously.
I was totally jumping up and down in excitement when I recognized Key and Peele... which left me laughing kinda maniacally as Malvo is crossing the street... and still laughing as he's tearing through the building. Which... out of context.... might concern some. Some being the mister, the pets, and maybe also myself.
posted by slipthought at 11:45 AM on January 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was totally jumping up and down in excitement when I recognized Key and Peele... which left me laughing kinda maniacally as Malvo is crossing the street... and still laughing as he's tearing through the building. Which... out of context.... might concern some. Some being the mister, the pets, and maybe also myself.
posted by slipthought at 11:45 AM on January 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
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For a little bit of money. For that little bit of money.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:14 AM on May 28, 2014 [15 favorites]