Fargo: The Tiger

December 14, 2023 9:23 AM - Season 5, Episode 5

Dot creates diversions, Roy meets his match, and Indira helps a new friend.
posted by fight or flight (19 comments total)

I thought this episode reclaimed the vibe that got a bit lost in the previous one.

I particularly liked the scene between competing but wildly different villains Lorraine Lyon and Sheriff Tillman, where she lays the smack down on his Libertarian-ism nonsense. "You want freedom without any of the responsibility. In other words, you want to be a baby" So good.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:42 AM on December 14, 2023 [16 favorites]

Yeah, that was great!

Seems to me we're getting that Dot/Lorraine hell-on-wheels team-up someone wished for in a previous thread. And I'm here for it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:57 PM on December 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Coming back the worse for wear from my office Christmas party, for me the thing isn't good or bad (or whatever undercarriage you sport), but whether you're prepared to own your own shit.

Both Dot and Lorraine seem to me to be eminently shit-owning and I hope they end up on the same team, as I like them both equally.

That said, I've not seen the episode yet.
posted by Grangousier at 3:02 PM on December 14, 2023

Stellar writing in this episode. Every line Dave Foley had was on point.
The suspense of Nadine's ride into the mental ward and the would-she won't-she be the lioness the narration is describing followed by her many-layered escape. so good.
The return of the FBI duo!
How long will Wayne remain in the bathroom?
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:13 PM on December 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Until Dot tells him it's safe.

That might be a while.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:14 PM on December 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yes, watching the 2 villains joust was great fun. I was surprised and delighted by the alliance Dot and Indira formed. Their husbands exasperate me differently.

Speaking of villains, Ole Munch doesn't appear in this episode but he's the one who said Dot is "for real, a tiger" so maybe he's present in spirit, doing the tiger voiceover.
posted by kingless at 4:39 PM on December 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Liked this episode, possibly because no Munch.

I like Juno Temple a lot, but Jennifer Jason Leigh is one of my all-time favorite actors, and this movie was so heavy on them that it was delightful. The baby line is incredible.

I hoped JJL's character was about to have some realization that Dot is actually someone she should befriend and harness; a great addition her family, a wonderful wife for her boy. Not that that leads anywhere narratively lol. And I guess lions and tigers don't mix either. Anyway JJL's character is a horrible ghoul who gets off on the weakness of her prey and Dot would never go for that.
posted by fleacircus at 5:39 PM on December 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

“Anyway JJL's character is a horrible ghoul who gets off on the weakness of her prey and Dot would never go for that.”

No, but I think they'd happily cooperate in eviscerating Tillman.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:15 PM on December 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

The baby line is incredible.

Just remind me?
posted by Paul Slade at 11:40 PM on December 14, 2023

The tiger narration was actually Jason Schwartzman, following the tradition of using actors from earlier seasons sneakily.
posted by mmoncur at 5:13 AM on December 15, 2023 [7 favorites]

Lorraine Lyon: "So you want freedom without responsibility? Son there's only one person on Earth who gets that deal."

Sheriff Roy Tillman: "The President?"

Lorraine Lyon: "A Baby"

It is a good line, but technically there is more than one baby in the world, usually.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:29 AM on December 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

This was basically a perfect episode of television, capped off with the DLR plates at the end as another wry callback to the original film. This season in particular seems to be channeling the magic of that first Fargo experience in a very knowing way, and I'm again mad I can't just binge it all in a weekend.
posted by dis_integration at 7:11 AM on December 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

I had a thought about this episode, which is that the framing of Dot as this noble predator defending its young contrasts in an interesting way with Billy Bob Thornton's Lorne Malvo from the first season, who is also framed as a wolf or other predator in lots of ways both by the character himself and by the show - he gets his leg caught in a trap at the end, and so on.
posted by Rinku at 8:15 AM on December 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

It is a good line, but technically there is more than one baby in the world, usually.

I took that to be a metaphorical "one person". "One type of person" in fewer words.

This was a fantastic episode. I just wish it were longer! I could easily go for another 20 minutes a week of the Lyons and tigers (and bears, oh my!).
posted by fight or flight at 9:29 AM on December 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

So has Gator always malfunctioned or are his failures all recent and at one point he was an acceptable right hand for Sheriff Roy Tillman?
posted by oldnumberseven at 7:17 PM on December 19, 2023

I assume he's always been a sufficient bully, and any mistakes were fixable with more brutal bullying.
posted by fleacircus at 10:51 PM on December 19, 2023

My impression is that Gator might be somewhat competent, but he's lately been up against people who outclass him.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:21 PM on December 24, 2023

Knowing he's the sheriff's son probably keeps a lot of folks from offering up much resistance when Gator shows up. Now that he's getting involved with things outside Roy's sphere of influence, he's sinking back down to his actual level of (in)competence.
posted by neilbert at 1:19 PM on December 26, 2023

Getting caught up, it's here that I found myself thinking I'd love if the next season were to pull a season-1-to-2 move in reverse and make a grownup Scotty the main character.

(though I guess that's unlikely, since it would have to be set a bit in the future, and the opening disclaimer text won't like that so much. Maybe if they get to do a 17th season then.)
posted by nobody at 12:09 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]