Based on the brilliant movie by Joel and Ethan Coen, Fargo has become one of the most unique series on television. The anthology series tells a new story centered around Midwestern crime each season. With four seasons to date, the show has received wide acclaim from critics and a strong following among fans.
However, no show is without its faults and Fargo also has its fair share of flaws. From characters to the writing to the overall tone of the series, some things work incredibly well while other aspects are less successful. While fans might overlook them, they are worth pointing out.
Forced Connections
Part of the joy of Fargo is seeing how each season tackles a totally different story with a new batch of characters. However, as the show went on, it began finding ways to connect these stories in small ways. For instance, the second season is set decades prior to the first season and features a character seen in his younger years.
While that connection worked well, the show has been forcing these connections ever since. One character turns out to have been a character from a previous season who got plastic surgery to look completely different. Another character shows up out of nowhere and purely out of coincidence. These connections went from clever to very forced.
Self-Indulgent
There is a lot to admire about Fargo aiming to be something more than a typical crime show. Creator Noah Hawley is very interested in exploring humanity and the nature of evil in very philosophical ways.
Sometimes this can lead to some very interesting moments and an impactful story. Other times, it feels like the show is so enamored with its own style and musings that it becomes cringe-inducing. Monologues can go on for minutes after the audience has already gotten the point.
Dull Action Scenes
While the show is very willing to spout philosophy in long scenes, there is also a great deal of violence in the show. It never shies away from bloody scenes, shootouts, and executions, but it is also not very good at staging them.
While the movie was not an action movie either, the show tries to feature these big violent moments, including gang wars. But they are never more exciting than simply one group of people shooting at another group with CGI blood flying everywhere.
Too Much Story
Each season of the show has managed to wrangle together some pretty amazing casts with big-name actors. But with these big casts of characters each season, the show often runs the risk of becoming overcrowded.
This was most apparent in the most recent fourth season of the show. As it entered the final episodes, there were still so many characters at play, some of which it felt like the audience had barely gotten to know. There was then a mad dash to wrap everything up without being able to get invested in all of the stories.
Cartoonish Characters
The Coen Brothers have a unique talent for writing characters that feel elevated beyond the real-world yet are still believable within their story set in the real world. This show attempts to do the same with many of its characters but is not always so successful.
While the main characters are often effective, the show does not know how to go for subtlety with its supporting characters. They are always portrayed as the most over-the-top exaggerations of whichever one personality trait they have been given.
Villains Are Made
From the very first season, with the introduction of Lorne Malvo (played by Billy Bob Thorton), Fargo has been focused on creating fascinating villains. This has continued in the subsequent seasons with Hanzee Dent and V.M. Varga being the worthiest successors.
But while these bad guys are so compelling, they largely overshadow the other characters. The show seems to become obsessed with their philosophizing, unstoppable, and ultra-violent baddies and neglect to fully explore the counterpoints to their evil who are left being much less interesting.
Overly Talky
When a writer has a distinct voice, sometimes the characters in their projects can all start to sound the same. The Coens have managed to avoid this in their long and versatile careers, but it is something that seems to plague Hawley.
It feels as though he enjoyed writing the long and threatening monologues that Malvo gives in season one so much that he decided all of the characters would speak like that. While some of these dialogue scenes are captivating, many feel redundant.
Decline In Quality
The first season of the show successfully introduced audiences to this world of violence and delivers a gripping story. Many consider the second season to be the best of the bunch, hinting that the show was just warming up.
Unfortunately, season three and season four have both showed a significant drop in quality. While the show is still compelling, it now feels like it is desperately trying to recreate the success of the first two seasons and cannot quite figure out the ingredients.
Anti-Climactic
Each season of Fargo does an excellent job of building up the tension and creating this impending sense of doom. It usually results in a thrilling penultimate episode which sets the stage for an even more explosive finale.
Sadly, that payoff never comes. In each season, just as things seem to be coming to a breaking point, the season comes to an end in a pretty anticlimactic way. While this can be effective for such a story at times, it's starting to seem like this show just can't stick a landing.
Trying To Be The Coens
Anyone who has watched a Coen Brothers movie knows that they have a distinct way of writing that brings their movies to life. The movie version of Fargo is a great example of this as their dialogue captures a clumsy and repetitive rhythm that feels unique but strangely realistic.
Many other writers have attempted to copy this style of writing and Hawley is one of them. It is apparent he is going for that quirky style of the Coen Brothers with everything from the dialogue to the character names. But instead of sounding like the Coens, the show sounds like someone trying to be the Coens which is often grating.