After the slower, character-driven episodes of the last two weeks, the ninth episode, “The Castle,” features the climactic violence that has been building all season. The episode combines a tense, semi-realistic crime narrative with a bizarre deus ex machina, as the season’s recurring alien motif finally comes to a head.
The most overt stylistic element is this episode’s documentary-style narration, as if from a book called “The History of True Crime in the Midwest.” In addition to speculating on characters’ motivations and recapping prior events, this element featured a cameo from season one star Martin Freeman, albeit as the narrator rather than his character, Lester Nygaard. While this mainly structures the episode in a goofy Monty Python-style manner, it also points towards the end game in the upcoming finale.
This episode once again featured the show’s constant theme of the useless police officer, with the exception of the two main characters. Like his daughter in much of season one, Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) spends much of the episode sidelined by his incompetent superiors. This actually serves a purpose, however, as it keeps the invincible Solverson — he is alive in season one, which is set at a later time than season two — largely out of the action and instead focuses the viewer’s anxiety on his father-in-law, Hank (Ted Danson).
The combination of the bloody standoff between the police and the remaining Gerhardts and the inexplicable UFO sighting brings back absurdist elements from the first season. Where the first season features a motif of Old Testament divine judgment, this season has featured weekly references to aliens. This very self-aware deus ex machina shows off the series’ odd side, even in the context of the massacre which has been building the whole season.
Looking ahead, “Fargo” has cut its large cast down to a few core characters. The finale looks to be much more focused on individuals, as Lou, Hanzee (Zahn McClarnon), Ed (Jesse Plemons), Peggy (Kirsten Dunst) and possibly Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) enter their final collision course.
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