Written by Randy Allain
Fans of Noah Hawley’s lauded Fargo series generally see the latest season as a return to form after a fourth season that may have reached too far. Up to this point, season five has kept the focus relatively small while the creative team riffs on Fargo tropes and lets its key players come slowly into focus. Most importantly, the series has done all of this with smart pacing, visceral suspense, and a host of dynamic performances lead by Juno Temple as Dororthy “Dot” Lyon (or Nadine, if you prefer). This week, the electricity continues to crackle as Hawley shakes up the Coen-esque snowglobe he has so carefully constructed. Before we take a peek inside, be sure to check out “The Tiger,” the fifth installment in the latest season of Fargo.
Hawley opens the episode with a quick wink to his fans in the form of a quirky, on-the-nose nature documentary narration about tigers from top Hollywood eccentric Jason Schwartzman. His narration lacks the feel of a genuine nature documentary and doesn’t do much to build on the connection that Ole Munch (Sam Spruell, Snow White and the Huntsman) established so successfully in episode two: “she is, for real, a tiger.” Nevertheless, it feeds into a fun celebrity narration tradition that has called upon folks like Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton in the past. In the end, the narration is harmless fun that doesn’t do anything to hurt the sizzling energy of the episode, or the promise of unexpected alliances to come.
Early on, we get a peek behind the curtain to see what has been going on in Dot’s head whenever she pauses or looks flustered during an escape. As Danish Graves (Dave Foley, The Kids in the Hall) steps in with two orderlies to commit Dot to a mental ward against her will, we get several shots of Dot playing out different scenarios in her head. She fights back in each version, and sees herself subdued by her attackers. Ultimately, she goes for a confident approach and tries to tell Danish he is “fired.” We cut to Dot strapped to a gurney, still bubbling over with all the Minnesota nice she can muster. Still, even without the narration, it’s very clear that she is gearing up for her next surprise move.
That next move turns out to be two fingers up the nostrils of an unsuspecting orderly who ends up hog-tied to the stretcher in Dot’s place. Presumably, a similar fate meets the nurse who enters shortly thereafter – but all we see is Dot stepping out of the room in her scrubs. She seems well on the way to her escape.
Even though we are having fun watching Dot outmaneuver another set of adversaries, the episode hits us with a special treat and further confirmation that Dot isn’t the only big cat in the Lyon family. After absolutely eviscerating two sexist bank execs (she orders them some infantilizing burgers and hits them with her final offer), Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight) gets to face off against a foe with a bit more sway and confidence: Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm, Mad Men).
This showdown was one of the most promising moments of the season because we finally got to see two self-proclaimed royals go toe-to-toe. While Tillman shows up “hat in hand” with his best wounded puppy look, Lorraine sees straight through his act and demands that he get to the point. When he looks for support in securing Dot, we learn that Lorraine will hold on to what is hers, even if it is her despised daughter in law. Sure, Lorraine’s key motivation is to protect her son, Wayne (David Rysdahl, No Exit), but this sequence leaves us wondering for the first time if Dot and Lorraine might stumble across some common ground before all is said and done.
Ultimately, round one in the battle of “kings” goes to Lorraine. She scoffs at Tillman’s role as a “constitutional sheriff” and calls out the pathetic fantasy behind his philosophy of biblical justice. She doesn’t even need to glimpse those nipple rings to understand who she’s dealing with. Tillman is a man who wants freedom without responsibility, and Lorraine doesn’t have time for that. Tillman is a child – a baby, in fact. She makes it very clear that Dot has a new protector. While it’s not great to hear Lorraine say that Dot “belongs” to Wayne, it feels more like a parting shot at Tillman than an affirmation of his world view.
On his way out, Tillman can’t quite keep his tail between his legs. He takes a moment to threaten Danish (he won’t negotiate with a man named after a breakfast pastry) with a promise of retaliation before taking out the rest of his frustration on his joke of a son, Gator (Joe Keery, Stranger Things). When Tillman instructs his crew to kidnap Wayne from the hospital, he makes a point of embarrassing his son; he has Gator hand the job over to a more trusted stooge. Gator nearly has our pity as he insists that he is “the law.” In short order, we learn that Tillman’s goons can mess up an operation even without Gator, as Dot outsmarts her pursuers once again.
Dot is nearing the hospital exit when she sees one too many cowboy hats walk through the main entrance. She dives back into the fire to rescue Wayne, and we get a deeper sense of what she is willing to sacrifice to protect her pushover of a husband and the life/privilege she has secured for herself and her daughter. After exchanging a door sign (classic Dot) and subduing a frustrated cancer patient, she locks her guy Wayne in the bathroom for safety. When the federal agents who’ve been hovering on the periphery of the story ID Dot in the hallway, she is able to shake them by escaping through a bathroom window. Later, she handily scoops her daughter, Scotty, out from under Lorraine’s high-paid security team (maybe they spent a little too much time checking Danish’s ID) and we realize that the folks outside the castle walls are starting to strike back.
Finally, Minnesota Police Deputy Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani, Never Have I Ever) is invited into this revolution. First, she gets turned inside out by Lorraine while investigating Dot’s most recent escape. Lorraine pushes at the nerve of Indira’s debt and suggests that Indira has less fight in her than a zoo animal. Lorraine also makes it clear that she sees herself as “the zookeeper” in this metaphor. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Lorraine pull this sort of power play, but seeing it here again helps us buy in later on when Indira agrees to take care of Scotty while Dot takes off to clean up this quickly-escalating mess.
It feels fitting to see Indira finally strike back against the structures that have failed her up to this point: whether it’s the police force bending to the vast power and resources of the Lyon family or her own husband driving her deeper and deeper into debt while not-so-subtly checking out Dot at the kitchen table. Perhaps we’ll see her pull North Dakota Deputy Witt Farr into this revolution in the near future.
Going into next episode, it feels like anything can happen. Our kings are swinging their powers around with reckless abandon, and some of the peasants have decided that it’s time to challenge the status quo. As the show reflects on power and responsibility, we have to wonder what sort of judgment Ole Munch, our 500-year-old sin-eater and on-the-record hater of American entitlement might pass on our major players…or perhaps Dot already gave us the only reflection on power dynamics that we really need: “They never hit you when it’s going their way.” If Dot is right, then we may be on the verge of a major transition of power.
