Fargo - Season 3

Great, as expected. In some of the motives, it’s more predictable than the first two seasons, but it grabbed me again (symbolically, I didn't have much hair left at 23) and by the middle I was so excited for the ending that I could watch it in one go naked in a shared cell in a Turkish prison. The character work is flawless (fresh characters again, though it follows the tried-and-true pattern of the previous seasons and the original film, so we get a feisty female cop, an underdog loser, a good guy, the wrong place at the wrong time, and a cold-blooded nutter), the fates of the players are mercilessly intertwined and then there’s the occasional bizarre black humour and fantastical philosophy or symbolic scenes that beautifully underline the fatefulness and subversiveness of the narrative. The direction is excellent in every episode and cleverly times the communicativeness, so that even the expected twists come unexpectedly, or at least spiced up with a non-violent comedic interlude or the aforementioned subversive absurdity (the scene in the bowling alley is a bash and tunes the viewer into exactly the position where the series wants them to be). Some of the scenes are so superbly staged and voiced that they outshine most big budget film productions (the scene where they hand over the money in the warehouse, when I didn't even want to breathe, speaks for all), and finally, of course, there are the actors. McGregor is first and foremost entertaining and manages to make the two brothers sufficiently different and interesting, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a delightful bitch, I didn't mind Carrie Coon at all and Sea Whigham was fun every time he showed up, but the biggest superlatives go to David Thewlis, I've liked him for a long time, but here he just steals the show with a villain whom I rate as one of the best in TV history; the character himself is brilliantly written, but Thewlis's disgustingly distinctive attitude and perfect voice intonation makes him perhaps an even bigger demon than the delicious Thornton was in the first season – this is simply masterful acting that will knock you down. The last scene and its punchline is absolutely fantastic and reflects exactly why I love so much the poetics of Fargo. I want more… (21.09.2018)

"The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?" +++ Quite a crazy thought (spoken by the mouth of the biggest slimeball of the third season, V. M. Varga, played by the wonderfully loathsome David Thewlis), which is not entirely out of place. Once again, I was engrossed in a suspenseful story laced with typical black humor, this time with a great contribution from Ewan McGregor, whose double role of the feuding brothers fit him like a glove. (13.03.2021)

Season 3 brought excellent characters played by David Thewlis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Goran Bogdan as well as a well-developed story, but the finale was a little underwhelming. The final episodes of both previous seasons left a much deeper impression on me. Then again, I appreciate the return of Mr. Wrench. I consider Season 3 to be the weakest one, it seemed to be based too much on the first season, sometimes to the point of copying it. But despite all my reservations, I did like it and had fun. (05.09.2017)

I can't help but find the series to be on a downward trend for me. The first series is still great, the second one is good, but the third one didn't entertain me as much, even though there are some good acting performances in it. But the story just didn't grab me, and I found it rather distressing. There are some good moments, but as a whole, I didn't like it as much. (06.11.2017)

Each of the previously aired seasons of Fargo is different and unique. But they are all interesting and above all incredibly entertaining. With all due respect to the Coen brothers, whose work served as a springboard, the value of any of the seasons is higher than that of the original film. It is much more difficult to maintain the quality of the script and story, the level of dialogue, and the chemistry between characters in ten episodes lasting almost an hour each than in one feature film. They are simply back. Predators and their victims, hired killers, mercenaries, fraudsters, big players and their pawns, ambitious desperados, and unassuming figures capable of surprising. The third season of Fargo didn't succeed in surpassing the excellent second season, but it is right behind it by a small margin and clearly surpasses the first season. The first season had only two prominent figures, while the third season has seven of them. As always, Fargo relies on well-written negative characters, whereas the positive characters play the role of static observers and commentators of events. All of the Fargo seasons share a similar type of story, but the way the characters are handled is different from the second season, where mistakes and misunderstandings move the plot, with key catalysts being villains on all sides. Here, the character types partially follow the first season with one significant difference. Malvo was a ghostly cool killer as if out of a comic book, while Mr. V. M. Varga is a monster that came from the real world. Malvo belongs to the realm of myths, Varga is corrupt, leaving behind tunneled funds, failing banks, and billions of losses, or even dead white horses. He is a major scammer, manipulator, and a person who doesn't dirty his hands with blood. He kills with a look or a slight gesture. He has a different arsenal of weapons, and the dirtiest work is done by others. By the way, I thought that Billy Bob Thornton's performance couldn't be surpassed, but David Thewlis, in my opinion, outdid him. No, he's not an attractive character, but in a way, he is fascinating. Thewlis understood the potential in that monster and played with his character, knowing that an actor encounters something so fulfilling only a few times in their life. The character played by M. E. Winstead may have had significantly more self-confidence than the timid insurance salesman from the first season, but she learns just as quickly and soon becomes a dangerous opponent. Ewan McGregor created a demanding dual role of brothers divided by a sense of injustice and envy. Both of them are physically and temperamentally different but equally entertaining and tragic in their inability to anticipate where things are heading and to step aside in time. In today's television pop culture, Fargo represents undeniable quality, and I hope this wasn't the last encounter with the anti-heroes of the American underworld in the darkly grotesque world of Fargo. Overall impression: 90%. (05.09.2017)