After last week’s episode of Fargo, I had to wonder how many bodies were left to massacre. The finale didn’t pack a bloody punch, but there was a lot left to ponder. Ready for the Fargo finale? Okay then, let’s get to it!
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“Palindrome” opens up on a lot of dead bodies, specifically those belonging to the Gerhardt family. We see Rye (Kieran Culkin), Otto (Michael Hogan), Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan), Simone (Rachel Keller), Floyd (Jean Smart) and Bear (Angus Sampson). That’s right, people; Bear didn’t let Simone go. Along with that imagery, we hear Lou (Patrick Wilson) say that the events we’ve witnessed were part of a true story that took place in Minnesota, and North and South Dakota, in 1979.
The last body seen in this montage belongs to Betsy (Cristin Milioti), but she’s still alive. I can’t say she’s well, but she did survive that fall. She’s lying in bed with Molly (Raven Stewart) next to her and Noreen (Emily Haine) nearby. It seems that she didn’t get the Smarties after all. She got the real Xanadu, but those pills could kill her before they kill the cancer. Thankfully, she doesn’t know the whereabouts of Hank or Lou, because she really doesn’t need the stress right now.
Betsy then takes over the narration to discuss a recent dream (in a very Raising Arizona-esque fashion). She pictures a young Molly through the years, as she grows up. She even sneaks a peek at Molly as we had seen her in Season 1 (Allison Tolman!), with her husband Gus (Colin Hanks!), step-daughter Greta (Joey King!), and son (Cameron Hamilton), as well as her father Lou (Keith Carradine!). However, all of that gets interrupted with frightening images of Hanzee, Hank and Lou.
As Black Sabbath kicks in, the action flips to Ed and Peggy on the run from the motel massacre. The two flag down a car, only to have the driver immediately shot in the head by Hanzee. He then shoots Ed. The two get away, but Hanzee is still following. Thankfully, Lou is right behind all three.
Back at the Gerhardt house, well … there shouldn’t be anyone left, right? Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) and Gale Kitchen (Brad Mann) go in to inspect. “People of earth, I am hoooome,” Mike announces. However, no one appears to be there. As Mike stares at the family’s legacy in photos, he flips over one old shot of a baby. Could that be Otto?
Ed and Peggy run into a convenience store and tell the guy inside to take off. Ed is leaving a trail of blood, which Hanzee (whose face is scarred from the hot water) is following. Instead of immediately finding the couple, he finds Lou who fires off a bullet. Lou doesn’t find Hanzee, but Ben (Keir O’Donnell) shows up with his nose all bloodied, thanks to Peggy.
Inside the store, Ed and Peggy hear shots being fired. The two go to hide in a meat locker and jam it shut with an ice pick. Ed doesn’t look good. He tells Peggy that he doesn’t think they’re going to make it. Peggy takes that as getting out of this whole thing alive, but he actually means as a couple. He’s still planning their future!
Ed reassures Peggy that he does love her, but he wants what they used to have. Peggy seems to appreciate the here and now a little more, since it’s secured any doubts she previously had. Of course, the immediate future is in doubt in more ways than one, because Hanzee is inside the store.
At the Gerhardt house, Mike Milligan and Gale Kitchen do find someone at home, but it’s the housekeeper (Wilma Pelly). Gale moves to kill her, but Mike stops him. The two then see a car drive up. It’s Ricky (Ryan O’Nan), looking to ransack the Gerhardt house. He tries to talk his way out of the house, but Mike asks him if he knows “what the definition of the word sovereignty is.” Mike goes on to say that he’s now the king and it’s his coronation day, which should be celebrated with an act of kindness and an act of cruelty. Since the housekeeper got her life, a car and a bit of Gerhardt money from the cabinet, Ricky is the recipient of the latter. Gale Kitchen shoots Ricky in the chest, but doesn’t kill him — at least not right away.
Speaking of acts of cruelty, Hanzee is still hunting for Ed and Peggy. He tracks the two to the meat locker, but he can’t get in. Instead, he tries to smoke them out. Peggy remembers that the scenario is very much like the movie she was watching back in the cabin. As she rambles on about the movie, Ed dies. Is it ironic that the butcher of Luverne passes inside a meat locker?
Peggy doesn’t have time to think the whole thing over, though. She’s dealing with smoke and Hanzee, who is still trying to get in. She pulls the ice pick from the door and goes to stab him, but finds Lou and Ben on the other side. She starts screaming about killing Hanzee and how he tried to smoke them out. As Lou subdues her, we find out there really was no smoke and Hanzee was never actually in the building. Soon after, Peggy finds out that Ed isn’t coming out and begins to freak out. (And Kirsten Dunst secures that Golden Globe!)
As Peggy’s being put into the back of Lou’s car, Ben says that there’s a manhunt underway for Hanzee. He also tells Lou that Hank is in the ICU, but they are “cautiously optimistic.” Ben says he’s not sure how to write this whole thing up. “Well, like anything I guess, start at the start and work your way to the end,” Lou says. Ben begins to cry and Lou leaves to take Peggy back to Minnesota.
In the morning, we see Noreen is still sitting at Betsy’s bedside, still reading Camus. She asks Betsy how her cancer feels and then proceeds to explain how the author thinks that “knowing we’re going to die makes life is absurd.” Betsy goes on to say that she has no idea who Camus is, but he probably doesn’t have a little girl like Molly. “Nobody with any sense would say something that foolish,” she adds.
On the drive back, Peggy asks Lou if she’ll get a federal trial so maybe she could serve her time in California. Even her husband’s death and possible jail time can’t stop an actualized Peggy! Lou then goes into a war story about a man dropping his family to safety from a helicopter. Peggy seemed as confused as I was. However, Lou relates the story to the moment where Ed said he would protect his family at all costs. “It’s the rock we all push, men,” he says. “We call it our burden, but it’s really our privilege.”
Peggy then goes into a speech about how she never wanted any of this to happen. She just wanted to be someone. However, she wanted to be the one choosing her path. She then goes off, saying how she was a victim, because she’s been persecuted for being a woman that can’t do it all. “People are dead, Peggy,” Lou says. Wonder if that little snippet of reality made her feel realized?
Once the two reach the state line, Lou stops to make a phone call. He calls home to find out about Betsy’s condition.
At a park, Hanzee sits and watches kids playing ball. We soon realize one is deaf. Could that possibly be Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers from Season 1? A man known as “The Book” (Philip Williams) walks up, says something to him about great empires falling (obviously the Gerhardts), and hands him a wallet. It contains a Social Security card with the name “Moses Tripoli.” (Yet another link to Season 1.) Hanzee says he may start his own empire. He already seems like a one-man empire to me.
Back in Kansas City, Hamish (Adam Harkin) is walking and talking with Mike Milligan. Hamish seems impressed with Mike’s performance and wants to promote him. However, Mike isn’t going to be king after all. Instead, he’s getting a makeover and a 9-5 job in the accounting department. Hamish gives him an office, sets him up with health insurance and asks about his golf game. Could Mike’s fate actually be worse than death?
That night, we see Hank is walking and talking — and coming by the Solverson house for dinner. Hank asks Lou if he’s planning to put the part about the aliens into his police report. The two (with Betsy nearby) also discuss the whereabouts of Hanzee. “He’ll show up again, I’m sure, like it or not,” Lou says. Is that another little hint about Season 3?
Betsy comments about her discomfort, but Hank just seems happy that the three are together. She then mentions Hank’s office — remember those symbols and all of that weirdness? Hank says that it all started after Betsy’s mother died. He said that after thinking about the things he’s seen, at home and on the job, he came to the conclusion that everything stems from miscommunication. So he started to think about language; more specifically, starting his own language. OK, then!
The episode ends with Lou and Betsy going to sleep. Wow.
This season’s storyline — or its finale — didn’t exactly tie everything up into a nice, neat package. In Season 1, none of the bad guys were left standing, while Molly and Gus lived happily ever after (so we think). This time, Peggy, Hanzee, Mike and even Gale Kitchen are left to wander the earth. Are we happy with that? This leaves a lot of possibilities for these characters (or at least one of them) to come back to haunt us in Season 3. I have to wonder if future Molly will encounter Hanzee. What do you think? I still don’t quite understand the aliens (or where Lou got his limp), but this was an excellent season with a stellar cast. Thanks for watching with me!
OK….what was up in the final scene where Lou and Betsy are falling asleep and through the window you see the stars falling and the shadows of the stars moving across their bedspread?
Well, we know what becomes of Hanzee. He runs the crime syndicate from Season One that hired Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench to kill Malvo, who subsequently kills Moses Tripoli in the latter half of the season.
I wonder what happens to HIM though. Don’t tell me he gets an office like Mike Milligan. 🙂
I was sort of hoping the next season would go into Hanzee’s life as Tripoli, but I guess not!
Before being shot, Ricky alluded to a child Otto Gerhardt is rumored (known?) to have had with the maid. If that was her in the kitchen earlier, looking distinctly Native, might Hanzee actually be a Gerhardt, the last surviving one at that?
Other than leaving the scene of an accident and, I suppose, conspiracy to improperly dispose of a body, what crimes has Peggy committed? No way anybody can prove that Rye was still alive when she got home, no?
The Adam Arkin “job description” scene was hilarious. What criminal gang has quarterly projections and an HR department??
This season of Fargo went out with a whimper rather than a bang, but all in all it remained one of the best series on TV. Thanks for the timely recaps — didn’t get much sleep Monday nights, huh?! 🙂
Jacques.
A few episodes ago, there was a scene where it was said that Otto took Hanzee in at age 8. I thought the comment about Mike being Otto’s son was just an insult. Who knows though?
Also, Peggy did kill a guy in her house (self defense) and kidnap Dodd… 🙂
Also, Charlie is alive and a Gerhardt!
Oh yeah, forgot about Charlie. They really buried that character once he got himself arrested.
Agreed. I can’t imagine he would pop up again, but you never know. Oh… and thanks for reading!!