Recap: Fargo Season 2, Episode 5 – Leave it to Cleaver

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan. CR: Chris Large/FX

In this week’s episode of Fargo, the war between the Kansas City mafia and the Gerhardts kicked off with a bang. Well, it kicked off with a whole lot of bangs and at least one meat cleaver. I’d say it was definitely worth the wait. Okay then. Let’s get to the recap!

FARGO Season 2 recaps: Episode 1 | Epsiode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4

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FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205 Pictured: (l-r) Brad Mann as Gale Kitchen, Todd Mann as Wayne Kitchen. CR: Chris Large/FX

After weeks of fictional Ronald Reagan movies, the fictional version of the 40th President of the United States was in the house – or at least on-screen (and played by Bruce Campbell). “The Gift of the Magi” begins with the Gipper narrating a story about his upbringing. This is all while we see the mafia take inventory. They sure have a lot of guns … and a few arrows. However, they aren’t hunting Gerhardts yet. The men are bonding over finding a few deer.

Hanzee (Zahn McClarnon) is hoping to lead a hunt of his own. It’s Blumquist season, people. He returns Rye’s belt buckle to Floyd (Jean Smart), letting her know exactly what happened like he was literally a fly on the wall. However, when Hanzee says that the killer was a butcher down in Luverne, Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan) quickly interjects to say it’s the “Butcher of Luverne … that’s what they call him. He’s a contract man out of Kansas City.”

Hanzee agrees, but they both know better. Dodd wants to add fuel to the fire between the family and the Kansas City boys. Sure, it’s a fire that doesn’t need to be fueled, but this may actually buy Ed (Jesse Plemons) and Peggy (Kirsten Dunst) a little bit of time, yah?

Back at the deer hunt, the guy with the arrows seems to be some sort of zoning commissioner. Joe Bulo (Brad Garrett) is trying to get him on the side of the Kansas City boys. The outing is a waste though, since the poor fellow immediately gets a hole blown through his head by a crew claiming to be with the Gerhardts. The Kansas City boys get picked off left and right. However, those Kitchen Brothers (Brad Mann and Todd Mann) certainly have a way with a pair of sawed-off shotguns.

Hanzee though; that guy is a total bad-ass. He cuts the throat of one Kitchen and stabs the other in the face. Joe Bulo, who doesn’t come off as such a tough guy in this scene, makes it out of the woods with his rifle … where Hanzee is there waiting for him. That guy moves like a freaking gazelle!

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan. CR: Chris Large/FX
FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205  Pictured: Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan. CR: Chris Large/FX

At the VFW, Reagan is speaking to the crowd. At this point in time, Reagan would have been campaigning for the presidency. He does it well, even moving Karl Weathers (Nick Offerman) to tears, but not to a handshake. “The man made a movie with a monkey,” he says. “It wouldn’t be dignified.”  Reagan wins over Karl, who seemed pretty giddy about the whole interaction.

While Reagan is shaking hands, bodies are piled up in the woods. However, Lou (Patrick Wilson) has more important business. He needs to escort the future president’s tour bus to its next stop.

Dodd returns to the Gerhardt house, where Floyd is still holding Rye’s belt buckle. Her son proclaims, “We got ’em.” Of course, not all of them. Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) is still out there. Dodd seems pretty excited about the possibility of the mafia retaliating. He snags a “shiny red apple.” He’s doing it again; Dodd is actually smiling.

Floyd says she thought the Kansas City boys would negotiate. “That’s the feminine side, ma,” Dodd says. “It was always going to be war.” Floyd won’t be happy until the butcher is dead, though. Poor Ed.

At the Blumquist house, Ed wakes up to find Peggy in the basement. She’s still talking about going to California. This whole thing actually worked out to her advantage, didn’t it? I mean, her plans haven’t changed too much. Ed? I get the feeling he’s getting a dirt nap.

Not yet, though. There’s still work to be done. Peggy is trying to figure out why Rye was in the road. More importantly, she tells Ed that Constance (Elizabeth Marvel) saw her car with the giant hole in the windshield. Oh yah, she’s a bad girl alright.

However, Ed wants Peggy to stick to her part of the deal. After all, she said if he cleaned it up, it would all be … what exactly? Over? Ha. I have to say it again: Poor Ed. The guy is completely delusional, thinking he can still buy the shop and have beautiful babies with Peggy. Frankly, he’ll be lucky if he makes it through this episode. Dodd has put out an order to an unnamed guy to take care of Ed and Charlie (Allan Dobrescu) seems pretty interested in doing the deed himself.

Simone (Rachel Keller) wants to get out of there as well, against Dodd’s wishes. This is the one time that listening to Dodd would have been a good idea. She drives to the hotel to meet up with Mike Milligan. Simone knocks on the door and one of the Kitchen Brothers answers. She doesn’t seem surprised, but I certainly am. Hanzee didn’t finish the job in the woods?

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: (l-r) Rachel Keller as Simone, Bokeem Woodbine as Mike Milligan. CR: Chris Large/FX
FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205 Pictured: (l-r) Rachel Keller as Simone, Bokeem Woodbine as Mike Milligan. CR: Chris Large/FX

 

Mike says, “My mother could find the cloud in every silver lining.” Simone thinks the story is cute, but she obviously doesn’t know what’s going on. Mike fills her in — on a lot of things. He then shows her what’s in the box on the desk and we get a glimpse of Joe Bulo’s salt-and-pepper curls. That shampoo is still working its magic in more ways than one. Simone gets off with a warning. “I want to know what they’re going to do before they do it every time,” Mike says. “Otherwise, you can die with the rest of them.”

Out on the highway, Lou gets a call from Ben Schmidt (Keir O’Donnell). He says there’s 12 dead people in the woods: “Half Gerhardt, half Kansas City, plus a local zoning commissioner with half his face in the bushes.” Ben seems to think this is just the beginning. Is it horrible that this makes me incredibly happy? Lou returns the tip, letting Ben known about Rye, Peggy and the car. Ben says his boss wants him to try to talk some sense into Floyd. Lou offers to ride shotgun — hopefully, with a shotgun.

Meanwhile, at Bud’s Butcher Shop, Ed can’t seem to get a break. He’s on the phone, trying to scrape together the money for the shop. Noreen (Emily Haine) is listening in at the counter. She says she doesn’t see why he’s making the effort, seeing how we’re all going to die anyway. Well, some sooner than others.

Ed heads into the back, while Charlie enters the front. He’s having second thoughts about killing Ed, as well as Noreen. When Ed comes out covered in the blood of who-knows-what animal, Charlie runs off — with meats.

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: (l-r) Jeffrey Donovan as Dodd Gerhardt, Angus Sampson as Bear Gerhardt. CR: Chris Large/FX
FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205 Pictured: (l-r) Jeffrey Donovan as Dodd Gerhardt, Angus Sampson as Bear Gerhardt. CR: Chris Large/FX

Peggy is planning to do some running of her own. She packs her stuff, quickly glances at her wedding photo, and leaves the house. She takes the bus to the garage to get her car, which looks fabulous. However, she has second thoughts, sells that sweet ride to Sonny (Dan Beirne) for $700, and gets back on the bus, pretty pleased with herself.

Back at the Gerhardts, Bear (Angus Sampson) asks Hanzee about how everything went that morning and asks if he “delivered the message.” I have to assume that meant Joe Bulo’s boxed head. He then thanks Hanzee for his service to the family and says he’s part of the family, with or without Dodd.

On that note, Dodd comes out to find the two talking. Dodd starts to give him crap, specifically about “taking orders from a woman.” Bear mentions something about the reckoning. He knows that Dodd’s time is coming.

At a rest stop, Lou gets to bond with Ronald Reagan by the urinals. Well, sort of. Reagan asks Lou about his service in Vietnam. Reagan shares his own story — about filming Operation Eagle’s Nest. The whole exchange is totally priceless. Bruce Campbell is this season’s comic relief.

At the Solverson house, Betsy (Cristin Milioti) is taking her pills when she notices Molly’s drawing. It has the family smiling, with a bright UFO over it. She looks really troubled by the whole thing, when Hank (Ted Danson) pops in for a visit. Betsy asks Hank to watch Molly for a little while, so she can rest.

Speaking of rest, Charlie wants out. He wants to go back to school. He’s not built for the family business after all. Of course, it’s not that easy to get out. First, he has to finish what he started.

He heads back into Bud’s Butcher Shop and locks the door. He walks into the back, where Ed is sawing something in half. Right when he’s about to shoot Ed, Noreen walks out and sees Charlie standing there. She calls out to Ed, who dodges a bullet.

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: Jesse Plemons as Ed Blumquist. CR: Chris Large/FX
FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205  Pictured: Jesse Plemons as Ed Blumquist. CR: Chris Large/FX

That single bullet sparks a fire and causes Charlie’s gun to jam. Of course, with only one hand, it’s not a quick fix. As Charlie fumbles, the unnamed man comes through the back door, tries to shoot Ed and hits Charlie instead. Ed knocks the gun out of the guy’s hand and the two begin to wrestle. Noreen then hits the guy with a giant pig (or is it cow?) leg, but he pushes her away. The guy starts choking Ed, as he watches his dreams literally go up in smoke.

Nope. Ed’s not going out like that. He hits the guy with something. I think it was a tenderizer. The guy goes for his gun, but Ed gets him in the head with a cleaver. Ed pauses to watch the flames. As he and Noreen go to leave, she urges him to grab Charlie.

Once outside, Ed reviews the story he wants Noreen to tell the police. It’s the truth, minus why these guys were after him in the first place. Ed can’t wait around to tell the story himself. He gets in his truck and takes off.

Simone comes back into the Gerhardt house to find Dodd waiting for her. He asks about where she’s been and then goes into a lecture asking if she thinks she’s a grown up. “Being grown’s got a price,” he says. “A kid gets slapped when he’s bad. When you’re grown, you get the fist or the knife.” Floyd interrupts the conversation, telling Dodd to leave her alone.

Lou arrives at the butcher shop to find the carnage. More specifically, he finds Hank talking to Noreen. What Lou doesn’t find is Ed. He went home.

Ed runs into the house, grabs Peggy and tells her to start packing. One close call is enough for him. However, Peggy couldn’t be happier. She’s still so pleased with herself. She’s thrilled to present Ed with the money for the down-payment on the shop. Of course, the shop is gone, and I have to assume that this twist has something to do with this week’s title, “The Gift of the Magi.” Peggy finally has the money for Ed’s shop, but there’s no more shop to buy.

It gets worse, though. Ed quickly tells Peggy that Lou had been right all along. The Gerhardts are coming, he’s now killed a total of two people and it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge. But it’s actually a few minutes past that time, because the cops are there, with sirens and lights blaring.

FARGO -- “The Gift of the Magi” -- Episode 205 (Airs November 9, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: Kirsten Dunst as Peggy Blumquist. CR: Chris Large/FX
FARGO — “The Gift of the Magi” — Episode 205 Pictured: Kirsten Dunst as Peggy Blumquist. CR: Chris Large/FX

Wow, what an episode! In these mere 55 minutes, we got a little Ronald Reagan, Ed’s life plan literally went up in smoke, and there was one head in a box. I wasn’t expecting Joe Bulo to go out like that (and that quickly), but I did call one of the first casualties. Now we’re left with just one Kitchen Brother, but he seems angry enough for two. Surprisingly, no Gerhardts were harmed in this episode. Well, Charlie got a little harmed. Talk about a bad first day on the job!

Will Peggy and Ed get taken in? Will Simone get taken out by her own father? And why wasn’t Bear eating anything this week? Hang on tight, people. More mayhem is sure to be coming next week, you betcha!

New episodes of Fargo Season 2 premiere Mondays at 10/9CT on FX.

4 Comments

  1. I was also surprised that one of the kitchen brothers survived
    that simply did not make sense –
    especially after yanzee cuts bulos head off
    the scene could have been written better

  2. I really liked the episode. Mike Milligan is the best. Everything he says comes out in a TV commercial like cadence (even though he might be about to kill or be killed). Maybe cadence isn’t the right word, but when he speaks I’m always waiting for him to hold up a product and start pitching it.

    Great recap.

    • Bokeem Woodbine is so good in this role. His delivery is great. You just never know if Mike going to smile, bash someone’s head in, or both…

      • Yeah, he’s this season’s fascinating killer-philosopher, as Billy Bob Thornton’s character was last season.

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