Category: Directed by Sylvain White

Fargo (2014) s04e10 – Happy

Is it sunny and nice in Kansas City in the winter? This episode presumably takes place in January 1951 and unless there was an unexpected heatwave… it’s like they forgot what month it takes place.

The episode opens with a lengthy montage sequence showing the gang war in progress, along with some grim and gritty newspaper photos of actual dead mobsters like the show felt the need to explain they weren’t glorifying violence, they were just showing how it really was and is. Might have been more effective if the sequence didn’t segue into a “Wire” montage for Jessie Buckley. She’s finally figured out her real nemesis is E'myri Crutchfield so she’s going to go right up to her and threaten her to her face in front of witnesses. It doesn’t matter because Crutchfield’s Black and no one’s going to listen to her, just Buckley.

At least they follow up on it. The previous regular episode ends with a presumably big development for Jason Schwartzman and Salvatore Esposito but this episode reveals it doesn’t warrant even a mention. Esposito’s got an okay episode, Schwartzman’s pretty blah. Esposito is able to shift gears to do the happy brothers bit while Schwartzman’s just as awkward as ever. Chris Rock might have been miscast but it’s also the show’s fault he’s not connecting; Schwartzman’s miscast and bad.

This episode has Rock bringing in some other, different help—Edwin Lee Gibson–with Hannah Love Jones doing a Lady MacBeth bit. J. Nicole Brooks is fine, Gibson’s hilarious as a country Black mobster, but the whole subplot also invalidates the previous scenes where Rock’s the man of the crime family on his own. Then again I just realized Brooks’s mother disappears from the series without a trace so who knows. It definitely wouldn’t be worth an extended “Fargo: Season Four” to flesh out these ideas.

Then there’s Jack Huston, who’s finally the hero cop he always wanted to be. Sure, he’s haunted by when he screwed Timothy Olyphant out of his big collar, but this episode sort of reveals Olyphant was a crutch “Season Four” shouldn’t have had. It needed something and the Olyphant crutch worked for a while, but it didn’t do the show itself any good.

The ghost is back to deus ex machina one of the subplots and we even get an explanation of how where he’s from and why he hasn’t been back to “Fargo.” Or hasn’t been in “Fargo” before.

It’s not all connected, after all.

We do finally get the big scene for Crutchfield with Rock, which the show’s been promising directly for a few episodes and implying for longer, but it’s a silly contrived resolution scene. Crutchfield’s fine but it’s not a good scene or plot development.

But this episode’s leagues better than director Sylvain White’s last one. Still bad direction, but Noah Hawley apparently decided to stop letting his terrible co-execs write episodes and ruin the show.

Fargo (2014) s04e08 – The Nadir

It’s pretty obvious episode director Sylvain White has seen The Untouchables a bunch and maybe one of the Godfather movies–III probably—but there’s no evidence he’s seen, you know, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, or even an episode of “Fargo.” Despite the episode seemingly having a bigger budget than most, it’s startlingly poorly directed. The Nadir isn’t where “Fargo: Season Four” jumps the shark, it’s where “Fargo: Season Four” goes looking for more sharks to jump scene after scene.

Of course, what’s worse—White’s direction or the script, ostensibly from Noah Hawley, Enzo Mileti, and Scott Wilson? Probably the script? The dialogue never feels like “Fargo” or even a spoof of “Fargo”—dear Dana Gonzales, I apologize for thinking you were going to ruin the show with your direction because nothing compares to Sylvain White.

The episode opens with what seems like a black comedy rom-com between Jason Schwartzman and Jessie Buckley. It’s kind of impressive because she manages to be worse in the scene, if only because she’s got to check up on her side villainy and—again—it’s impossible to believe Buckley could be at all successful at it because she’s clearly terrible at it. Outside her Linda Cardellini impression, she can’t hold an accent either.

We get some justification for why Schwartzman’s so terrible, then he gets what plays like a dream sequence opposite brother Salvatore Esposito. At this point, it no longer feels like the same show as any previous episode because it’s so patently silly. Also, the writing on the characters is completely different—are Mileti and Wilson just abject hacks—which will continue on throughout with the rest of the cast.

Chris Rock, for example, has almost nothing to do because all of a sudden they forgot how to write his character?

There’s a big showdown between Timothy Olyphant and Rock, which should be good, but is not. James Vincent Meredith’s great though. And Matthew Elam and E'myri Crutchfield are cute together (Elam’s Rock’s oldest son so there’s a little bit of a Romeo and Juliet thing going). Otherwise?

It’s terrible.

Jeff Russo’s music is so bad (and entirely different) I didn’t think he did it. Gonzalo Amat’s cinematography is entirely about lighting the scenery and not the people. Got to make it look as much like The Untouchables as possible. It’s so badly done, a baby carriage would’ve actually helped.

Schwartzman isn’t the only one with the redemptive arc here either—actually, justification arc for him—the show breaks its back to give Jack Huston one too. Including him confessing being a dirty cop before Olyphant brings him along on an important assignment. But he’s confessed his sins so it’s fine.

Or garbage.

More like garbage.

The rushed ending is hilariously overwrought and silly.

White’s managed to bring “Fargo” to a previously unimaginable low. No doubt with help from Hawley and Mileti and Wilson. It’s trite tripe. Worst of all, previous season standout Esposito is utterly inept at the refreshed characterization of his role. It’s a truly depressing fifty minutes.

Karen Aldridge’s still great though. Even if all of a sudden they light her poorly.