Fargo (2014) s04e11 – Storia Americana

This episode runs under forty minutes. The first few episodes ran over an hour. So why does “Fargo: Season Four” need a coda? I mean, besides them not finishing the story last episode so they could eek out just one more.

The episode opens with a montage of all the people who have died this season, confirming at least one I assumed was still… well, up in the air. It’s going to end with the tie-in to the other “Fargo” series in a mid-credits scene, but it’s a predictable-ish tie-in. There have only been so many Black people in “Fargo” until this season. If someone’s going to be a descendant or relation… there’s a very limited pool.

Once things with Jessie Buckley and Jason Schwartzman get resolved—gang consigliere Francesco Acquaroli didn’t know about Buckley and Schwartzman being a couple and he’s got a bunch of thoughts, especially how things should be going forward—there’s just time for a rushed new Chris Rock subplot. Edwin Lee Gibson is causing more trouble. Except this time Rock doesn’t need wife J. Nicole Brooks to do the Lady MacBeth thing, he can handle it himself. Sort of.

See, it’s not like Rock or Schwartzman were criminal masterminds. Schwartzman’s incompetent because it’s supposed to be funny, but Rock’s supposed to be the competent one only he never does anything right. Plus Glynn Turman was clearly smarter than Rock. Much like Buckley, it’s impossible to imagine how these characters got to these points in their lives. With all three, that problem is the writing. It’s way too thin and relies way too much on the actors being distracting. Buckley’s got all sorts of busy mannerisms and Linda Cardellini stuff to do, while Schwartzman mugs like he’s in a Rushmore skit, and Rock tries to figure out why they hired him in the first place.

He’s really effective this episode when he finally gets to play the family man, but since the whole show’s about how he’s not a family man and it’s not like there’s been any relevant character development—there have been some related events, but if Noah Hawley’s gotten to the point where he’d called them character development… well, actually, it would explain a lot about the season.

There’s a little bit with E'myri Crutchfield tying back to the first episode when it pretended it was going to be about her.

It’s the best episode Dana Gonzales directed all season for sure but it’s not like it can save the season. Does it save the show? I’d probably be back for a season five to start, no matter what—so the last three episodes did stop the sinking—but I really hope Hawley doesn’t make another one.

The highlight of a season shouldn’t be a single one-off episode. It doesn’t even have a consistent stand-out cast member. It’s a disaster of a season.

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.

Fargo (2014) s04e07 – Lay Away

I was really happy to see Dana Gonzales directed this episode because the direction’s bad and since I no longer have any confidence in “Fargo” anymore whatsoever I was worried it was one of the good directors this season going to pot.

This episode seems to reveal the big problem—and not just co-writers (with Noah Hawley) Enzo Mileti and Scott Wilson, they’re definitely contributing to the worst episode—and it’s “Fargo: Season Four” doesn’t have enough story. Too many characters, not enough story. They’re benching actors—so like, Timothy Olyphant not showing up to episode three is in a different light—this episode Jessie Buckley gets off the bench at the beginning.

We’ve been promised a Buckley vs. shitty WASP Stephen Spencer since episode two or so and we finally get the resolution. It’s predictable and not very good and then segues into Buckley being too inept to have been as successful at her proclivities without getting busted. But the show also wants enough suspension of disbelief for Jason Schwartzman–who you can actually watch not be able to figure out how to act in his scenes before he picks the worst possible choice—as the mob boss, so I guess Buckley not being reasonably intelligent enough is just another thing. Another fail for “Fargo.”

Lots more flashbacks. Some of them are risible, like the multi-panel ones of Schwartzman and brother Salvatore Esposito bickering. Now, Esposito is benched this episode until the very end. He was benched most of last episode too. I’m not sure if the show’s really missed him exactly. I’ve missed him, but only sort of. It’s not when he’s in play he’s doing anything particularly good anymore. And if Gonzales is directing, it’s downright bad.

Jack Huston’s got an original flashback, which is something at least. I haven’t softened on Huston’s performance but it’s a terrible part. No one in “Fargo: Season Four,” it turns out, gets a good part. They get a potential Emmy win, but not a good part. Because they’re all fighting for the same two awards or whatever and no one gets anything good.

Though James Vincent Meredith is quickly becoming a real asset as one of Chris Rock’s guys.

And Chris Rock has a fine enough episode. But he’s not, like, great. It’s not the Actor’s Workshop with Chris Rock or whatever. He’s good, sometimes better than good, but he can’t rise about the material.

Big obvious Miller’s Crossing shot at the opening. Sadly it’s the best direction in the whole thing.

After giving J. Nicole Brooks—Chris Rock’s wife—a big, pointless scene opposite Gaetano Bruno, the show cheats her out of an important real scene later.

It’s hard to imagine what’s going to happen in the four remaining episodes, except—hopefully—everyone getting killed off so they won’t be back for “Season Five.” Though, at this point, unless they take the show away from Hawley and company… there’s no point in anyone coming back for a “Fargo: Season Five.”

It’s finally as bad as I figured it would be hearing about it. Though, again, it’s not “Fargo: The Series,” it’s “Miller’s Crossing: The Series.” It’s like Hawley’s betting the “Fargo” audience hasn’t seen Miller’s.

Oh, and the stupid ghost is back.

Would the ghost be stupid if Gonzales weren’t directing? Not sure. Probably. But it’s a slug of a show.

Fargo (2014) s04e06 – Camp Elegance

So it’s another lackluster episode and it’s hard not to notice Dana Gonzales directed this one too. And Noah Hawley has three co-writers on it. Enzo Mileti, Scott Wilson, Francesca Sloane. Not sure any of them are at fault more than any of the others.

Though the one who had private hospital doctor Stephen Spencer (apparently he got the job for his Christopher Walken impression, which does not scale up to an actual performance and also isn’t a great impression anyway) talking about the Human Resources department in 1950 is at fault. That person is at fault.

The others are just along for the ride, which now includes a bunch of flashbacks. Bad flashbacks. Risible flashbacks.

The episode opens with E'myri Crutchfield’s birthday party. It’s a sad birthday party because both she and her parents have life changing secrets. Only they don’t talk about them because Crutchfield and the family aren’t at all important this episode.

We do find out Crutchfield sent an anonymous letter to Spencer about Jessie Buckley, who apparently is supposed to be so good in the show we want to see her doing bad things but no, she isn’t. At all. She’s better than Spencer but Spencer is just doing a Christopher Walken impression. Buckley’s fairly one note but at least it’s not an obvious note.

There’s some more with Jack Huston where we’re supposed to feel bad for him, which is weird. This season is very “love thy cop.” Including love overtly, devoutly racist Olyphant (unless in the “Fargo” universe Mormons are somehow different) and so on.

Chris Rock wages an offensive, leading to an effective scene with Salvatore Esposito, Karen Aldridge, and Kelsey Asbille, and a good monologue from Rock about equal rights.

There’s lots of plotting from Jason Schwartzman to get the action going, with a long sequence putting a child in danger because it’s effective no matter how cheap it comes off. Especially when they get to do a Miller’s Crossing thing with it. Seriously, they should’ve just called it “Fargo: Season Four: Miller’s Crossing: Season One.” Especially once they, you know, lift the some trailer action from Miller’s for this episode.

Sean Fortunato’s a standout performance here.

Ben Whishaw gets another big sequence here and he’s fine. He’s not a failure. So much of “Fargo” is a failure whenever something doesn’t go well, it seems like an achievement. But it’s just not bad.

The ending “teaser” involves Buckley and an abject eye-roll.

Oh. And the ghosts are back.

Blah.

Fargo (2014) s04e05 – The Birthplace of Civilization

Until the end of the episode—which brings in the Fargo theme fully for the first time—everything is character revelation and potentially development. Oh.

And a Trump reference.

The Trump reference is really bad.

The most character revelation revolves around dirty cop Jack Huston. We find out from Chris Rock some of his back story—while Huston has got the cops cracking heads and stealing the Black mob’s money—and then more later when Huston is telling Timothy Olyphant about it. See, Rock really hurt Huston’s feelings and you need to be nice to the dirty cop because he’s white and has a sad backstory.

Maybe it’d be better if Huston were better. Instead, once again, Olyphant’s got to hold up their scenes with his good but very broad character.

Olyphant gets a little more to do than usual; he threatens teenager E'myri Crutchfield later in the episode to find out where outlaw aunt Karen Aldridge is holed up and Crutchfield’s got to make a choice. Simultaneously (basically), her parents have to make the same choice because they owe Rock. Anji White’s getting ready for Crutchfield’s birthday that evening and it all goes to crap thanks to Andrew Bird not being smart about paying off loan sharks.

It provides an effective scene for Rock, who’s really amping up the villain status here, complete with yelling at his wife and mother about being the man of the house or something. But it’s not, like, good. It works, it’s effective, but it’s not good drama.

Similarly the stuff with Crutchfield and Aldridge is somewhat pointless. Aldridge and girlfriend Kelsey Asbille tell Crutchfield all about the outlaw life and why it’s not like being a criminal and it’s not bad. Asbille’s not good but Aldridge is able to carry their scenes and this one’s no different. But it doesn’t really add up to anything. Maybe someday Crutchfield will be an outlaw too. Or not. We’ll either find out or they’ll drop it.

Salvatore Esposito gets a good monologue about what’s wrong with Americans. It’s amid a bad scene—director Dana Gonzales does a rather bad job of directing this episode. There are painfully obvious tropes and no understanding of them.

Glynn Turman gets a decent monologue but it’s opposite Gaetano Bruno, who’s got an exceedingly one note character even if Bruno’s okay enough at it.

The episode’s got its effective moments—Turman, Crutchfield facing off against Olyphant, Rock threatening people—but they’re all pretty shallow.

There’s a big development at the end and it seems like “Fargo: Season Four” just has to be getting going now. Even though last episode promised this one would be the second act kick-off. Instead it’s more first act stuff.

Like… Gonzales’s direction is really not good. Not just for “Fargo” but for directing. I don’t know. The further the season gets along the less likely it seems it’ll prove my concerns unjustified.

Fargo (2014) s04e04 – The Pretend War

It’s the end of the first act, with normal guy Andrew Bird making a big mistake and now everything afterward is never going to be the same again, which is kind of what “Fargo” stays consistent about, season to season.

I think.

Bird pays off he and Anji White’s debt to Chris Rock—in one of those excellent Rock scenes, which happen once an episode if we’re lucky—with money he got from outlaw sister-in-law Karen Aldridge. It’s not going to go well for anyone involved.

But that scene, which is inevitable and therefor not a spoiler (right?), comes towards the end of the episode. The rest of the episode is arranging things for the next act. Mobster brothers Jason Schwartzman and Salvatore Esposito getting their supporters together for the big face-off, check. A contrivance to let E'myri Crutchfield discover Jessie Buckley’s secret, check. More icky-bad with Buckley and Schwartzman, check. Something with Ben Whishaw, check.

There’s a lot of good stuff in the episode. Lots of good acting. A great sequence where Jeff Russo mimics Danny Elfman more than Carter Burwell. Excellent direction from Dearbhla Walsh again. And the first showdown between Timothy Olyphant and Esposito is outstanding, albeit a fairly easy scene since they’re both playing caricatures. Superbly, but still.

Glynn Turman and Francesco Acquaroli get another one of their consiglieri meeting scenes and this time Acquaroli gets the monologue. It doesn’t have the depth of Turman one last episode, but Acquaroli’s excellent.

What else. Oh. Jack Huston’s dirty cop. He’s got a tiny subplot about trying to get Olyphant to go to Chicago (hunting Aldridge) instead of hanging around Kansas City. It’s fine for the Olyphant stuff but it’s a little unbelievable no one’s noticed Huston’s incompetent, obviously corrupt cop being incompetent and obviously corrupt. Huston’s trying. Olyphant makes up for some of it but still. Huston being bad, Schwartzman being both bad and miscast, and Buckley and Whishaw being blah? Almost everything excellent in “Fargo: Season Four” has to do the additional work of propping up something bad.

The episode opens with either a Barton Fink homage or the closest they’ve gotten to one (I recognize). There’s also a bit of supernatural thing going on in the episode, which makes for some really effective scenes both times but so far pointless ones.

Maybe it’s just playing in the very familiar period piece gangster wheelhouse, but lots of scenes this episode feel rote and not the “playing with them being rote” rote either. Excellent performances, good dialogue, strong direction; they make up for a lot, but Hawley’s “Fargo” tends to find new things mixing old things together and this time… at best he’s spotlighting the ingredients well. So far there’s nothing new coming out of the oven.

Like a pie. Sort of.

Fargo (2014) s04e03 – Raddoppiarlo

I’m sad “Fargo” turns out to need Timothy Olyphant so much. I noticed him in the credits online but figured they’d cut him out so much he was barely appearing, but he gets the opening of this episode. Before disappearing. He plays a Mormon U.S. Marshal who can’t shut up about religion and eats carrot sticks. Olyphant’s great, but it’s an easy part.

Especially since Olyphant’s teamed with Jack Huston’s dirty cop who has OCD instead of a character and Huston’s fairly bad. He’s in it more and it’s bad he’s in it more.

Olyphant and Huston resolve the previous episode’s cliffhanger, which leaves an open thread, but is mostly a rather good house search with the cops looking for Karen Aldridge and Kelsey Asbille. Anji White gets her first great scene lying to Olyphant about their location (Aldridge is her sister) and it gets the episode off to a great start. Huston or not.

And this episode’s pretty solid throughout. Everything except the Jason Schwartzman and Jessie Buckley stuff works. The Schwartzman and Buckley stuff is based entirely on the premise you think Schwartzman’s doing a good job with his acting, which it seems hard to believe anyone thinks. Otherwise they’d give him something real to do instead of sensational and busying.

Like Glynn Turman, who’s quickly become “Fargo: Season Four”’s most essential cast member. He’s so good but he’s also a lot more competent than anyone else—at the end of the episode he’s got to hash things out with boss Chris Rock and Rock doesn’t know anything Turman doesn’t so why isn’t Turman boss.

Turman also gets this stupendous—seriously, not sure the last time I used this adjective—monologue about being a Black man in the Army post-World War II. It’s in a consigliere meeting with opposing gang’s Francesco Acquaroli. Acquaroli’s real good too but, wow, Turman. It’ll be hard for “Fargo” not to be his de facto show.

This episode also gives Ben Whishaw his first big outing.

He could do worse.

It helps it’s a great sequence—director Dearbhla Walsh continues the season’s excellent direction trend, possibly surpassing Noah Hawley. The sequence where Whishaw’s got to go out and shoot somebody he doesn’t think they should be shooting but is scared Gaetano Bruno is going to shoot him if he doesn’t do the hit… phenomenal stuff. Feels like Miller’s Crossing without feeling like it’s referencing Miller’s Crossing.

Salvatore Esposito’s got a little bit to do, E'myri Crutchfield has a surprising little to do. The episode’s got two big set pieces and Walsh excels at both of them. Despite Schwartzman’s continued ineptness and it not featuring Crutchfield’s, you know, narrator enough… it’s maybe the best episode of the season so far.

A Perfect Getaway (2009, David Twohy)

Watching “Damages,” it was always surprising to me what a good actor Timothy Olyphant has turned out to be. Before it, all I’d really seen him in (albeit a while ago) was Scream 2 and he’s absolutely terrible in that one. In A Perfect Getaway, he proves able to translate his ability into a more standard leading man type role. Olyphant makes the movie. When he and girlfriend Kiele Sanchez are offscreen, Getaway lacks, when they’re on, it works fine.

But Olyphant and Sanchez aren’t the leads in Getaway, Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich are the leads, which presents a bit of a problem, the not-as-charismatic people being the leads. Zahn’s good, maybe turning in the best performance I’ve seen him give since Out of Sight, when he established his persona. Getaway plays with it a bit. Jovovich is good too, but just like in her video game movies, the character doesn’t really offer her very much to do. It’s a technically superior performance, but Jovovich didn’t once surprise me. Of course she could do this role… Charlize Theron or Cameron Diaz could do it too and they’re both awful.

Twohy’s not a great director, but his half-noir in paradise, half-Hawaiian travelogue thing works for the first half, before he does his big twist. He gets in a couple solid screenwriting jokes, the kind of thing one can “appreciate” on a second viewing, but the cast and concept are strong enough he could have been straightforward.

1/4 ★

CREDITS

Written and directed by David Twohy; director of photography, Mark Plummer; edited by Tracy Adams; music by Boris Elkis; production designer, Joseph C. Nemec III; produced by Ryan Kavanaugh, Mark Canton, Tucker Tooley and Robbie Brenner; released by Rogue Pictures.

Starring Timothy Olyphant (Nick), Milla Jovovich (Cydney), Kiele Sanchez (Gina), Steve Zahn (Cliff), Marley Shelton (Cleo) and Chris Hemsworth (Kale).


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OTHER 2009 RELEASES

Live Free or Die Hard (2007, Len Wiseman)

Remember the “Simpsons” episode where Bart watches ‘Die Hard’ jump out the window? Live Free or Die Hard–the title, incidentally, has nothing to do with the film’s content–is the first one where I expected McClane’s nickname to be ‘Die Hard.’ They come close in terms of self-reference….

Still, as a Die Hard movie, it’s about as good as a Die Hard movie featuring Bruce Willis versus a fighter jet is going to get. It’s really well cast, which carries a lot of the film. Much like the third one, it follows the short codas of the first two–which are fine for those (i.e. with Bonnie Bedelia–has everyone else forgotten the first two Die Hard movies are like a Thin Man on angel dust?)–but the movie doesn’t have a closed narrative. It has a fake ending, not going on long enough. The immediate action is resolved, then it just stops.

That good casting is necessary–and Len Wiseman’s enthusiastic direction is helpful–because the writing is terrible. Willis has some good lines and he and Justin Long have some good scenes, but it’s incredibly stupid. The Die Hard movies kept their predicaments small and manageable–even the third one kept it within reason–but Live Free is crazy big: it’s the end of the world as we know it (something left unresolved).

For half the movie, I felt like the script came from John Carpenter’s unmade Escape from Earth.

It isn’t just the dumb ideas, but a lot of the setups. McClane’s stalking his daughter in this one, which makes little sense (especially since the image of him alone, his heroism costing him everything–conjured by a discussion–is so much more striking). Luckily, there’s a lot of decently executed action. Die Hard movies always create an aura of reality, usually because of Willis’s performance and the production design–and he makes the unbelievable Live Free palatable.

As a director, Wiseman has no personality, but he incorporates CG well enough. As a Die Hard movie with CG, which means it’s fundamentally broken but it is what it is and it’s fine.

Cliff Curtis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Timothy Olyphant are all fine. Curtis is sturdy, Winstead is feisty and Olyphant is hissable (if a little foppish).

As for McClane versus the fighter jet… it’s the kind of ‘too much’ even Willis can’t ground. Combined with that flimsy ending… There’s also the issue of Wiseman’s blue filters, which I won’t expand on, since I want to end on a high note:

Live Free or Die Hard isn’t the best it could be, but it’s far from the worst. It’s fine.