What Do Y'all Think of Fargo Season 4?

[Mark Trail]

Enjoyed the penultimate episode, nice to see more of Ethelrida and getting an additional check in with Satchel was an unexpected surprise as i was sure we had seen the last of him in the previous episode..

I almost wish we had. There's enough loose ends to tie up with other plotlines and I thought last week's send off was all we needed. I hope we don't regret seeing more of him (and/or Rabbit) next week.

That being said, one of the things I appreciated this week was the fact that it looked like we wrapped of the Orietta, Gaetano and Odis storylines now, instead of trying to cram everyone's fate into the finale.

The "Internet" seems to think that Satchel will become Mike Mulligan from season 2.

Count me as part of that internet. I've been thinking that from early in the season.

Other thoughts:

Am I the only one to whom it seemed the colors were more saturated this week? I first noticed it when things went to color in ep 9, which made sense, given the Oz parallels. I assume it was a one-off for that ep, but then I thought things looked different this week as.

A few minutes after the “previously on Fargo” where we see the flashback to Loy kicking some guy's butt we get a scene of him sitting in a wife beater with Rock's skinny little pipe cleaner arms fully exposed. Rock can act but they needed to realize he's not physically capable of the playing the character as a bruiser.

Overall, a great episode that didn't skimp on action and characterization.

[numberthirty]

The "Internet" seems to think that Satchel will become Mike Mulligan from season 2.

Dude...

You might want to head back to post #13, and catch up.

[numberthirty]

As for that possibility...

Dodd killed Mort Kellerman in 1951. Figuring for that Mike and Dodd seem to be in the same ballpark age-wise, it all adds up.

They even went so far as to mirror the thing with the knife in Patrick/Satchel.

[Kirby101]

Dude...

You might want to head back to post #13, and catch up.

My bad, I guess I need to read and memorize every single post from the beginning on every thread I am about to post on.

Your post was crystal clear that Satchel was Mike Milligan.

Milligan is the entire reason folks should be watching the show.(Never mind the obvious thing that no one seems to have caught on to or mentioned...)

[numberthirty]

Well, I didn't want to totally spoil it.

That said, things took that turn pretty quickly...

it's ok, the fat italian brother is -super- corny

also young mike miligan actor is really bad

strong points are chris rock, dr. senator and miligan

for me it's as good or better than 3 (minus v.m. varga who was top tier) but kind of meh compared to 1 and 2. all seasons worse than the movie though

[Mark Trail]

I am extremely embarrassed to admit that I somehow missed every shot of the ghost until this week.

[numberthirty]

I am extremely embarrassed to admit that I somehow missed every shot of the ghost until this week.

Wait, seriously?

[Mark Trail]

Wait, seriously?

Yep. I don't know how I did that.

[Mark Trail]

Did not care at all for the final episode.

Too much stuff was rushed (I said it was a mistake to waste an entire episode two weeks ago on a Wizard of Oz parody and I was right). Josto's finish was fairly classic "Fargo" (a man's greed and duplicity, combined with a poor choice in companions was his downfall) but it was just too much like the finales of main characters in Seasons 1 and 3. Cannon's suffered from the aforementioned need to rush through things (combined with the shameless Godfather rip off). There were moments I enjoyed (Josto's slow realization that he said the wrong thing to the wrong nurse, both at the hospital and in the bedroom being the best).

It's too bad. So much of the season was either very entertaining (Huston and Olyphant) or showed promise.

Here's hoping the producers use the year or so between seasons to take stock of the show and what they need to do better.

[The Gold Stream]

kind of meh

ebal's mafia speech was kind of neat and glad to see bokine again even if that wasnt a new scene

[Cyke]

I didn't know what to make of the montage opening. I mean, yes, it's meant to be a reminder of everyone killed because of this pointless war, but it really read like an In Memoriam tribute at the Oscars.

With that said, the cousin realizing he was about to be killed in the diner, exclaiming "Oh ****!" with a smile was pretty amusing.

And once again, too little of Ethelrida, though her story's already been told and she ended up engineering the end of several storylines herself.

The cameo of the Fadda son kind of underscores some imbalance here -- yes, Satchel got more attention, and rightfully so, but I almost forgot about the Fadda kid until his return home. Not that he should get as much screen time as Satchel (in an already crowded season?), but surely that kid must be going through his own trauma as well.

Some comparisons have to be drawn between the defeats of Loy Cannon and the future adult Mike Milligan. Agreed that Ebal's speech was a highlight (blunted, though, since Loy getting conned wasn't exactly a surprise. This is the mob we're talking about here, after all.), but I loved the look of defeat and resignation on Loy's part once Ebal made his point, that Loy's forces just barely survived this war with the small fry and would never withstand the Mafia's higher-ups (paraphrased "Don't think of it as us taking half. Be grateful that we're leaving you half."); compare that to the end of Season 2, when Satchel/Mike actually ends up surviving the season (no small feat for any Fargo character) and is expected to be rewarded handsomely, only to be "rewarded" with mob accounting -- an office job -- because violent crime was evolving to become more sophisticated white collar crime. In both cases father and son dream bigger for themselves, only to be hampered, stymied, and ultimately defeated by tidal waves far beyond their control, cutting their real potentials. It's a tragic fate that repeats in the family, and indeed it's a callback to earlier in the season, when Loy's creation of credit cards are rejected by a white bank, only for the concept to be stolen and becomes a success. And who knows how Satchel/Mike could have turned out if Loy hadn't met his end.

And the cruel oversight of Loy dismissing Opal because the war was over (by the way, shout out to Opal's acting, portraying the subtle disappointment and pity when Loy resigns to Ebal). The instant Loy let his guard down, the instant he finally achieved some semblance of peace, taken away from him courtesy of being hoisted by his own petard after beating Josto once and for all.

On a side note, I've a friend with a 3 year old son -- pretty pudgy, same skin tone, and oddly the same type of creepy, almost scheming eyes as Gaetano. Yes, Gaetano's a one-note psychopathic villain who loves his indulgences, but it really reminded me of how much of a big child he really was. (Though, just to affirm, the 3 year old is infinitely cuter and cuddlier than Gaetano).

[basbash99]

Thought it was a pretty weak finale, overall... just not enough twists and turns. I guess the mob learning about Orietta and using that to get rid of Josto was a bit imaginative, but everything else felt predictable. Felt like while they were being driven to their execution spot, Josto and Orietta should've made an effort to wrest the gun from Joe Bulow, maybe allowing Orietta to escape and make one more attempt at getting Ethelrida? I dunno. Anyhow, still an entertaining season but i would rank it as the worst of the 4. For me, season 2 slightly edges out season 1 for top spot, then a significant drop off to season 3 and then finally season 4 last place.

I heard some rumors that the last few episodes were filmed under COVID restrictions and were much more expensive. Don't know if there's any truth to that, but might explain why the finale seemed a bit rushed.

Kinda wish they had left the Mike Milligan connection less explicit and refrained from showing that footage of Bokeem at the end. tbh after the previous episode, I wasn't sure if the kid was going to come home or just set out on his own path, felt like they kinda took the easy route by having Satchel return to his family but otoh it was a nice reunion and i guess the scene sorta ties in with the goldilocks reference a few episodes back. I also liked how the kid was reading the Carnegie book about how to win friends at the end.

Feels like its time to call it a wrap on Fargo, unless they want to make a grown-up Ethelrida the main character in the next season. Who am i kidding, if they make a season 5 i will give it a shot anyhow.

[Mark Trail]

Feels like its time to call it a wrap on Fargo, unless they want to make a grown-up Ethelrida the main character in the next season. Who am i kidding, if they make a season 5 i will give it a shot anyhow.

A grown up Ethelrida as some sort of detective in the early sixties might have potential as a Season 6. I say 6 because I understand Season 5 is already planned to take place closer to the present, which means E would be a senior citizen and require recasting (which I don't want to see have to happen).