With Season 3 ‘Fargo’ Is Morally Darker Than Ever Before

It’s impossible to talk about Fargo without discussing its history, and up until this point, Fargo has always had a big bad.

In the original Coen brothers film, William H. Macy’s hare-brained scheme to make some quick cash backfired the second Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare appeared. Season 1 distilled the hectic darkness of these two characters down into one angel of death — Billy Bob Thornton’s Lorne Malvo. Season 2 had Bokeem Woodbine’s Mike Milligan and Zahn McClarnon’s Hanzee Dent, two characters who were charmingly destructive in their own right. Though the third chapter of FX’s anthology series has a corporately focused Englishman who is sure to be bad news, there is no distinguished force of evil in this new season. In Season 3, death, crime, and moral ambiguity all come from the show’s roster of seemingly normal characters, which is a simultaneously terrifying and addicting change of pace.

Set in 2010, Season 3’s central story picks up in the midst of the lowest stakes drama of the series so far — two brothers, both played by Ewan McGregor, fighting over an inheritance. It’s a tale of egos and siblings as old as time. Emmit, the Parking Lot King of Minnesota, is the stuffy and polished son who is a source of pride to all around him, and Ray, an overweight parole officer, is the family’s black sheep. From McGregor’s first scenes with his doppelgänger, the roles and rivalries of Season 3 are immediately established, which is perhaps why this season is comfortable diving into the moral ambiguity of its central characters so quickly. However, without a highly involved evil force guiding the action, Season 3’s crimes and dramas feel more hauntingly believable than ever before.

In this way, Season 3 more closely resembles the original film than any other season before it. Whereas we had to watch most of the pilot before we saw Lester’s (Martin Freeman) first crime and most of the season before we saw his true capacity for evil, Season 3 dwells in pettiness and silly mistakes. The crimes that drive the narrative aren’t driven by intricate plotting. They’re the product of ego, miscalculations, and alternating good and bad luck. Much like how we first meet Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) after he had already decided to ransom his wife, the capacity for crime is already baked into the DNA of Season 3’s cast of characters. And what a delightful cast of amateur criminals they are.

From his first scene, McGregor breathes an electric energy into both of his brothers, making the few times he lapses into his Scottish accent easily forgivable. Emmit and Ray Stussy may have the same face, but they’re magnetic to watch for completely different reasons. Likewise, Michael Stuhlbarg as Sy Feltz makes for an incredible yes man, perfectly nailing Noah Hawley’s take on the Coens’ signature comedic style, and David Thewlis’ sinister businessman will give you chills. Though he does next to nothing in Season 3’s first episode, V.M. Varga hums with a wicked energy that will likely put him in the running for one of Fargo’s greatest villains. However, it’s Season 3’s female leads that really takes this chapter to the next level.

Carrie Coon is a pure delight in her interpretation of Fargo’s resident leading lady cop. Gloria Burgle is a bit more wide-eyed and confused than Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) or Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman), but watching her uncomfortable and understated reactions is a genuine source of fun in this dark season. Truly, Coon is a national treasure we need to protect. However, it’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Nikki Swango that steals every scene she’s in. Nikki waltzes through Fargo’s universe with the blisteringly misplaced confidence of an underdog — a confidence that’s just begging for life to take her down. Since this is Fargo, the law of the universe demands that very thing will likely happen, but there’s no doubt Winstead’s character will wreak as much havoc as possible on her way down.

All that being said, Fargo’s third installment is slower than ever before. This season’s first episode isn’t as immediately engaging as Season 1’s cat and mouse tale nor is its characters as wrapped in ominous history as Season 2. Instead, this season takes its time in Eden Valley, Minnesota, letting each character peel back their own web of evil and moral complexities. Without a Lorne Malvo or a Gerhardt clan to push along the drama, it takes a second for our everyday “heroes” to dive into crime, but when they finally take the plunge, it’s unnerving.

There is a sense of inevitability to both the Stussy brothers’ feud and this season that seems to echo the scene depicted on the stamp at the center of their fighting — the myth of Sisyphus. Of course things are going to go south for these characters. It’s all a matter of when and how. This chapter has a plodding, tortured tone that’s a departure from the upbeat pacing of seasons past. However, though Season 3 takes a little while to roll its story of ego, justice, and evil up the mountain, once it lets go, it can’t be stopped.

New episodes of Season 3 of Fargo premiere on FX and FXNOW Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

Stream Fargo on FXNOW