Fargo: “A Muddy Road”

I’m a little bit in love with the cold opens of Fargo. So far, each one has been immediately attention-grabbing and haunting.

In “A Muddy Road,” an accountant, the one who kicked off the series by freezing to death in his underwear, is dragged by his tie down a cubicle aisle and his co-workers just watch it happen. No one tries to stop Malvo. They probably didn’t even call security since Malvo had time to cut the man’s clothes off him before stuffing him in his trunk. Later the man’s colleagues lament his death and speculate about his problems (drugs, gambling, underage girls), but they don’t feel guilty about the role they played in his demise. Their indifference as their co-worker is dragged to his death is unsettling.

With a bemused look on his face, Malvo continues to wreak havoc. He takes over the blackmailing gig from the bronze trainer, Don Chumph. “I’m confused,” Don laments. “That’s okay. I’m not,” Malvo tells him. Malvo then kills Stravos Milos’ dog, replaces his medication with Adderall, convinces Stravos that he should move into the house and puts blood in his shower. Is he doing this to get the ransom money (which he’s now raised to $1 million) or just to mess with Stravos because he doesn’t like him? My guess is the latter and the money will just be a nice bonus.

In an only-in-a-TV-series plot twist, Lester gets sent to Gina Hess’ house to give her the documents to process her life insurance money. Really? Sam, of the cutthroat trucking business, had his life insurance policy through Lester’s agency? The pilot led us to believe Sam and Lester hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so the whole thing didn’t quite track. And why wouldn’t Lester just say he wasn’t up to going? You would definitely think he doesn’t want to run into Sam’s dimwitted sons again. But the scene was worth it because Kate Walsh is so entertainingly fabulous as former-stripper-turned-bored-housewife Gina Hess. Gina’s “seduction” of Lester to try to get her insurance money faster was simultaneously hilarious and pathetic.

Lester’s hand wound looks awful and infected—his own personal tell-tale heart. Molly continues to investigate Lester without investigating him. She goes to see him under the guise of wanting life insurance and accidentally on purpose drops a picture of Malvo. On cue, Lester freaks out. But Bill doesn’t want to hear about it. He’s “super ticked” that Molly directly went against his orders and continues to view Lester as a suspect. In Bill’s mind, poor Lester has just lost his wife. We need some kind of explanation for why Bill refuses to even entertain the idea that Lester could be guilty. I don’t want it to be because he’s a clueless idiot.