Fargo - “Buridan’s Ass” Retrospective. Holy Crap.

Season 1, Episode 6

Air Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 10PM E/P on FX Networks.

Rating: ★★★★★

“If you want this to go away, you have to give them someone.” – Chaz

Adam Goldberg as Mr. Numbers, Russell Harvard as Mr. Wrench

In the most jaw-dropping, twisted episode of Fargo yet, Molly (Allison Tolman) continues her investigation into Lester (Martin Freeman), who is still recovering in the hospital from his hand wound. Meanwhile, in Duluth, Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) sets his plan in motion to collect the blackmail money from Stavros (Oliver Platt).

I can’t remember the last time I was caught so off guard while watching an episode as much as I was while watching “Buridan’s Ass.” I had fallen into a lull of comfort due to Noah Hawley’s sharp writing and the engaging characters brought to life by Thornton and Freeman, as well as the other actors in this series. For a moment, I forgot that Fargo is known for its murder and mayhem. Thankfully, “Buridan’s Ass” provides a powerful wake-up call that had me sitting on the edge of my seat while repeatedly saying, “Holy crap.”

“Buridan’s Ass” begins with what appears to be a mob meeting, during which we learn Mr. Tripoli (Mark Acheson) is the boss and the one who sent Mr. Numbers (Adam Goldberg) and Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard) to kill, not capture, the person behind the Hess murder.

Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard

Lester’s brother Chaz (Josh Close) pays him a visit in the hospital to convey the seriousness of the situation, which is highlighted by an officer standing guard outside Lester’s door. Freeman gives a great performance being flustered as Lester tries to brush off what his brother is telling him. Is Lester somewhat in denial or simply trying to defuse his brother’s frustration? I admit this scene only had a little impact during my first viewing but watching it a second time, knowing what’s going to happen, the scene takes on a whole new meaning, and becomes a real turning point for Lester.

Despite seeing it coming from a mile away, Lester’s escape from the hospital is entertaining to watch. I kept trying to figure out if Lester has a plan or is just flying by the seat of his pants. Just when I thought he is going to pack things up and go on the run, Lester goes to Chaz’s house. Suddenly, it all comes together as I sat there in disbelief when Lester plants evidence so his own brother takes the fall for the murders. Brilliant!

I truly enjoy how Malvo messes with people’s heads. He has a way of getting people to turn against each other while he steps back and watches. I assumed Malvo would double cross Don (Glenn Howerton), possibly even kill him, but I absolutely did not expect the eventual upshot. Slowly, I started to realize what Malvo is doing when Don starts to ask questions about the newspapers on the windows and all the duct tape laying around, clueless to his impending doom. Such a shocking turn of events for poor Don and yet the actions fit Malvo’s behavior perfectly. I laughed as Malvo duct tapes the shotgun to Don’s hands and then stands in front of him for a moment as if to admire his work. All of a sudden, you hear the click of the (unloaded) gun, to which Malvo says, “That’s ok, I’d be insulted if you didn’t try.” Soon after, all hell breaks loose and Malvo calmly drives off to get his money from Stavros.

Billy Bob Thornton as Lorne Malvo

Just when my heart starts to settle down, Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench sandwich Malvo’s car and start shooting. I don’t think I breathed as the two hit men stalk Malvo, only to be outsmarted leaving one presumably dead. Just as I thought things could not get any worse, Molly and Gus, who are working together trying to figure out how everything connects back to Lester and Malvo, arrive at the scene. Molly races off into the blizzard while Gus appears to doubt himself in the face of danger. Suddenly he sees movement in the blowing snow, pulls out his gun and fires but when he approaches the body, he realizes the horrible mistake he has made.

The one thing preventing me from giving “Buridan’s Ass” five stars is the ending as I have absolutely no clue what happened. Stavros goes to deliver the money but then changes his mind. He returns to the side of the road where he found the buried money and puts everything back exactly how he found it. Convinced he is doing God’s bidding, he returns home. On the way there, he notices the road is covered with fish. When he pulls over to investigate, he sees a car flipped over in the ditch and realizes his son Dmitri (Gordon S Miller) is in it. He approaches the car only to find Dmitri dead. Visually, it is an interesting scene but trying to understand where the heck the fish came from left me lost and confused. Because of that, it took some of the excitement out of an otherwise outstanding episode. Where do you think the fish came from?

I can’t wait until the next episode to learn what the final body count is. I’m sure it won’t be as high as we are led to believe because hopefully some of those dead people survived. At the same time, Lester returns to his hospital bed without anyone noticing his absence. Will Lester go through with the betrayal of his brother Chaz?

Tweet me @staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “Buridan’s Ass.”

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.