Fargo – East/West

By: Kelly Kearney

What can only be described as Dorothy and Toto meat Jim Jarmusch in a Coen brothers adventure, this episode takes twisters to a whole new Oz-tastic level. The episode, which is primarily in black and white, finds Rabbi Milligan and Satchel Cannon searching for a place to hide while war breaks out in Kansas City. The two, still wanted by the mob, find themselves in a town named Liberal, but unlike its name there is nothing liberal about the reaction to a white man traveling with a black child. Racism is seeped in the soil of this rural town, making it difficult to remain in the shadows of while they try to figure out their next move. With Constant Calamita on their tail and a storm brewing in the skies, this duo and their little dog too have to find their yellow brick road before the Fadda’s hit man send them back to the city in pine wood box.

Omie and the Hostage

Omie Sparkman (Corey Hendrix) takes a break from driving to stretch his legs and spots a sign on the side of the road honoring the man who named a town in Kansas “Pluto.” Whatever Omie’s mission is in the desolate town it must have something to do with the hostage he has ties up in the trunk. A man named Aldo (Joel Reitsma), who Omie graciously allows a smoke while he pumps him for information about Constant Calamita (Salvatore Bruno) and a gun shipment he needed to start a war with Loy Cannon. He also lets it slip that Constant is searching for a Swede or Irishman, but that clue never leads Omie to think Rabbi and Satchel. Everyone in Cannon’s camp thinks they’re both dead.

With his legs thoroughly stretched, Omie heads to the nearest gas station in hopes someone there has seen Calamita. Outside the friendly owner sits watching the empty road out front of the station and that’s when Omie sparks up a conversation. He asks him if he’s seen any skinny white Italian men come by and the man says he hasn’t and he would know, this is the only place to buy gas for miles. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before Italian shows up, Omie wants to stick around and wait. As a loud thumping emanates from his back trunk, he distracts the owner’s attention by asking him if there is any work he needs done. Omie and his “friend” in the trunk offer to finish the painting on the inside of the station and the owner agrees to let them help. Trunk boy has no say in the matter. It’s either kill time and wait for Constant or Omie kills him and waits alone. It’s an easy choice to make.

Constant Calamita rolls into the station after a few hours of painting and listening to a very privileged Aldo explain why he, a white man, is more oppressed than Omie, a black man, living in Jim Crow’s America. Aldo panics and starts to run, forcing Omie to shoot him before he can get away. Calamita hears the gun shot and slowly gets out of the car.

Hiding Out in Liberal, Kansas

We flashback to the day before and we find Rabbi (Ben Whishaw) and Satchel (Rodney L. Jones III) driving past the same gas station on the road to Liberal, Kansas. The town is rural enough that nobody will know them, making it a good place to lay low while the violence blows over in Kansas City.  The plan is to stay there a few days, regroup and figure out their next move. As they head to the Barton Arms Inn we spot a historical marker out front that tells the story of the Murderous Mellons – a family of midwestern sirens who lured travelers to their early graves. It seems like an odd thing to be proud of, but it doesn’t appear to bother Rabbi and Satchel. The two take in the fresh air and then head inside to book a room. The process is entirely bizarre with the desk clerk asking them a slew of questions to determine which side of the Inn, east or west, they belong on. Once she has sufficiently pegged them as west guests, she warns Rabbi to keep the black boy out of sight. The sisters who own the Barton Arms do not take kindly to “colored folk” and he nods his head and promises his “ward” won’t be any trouble. That’s the story Milligan is going by. His war buddy died and willed the orphan boy to him. Why else would an Irishman be traveling with a black child?

After the desk clerk shows them to the in Rabbi notices a yellow line dividing their bedroom. Apparently, the sisters have divided up every room in the house, each taking their own sides and never crossing each other’s paths. Again, a weird way to run a business but from the looks of their guests this place attracts the strange and unusual. After the two settle in Rabbi tells Satchel to stay in the room while he heads out to retrieve some money he hid “just in case.” Handing Satchel a knife, he gives him the familiar farewell with, “If I don’t return I’m either dead or in jail.”

Where’s the Money, Guys?

Heading into town to search for the feed store where he hid the money leads to a stunning realization that the store and the money are both gone! Maybe the wall that he hid the money behind is still there? No luck. One of the new owners tells him wall was taken down when they remodeled the building and there is no mention of the money that was hidden behind it and Rabbi isn’t about to ask.

Back at the Inn Satchel breaks the rules after he uncovers a hidden dog locked inside his bedroom cabinet and the scruffy animal takes off out the door and down the steps. Forgetting he is supposed to stay out of sight, he runs after the dog and right into a chatty aluminum siding salesman name Hunk Swindell (Tim Hopper). He pauses his dog chase for a brief introduction with Hunk, who is definitely giving off scarecrow vibes in this twisted take on The Wizard of Oz. His friend Hickory J. Milch (Japhet Balaban) joins the conversation and guides the topic towards his own interests, oil fields. It seems this tin man always has his mind on Texas and it’s black gold of fortune.

It’s not long before Rabbi returns to the Inn empty handed. He fills the boy in on the money situation, but has a solution to their financial setback. In the meantime Satchel has to stay in their room and remain out of sight. Once again the precocious child ignores him when they both are alerted to dinner. Milligan and Satchel head downstairs, but one of the sisters tells the boy he isn’t welcome at their table. This makes the other sister speak up and tell him the opposite and to ignore her racist sibling and take a seat. Hunk makes a point to introduce everyone at the table, with Rabbi being quick enough to come up with a fake name. He claims to be passing through town on his way to a job in Sioux Falls and everyone seems to swallow that lie right along with dinner.

The next morning Rabbi allows Satchel and his dog to tag along while he goes and gets his money. On the road they pass a billboard that’s halfway finished and it reads “The Future is…” “What?” he asks the man putting it up and worker shrugs his shoulder and tells the curious driver that he will have to wait and see. When he asks why Rabbi cares what it says, he responds with, “It’s the principle. Making people live with uncertainty. It ain’t right,” and it seems Milligan is talking more about his current predicament then an unfinished message on a roadside sign.

Eventually the two arrive at the store and Milligan tells Satchel to stay in the car. Inside the two owners are in the back office talking about Rabbi’s visit. They have no idea he is listening from the shadows. The man Rabbi spoke to earlier is convinced this guy knows they took the money. That’s Rabbi’s cue and he pulls out his gun demanding the two hand it over. After pistol whipping one of the owners, the other confesses that what he is looking for is in the store’s safe. They went with a finders keepers thing and spent some of the five grand Rabbi hid. What is left isn’t much, but it will have to do for now.

All the while this hold up is going on in the store a cop outside is harassing Satchel minding his business in the car. Assuming the boy is up to no good, the cop orders Satchel to get out. Luckily, Rabbi steps in with his “I’m his ward” excuse and the racist cop looks at him with pity. Having to be responsible for a black boy must be awful. Orphan or not, he warns Rabbi to be careful while traveling around with a “colored kid.”

After that tense and almost deadly afternoon, the two head back to the Inn. Satchel is starving but his hunger pains fall on deaf ears when Rabbi tells him they’re leaving in the morning and the dog is staying. Satchel begs him to allow his new furry friend to come along. After all, it’s his birthday wish. Rabbi had no idea it was his birthday and head to the local gas station to buy the kid a gift. On the way he notices the progress on the billboard, which now reads, “The future is Now!” The message doesn’t sit well with him, but the workman tells him it’s still not finished.

The Twister is Coming!

To wrap up this Land of Oz tale Rabbi arrives at the gas station only to see the legs of Aldo sticking out from the door. The wind is vicious and the sky grows darker by the second as he peeks through the window and sees Calamita holding a gun on Omie. The sound of the roaring wind causes Calamita to look up from Omie and that’s when he spots Rabbi heading back to his car. Shots ring out as Calamita plugs Rabbi in the arm with a bullet! The Irishman tries to fire back, but he can’t raise his injured arm. Omie sneaks behind Calamita and shoots him once in the back, but is taken out when Calamita spins around to blasts off two bullets of his own. While the Italian hitman is distracted by Omie, Rabbi aims his gun and readies himself to fire. Only a strong wind sends flying wood debris into the Irishman’s arm and he loses his grip and drops it! This gives Calamita the perfect opening to fire off the final kill shot, but in that moment a tornado touches down right on top of them. The funnel of wind sucks them both up into the mouth of the hungry storm.

Somehow the violent winds never interrupted Satchel’s sleep because when he wakes up from his nap to find Rabbi gone. He grabs his dog named Rabbit and heads out into the world on his own. Milligan always said if he didn’t return he was either dead or in jail and Satchel isn’t about to stick around in this bizarre inn to find out. As the boy and the dog leave the Barton Arms behind them they approach the familiar billboard. With a glace east and another west, Satchel is standing at a crossroads knowing the choices from here on out are his alone to make.