Fargo – The Tragedy of the Commons

By: Kelly Kearney

The long-awaited return of the show based on the Coen brothers’ film is back for a fifth season with its two-episode premiere that should up the game for other dramas heading into next year’s award season. This true crime story revolves around Dot Lyon– a typical midwestern housewife with a mysterious past threatening to catch up with her and ruin the happy little life she’s built. Juno Temple delivers a mesmerizing performance as she hangs up her Keeley Jones (“Ted Lasso”) couture to strap on an apron and a taser gun, in the FX drama “Fargo.”

Minnesota Nice

In the opening sequence we learn the term “Midwestern Nice” is a cultural stereotype given to people of the Midwest who are unusually polite and that is the perfect description of this season’s main character. The term also acts as a little wink and nod to Frances McDormand’s “Marge Gunderson” from the Oscar-winning film that inspired the series. The term sets the stage for Scandia, Minnesota in the year 2019, where our true crime story takes place. A school board meeting has broken out into a violent exchange of fists between parents, teachers, and members, and while we don’t know what caused the fight, it quickly escalates into a full-blown battle royal. As the camera scans the room it focuses on a petite woman and her daughter sitting quietly in the middle of the chaos. Her name is Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple) and protecting her daughter, Scotty (Sienna King), from the brawl becomes her main priority. The two manage to make their way out of the mess of people, but before they get to them someone grabs Dot from behind. This ignites her Mama Bear beast mode and instinctively, she hits Mr. Grabby-hands with a stun gun. Unfortunately for her, this wasn’t your average creep, this guy is a cop. Dot is going to be late for dinner and that AR-15-themed Christmas photoshoot at her in-laws’ house.

Judging Dot’s behavior at booking, she seems less worried about missing the festivities than she is about her fingerprints landing in a national database. The arresting officer, Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani), does not have much sympathy for her and sort of rolls her eyes when Dot says this was all about, “Wrong place, wrong time.” She just isn’t buying it; something is off with this domestic little sweetheart and the stench of suspicion is wafting off of this cop as she listens to her prattle on about Scotty witnessing her arrest. That scent only grows stronger as the female cop gets deeper into the season because Dot might seem like an innocent little casserole queen but something sinister is lurking behind that “dontcha know?”. If there is one thing about this series fans can count on it’s that the women cops are always the smartest crime solvers in town, and Olmstead is giving off that same “Gunderson energy.”

After Dot’s husband, Wayne (David Rysdahl), bails her out of the local jail they head to the family’s estate where we meet this pride of Lyons, and right off the bat we can tell who’s calling the shots. It’s not the quietly liquored-up father leading the pack, but Wayne’s WASPY-wealthy, and elitist mother, Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh), along with her hired man, Danish Graves (Dave Foley). A breathy and apathetic sociopath, she has more attitude attached to her tight=lipped mouth than she does zeros next to her net worth. This family lives and dies by the public’s opinion, so when Lorraine heard about Dot’s arrest she and Graves started plotting ways to use it against her. There is no love lost between these two, as we see Lorraine blame Dot’s parenting for Scotty’s dinner attire. The teenager chose to wear a suit rather than a traditional dress, which must’ve rubbed Lorraine’s inner Conservative the wrong way because she served bigoted insults as the appetizer to the night’s main course. Wayne– a soft Mama’s boy, could never step over his mother to defend his wife or child, so instead, he clams up the minute Lorraine starts picking away at them. She even finds fault in Dot raising money for the local library. The impression this wealthy and politically connected family gives off is that the entire family just doesn’t mesh with Dot’s personality or interests and Lorraine never misses a chance to remind her of how different she is. Instead of battling a woman she won’t ever please, Dot chooses to concentrate on being a good mom and keeping her child in hugs and homemade pancakes.

The Kidnapping

After dreaming of some cowboy-looking Sheriff (Jon Hamm) roaming a dusty landscape, Dot wakes up to make Scotty breakfast before school. It’s the most important meal of the day and this kid just loves her silver dollar Bisquick. Making breakfast is a tradition in the Lyon house and after yesterday’s melee in the auditorium, Dot just wants to start the day with a bit of normalcy. That changes once Scotty and Wayne leave for the day. While sitting down to watch T.V. and knit, Dot spots a masked man watching her through the living room window. Once she sees he is holding a hammer and tries to break in, instead of panicking, Dot jumps into planning mode. She runs upstairs to hide and that’s when we learn there are two men and both are now inside the house and searching for Dot. What do these men want with a housewife from Scandia, Minnesota? Perhaps she is more than she seems because her boobytrap planting skills are seriously unmatched! Who is this woman? Someone must’ve been watching a lot of Home Alone and taking notes because after the men spot her tripwire they walk right into her DIY flamethrower. They fell for the old lighter and a can of hairspray trick and she sets one of them seriously on fire. His ski mask goes up in flames and he staggers away screaming about his crispy face. I don’t think these men expected her to be such a fighter–even when she winds up falling down the steps, she pops back up and puts the boots on them both the second they let their guards down. She had the upper hand the whole time but her luck runs out and she ends up zip-tied and tossed into the back of their truck.

Gas Station Warfare

When Wayne and Scotty come home to find the front door to their house open and blood and a burnt ski mask on the floor, but no sign of Dot anywhere, the concerned husband throws up and then contacts the police. From her initial assessment of the scene, Officer Olmstead says it looks like a kidnapping but the blood they found isn’t Dot’s. Lorraine and Danish Graves are also working behind the scenes on their own investigation which is more of an excuse to brainstorm ideas on how to get rid of Dot rather than rescue her. All Lorraine cares about is finding a solution with the least amount of embarrassing blowback for the family and if letting these kidnappers keep Dot is an option, she is open to taking it. She does–begrudgingly, offers to throw her money around if it will get them answers but she also wonders whether or not her daughter-in-law is worth it. Could this be a ruse and Dot is just trying to pump the family for more money? She puts Danish on the case and the two meet with Wayne to talk strategies. Once again, weak in the face of his mother’s insults, he asks his mother for help and all she can do is mock him for refusing to use his hefty trust fund while cosplaying some middle-class nine-to-fiver. He ignores her because he knows Lorraine is the one holding the family’s purse strings and she could be the only one to find his wife–who he is desperate to get back.

Wayne isn’t the only one with money worries in the episode, on the other end of the financial spectrum sits Officer Olmstead at her kitchen table going through her debt collection notices. It seems she is behind on everything, and her unemployed golf gamer of husband, Lars (Lukas Gage), isn’t helping ease the stress. This kidnapping case could mean overtime and they could use those extra funds because no matter how many times Lars says he is about to make it in the big leagues– or whatever they call online golf champs, the bills are still due and she is the only one working.

Back in the truck with Dot and the kidnappers, the crispy one–Donny (Devon Bostick) is suffering badly. His cries prompt a surprisingly caring Dot to offer him some helpful advice to get a doctor before it gets infected. She might be tied up in the backseat but she is still a good person who cares about people–even ones who almost killed her. Soon, a patrol car pulls behind the truck flashing their lights and signaling to pull over. They have no choice but to comply but the whole time they are plotting their next move. As they bicker back and forth about shooting the cops or speeding off, Dot makes her move bails out of the backseat, and starts running towards the red and blue flashing lights. She never stops and runs right past the cops as the bullets start flying. Still tied with her hands behind her back, she manages to make it to a nearby gas station for help as one of the kidnappers, Ole Munch (Sam Spruell) kills one of the officers and grazes the other with a bullet. Deputy Witt-Farr (Lamorne Morris) is injured but holds Ole Much off until he can crawl his way to the same gas station Dot found. As the last line of defense for the cashier Dot, the officer stands outside and aims his gun into the dark abyss. It seems like the world ends at the last pump and everything beyond has been swallowed up by the night. That’s when another bullet goes whizzing by him and hits him in the leg. All of this is to protect a woman who at this point, doesn’t seem to need it. The bullet struck an artery but lucky for him Dot is as skilled at making tourniquets as she is at tripwires and swinging a shovel! Our girl is a multi-tasking MacGyver! She arms herself with two bags of ice: one she tosses on the floor to make a slip-n-slide and the other she uses to pound Donny’s face in when he walks out of the back bathroom stall. It works like a charm and Donny winds up cracking his skull on the toilet and dropping his gun at Dot’s feet! In the front room, Ole Munch, and Witt-Farr are trading gunfire until Dot gets the jump on the assailant and clocks him in the head with a shovel. She has a chance to kill him with Donny’s gun but doesn’t take the shot and Ole Munch gets away as she tends to Witt-Farr’s leg. The cop is amazed by this heroic woman but she shrugs it off with a “This isn’t my first getaway.” She patches him up and swiftly leaves before help can arrive and question her.

Who is Dot Lyon?

Back at the Lyon home, Wayne tucks Scotty into bed and makes a promise to bring her mom home soon. Dot proves him right when she pops back into the kitchen ready to make those breakfast pancakes she promised Scotty. Bloody feet, and tangled hair, but wearing a 1000-watt smile, Dot works hard at avoiding the obvious as she takes her frustration out on the batter with a whisk. It seems every time Wayne tries to get a straight answer out of her, she digs in and attacks that pancake mixture. She chalks the whole thing up to a misunderstanding and says she is more concerned that he got her mother-in-law involved. He explains how everyone thought she was kidnapped and considering the state she is currently in, her “I needed a day to myself” excuse is not believable. Wayne wants to believe her but it isn’t just him she has to convince, she also has to run this by the police now Lorraine too. This seems to stress her out even more; even Dot has her breaking point and Lorraine will test her daughter-in-law’s mettle hoping to turn those cracks in her story into chasms big enough to toss her down into. Dot has secrets; she is a woman who dreams of dusty cowboys, can fight off two men, and triage a gunshot, all while living in fear her fingerprints will out her truth–whatever that is. Next week in episode three, we meet that cowboy from Dot’s dreams and find out what his connection is to this housewife in Scandia.