Fargo Season 5

Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about season 5 of the show Fargo. Fun fact, even though the show says the events are based on true events that’s not actually true and has been something that is apart of every season and started with the movie. This season came out in 2023 and stars Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jon Hamm and was created by Noah Hawley. So without further ado let’s get right into it.

Season 5 of Fargo sees us following Dorothy aka Dot who gets kidnapped but miraculously escapes and wants to pretend like it didn’t happen. We come to find out that Dot was married to an abusive man who holds a lot of power and influence and will do anything to get Dot back. Dot not only has to deal with her ex husband but she also has to deal with her very rich step mother who suspects she wants her money and the police who she’s trying to avoid  so they don’t lead her ex-husband straight to her door steps.

Fargo is an anthology series. It has similar vibes to True Detective, American Horror Story, or Fargo.

I watched the first three seasons of Fargo and not only were they all great but I loved that this is an anthology series and that they can contain the stories to one season. When I started watching this season I wasn’t immediately drawn in but as the pieces started to fall into place I started to see the big picture. If you haven’t seen the other seasons I suggest you watch them but you don’t need to watch them to understand but I will say the movie is required viewing, not because its connected but because its just so darn good.

I loved Juno Temple in this role as Dot who is scared from her past but is not going down without a fight. She is like the definition of a survivor and honestly if it was just her she could’ve taken out Roys goons. From how she rigged her house to be a death trap she kind of reminded me of like a grown version of the Home Alone kid. She did a good job with the whole accent thing too which is such a distinct accent that I only really associate with Fargo, well and of course Minnesota. It was sad to see all she had to do to get out of such a shitty relationship but I’m glad she has an happy ending because she needs that after all she went through.

One thing that was confusing for me was when the whole thing happened with Gators mom. I was trying to figure out how much of that was real because it seemed like it was but then seemed like it wasn’t. It was a sad story to see how Dot got there in the first place and how this woman who claimed to help so many other women left one in such a bad situation.

Ole Munch was such a menace and while he was very weird but he was a force to be reckoned with. From his time on screen we see why he is such a good criminal for hire because he would commit a crime and then be like a ghost. Im glad in the end he didn’t do anything with Dot and through food and a nice talk they were able to come to a nonverbal agreement.

While the story isn’t true it does feel super grounded in like Trump and Conservatives, far right ideals that have been talked about more and more since Trump started running for president. Like having this conservative sheriff basically have his own personal army really isn’t that shocking for a conservative man like Roy and him believing in god but also feeling like he’s some special chosen one from god even though he’s not.

As I watched this season I came to realize all the men were trash except for the trooper Whitt.  Like starting off with Roy I mean there’s a laundry list of reasons to hate him but I think the standouts is that he is abusive to women and thinks he’s above the law. Indira’s husband who went on a rant about him needing a wife for all his needs and to cater to him when he had no job, was the reason they were in debt, and was cheating on her. Gator who unfortunately is following in his father’s footsteps and was young and dumb which eventually led to him loosing his eyes. Danish who thought he was so smart and had the same power and influence as his boss which he did not. And while Wayne is a super nice guy he is so oblivious to every single thing going on and in the scene where they’re getting attacked in the house he pissed me off because you clearly see Dot has some idea what she’s doing and instead of you following her orders you want to do something else which just gets you electrocuted and my god he needed to stand up to his mother. They were all not doing a good job at being smart, decent humans.

I was trying to figure out what was my favorite part of the series was and I think it was a tie between Dot, Indira, and Lorraine who were all pretty badass. Dot was in a good situation but haunted by her past and even though her past came to shake up things she didn’t let it ruin her life and fought to get back to her real family. Indira was just trying to get by with a low life husband and a mountain of debt and she really was looking out for Dot even when Dot seemed to be on her own. Lorraine was a character that I wasn’t rooting for at all when we are first introduced to us when she wants a Christmas card with all these guns and is rude to dot and her family. As the season went on I realized that while she’s some rich conservative lady who has been a helicopter parent she is a woman’s woman meaning that I think she has experienced how much men try and walk over women and get away with it and will not be having any of it. She sees Dots file and understands her so much more and does everything in her power to get her back and with Indira she sees how’s she’s in such a shitty position because of her husband who doesn’t even appreciate her and gives her a way out. One thing I thought I was disappointed in was Roy not dying because he’s awful but I was so glad that Lorraine told him that yea you’re alive and you will remain alive and every day while you’re in this prison I will be paying for men to beat you up just like you did all your wives and other women in your life. All three of these characters were just great and as the season went on I was rooting for them to make it out alive.

Fargo keeps up the tradition of bringing in a great cast with a great story and just pulling in the viewer and having you completely wrapped up in the story. I feel like this show is like a nice wrapped up package and they give you everything you need to feel satisfied by the end of the season.