Fargo S3: "Yeah, I decided not to park here." | Wednesdays @ 10ET, FX

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Fargo S3: "Yeah, I decided not to park here." | Wednesdays @ 10ET, FX

HorseRenoir: Dec 25, 2011; Pillbug

Calico Heart posted:

Between the first two seasons of the show, I read a comment on this forum that really stuck with me. "Fargo is the worst type of show because it thinks it's about something, but it isn't"

I really liked the first two seasons of Fargo, but that comment stuck with me like an itch. I found myself constantly thinking "Is what the show's doing now thematically consistent, or just a 'cool moment' that means nothing?" Sometimes the show let me down, but overall, it was enough for me to still quite enjoy it.

With the third season, I kind of ran out of steam. There are only so many times a character can turn and look at the camera and say "this season is about truth" before it starts to irritate. It seemed like every episode, characters would monologue in increasingly obvious ways. They would cut-away to something only tangentially related to the action with the characters then asking "wait, is that really related" as if to preemptively defend itself. Maybe it was just me, but this season really felt to me like that tossed every idea they had into the script, then tried really hard to bend and mold the scenes around the point they wanted to make. Strangely, in the shows most thematically consistent season, I felt it carried the least weight. I saw style in droves, substance in teaspoons.

I guess it wasn't helped by the fact I didn't think the show pulled through in the end. Everything in the finale felt unsatisfactory, and not in an introvertive and intentional way.

I felt this way about the season too. I recognize and appreciate what they were trying to do with this season thematically but I thought it lacked the tightness and emotional core that the previous two seasons had.

To me the biggest problem with S3, even beyond all the stylistic overindulgence that goes nowhere (stuff like the Peter & the Wolf bit or everything about that Hollywood episode) is that it feels like Noah Hawley didn't really get why S2 was so good. It had a lot of indulgent sidebars and stylistic quirks, but it was still anchored by a cast of complex, likable, and flawed characters. Even the antagonists had deeper motivations and quirks beyond being a stand-in for Hawley's concept of evil. Half the characters in S3 are inhuman hyper-competent ciphers that don't do much other than kill people efficiently and act as mouthpieces for what the writers wanted to say, and the other half that aren't either die quickly, get sidelined from the plot, or turn into ciphers themselves (like Nikki or Gloria, who gradually become less interesting as the season progresses). I feel like Hawley & co. got so caught up in the grander themes and presentation of what they wanted to write that they forgot to include a compelling cast/plot as a foundation.

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HorseRenoir: Dec 25, 2011; Pillbug

anime was right posted:

i think it was to make it clear he was otherworldly in some form and thats it idk the writing this season was a mess

Ray Wise is awesome and I wish they gave him more to do this season than be Quirky And Mysterious Force Of Nature Character #237

# ¿ Jun 28, 2017 08:16

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Fargo S3: "Yeah, I decided not to park here." | Wednesdays @ 10ET, FX