Clockwatchers.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
There's a quasi-classic filmmaking adage, attributed to Stanley Kubrick I think, about how making a movie is basically having four or five good, memorable scenes connected by a story. Which, come to think of it, makes sense when you're talking about Kubrick due to the slow, deliberate and lengthy nature of his scenes.
A lot of Fargo's third season reminds me of this concept, as a lot of it didn't feel all that fluid, but - damn - there were some really powerful, standout moments that resonated long after viewing. Protracted scenes that took their time as if they existed within a medium that held no time constraints or worry about the balance of narrative.
So, in talking about the season finale course, "Somebody to Love," my mind expressly goes to Gloria and Varga's final confrontation. Years later, after her entire case colony-collapsed on itself before she could truly intervene in a meaningful way ("Okay then..."), much like Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell in No Country for Old Men, Gloria's landed on her feet and got a job with Homeland Security. It was time for one final mental chess match with Varga over the nature of "reality." Varga believes that reality can be shifted and molded to fit any purpose despite circumstantial evidence and/or intuition. Gloria believes in the old fashion "murder will out" policy. That the truth will prevail, even in the face of evil obfuscation.
The two of them sit and wait as the clock ticks, to see who will be handed a victory. And, sure, it's up us to pick a side here. Choose an outcome. You could read into Gloria's confident "deep fried Snickers bar" smile and assume that Varga's about to get swallowed up by our justice system or you might choose Varga's calm surrender to what he presumes is another easy win for Team Slimeball. And yes, it was funny to see Carrie Coon in another TV finale where "truth" and "belief" were at the heart of the matter, with no answers provided one way or another. Though, Fargo seems to be taking even more of a hands-off approach than The Leftovers did.
I suppose an easier way of looking at things, and projecting Varga's fate, is to see the five-year time jump before his capture as a stay of execution of sorts - in the same way that Emmit got to live five years free from harm with his wife and a sadly damaged Sy (damn, poor guy) before Wrench pulled the trigger. Because it's almost impossible to imagine, at this point, the universe would once again stamp Gloria down and send her sense of justice reeling. Fargo's filled with bloodshed and not everyone makes it out, but there's usually a sense of comeuppance by the end of the tale.
But then there's also the text Varga got, warning him that the IRS had the drives. And Larue telling Gloria that his Stussy Lots investigation got shut down. So maybe Varga is protected from up on high. Maybe Mrs. Goldfarb is even behind it all. Somehow.
Nikki didn't make it out alive (DAMMIT!), though I didn't really think she would. I was rooting for her, but all in all she executed all of her plan to perfection save for the absolute final beat. She spoke her vengeance passage to Emmit, which she did remember, but got taken down by happenstance. The Fargo-verse's revenge, perhaps, for all those unsuspecting officers killed after walking into a bad situation. Nikki didn't get Varga or Emmit herself, but she still directly caused their fall. Varga had to flee the country, and scramble like a rat for his life, while Emmit eventually got taken out by Wrench, who was clearly in love with Nikki (because who wouldn't be?). Her bridge-playing hands extended from beyond the grave.
Oh, and "He's a kitten now, Ray. In case you were wondering." What a daffy yet utterly moving line. A wonderful reminder that she deeply loved the "lesser" Stussy brother in a way that no one could have ever predicted. While also believing in the transference of the soul.
"Somebody to Love" was ruthless, but reassuring. It cut lives down with merciless precision (most of them Varga's men) while also falling back on whimsical, reliable sense of "good." Basically, tonally, this is what separates a Coen project like Fargo from a Coen project like No Country. Gloria was adrift for most of the season, but never drowned. She almost quit at one point, but rediscovered her confidence thanks to - yes - Nikki, in a roundabout way, since those drives got sent to the IRS. These two ladies acted like a tag team without ever actually slapping palms. Nikki did most of the work so that left Gloria, in the end, to land the final blow. One hopes.
Even without a concrete ending, this was still a strong finish for Season 3 as it honed in on the major theme of the run - truth vs. propaganda. All while being a fake "true" story.
The Verdict
If this winds up, in the end, being Fargo's final bow on TV, then, thematically, it works wonderfully. The ever hopeful officer of the law facing down an evil overlord who thinks he's above it all. It's very bubble vs. the big bad world out there. But Gloria was no longer just a small town cop by the end. She'd brought her scope, and sense of justice, to a bigger platform - one that paralleled Varga's scheming. And so the two off the could square off, evenly, regarding the nature of truth and condemnation.
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