Fargo 4.04

The Pretend War

Ethelrida takes a job cleaning Nurse Mayflower's apartment. She arrives just at Nurse Mayflower's place just as Josto is leaving. Josto runs into Rabbi Milligan as he is leaving the building where Orieta Mayglower lives. Milligan tells him about what happened, the attempt on Loy Cannon's eldest son, and what he learned from Calamita. Josto tells him to keep his eyes open and report back to him.

The Cannon gang hijacks a shipment of guns. The driver gets killed but Calamita, the man in the passenger seat, gets a ring burned into his cheek. The Fadda consigliere has another talk with Doctor Senator. The Cannon consigliere asks him about the attempt on Lemuel's life and the robbery of the Cannon numbers operation. The Fadda man is confused. He knows nothing about these events.

Detective Weff tries to get Marshall Wickware to leave town He pays someone to report that he saw the two fugitives, Zelmaire and Swanee. He says they were talking about going to Chicago. It isn't a very impressive performance. Wickware is not convinced and decides he's going to stay in Kansas City.

Josto confronts Gaetano about the attempt on Loy Cannon's eldest. Josto has Rabbi Milligan with him. He takes a couple shots at his brother. Gaetano looks ready to attack but something holds him back. Wickware and Weff arrive at the Fadda HQ around that time. Wickware stays in the car while Weff goes inside. Gaetano comes outside, fuming in more ways than one.

Wickware gets out of the car while Weff is inside getting orders from Josto to knock some sense into the Cannon gang. Wickware tries talking to Getano but the younger Fadda isn't interested in talking. Wickware tells him a story about what they did to some Italians that set up shop in Salt Lake City and then gets back in the car to wait for Weff.

Ethelrida goes into the closet of Nurse Mayflower's apartment. She finds poisons, obituaries, and personal belongings. She sees enough to connect the dots and then she rushes out. She tried on the a ring that she found in the closet. She forgot to remove it before she rushed out. She also left her notebook behind.

Rabbi Milligan walks out of a grocery store and in confronted by Loy Cannon and some of his men. Cannon wants to know why Milligan attempted to kill his eldest son. He offers to pay Milligan to bring him Satchel. Milligan declines the offer. Loy warns him about looking after his son.

Zelmaire cleans up the money they stole from the Cannon numbers operation. She gives some of it to Thurman. He has questions but she won't answer them. He takes the money and uses it to pay the man who loaned him money: Loy Cannon. Thurman claims that he inherited money from an uncle who passed away the week before. Loy doesn't connect the dots until after Thurman has left and he notices that the money smells funny.

Thurman's in a good mood when he gets home. Dibrell is happy too until he says that they are no longer in debt. She immediately suspects that her sister has something to do with it.

Thoughts

Lines are starting to be drawn. Prior to this episode I couldn't see the forest for the trees. My eyes have been opened and now things are starting to come into focus. There are at least three tensions that seem clear to me now. One, Nurse Mayflower is not going to be happy when she finds out that Ethelrida went into her closet. Two, Josto and Gaetano, the Fadda brothers, are not on good terms. Three, Loy Cannon knows where the money Thurman brought him comes from and he's going to want answers.

There was a supernaturally creepy moment when Zelmaire was cleaning the money while Swanee slept. Someone rose out of the bathtub in which Zelmaire was cleaning the money. She was in the next room and had her back turned but she felt something. For a second I thought that maybe this was some indication that Swanee had died.

The seasons of this show are each about real events but it is entirely possible that there are some details that are not known. I wonder if the supernatural occurrences in this show are Noah Hawley's way of filling in the missing pieces? Using the supernatural could be his way of signaling that this is not fact but conjecture. It's just a thought.

This is starting to feel like Fargo. The episode ended with the Fargo theme, played at a much slower pace than usual. I'm totally on board now. It took almost a third of the season but I am finally feeling it. I'm glad I stuck with it and hope that these uncomfortable situations continue to develop.