Fargo 5.03

The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions

Roy meets up with Gator at the gas station near Beulah. He gets the story from Gator and then tells him what to do with the body and what to do after that. Roy returns home to Karen, his wife, and eight-year-old twin daughters. He has a visitor waiting for him, a man by the name of Odin who is looking for more ammunition.

Dot goes out in the neighborhood at night and changes a bunch of the street signs. Dot and Wayne go to gun world the next day. They pick out a couple assault rifles and a pistol. Dot wants to take them home with them but there's a seven day waiting period so they can't get them for a week.

An elderly woman returns home in Bismark, ND and finds Munch in one of the bedroom in her house. He tells her that he lives there now. He flashes back 500 years to the year 1522 in Wales. He accepted money to take on the sins of a recently deceased man. 

Deputy Witt returns to work, on crutches. He goes to take a look at the items that belonged to the dead kidnapper. Gator is already there. He gives Witt a hard time and throws around some racially tinged language when Witt asks him if he just pocketed some of the stuff from the evidence box. Gator leaves. Witt gets his name from the patrolman on duty at the desk.

Witt gets an e-mail from Deputy Olmstead with the picture of Dot. He picks up his phone and calls her. Deputy Olmstead isn't able to pick up because at that moment she and her boss are talking to Lorraine Lyon, who pushes back hard on the police investigation, and Danish.

Roy sends Gator to retrieve Dot (who was once known as Nadine). Dot is getting ready to go out trick or treating with Wayne and Scotty when he calls. She picks up but doesn't say anything, she listens to him talk for 10 to 20 seconds and then hangs up.

Munch performs a ritual that involves killing a goat. He then smears himself with its blood and also cuts his arms as part of the ritual.

Gator and the three men he brought with him find the Lyon house after some confusion due to the street signs that Dot switched around.

Thoughts

The episode ends with what looks like Munch walking into a house. I don't think its the Lyon house. Could it be Roy's home?

Munch is over 500 years old? I’m not sure how I feel about this. He calls the old woman mother at one point. Does that mean that she is also over 500 years old?

This was a shorter episode. It was only about 43 minutes long, about 15 minutes shorter than the first episode of the season. It sets things up but nothing too intense happens in it although at times it feels like something is about to happen.

I have some questions about time. This episode seems to take place on Oct 30 and 31. I thought that the first episode took place on Oct 29. It seems like they are squeezing quite a bit into the last few days of October.

This is good but on its own it isn't great. I expect that the confrontation at the Lyon household between Gator and his boys or the one at the Tillman household between Munch and Roy will open the next episode. Hopefully they will live up to all this build up.