News Fargo season 4: Chris Rock to star

Sweet! Can 't wait.

 

Season 4 premieres April 19th

 

That means we'll have a month and a half where Better Call Saul and Fargo are on at the same time.

Any of the big HBO shows airing in spring too?

 

We finally have a trailer:



The already impressive cast keeps getting better and better: Jessie Buckley and Glynn Turman!

 

Ok, this looks awesome, count me in.

 

The first two episodes finally came out yesterday. Did anyone else watch them?

Despite being set down in Kansas City, the fourth season is full of the classic Fargo eccentricities and at least one "dontcha know" accent. Whether it's Jessie Buckley's quirky nurse Mayflower and her perchance for murdering suffering patients or the uneasy alliances of crime families and their ritual of swapping firstborn sons that never works out in the end. At least we're spared someone's really gross teeth this time around.

Buckley's aforementioned nurse Mayflower fascinates me the most, although I could do without her casual and "friendly" racism, even if it fits the times and setting.

E'myri Crutchfield's Ethelrida is a close second and I'm curious to see how her story plays out. Between the sudden arrival of her runaway outlaw aunt and Timothy Olyphant busting in her front door at the end of the second episode, she's certainly seeing a lot of excitement and that's without yet directly playing a role in the brewing war between the two crime families.

That brewing war doesn't interest me that much except for the whole swapping-of-firstborn-sons dynamic and I'm curious to see how Ben Whishaw's Rabbi handles it considering his role with it since the beginning.

The one thing I'm disappointed about is how Uzo Aduba and Amber Midhunter were originally cast as the two runaway outlaws but they're obviously not anymore. Aduba had to drop out for "personal family issues," which is terrible, but I'm surprised Midhunter didn't remain, especially considering she worked with Noah Hawley in Legion (along with Jeremie Harris who plays an upstart cousin in the Cannon family). At least their replacements, Karen Aldridge and Kelsey Asbille, are terrific. I enjoyed Asbille in Wind River so it's good to see her pop up here.

 

I watched the first episode.

I'm not won over so far. It seems decent, but there's noone rootable yet and the writing comes off as a bit awkward. The whole child swapping thing is weird, I don't know if that's based on any real thing from history but it's hard to believe in 20th century America. That whole weird scene where they think there's an assassination attempt, then it looks like he's going to have a heart attack and he just farts, then some kids shoot him with what they thought was a toy gun was just awkward and forced.

Is there any connection between Mike Milligan and what's going on now? Not making assumptions based on race, just based on it being a TV show that loves connections like that.

 

Now I’ve finished the first two episodes.

The strategic logic of most of the mob actions make no sense and it stretches believability that the hospital administrator caught her murdering a patient red handed and accepted the incompetence defense.

Then it seemed like the nurse wanted to murder the girl and instead she put ipecac in the pie like she just wants to make them vomit?

The only reason I’m interested is the dynamic between a few characters is interesting. The Irish guy protecting the son, the new boss against his brother from Italy.

Also, if ANY of these characters, given their ages can plausibly be Mike Milligan I’m going to assume they are until disproven.

 

I still have very mixed feelings about this season. A few aspects of it work, like the little girl and the comments about race. And Chris Rock is surprisingly good in a dramatic role. But then they have all these villains who shoot up civilians for no reason and a bunch of really forced aspects.

Come to think of it, that Italian kid is the right age to be Steve Buscemi.

You know these connections are there, you just don't know where they are yet.

 

Wait, wait, wait.

I was Wikipediaing to see where I knew the actor who played the psychopath Italian guy. The Irish guy is Patrick Milligan?! Okay, absolute definite connection there. Now I'm expecting him to make off with the black kid to protect him as shit goes down and become his father and I am utterly convinced he IS MIKE MILLIGAN.

Chris Rock's son is Mike Milligan, Chris Rock dies and Patrick Milligan saves him and raises him, and I am 99% sure.

Joining Mr Numbers as the only characters to survive two different seasons. Though I guess Numbers technically survived three.

 

Yeah, it looks like the boy is Mike Milligan.

I'm curious as to what role the nurse and the teenage girl will play in the grand scheme of things.

 

If the kid isn’t Mike Milligan I’m eating my tennis shoes.

 

This season has picked up a lot in the last couple episodes. Patrick Milligan expectedly saving the boy, the Italian boss lying and saying he's dead to manipulate Chris Rock into killing his brother, Chris Rock not rising to the bait and releasing the brother instead.

And Chris Rock has been incredible. Who knew he could bring that kind of presence to a dramatic role?

 

That was Wizard of Oz. Opens and end in color with the bulk of the episode in black and white. A tornado too. RIP Milligan. Satchel is Mike Milligan. This episode makes it more likely.

 

That made me very sad.

Spoiler: Spoiler

That poor little kid, left all alone, never knowing what happened to Milligan or even if he'll see his family again.

 

I forgot to post last week but I really loved that episode. Probably the show's best since season one.

Very sad about Rabbi. He deserved better. And poor Satchel, left completely all alone in the middle of nowhere.

 

At least we know that Mike Milligan does pretty well in the end.

 

We've really been enjoying this series, it is so sad though that the same issues that face ethnic minorities in America in 1950 still affect them 70 years later in 2020.

I was in stitches at the suddenness of one of the deaths in the latest episode, was brutal in its absurdness!