Fargo - Season 5

MOVIE #1,592 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 04.30.24 Even though I’ve been reviewing movies at an insane clip here in 2024 (to the tune of nearly 100 a month!), I still find the time to watch the occasional bit of TV (TV is like movies only shorter, but also longer because there are usually a lot of episodes). Most of my television consumption revolves around live sports (currently the New York Knicks basketball team) and CBS Sunday Morning telecasts, but I also indulge in what the kids call “prestige TV.” I saw the first two seasons of the season-long anthology program Fargo but then tuned out for no specific reason. My wife and I got back on the horse for the most recent season, featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Joe Keery (Stranger Things), the Kids in the Hall’s Dave Foley (!), and Jon Hamm in a rare villain turn. And you know what? It was a delight.

Although this apparently was the first season to not have any direct connection to the film Fargo, I thought it perfectly captured the vibe of the classic Coen Brothers movie. It’s campy and strange right up to the line where that might become annoying. The cast, on paper, seems like a barrage of odd choices but everybody is locked in and it really works. I’m no expert, but it seems like modern “prestige TV” too often leans into the self-serious or overly convoluted idea. But this is a show that you can just have fun with. (I also think it has something to say, for the record. These notions aren’t mutually exclusive.) And I loved the weird yet hopeful ending: the finale is a classic denouement, a landing pad where we could just sit and have dinner with these kooky characters one last time, away from the chaos that preceded it. So allow me to add my voice to the chorus praising this fifth season: it’s special.

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⫷ MOVIE #1,591 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,593 ⫸

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The fifth season of Fargo, an American anthology dark comedy–crime drama television series created by Noah Hawley, premiered on FX. It consists of 10 episodes. Originally, the season was scheduled to premiere in September 2023, but was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. It was released on November 21, 2023.