Fargo episode 10, the finale, titled “Morton’s Fork,” just finished airing. Our recap breaks down the events of the exciting conclusion.
This recap will contain spoilers.
It is not yet known whether the Fargo finale that just aired was just a season finale or if the series is done for good. Showrunner Noah Hawley has said that the show could come back with new characters (none of the current characters would return), but nothing has been set in stone. For now, Fargo is over.
The end of this story can only be summarized as one of the most emotionally satisfying conclusions to a story recently, no matter the medium.
The beginning of the end begins right where the last episode ended. Lester has just seen Lorne murder his new wife Linda, and he quickly realizes that if he doesn’t act correctly, people (mainly Molly and probably FBI agents Budge and Pepper) will suspect Linda’s murder was at his hand. He gives himself an alibi by going into Lou’s diner and orders food for him and Linda, saying that Linda will shortly be on her way. He then anonymously phones in shots fired, and the police find Linda’s body.
At the scene, Molly keenly observes that Linda was wearing Lester’s coat and that maybe that means Lester was supposed to be the dead one and that Lester didn’t kill this wife. As usual, she’s correct. Lester gives a convincing enough performance of astonishment and remorse, but they take him to the police station for questioning anyway. When Budge and Pepper bring up the name Lorne Malvo, Lester asks for a lawyer. Lester refuses to talk since they “obviously” made up their minds, but Molly insists that Lorne will not stop. Eventually they let him go, so Lester is escorted by FBI agents back to his home.
At the police station Lou tells Molly about Lorne (though he doesn’t know a name). After failing to convince her not to get further involved, Lou decides to go sit on Molly and Gus’ front porch with a shotgun to protect Greta. Gus sees him sitting there in the morning and leaves. Later, Greta finds Lou on the porch and after talking to him about standing guard, she gets a gun of her own and sits there with him.
When Gus finds out the news about Lorne and Lester, he calls Molly and demands that she stay at the police station. He says, “Bottom line, I can’t make [Greta] go to another funeral,” and Molly agrees to run things from the station. With Molly safe, Gus decides to go after Malvo himself, seemingly proving that his desire for Molly to stay away was more for her safety than Greta’s mental well-being. Gus finds Lorne’s cabin and waits.
Bill reveals to Molly that he is stepping down as police chief and will recommend that Molly take over as chief, calling her the “real deal.” He tells her to think about it. Comparisons between Molly and Frances McDormand’s Fargo (the movie) character have been growing in recent weeks. With the strength of her police work throughout, recently her pregnancy, and now her soon to be new role as chief, the comparisons are clear.
With FBI reinforcements coming in, Lorne calls and cancels the FBI backup that was coming, as he doesn’t want them there for obvious reasons. Then he goes to a dealership and goes for a test drive in a car that looks like an unmarked FBI car. This car later slowly rolls up to Lester’s house, but Lorne isn’t in it. The dealer is, and Lorne ambushes the two agents from behind, killing them.
After this, Lorne goes into the house to find Lester. Proving himself to be unexpected as usual, Lester has a trap set for Lorne. This trap is literal, and it gets Lorne in the leg before Lester non-fatally shoots him. Lorne then escapes the house. Lester defeats Lorne.
After that, Lorne escapes back to his cabin to clean his wounds and painfully reset his leg bone. Unbeknownst to him, Gus is there waiting for him. “I figured it out, your riddle,” Gus tells Lorne. When Lorne asks for an answer, Gus unloads six bullets into Lorne. Gus defeats Lorne.
Somewhere in between Lorne’s faceoffs with Lester and Gus, Molly went to Lester’s house. Though it’s not shown, she had to have found the site of (assuming the dealer was killed as well) three murders before getting the call that Gus had taken down Lorne. There he finds and presents Molly with the evidence (an audio recording of Lester’s call to Lorne after murdering his first wife) that will finally take down Lester.
After shooting but not killing Lorne, Lester escaped. Two weeks later Lester was cornered in Glacier National Park in Montana. After a high speed snowmobile chase, Lester ventures onto too shallow ice before falling through. The world defeats Lester. As it should.
At first glance, it would seems as if Molly was given an unfair shake in this episode. After all of her expert detective work, she didn’t play a direct hand in the capture of either of the two criminals she’s been trying to nab. Gus was given the citation for bravery, which he thinks should go to her, but she recognizes that it was supposed to go to him. “I get to be chief,” she says. Molly’s the true detective, and whether or not she directly apprehended the criminals, it’s because of her and her alone that they were apprehended at all, and the police work was really what it’s all about in the end.
Fargo was a magnificent ride of fantastic storytelling, great direction, beautiful cinematography, and very strong performances. It’s sad to see it go, and we can only hope there is a season 2, regardless of the characters. If it would be as good as this season, we’re in.