On The 3d Season Finale Of Fargo With Brief Reference To 2nd Season Finale Of Undercover

 Spoilers Alert:

I just finished watching virtually in succession the finales of Fargo, 3d season, 4th season still to be watched, and then a day later of Undercover, 2nd and last season to date.

I liked a lot the extremely quirky first 2 seasons of Fargo, but I thought the quirkiness jumped the shark, so to say, and outdid itself not in good way. 

There is individual good acting, especially David Thewlis as the villain. He is incredibly effective. And some of the writing/talking is strong and interesting, especially from Thewlis. But the story as a whole never grabbed me. The rich brother is finally  uninteresting and his feud with his poor parole officer brother didn’t sustain my consistent interest.

It bugged me how how weak the woman sheriff is in her role compared to the sheriffs’ strengths in the first 2 seasons. 

But what bugged me most is the finale, way too drawn out with not enough going on, way too tongue in cheek, with that Coen brothers-like smart assery that tends to subvert the believability of the story and our suspension of disbelief even while Fargo wants to claim it. That, btw, has bugged me about some of the Coen’s movies. 

What bugged me most about the finale, however, is its incomplete ending, leaving it up in the air as to whether the sheriff, now Homeland Security agent, prevails or whether V.M. Varga, now Mr. Rand, does. It’s a weak tea version of the damnable instant fade to black in the last scene of the last episode in the last season of The Sopranos, of which I remain highly critical as a cop out. Same frustration with the finale of 3d season Fargo. 

I’m not saying every work, book, film, tv show, play, needs a tied up ending. Just the opposite. I’m good with ambiguous endings but they have to be earned by the work. Where, though, there is, as in the case of The Sopranos and Fargo 3d season finales, something discrete and specific that will definitely occur, that discrete, specific thing have been built up over the course of the work, and then it’s simply denied to us, leaving us in effect hanging, then that’s just the creators breaking faith with their audience. 

Otoh, the last episode of the 2nd season of Undercover is a comparative pleasure. No ironic subversion in it. Just straight non-ironic story telling with no supercilious, smart ass, subversive attitude hovering over the story. By my lights, much to be preferred.