Fargo’s second season keeps viewers on edge

Poster for Fargos second season.

Jack Williams

Poster for Fargo’s second season.

Last year, FX debuted the TV series known as Fargo. A spin off of the the Coen brothers 1996 dark comedy of the same name. The show and the movie both take place in Minnesota and having a gruesome crime story develop in Smalltown, USA.

In a gist, the first season focused on a wimpy car salesmen who accidentally murders his wife and asks a hitman to help him cover it up. The majority of the season is a cat-and-mouse chase between the salesmen, the hitman and the police along with various plot twists of course. In its first season, “Fargo” won two Golden Globe awards and was nominated for three more.

Due to the amount of success the first season had, the show was brought back for a second season this year except with a different perspective. This season takes place in 1979 in Southwest Minnesota and focuses on family-run mobs. Unlike the first season, the setting is not in present day, it is not in northern section of the state and the focus is not just aimed on a single plot line.

While the show may differ from its existing counterparts, the entertainment value isn’t lacking. The show starts off with the son who is part of a mob ridden family going rouge and murdering three patrons in a local breakfast stop. He is  killed when he is hit by a young couple who later attempts to cover  up the murder. Meanwhile, more mobsters from the midwest begin to arrive to the town of Luverne, Minnesota and the police begin to investigate the brutal murders that took place at the Waffle Hut.

When I first started watching the show I was not really excited with all the  setting changes, but as I continued to watch I became more invested. The show has a tendency to keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing what will happens next. In one scene, a butcher was involved in the is accidental murder of a mobster. In order to cover it up he went into his shop late at night and began to grind grind up the body in a meat grinder. You’d think he’d get away with it until the night shift cop walks in wondering why he was in so late.

The plot twist in the show adds to the overall attractiveness of the show since you never know what a character will do in order to get away with what they have done. From as small of an act as lying to the police to crashing a car, these characters are pulling out all the stops in order to keep their lives ordinary.

Also, it makes viewers realize that anyone of these people in your lives can have this secret. The movie and the show have gained this following by depicting an extremely boring and normal life style being turned upside down. I mean really, how much more normal can you get than a small town in Minnesota?

One thing that might turn viewers away from the show is the dark humor. This isn’t no slap stick comedy show. Fargo finds humor out of more darker events and instances that wouldn’t seem funny. The Minnesotan accent plays into this role as a character may walk onto a crime scene and in in shock say “oh jeeze”.

Overall, Fargo has been a fantastic criminal drama to watch. With the knowledge of the twist in turns the shown is known for, there will be no dull moment in the upcoming episodes this season.