Fargo, Season 2, Episode 9, The Castle

One more episode remains for this season’s Fargo.  Ted Danson and Kristen Durst have given Emmy worthy performances.  The last few episodes have heavily featured Hanzee (Zahn McClanon) who plays his character with subtle complexity.  In addition to the stellar cast, the expert cinematography and music has helped make this season special.

The scene opens with a close-up on a bookshelf, a blue book titled “True Crime of the Old West” the book begins with the familiar “This is a true story” disclaimer.   The narrator is none other then Martin Freeman who starred last season as Lester Nygaard.  He continues this season’s quaint story known as “1979 Minnesota Massacre.”  (Reminding us the action actually took place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.)

The weather is sunny at the Rushmore convenience store.  The owner works at the counter manually pricing some canned goods.  Hanzee exits the woods into the store’s parking lot.  The owner sees him and goes to the phone.  But before he can complete the call, Hanzee shoots the man in the head through the window, killing him instantly.  Hanzee proceeds to enter the store and gets some hydrogen peroxide to cleanse his scissor wound inflicted by Peggy.

The narration continues, stating not much was known about Ohanzee Dent before the Gearhardt’s adopted him at age eight. Hanzee had always been loyal to the Gearhardt’s until he shot Dodd. (Snippets of Dodd’s last racist words to Hanzee are heard in the background.) Hanzee steals a red car from the parking lot, presumably the owners and speeds away.

The Blumquist’s are surrounded in the little cabin by roughly a dozen law enforcement officers. The main man exclaims, “They don’t look like much!” Indeed, it’s hard to believe the couple has managed to cause so much trouble.  Hank asks what they were doing with Dodd Gearhardt. Peggy offers, “Well, we’re realized! We’ve been on a journey.” Peggy admits to stabbing Hanzee in the shoulder with scissors before he escaped.  Ed discloses they’ve made a deal with Kansas City; they’ll give them Dodd if they took care of their “Gearhardt problem.”  The meeting was supposed to take place at a motel in Sioux Falls at eight am the following day.  Of course, Dodd is lying dead on the cabin floor. 

The assortment of law enforcement officers goes outside to discuss their plan.  There is concern that one unit is beholden to the Kansas City syndicate.  One man suggests they proceed with the meeting between Mike and Ed and wire Ed to obtain a conviction.  The Blumquists would get a reduced sentence if they cooperate.  Hank observes the Blumquist’s are in a unique position to help end this war.  Lou objects, reasoning Mike will kill Ed.  The plan is presented to our outlaw couple. Lou warns them it’s dangerous.  Peggy places some of the blame on Lou for their situation. (He’s damned for trying to help them in the first place.) Lou leaves the cabin frustrated, “Things are officially out of control!”  Things have been out of control since the Waffle Hut murders.

The man in charge says to Ed and Peggy, “You two are in shit just past your eyeballs!”  He offers them the “rope” which is the plan for Ed to wear a wire and meet with Mike.

Mike sits in the back seat as Kitchen drives to the South Dakota/Minnesota border. Mike was literally on the chopping block last week, but he’s pretended to his boss the “Undertaker” never arrived.  Now, Mike is in a powerful position with a plan to “obtain the eldest Gearhardt boy.”  The bosses who ordered Mike dead are very interested in this proposition.

At the Solverson’s, Molly plays in her room with Noreen while Betsy prepares some juice in the kitchen.  Lou tries to call from a pay phone near the convenience store.  Before Betsy can answer the phone, she collapses to the floor, the pitcher she was holding shatters.  The phone continues to ring; Lou spots the shattered glass from Hanzee’s bullet and hangs up to go investigate.  Lou draws his weapon, only to find the deceased storeowner, and hydrogen peroxide and bloody towels in the bathroom.  Hanzee is long gone. Looking around the store, he see’s a bumper sticker on the wall with an alien ship and the slogan, “We are not alone.”

Outside again, another South Dakota officer is waiting for Lou. He has been ordered to escort him out of state.  Lou protests, siting the crime scene inside and the fact Hanzee is still at large.  The trooper doesn’t care, stating he’s following his boss’s orders and his boss is “real scary.” (At this point, Hanzee is wanted for shooting two South Dakotan officers, the rednecks, the bar owner and the convenience storeowner, that is scarier then any boss!) Lou tries to call Hank and Ben who have left with the South Dakota team headed for the Sioux Falls motel.  The man in charge tells Lou to “Stand down!”

Hank and the Dakota trooper speak.  The man asks Hank if he has ever been to war, Hank mentions he was in the army when they liberated France.  The man continues, there are generals and soldiers, implying Hank should shut up and follow his orders. Hank mentions a man he knew who disagreed with General Eisenhower, a decision that probably saved his life.  Hank adds wryly, “I send that man a Christmas card every year, because I can!” (Another conversation about combat and how it changed the men in the story.)

At the Gearhardt compound, Floyd asks Bear to tell Simone to come and see her, as she wants to apologize for slapping her.  It’s a little too late for that.  Bear gives a vague answer as to Simone’s whereabouts.  Ricky has a message for Bear, and wants to deliver it in private.  Floyd insists on hearing whatever news he has.  Ricky tells them, “Hanzee says Dodd is alive and Kansas City has him.”  The narrator interjects that up to this moment, Hanzee had been loyal to the Gearhardt’s.  Its unknown when Hanzee decided to betray them.  Was he just tired of Dodd treating him like poo on his shoe?  Was it because of a lifetime of feeling like a second-class citizen in his adopted home?  We may never know if his actions were pre-meditated or just one insult too far.

Floyd insists on accompanying Bear on the mission to rescue her son. Bear knows he’ll be up against Mike and “The Butcher.”  He plans on taking a group of twelve men to “lay waste to them at the devil’s hour.”

The Dakota law enforcement team, plus Ben Schmitt and Hank check into the Sioux Falls motel.  They change into jeans and t-shirts but they are still easily identifiable as cops. Ben is tasked with watching the Blumquists.  Ed comes close to his wife and whispers, “Are we doing the right thing?” Ben puts the kibosh on their private conversation.  To distract him, Peggy offers him some tea from the room’s coffee maker. When Ben refuses, she starts to flirt with him more overtly.  Ben is swayed by her charms and offers her some of his potato chips.

Mike thinks about the Joe Bulo and Simone as he travels in the backseat towards Sioux Falls.  He practices his draw with his gun.

Lou drives in the opposite direction but makes a stop at another payphone to try to call home.  As the call is connecting, he hears his radio. The caller informs him Constance Heck has been found strangled to death in her hotel in Sioux Falls. Lou decides to turn around and head back to South Dakota. Does he suspect this is Hanzee’s victim? Lou would know Constance was Peggy’s boss and that the Gearhardts are looking for the Blumquists.  (The song in the background goes, “I’m going down, down, down, feel like I’m going to drown.”) Lou enters the hotel room where Constance was murdered looking for evidence.

At the other motel, Hank attempts to check on Ed and Peggy.  Ben doesn’t want the old man interfering and quickly pushes him out the door.  Hank attempts to ask the couple, “Do you know your rights?”

The other group of Dakota cops is relaxing in their respective rooms.  They turn off the radios in preparation for the operation.  Lou sees Hanzee driving the red car followed by Bear and Floyd in their blue truck.  Lou tries to radio the group over at the motel, but their radios have just been switched off.  In the Blumquist’s room, Ben is asleep while Peggy stays up watching television. (It looks like a repeat of “Operation Eagle’s Nest” which she saw the previous night at the cabin.)

Bear instructs his mom to stay inside the truck; he says, “Hanzee will stay true.” She tells Bear she misses them. (Her son who died in Korea and Otto since she believes Dodd is alive.)

The Dakota cops play poker and joke about the weirdest places they’ve peed. The female officer seems mildly disgusted.  They are completely unaware of the army gathering outside.  They believe the operation will begin in the morning.

Hanzee tells Bear that Dodd is in the room near the motel office, where one man sits outside as a guard.  Floyd gets out of the truck.  Hanzee stands menacingly behind the matriarch, she has a gun in her waistband.  Hanzee has his knife handy.  The man near the office is quickly stabbed and the mayhem is on.

Hank senses something is amiss and says out loud, “Screw this!”  He dresses and arms himself.  The shadows of the Gearhardt army pass the motel rooms.  Peggy sees the shadows.  Bear directs his men silently.  By the time the men start firing, it’s too late for the group playing poker and several are shot.  Hank returns fire from the bathroom.  Ben fires back at several Gearhardt thugs but Peggy hits him with the butt of a fallen man’s rifle and the Blumquists flee.

Hanzee appears to embrace Floyd but then slips a knife into her heart.  She falls to the ground.  Bear sees his mom fall and bullet from Lou grazes his neck.  Lou keeps firing as Bear comes at him and starts to strangle him.  Hanzee continues to work his way around the motel killing both cops and Gearhardt men.  Who he really wants to find are the Blumquists.  The narrator theorizes maybe this is because they are the only ones who saw his “true self” and his murder of Dodd.

A bright light interrupts the murderous melee.  Bear stops strangling Lou to look up at a large alien ship hovering over the motel.  Lou seizes the opportunity to kill Bear. Ed and Peggy flee the scene.  Ed looks up at the ship, Peggy urges her husband to hurry. “It’s just a flying saucer!” Hanzee and Lou exchange fire. From the second floor Lou hears his father-in-law cry, “Officer down!” Lou runs to his aid.

Mike and Kitchen arrive at the horrific scene. Mike says, “Okay then.”  They quickly drive on as sirens begin to wail in the distance.

Hank tells Lou that Ed and Peggy have run and Hanzee is in pursuit.  He urges Lou to go after them, promising he’ll see him at dinner on Sunday in a suit of armor.  The episode ends with a cover of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle” a song about Vietnam.

The cast has been dramatically reduced after the “Minnesota Massacre.”  It’s unclear if Betsy may have also succumbed to her cancer.  Where will Peggy and Ed’s journey lead them next?  Maybe Peggy is an alien after all, given her reaction to the space ship! From Season One, we know Lou and Molly survive but who else will remember the bloody night in Sioux Falls?  How will Mike and Hanzee fair in the final episode? They have been fascinating and complex villains.  The struggle with race and hierarchy seem to be has poignant today as they were in the fading days of the seventies.  I will be sad to say farewell to Fargo next week.