If you haven't seen any of FX's Fargo, now is your time to binge-watch before season four is released, which has been delayed due to COVID-19. This fact-based series, which is a spin-off of the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name, centers on various aspects of organized crime in the Midwest United States.
Like any Coen brothers production, you never know what Fargo is going to serve up. The Coens, as well as the talented set of directors they enlisted to help bring their vision to life, never quite give you what you're expecting, making every episode a nerve-racking dive into the exploits of the show's heroes and villains. Here are 10 major things even the biggest Fargo fans did not see coming in season one.
Lester Nygaard Murdering His Wife
The Coen brothers love putting seemingly-good people into tough situations, usually as a result of them reaching their breaking point. Lester Nygaard goes over the edge in the first episode when he has finally had enough of his demeaning wife.
The viewer gets a sense that Lester will not tolerate being pushed around much longer, but the manner in which he chooses to silence his wife for good, by burying a hammer in her head, is a shocking murder from an unlikely source.
Gus Shooting Molly
Boy meets girl, boy accidentally shoots girl, boy marries girl and has children. That's essentially the Coen brothers-style love story that Officer Gus Grimly and Officer Molly Solverson go through in Fargo. They are clearly interested in one another, but things get a little awkward when Officer Grimly unknowingly shoots his future wife in the middle of a criminal-infested snowstorm. Luckily, she survived, and they were somehow able to put it behind them.
Malvo's Elevator Murder Spree
Lorna Malvo, the assassin/con man and main antagonist of season one is a man without a moral compass. The viewer already knows this when Lester stumbles across him in Las Vegas a year after murdering his wife with a hammer, but his utter lack of humanity is nevertheless disturbing.
Malvo has been working on a new set of victims under an alias, though Lester, with newfound confidence, is keen on exposing him. He does, which causes Malvo to instantly kill his fiancée, co-worker, and his co-worker's wife while in an elevator so as to not be found out.
Raining Fish
Stavros Milos owns a chain of grocery stores and hires Malvo to get the bottom of a blackmailing scandal he is facing. Milos soon has much bigger issues, though, in the form of a series of biblical punishments that befell him. The most unexpected and memorable might be a storm of raining fish that covers the roadways, causing his son and longtime bodyguard to be killed in a car accident. There is a zero percent chance any viewer saw that type of thing coming.
Movie Connection
Another Fargo element that people probably didn't foresee is its specific connection to the film. Up until the middle of the first season, you are led to believe that the film and television show simply occur in the same area and are in no way connected. That is, until we find out that it was Stavros Milos who discovered the hidden suitcase of money that Carl Showalter, a paid goon from the 1996 film, tucked away in the snow. Fans were likely waiting, hopefully, for there to be some sort of link to the classic film, though this one was surely unanticipated.
Malvo's One-Man Show
Lorne Malvo gets upset—very upset—when he finds out who it was that sent two hitmen to take him out. When Mr. Numbers reveals that they are a part of a criminal syndicate in Fargo, North Dakota, Malvo finds their headquarters, casually strolls in, and goes room by room murdering every single person in the building.
Once there are none left, he leaves the building out of the side entrance as casually as he entered. It is a stunning display of ruthlessness, one that serves to augment the mystique surrounding the show's biggest baddie.
Lester's Bear Trap
No one can outsmart Lorne Malvo for almost all of season one. He runs circles around multiple police departments, other hitmen, and basically anyone that crosses him, with a deadly combination of intelligence and apathy towards human life. But then, the last person the viewer would ever expect to outdo Malvo, the hapless Lester Nygaard, does just that.
He plants a bear trap in a spot leading to the room that he is obviously hiding in, luring the unsuspecting Malvo, who is now hunting down Lester, right towards it. It nearly snaps his leg in two and ultimately leads to his defeat.
Malvo Recruiting Mr. Wrench
Lorne Malvo never expresses any sort of kinship towards anyone in Fargo, readily admitting that he "doesn't have any friends." Yet, he shows admiration for Mr. Wrench, Mr. Numbers's partner, who is a deaf assassin. He respects how he is able to be effective at his job while not being able to hear and admits that he and Mr. Numbers came closer than others have to taking him out.
Malvo frees Mr. Wrench from his hospital bed and invites him to come find him once he is physically able to. Perhaps he is just looking for a little bit of competition.
Lester Ruining His Brother's Family
Lester Nygaard is not to be trifled with. While it seems that him murdering his wife was an anger-filled moment that had been building up over time, the viewer gets an idea as to just how far Lester's morals have sunk when he frames his brother for the murder of his wife while also planting a gun in his nephew's backpack for good measure. It ruins their family, but Lester needed to do it in order to clear his name, and Lester will do anything to accomplish that goal.
Frank Peterson
Lorne Malvo was far more than a mindless killing machine. The viewer doesn't really know that, however, until we see how skilled he is as a con man. Officer Grimly arrests Malvo, who instantly takes on the identity of Frank Peterson, an unassuming minister.
He has a new accent, a new look, and his entire backstory prepared, which fools the cops and gets him out of the station in a few hours. Lorne Malvo is certainly a killing machine, but he is highly-intelligent and tactical, as well.