I didn’t expect to end my viewing of the fifth season of Fargo being brought to tears with a powerful illustration of the redemptive power of the Eucharist meal, but here we are.
In the following artice, I will offer reflections and insights into the fifth season of Fargo, a TV series written by Noah Hawley and released by FX. There will be *SPOILERS* below, because I can’t really go into the themes I want to explore without revealing some plot elements. So, if you haven’t seen the show yet but are interested seeing it and in reading this article, please bookmark the page, find the show on FX, Hulu or Amazon Prime (for purchase), watch it, and come back. If you don’t mind some spoilers or aren’t interested in watching the show, proceed! I want to note that the fifth season of Fargo features some strong language, strong violence, one scene where a man’s bare buttocks are visible, and some potentially traumatizing scenes for anyone who has endured domestic abuse of any kind. For me, the show is clear about what is righteous and what is sinful behavior, so my conscience can handle the content, but I want to be sensitive to each believer’s conscience who may be reading this article.
You may have heard of or seen the Coen Brothers’ movie Fargo, released in 1996 and nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning two, one for best actress Frances McDormand’s incredible performance as leading heroine, Marge Gunderson, and one for writers and directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s original screenplay. Again, there are certainly plenty of content warnings for the movie, but the essential premise of the story is examining what happens when the unstoppable force of depraved, unrelenting evil meets the immovable object simple, unassuming good, along with an exploration of how a soul is affected when they begin to desert the latter to flirt with the former. All of this takes place in the bleak natural environment of Minnesota and North Dakota, which helps to strip away the trappings of a natural world which tends to insulate us both from feeling the bite of the animalistic instincts of the human creature as well as truly experiencing the pure warmth of the human soul. That dynamic is why Fargo is one of my favorite movies. A core principle I use when evaluating good art is: does it glorify righteousness and discourage sinfulness, and it’s hard to think of a better example in film of a story that attempts to do exactly that.
The TV series Fargo takes place in the same cinematic universe as the movie, using the same principles in which the film operates. Each episode begins with the conceit of the drama being “based on a true story,” which is not meant to be taken seriously, but meant to make the viewer reckon with the truth of the portrayals of human experience in the action unfolding before them. Each series stands on its own, so you could jump into the movie and seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and not miss anything, although there are connections made between, especially the movie and each of the first three, knowing which will enhance your viewing. Each season has its moments of brilliance as well as places for the thinking believer in Jesus to reflect, but for this article I am focusing on the latest season released over the past three months, starring Juno Temple and Jon Hamm.
The overall theme of the fifth season of Fargo is that humans confront their past and absorb the trauma of sin through love, finding the hope for joy and redemption through self-sacrifice for the sake of others. Now, hard to imagine a more Christian-sounding theme than that, isn’t it? The essential plot of the series revolves around a woman named Nadine/Dot who was essentially abducted at the age of 15 then raped and repeatedly abused by and forced to marry Roy, a North Dakota sheriff who killed his previous wife to make Nadine/Dot his new wife. Nadine/Dot escapes and establishes a new life for herself as the wife of a used car salesman, who happens to be the son of a billionaire mother known as “the queen of debt.” The story takes place in the year 2019 and we see trappings of the time period as a Trump rally plays on TV in the home of the primary series villain. A quick note here: while I saw some internet commentors accusing the show of being “woke” (which seems to be a catch-all word meaning, “disagrees with my perspective on life as a person who considers himself traditionalist conservative”), but it is important to note that President Trump (offscreen) is presented as providing critical support for an important character acting on behalf of the forces of good in a pivotal point of the series, so I think the series has a fairly nuanced, albeit clearly cyncial, view of the role of modern politics.
I want to focus on four ways I observed the series speaking in a way that relates to the core beliefs I hold regarding my faith in Jesus, first of all through the Dot character’s reckoning with the abuse of her past. Dot is a victim but she is a victim who refuses to allow her abuser and his violence to define her life. The show does not present her agency as something that every person can attain; quite the opposite, we also view characters who are utterly broken through no fault of their own by evil that seeks to take, kill and destroy. Yet, Dot stands as a figure of inspiration for all those who have experienced abuse to be reminded that there is a tiger inside the human soul that may be unknowingly awakened by the one seeking to suck that soul from us. Viewers can’t help but cheer as Dot repeatedly foils the dastardly plans of her enemies, and gasp when even her indomitable spirit seems to have finally met its match, a place where the writing of Hawley and the acting of Juno Temple particularly shine. My favorite moment of the series is when the excellent soundtrack provides us Sam Cooke’s “Jesus Paid My Debt” as the background track for the scene where Dot is at her lowest and facing almost certain doom. She has fought with every last cell of her tiny frame and, after collapsing to the very dirt, the key to her freedom is discovered in a discarded, rusty nail. Honestly, I have chills as I think about this scene. I have no idea what Hawley’s relationship is to the Christian faith (the Coen Brothers are Jewish, and have explored both the Jewish and Christian faiths brilliantly in several of their movies) but this scene perfectly captures the essence of the sacrifice Jesus offers on our behalf, in my opinion. Dot’s abusive captor quotes Scripture, uses the Christian faith as a weapon, and props up his authority with the trappings of culturally, Western Christianity, but it’s the abused who finds the freedom Jesus offers in a nail like the one with which Jesus Himself was pierced by the political and religious abusers of his day. People like Sheriff Roy have sadly used the Christian faith to abuse innocents from the moment European Christians stepped on this continent, and, yet, Fargo season five seems to tell us, Jesus continues to set the prisoners free by His embrace of their suffering and willing sacrifice on their behalf. However, it still takes immense strength of a soul like Dot’s to even find that salvation, reminding me of the need to help others find the redemption I have found in Jesus.
A second way the series shows how we heal from the scars of sin through redemptive love is through the character of Dot’s second husband, Wayne. Wayne is the proto-typical “beta male” according to modern culture. He’s soft-spoken, conflict-averse, authentically midwestern “nice,” and lactose intolerant. He could not be further removed from Dot’s abusive first husband Roy, and as Roy kills and strikes with reckless abandon, Wayne knows no other option than to love, selflessly. There is a remarkable scene in the first episode where Wayne asks his wife if she wants to have sex and Dot declines, and Wayne, with no hint of resentment, asks her “would it bother ya if I watched Blue Bloods?” This scene stayed with me through the rest of the series as a beautiful contrast with the sexual violence perpetrated by Sheriff Roy throughout the series. Dot loves Wayne with all of her being, she admires him, she is fiercely protective of him, and of their daughter, Scottie, and it’s easy to see how that relationship dynamic is unthinkable to the likes of Roy. But, it turns out, the antidote to all forms of toxic masculinity is a self-sacrificial love that firmly, quietly, unflinchingly puts one’s partner’s needs ahead of one’s own. Wayne’s is a strong love that doesn’t have to be the hero but trusts his partner unquestioningly and defends without pretense or machismo. He loves his wife like Christ loved the church, requiring sacrifices that seem ridiculous and meaningless, but end up being exactly the source of righteousness (defined as “making things that are wrong ‘RIGHT'”) that a person who has been used and discarded by an archaic stalwart of the patriarchal system so desperately needs. May Jesus raise up more Waynes in our world.
The third way the series approaches the themes of the conflict between self-sacrifice and self-obsessed evil is through the development of two characters in law enforcement. Another reason it’s tough to accuse Fargo of being what might be described as filled with what alt-righters accuse others of promoting in “woke” philosophy is that any season of Fargo that exists has included a well-meaning public servant trying to do the best they can with the tools they’ve been given in the face of an evil that knows no rules or limits. In Fargo season five, it is local police officer Indira Olmstead and state highway patrolman Whitt Farr who put their lives and careers on the line to try to protect Dot and stand against abusers of both law and personhood. Fargo always examines the greys of moral decisions, and Olmstead makes a compromising choice that viewers can reflect on and evaluate, but it’s clear her motivation is one of love and of reclaiming lives and freedoms that have been stolen. Farr, meanwhile, is one of the simple, good souls which the Fargo franchise offers as a breath of fresh, crisp air amid the fog of moral failure. It is revealed that he has six sisters and lives alone with his cat, and formed in the crucible of these feminine powers, he refuses to let anyone lose track of the idea that saving Dot and preserving her life is the ultimate goal, no matter what other political, financial or legal forces try to intervene. The series has some interesting things to say about what the law demands and how the law can be manipulated to turn a blind eye, but it’s Olmstead and, especially, Farr’s devotion to what is right and offering himself in protection of those who need help that saves the day. Jesus, also give us more Whitt Farrs!
There is much more for me to say about Fargo season five, from its examination of the moral complexity of billionaires, and children of abusers who grow up to be abusers, and of how refusing to confront trauma can lead to perpetuating trauma on others, but I want to close by commenting on how, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the series uses the concept of the Eucharist to confront all the debt of sin, both past and present, hanging over our heads in modern society. Without giving too much away, the show looks at the concept of “sin-eaters”, who were poor and abused people in the 17th century used in macabre (made even more gruesome in this series because, hey, it’s Fargo) ceremonies meant to absolve rich people from their sins at their deaths. In quintessential Fargo fashion, a sin-eater comes to collect on his debt and is confronted by simple, wholesome good and the possibility of plain and uncomplicated forgiveness. I don’t want to give much more away than to say that redemption comes when the bread of love and joy is offered and partaken from by one who has felt as separated from humanity as anyone can. The show seems to be reminding us that the One Who Sacrificed Everything for us and invites us to His table holds the key to reckoning with all our sins as a society and individuals. We need to come together, “have a pop,” break bread, and lay all our sins and grudges aside to find community. That work isn’t easy – it required the sacrifice of God on a human instrument of punishment and death, after all – but it’s worth it. And maybe even the most hardened among us might emit a happy squeak when the work is done.
As you can tell, I loved this series and you betcha that I look forward to watching it again. It wasn’t perfect – for examples, there’s a version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” played at a time that was a daring creative choice yet didn’t quite land for me and the writing can be a bit preachy at times – but, overall, it was so darn good. And, it reminded me why I’m so glad I follow a Savior who “won’t break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he leads justice through to victory.”
Squinting in the Light 
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