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Thread: Fargo TV series

  1. #61
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Cincinnati, Ohio

    Twins?

    Quote Originally Posted by duke4ever19 View Post
    Ray and Emmit are twins and their story is very reminiscent of the Jacob and Esau story in the Bible, as well as other ancient stories of rivaling brothers. Jacob and Esau were twins. The drama surrounding the stamp and the car is a clear reference to Esau's selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. There are several other parallels if you know the OT lit.That is why I think Ewan McGregor played both parts.

    There are several overt "tips of the cap" to several OT story in Fargo. Fargo is a goldmine for those of familiar with the Greco/Roman and Near Eastern myths and archetypes. In many cases, you can surmise the endings to the seasons if you are steeped in the appropriate literature.
    How do you mean they're "twins"? Jacob and Esau were literal twins in Genesis, but Emmitt is two years older than Ray in Fargo.
    Last edited by Ggallagher; 06-17-2017 at 08:32 AM. Reason: Oops, swapped Ray and Emmitt's names

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by Ggallagher View Post
    How do you mean they're "twins"? Jacob and Esau were literal twins in Genesis, but Emmitt is two years older than Ray in Fargo.
    Sorry, I should have said "double," not twin, but I do think the selection of McGregor to play both brothers is a way of making the viewer aware of their intimate relation with each other.
    What's important to note is that even Jacob and Esau (though they are twins) are said to look very different from each other. Jacob is smooth skinned (Emmet), while Esau is hairy (Ray). Ray has a mustache and long hair and is a man of the world. He is deals with the riffraff of the world (ex-cons) and his car, though thought to be valuable, is very dirty. Emmitt, however, has a cushy job indoors (Jacob is much more domestic than Esau.).


    Varga even directly references the Jacob and Esau story in one of the episodes when speaking of the smooth skin of one brother and the other being hairy.

    Another parallel is the episode when Ray tries transforms himself into his brother to try and steal the thing of value (the stamp) at the bank but finds that he has only managed to reap the dirt (the ashes of a dog). This recalls Jacob clothing himself in animal fur to fool his father into thinking he is Esau. But while Emmitt was successful in tricking his brother, Ray's attempt to be the trickster falls flat.

    Now, the connections are not uniform, one-to-one correspondences with the various OT stories referenced in this season, but I think they are overt and that is why Ewan McGregor plays both brothers. We are supposed to see them as very much as "doubles" or "twins."

  3. #63
    My brother Esau killed a hunter
    Back in nineteen sixty nine
    And before the killing was done
    His inheritance was mine
    But his birthright was a wand to wave
    Before a weary band
    Esau gave me sleeplessness
    And a piece of moral land

    My father favored Esau
    Who was eager to obey
    All the bloody wild commandments
    The old man shot his way
    But all this favor ended when
    My brother failed at war
    He staggered home
    And found me in the door

    Esau skates on mirrors any more
    Meets his pale reflection at the door
    Yet sometimes at night I dream
    He's still that hairy man
    Shadow boxing the apocalypse
    And wandering the land

    Shadow boxing the apocalypse
    And wandering the land
    Esau holds a blessing
    Brother Esau holds a curse
    I would say that the blame is mine
    But I suspect it's something worse
    The more my brother looks like me
    The less I understand
    The silent war
    That blooded both our hands

    Sometimes at night
    I think I understand
    Way late at night
    Oh, I feel I understand
    It's brother to brother
    And it's man to man
    And it's face to face
    And it's hand to hand
    The shadow dance
    The silent war within
    The shadow dance
    Never ends, never ends, never ends
    Shadow boxing the apocalypse
    Yet again, yet again
    Shadow boxing the apocalypse
    And wandering the land

    - John Barlow

  4. #64
    Join Date
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    Cincinnati, Ohio

    Hmmm....

    Alright Lucy, you got some "splainin" to do.

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Yeah, not a huge fan of ambiguous endings. But, based on how the season went, I have to imagine that Varga ended up being correct, not Gloria.

  6. #66
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    Feb 2007
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    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Yeah, not a huge fan of ambiguous endings. But, based on how the season went, I have to imagine that Varga ended up being correct, not Gloria.
    I'd be inclined to say you're right, but I do not like endings like that either.

    Well except for the fact that a common theme in the movie and Season #1 (sorry I didn't catch Season #2), is that the calm, persistent female law officer gets the ending they deserve. Gloria did NOT deserve to see Varga disappear back into the big mysterious world. That would really tick me off.

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
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    On the Road to Nowhere
    Quote Originally Posted by Ggallagher View Post
    I'd be inclined to say you're right, but I do not like endings like that either.

    Well except for the fact that a common theme in the movie and Season #1 (sorry I didn't catch Season #2), is that the calm, persistent female law officer gets the ending they deserve. Gloria did NOT deserve to see Varga disappear back into the big mysterious world. That would really tick me off.
    VERY unsatisfying final episode to one of my favorite shows. All the way around, not just with Gloria. Kinda stupid.

    Maybe this is their way of having Varga (great job by David Thewlis) available for future seasons.

    And you need to catch Season 2 somewhere.

  8. #68
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    Feb 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Quote Originally Posted by dudog84 View Post
    VERY unsatisfying final episode to one of my favorite shows. All the way around, not just with Gloria. Kinda stupid.

    Maybe this is their way of having Varga (great job by David Thewlis) available for future seasons.

    And you need to catch Season 2 somewhere.
    Yeah, I do want to double back and do Season 2. It was just not convenient when it was originally done. I was still traveling way too much with work. Now that I'm retired, I have no excuse - and plenty of time.

  9. #69
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Yeah, not a huge fan of ambiguous endings. But, based on how the season went, I have to imagine that Varga ended up being correct, not Gloria.
    My immediate thought was Sopranos. It may have been done for the same reasons.

  10. #70
    Quote Originally Posted by dudog84 View Post
    VERY unsatisfying final episode to one of my favorite shows. All the way around, not just with Gloria. Kinda stupid.
    I definitely liked it more than you. I think the last three episodes were the three best of the season. However, I do think the last one was the weakest of the three.

  11. #71
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    Dec 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    I definitely liked it more than you. I think the last three episodes were the three best of the season. However, I do think the last one was the weakest of the three.
    Maybe I anticipated too much after last week. Thought they had leaped (leapt?) past Better Call Saul.

    Didn't like Nikki taking out a cop, though clearly criminal she had been an avenging angel. Emmit gets a few months probation and then 5 years of good living with family before Mr. Wrench catches up to him. Why did that take so long? Speaking of Mr. Wrench, how does he take out 5(?) highly trained mercenaries with automatic weapons without a scratch (and we don't even get to watch)? How is alarmingly unathletic Varga able to leap through an elevator ceiling and disappear from that enclosed space (and don't dare compare him to Lorne Malvo/Billy Bob Thornton from Season 1)? Gloria's sidekick and assorted moronic co-workers get little to no airtime. Did Ruby Goldfarb get away clean and is still running the company? And whatever happened to earless Yuri (ok, that was a few episodes ago)?

    Just too many loose ends.

  12. #72
    Quote Originally Posted by dudog84
    Didn't like Nikki taking out a cop, though clearly criminal she had been an avenging angel.
    Nikki had a singular purpose (for example, she did not care about the money) and the cop was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Quote Originally Posted by dudog84
    Emmit gets a few months probation and then 5 years of good living with family before Mr. Wrench catches up to him. Why did that take so long?
    In Nikki's mind, Emmit took Ray's life at its peak. Emmit did not care when Nikki was getting ready to kill him. Emmit finally had a lot to lose after "5 years of good living with family".

    Quote Originally Posted by dudog84
    Did Ruby Goldfarb get away clean and is still running the company?
    IMO, this is one of the best/key parts of the finale. I'm a finance geek and this was awesome!

    First, let me backtrack to Larue Dollard's, the IRS agent, key discovery that this was not a money laundering scheme, it was an LBO. Varga and crew were the Barbarians at the Gate! The only crime was criminals seldom pay their taxes. IMO, that's why the U.S. Government should stop trying to catch criminals committing their crimes of choice and start catching them for failure to pay taxes on the proceeds. Merely knock on the million dollar doors, demand proof for how the homes were bought with cash, and follow the money.

    Ruby Goldfarb played the game, by the rules, and won. She purchased valuable assets, with bankruptcy protection, for $100k. She did not write the rules, she just made a solid play!

  13. #73
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    I definitely liked it more than you. I think the last three episodes were the three best of the season. However, I do think the last one was the weakest of the three.
    Upon reflection, I'd upgrade the finale to the second best episode of the season. IMO, the last two were the best.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    of course we can quickly determine precisely what happened at the end since this is very much a "true story," and the events "actually took place" in Mini Soda in 2011...it said so right there on the screen.

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