The new Minnesota of Fargo is under siege from all sides. The Stussy brothers play hide and seek and V.M. Varga is intent to fully exploit the situation. Even a parole officer paints outside the lines, knowing roles can switch in an instant.
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In its new third hour, “The Law of Non-Contradiction,” Fargo takes a coastal detour to look (very) closely at an officer of the law who is truly directionless.
When Los Angeles offers little knowledge about the “speculative” science fiction writer Thaddeus Mobley — the earlier identity of the late Ennis Stussy — Gloria Burgle is the only one around seeming surprised.
Not knowing her way around town, Gloria gets distracted easily by each thread around her. When they occasionally lead to another person who could’ve known Thaddeus, the only thing all seem to agree is that he was of no importance.
Apart from Gloria’s trip being questionable in the first place, its original sin was her lust to stay in the same motel pictured in the newspaper clipping she found with Ennis’s books.
Room 203 probably isn’t cursed, nor is it a “coincidence” that the two distant relatives have shared an instant there so many years apart. The misadventures occur when Gloria chooses to follow the most abstract lead she can find.
Most of what Gloria learns in Los Angeles seems less applicable in Eden Valley, although her aversion to social media will be reinforced. But for the explicit purpose of the trip — the homicide case — Gloria learned one valuable thing. The victim was not who she thought he was.
Gloria Burgle’s illusion in Eden Valley was still in place when her December began. She could “police” her community out of its local library because “the law” is a steep line for a quiet town to cross.
Eden Valley has little crime because its community remains mostly separate. When kind families ‘n’ fellas worry only about their brief moments of interaction, very little can go wrong.
Moe Dammik graciously gave her days off when he delivered her the new reality, but Gloria’s nature was to assign herself a vague work responsibility to use up her “allotted time.”
She doesn’t really know Ennis any better than before. But now she knows her earlier conception of him was misguided. And that’s enough for her to realize that she’s been seeing Minnesota through blinders.
On an airplane or a solitary evening, a willingly blind soul like Gloria’s values quiet reading over a deep interaction. Only a rare stranger like Paul Marrane (Ray Wise of Twin Peaks fame and much more, including X-Men: First Class and Agent Carter) can make a connection of the latter kind stemming from the former.
Does Vivian Lord ever miss Thaddeus Mobley? Did Howard Zimmerman even think Thaddeus’s screenplay was supposed to be good, or was his mind changed later? Is a diet pop an acceptable substitution for two beers?
With a philosophy like Paul’s, the questions drift away along with the answers, where they belong.
In the end, Gloria chooses to keep one memento of her trip to Los Angeles — a box with a switch that alternates colored lights and shuts itself off. She flew Southwest searching for a mystery that could keep her occupied for hours, but an unexpected simple loop proves to be the most satisfying.
In classical logic, the “law of non-contradiction” tells its followers that a statement can not be both true and false at the same time.
Practically, one learns that continuing interrupted allows more of a speaker’s own statements to interject and complicate matters.
Gloria’s new machine may not solve her contradictory life, but it at least gives her one problem that’s free from all contradiction.
- Fargo‘s first departure from the Midwest opens in 1975. Three Dog Night’s “Liar” (from 1974) and Santana’s first single “Jingo” (1969) establish the flavor.
- Both ’75 and 2010 in Los Angeles bring plenty of guests to the cast. Fred Melamed (currently of Lady Dynamite and also bringing Coen credentials from A Serious Man) makes producer Howard Zimmerman quickly identifiable on a glance. Thaddeus Mobley (Thomas Randall Mann of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) is a new kind of Fargo schmoe that makes the original film’s Jerry Lundegaard or second chapter’s Rye Gerhardt seem well-rounded as alternatives.
- Vivian Lord is played by Francesca Eastwood (Heroes Reborn, Outlaws and Angels) in the 1975 setting and Frances Fischer (Unforgiven, Titanic, The Host and much more) in 2010. The pair of actresses are mother and daughter, giving the “story” a meta-contradiction on top of its others.
- Rob McElhenney, guest-starring as the police officer Gloria wishes she never talked to, is the second It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star to appear in Fargo (after Glenn Howerton’s unforgettable turn as Don Chumph in its first year on FX).
- The hour is Executive Producer John Cameron’s first entry in the series as director. Cameron also serves as Executive Producer on FX’s Legion.
- Before leaving Los Angeles, Gloria takes a long look at the sun over the beach. Sisyphus, the Greek mythic figure depicted in the vintage stamp held by Emmit Stussy, is at times seen as an embodiment of the solar cycle due to his boulder also rising and falling on a repeated pattern. Broadly speaking, Thaddeus Mobley’s The Planet Wyh also appears concerned with Sisyphean struggles.
- “The Law of Non-Contradiction” is the third Fargo hour titled for a metaphorical “law.” The first was the 1979-set chapter’s “Before the Law,” named for a parable by Franz Kafka which played a climactic function in his novel The Trial. Translated from German, “the Law” of Kafka’s is seen as a metaphor for whatever inaccessible body or power the single traveler is denied an understanding of. Kafka’s writing, like Fargo, frequently connects to the Sisyphus myth.
- When she returns to Eden Valley, Gloria can finally begin investigating the body of Maurice LeFay, which has been prepared for autopsy.
GET CAUGHT UP ON FARGO: Episode 1 Recap | Episode 2 Recap
— Zach Ellin is a freelance writer for ComicBook.com. Follow him on Twitter for more of his insights.
