FARGO: Gloria Burgle’s Case Gets Tougher to Crack

In the game contract bridge, the principle of "restricted choice" is a way for card-playing savants like Nikki to guess where a desired card is after a less-desired card is played. It uses similar logic to the infamous "Monty Hall problem" to help players learn privileged information they could've only guessed blindly about before.

The first hour of any Fargo is a busy affair with the audience meeting many criminals who will battle for their sympathies over the entire ten-hour installment, but last night's second hour of the new installment shows us much more about our hero, Gloria Burgle.

Learning of the crime before meeting its investigator is Fargo's method going back to the original 1996 film. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) sets the plan to kidnap his own wife for ransom money into motion and the audience follows the hired hitmen to their shocking escalation of violence on a Minnesota state highway that tragically, but finally, gets Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand in the famous Academy Award-winning role) on the case.

Gloria Burgle, the would-or-should?-be chief of police in Eden Valley, quickly finds out -- first by random chance, then again via bureaucracy -- that her role is even less glamorous now than Marge's was then.

Moe Dammik, the sheriff in surrounding Meeker County, could be the first person outside Gloria's own family that makes this reality explicit. Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire, True Detective, Agent Carter) makes a strong impression in his first appearance in the role and makes clear he's going to upheave Gloria's work style.

Before Ennis's killing -- still mysterious, although his taped-shut airways make the cause of death fairly clear -- Eden Valley may have been almost as peaceful as its namesake. Telex serves Gloria fine for day-to-day concerns, but Sheriff Dammik is the first to understand how much wilder Minnesota is liable to get.

One might think the unexplained death of a family member would be enough of a fact-based proposition for Gloria to commit fully to its nuts and bolts, but for whatever reason she can't get her mind off of the science fiction books found under Ennis's floorboards.

It's hard to say why Gloria's interest in the novels -- or maybe novellas -- trumped her initial concern for the model carving that Ennis made for Nathan. Ennis called his carving merely a "stupid thing," despite its obvious intricacies.

But titling a book something like The Plague Monkeys (as the seemingly pseudonymous "Thaddeus Mobley" labeled one of his works that Gloria thumbs through) makes it more clear that something is up.

As Gloria is continuously learning, so-called "automatic doors" and "voice telephone calls" may now be working less than originally intended. When "science" was "fiction," everything had more of an appeal.

Being newly divorced from her husband -- and now Nathan's single "single" parent -- makes Gloria susceptible for confusion from the conflicting sources around her (like step-parents or poorly-informed gas station attendants). That's probably why she seems so close with her deputy Donny Mashman (Mark Forward) -- they manage to work together in a library and even for a few moments in Gloria's kitchen.

For the same family of reasons, it's most challenging of all for Gloria to interpret the work of a man who is dead and without any known connections. When Dammik and his force take over investigating her step-father's death, you can expect Gloria to feel increasingly in the margins.

V.M. Varga has a notably different technique for his "integration" into the Stussy Parking Lots empire. Varga -- or V.M. as some are now lucky to call him -- not only did his advance research of the cash flowing properties, but since he knows how the internet works he's able to execute Irv Blumkin (who Emmit Stussy considered intellectual enough to find the man on Facebook) with shocking precision.

V.M. stepping in so forcefully gives Sy Feltz a series of startles. If Sy has learned anything about Emmit it's that it's best for him to know as little as possible most of the time. That means playing dead fish so V.M. can park the big rig wherever he pleases, but the stress on Sy is clearly building.

He's left with just one outlet for his aggression -- Ray. While Emmit and Ray are surprisingly getting closer together, Sy goes out of his way to further their rift. It's Nikki Swango in particular that Sy simply can't stand. When someone like Ray is seen with someone as radiant as Nikki, jealousy may be a natural concern.

Over the remaining eight hours, Nikki and Ray will turn even more heads, especially if Ray's Chi builds more and more. Maurice LeFay's death -- Dec. 2, 2010, or the second night of Hanukkah in this case -- could stay cold, but only if the winning pair stays smart about cleaning up their traces.

• Michael Uppendahl returns to Fargo to direct "The Principle of Restricted Choice" after handling three of the most complex chapters of Legion -- that other powerhouse show on FX from Noah Hawley and co. His last hour of the series was the second installment "Fear and Trembling".
• Stan Grossman, mentioned by Emmit in "conversation" with Sy, was the most trusted advisor to Wade Gustafson, Jerry's father-in-law who appears in the original film. Stan was never seen after Wade's garage roof rendezvous with Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), so it'd definitely be interesting to hear from him again!
• The audience meets Yuri Gurka -- another one -- after the identity was assigned to a man wearing blue during the 1988-set East Berlin opener. This one works for V.M. Varga and seems to have a more authoritative manner of speaking.

-- Zach Ellin is a freelance writer for ComicBook.com. Follow him on Twitter for more of his insights.

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