That's it. Fargo is over. One of the year's greatest shows has ended, and it definitely went out with a bang. That bang being shots from a pistol.
Fargo began with death. The murder of Sam Hess, as unwittingly caused by Lester, was the point from which the show's conflict started to build up. Since then, the body count has grown higher and higher, and so it's only fitting that the last two names on the list are the ones who've been causing most of the deaths. In this episode, Gus comes across Malvo's home while going to Bemidji go make sure Molly's safe. This doesn't come up again until Malvo, wounded from a failed assault on Lester, returns home to heal. Gus comes across him, and begins dialogue. At first it seems like there'll be a verbal showdown-it's all set up for Gus to give some speech to Malvo.
Then Gus just opens fire.
It's a perfect end for Malvo. After all of his trickery, it finally came back to him, and he suffered for it. While he's not the final body in the count, he's certainly the most impactful. Gus pulling the trigger like that is not what I had expected, and it came as a shock. The final trigger pulled is by the man who was too afraid to question a suspicious driver. It's also a fitting end for Gus' character arc, allowing him to fill a much more benevolent confidence than Lester had.
Malvo's question to Lester-"Is this what you really want?"-plays repeatedly in Lester's head. Lester, always bad at making decisions, decides that's reason for him to try to get away. This doesn't work out for him. In this episode, he now has nowhere to run. The police, even though they're without any leads on him, know he has some connection to Malvo, and intend to use him as bait. He's not getting out of this one, and his persistent belief that he can is more a delusion than anything. In Malvo's house, Molly finds the tapes. Malvo's a sick fellow, listening to tapes of his true victims' calls, presumably just for his own pleasure.
What if you're right and they're wrong? This motivated Lester through his actions in this series. At first, he was arguably the victim. However, by adhering so determinedly to that, he soon lost the ability to call himself the victim as he continued to victimize others. His simple belief that he's right and they're wrong led him to avoid doing the right thing even to the point where he actively destroyed any chances of redemption for himself. The penultimate scene of the season has Lester running away from police on a snowmobile. He crashes, and eventually winds up frozen underwater.
Lou and Greta have some great chemistry in their scene together, where Lou vaguely attests to a moment earlier. It's one of a couple things left hanging at the end, which is the only real dissatisfaction of the episode. What happened with Lou all those years ago? What happened to Chazz? Hopefully the second season tells us the latter, though we can probably assume he got out of prison.
Bill finally confesses that he can't handle the job of police chief, handing down the position to Molly, who should have gotten it in the first place. Bill mentions that all of the murders and trickery have haunted him and made him more cynical and jaded, and that he can't handle that. It's a very humanizing moment for Bill, who until then had been an annoyance that was more a hindrance to his cases than a help.
These actors have all given brilliant performances in this show, and at least Thornton should be up for some Emmys. The show's direction, its writing, its pacing, its acting-it's all brilliantly executed, and made for an intense, thrilling, and entertaining ride through one of the greatest TV shows of the year.
I just can't wait for S2.
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