I still can’t quite get over the name “Dr. Harvard.” Obviously the names on this season of Fargo were chosen with intent, to underline certain ideas about what it means to be American, how cultures are gentrified over time, how all these fighting crime families have spent as much time correcting people on the spelling of their first-and-last as they have on actually thieving. But I can’t decide if Dr. Harvard is one step too obvious for me. It feels like a first draft kind of name, and while it’s always possible there’s a story behind it (as there was with Odis’ twitching), I’m not holding my breath. He’s still relevant to the main storyline because Josto most likely still wants him dead; also, the good doctor is still Oraetta’s boss despite Ethelrida’s best efforts, and Oraetta still has a part to play in all of this. But he’s more a stand-in for the idea of a person than he is a fleshed out character. You could say that explains the name without exactly justifying it.
Anyhoo. It’s funny—Oraetta is clearly the latest in Fargo’s long line of intense outsider figures, but while Lorne Malvo and V.M. Vargo spent their time directing the course of the action, Oraetta is just as muddled as everyone else. She’s slept with Josto, got herself hired on by Doctor Harvard, and inadvertently revealed a part of her true self to Ethelrida, but in none of this is there any sense of a plan or larger intentions. I suspect her true place in the narrative won’t be clear until the end of the season; as for right now, she’s an ominous shoe waiting to drop. This week, she manages to defuse the power of Ethelrida’s anonymous warning letter to Dr. Harvard, even as said letter clearly puts her on edge. Still, she remains on the periphery of the hour, popping in a few times to remind us of her existence, and then, at the end, smiling in a silent hospital, suggesting she’s just made the ill-advised decision to murder another of her patients.
The real focus in “Camp Elegance” is the fallout from the death of Doctor Senator. Loy pays Odis a visit, informing the double-dealing cop he’s now working for the Cannons. Odis tells him where Gaetano and his men are hiding out, and Loy sends Swanee and Zelmare to grab Gaetano, which they manage with a minimum of fuss. (“minimum” being “A bunch of people get killed and Swanee shoots Gaetano in the back.”) Loy then sets one of his boys to beating the shit out of a tied down Gaetano, although not before delivering a short speech about Sugar Ray, and you know, I think I’m about done with characters delivering monologues before they inflict physical violence. I think I get the idea at this point. Loy has two of them this week, and Rock delivers them all right, but the format is so predictable that it robs both speeches of their dramatic impact. This is just the thing that happens before the other thing happens.
Josto learns his brother has been kidnapped by the Cannons while also hearing back from his messenger to New York: the order is, Josto has two weeks to settle things with the Cannons and he has to find some way to make peace with his brother. The latter suggestion doesn’t really work for Josto, so instead of trying to arrange a prisoner exchange, he sends one of his men, Antoon Dumini, to take Loy’s son Satchel out and, well, you know. Josto’s intentions are clear: He wants Gaetano dead, and he’s not afraid of all-out war. It’s not a bad shift for the character, who had been largely comic relief till now—he’s a lot less amusing when he’s ordering the death of a child.
That sets up the climax of the episode, as Antoon drives Satchel out to where he was brought after the war (the Camp Elegance Relocation Center that gave the episode its name), talking about what it was like to get saved by the Americans, and all his future plans; Rabbi Milligan, meanwhile, has found out Josto’s intentions from Josto himself, and has decided to once and for all through caution to the wind and save the child. The sequence plays out more or less as you’d expect, with a long, slow build up as Antoon and Satchel walk through the snow, Satchel nervous but not really understanding what’s going, Antoon clearly trying to build up the will to pull the trigger. He ultimately decides he can’t shoot a child, but his decision doesn’t spare him from getting a bullet in the back from Rabbi, who then tells Satchel they’re going to hide until all of this blows over.
It’s predictable, in its way, but predictability isn’t always a detriment—while I was almost positive that Satchel wasn’t going to get shot, I wasn’t completely positive, and the scene does a good job of dragging out the moment just long enough. As well, the sad irony of Antoon dying after making the right decision fits in well with the season’s questions about what it means to become an American—Antoon decided to be a citizen after the war, but circumstances enmeshed him in a situation beyond his control, so that even when he does try and push back, it’s too late to do anything meaningful about it. He’s a small cog in a big machine (we even hear part of a conversation between Rabbi and Antoon’s wife, with the wife complaining that her husband hasn’t been given his own territory), and his fate was likely inevitable. Being an American didn’t save him from this moment. It’s what made this moment possible.
Out of everything, Rabbi’s desperate efforts to save Satchel from the hell of his own life is the easiest relationship for me to get emotionally invested in. Right now, a lot of Fargo is interesting, in that I’m curious how things will end up, and it was certainly a bummer when Doctor Senator got shot; but outside of intellectual satisfaction, I don’t really care that much what happens to Josto or Loy or almost anyone outside of Ethelrida, Rabbi, and Satchel. I wouldn’t say the show is boring at this point—there are quite a few moving pieces, and I can appreciate the craft that keeps them all juggling in the air at once. But a lot of what’s going on has a detached quality, a certain roteness that keeps it from feeling specific beyond the names. Rabbi’s desperation, though, and the very high odds that he’s not going to survive this, make him stand out. Most likely they’re all screwed, but he seems to be the only one aware of it without being in any position to stop it, and that’s what makes this a tragedy.
Stray observations
- Has Oraetta seen Ethelrida’s handwriting before? I can’t remember. She had a long, very intent look at that letter, though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ethelrida’s “perfect” plan doesn’t backfire on her. (If I had to guess, I’d say the season is building to war between the Faddas and the Cannons while Oraetta goes after Ethelrida, but I’m always wrong about this stuff.)
- Deafy’s still keeping an eye on things.
104 Comments
I knew Rabbi would get there in time, but it was kinda sad that he did right after Antoon decided to do the right thing.
If only Altoon had made that decision a minute or two earlier…
It probably wouldn’t matter much. Rabbi would come and ask to take Satchel away with him. Antoon couldn’t let him, so he would get shot all the same. Rabbi possibly wouldn’t even ask, he would just shoot, knowing the situation would lead to it anyway. Small chances it would be a disabling wound instead of death.
As long as the kid disappears, Antoon could claim he shot him.Josto
might be suspicious that Rabbi disappeared at the same time, but he
knows how much Rabbi liked the kid, so he might believe Rabbi left out
of disgust.It’d be a risky move for Antoon, Josto may want proof later, but it’s either that or murder a little kid, and he obviously didn’t want to do that.All that might seem a little contrived though, so I think the show did the right thing.
Pretending to murder is right up the ally of this “Miller’s Crossing” hybrid.
Well, he only winged that guy who tried to intervene when he was roughing up Altoon’s wife. Though that could have just been incidental.
I know we saw very little of Antoon in previous episodes to really care about him, but we still saw enough of his kids this episode to have them in mind while their daddy gets slaughtered for doing the right thing because of them.
Yeah I just don’t get Gaetano’s character, he’s all over the goddamned place. His most consistent bit of characterization is that he seems one bad comment away from flying off the handle. But then he’s also a schemer except all his schemes seem really simple, and then he’s also pretty blood thirsty but was getting freaked out at the raid at the start of this episode and instead of running into the fray he sent his goon in instead. I don’t know, he’s the character I have the least patience for at this point.I did like Antoon’s arc in this episode but like, we spent no time with him prior to this so I feel like it doesn’t have as much impact as it could. Like if we had seen more of his desire to rise up in the ranks and was then confronted with this, the cost of doing so.
I know Swanee and Zelmare used the rug to get him down the stairs, but how did they get him in the car?
Just wrapped him up and dragged him along behind them.
But that rug really tied the room together!
Didn’t the car have a driver? I’m assuming Loy sent someone with them.
I was disappointed Swanee’s shot didn’t actually kill him. His character is so cartoonish that its becoming quite a distraction for me
Same. I was pleased he was dead until the news he wasn’t. Psychopathic characters are also drama killers, so very boring.
What? Lorne Malvo did anything but kill the drama.
I wasn’t thinking of Malvo. He was interesting and had more of a character than this guy.
I actually cheered before I realized he wasn’t dead. The only downside of killing him is that it would have been better if Dr. Senator had pulled the trigger in th previous episode.
He’s the main culprit, but my biggest complaint about this season is that no two actors seem to be in the same show. Some are playing it big and broad (Hi, Jessie Buckley), while Chris Rock and others are going for quiet and intense. I practically get whiplash from scene to scene. But yes, when it comes to questionable acting choices, Gaetano is in a class of his own.
Gaetano is a true psychopath. He is also a narcissist and his total love of self makes him a physical coward. It’s easy to bully and murder the defenseless. It’s another matter when an armed aggressor is coming for you.The character does seem particularly unbelievable in a show full of seemingly unbelievable characters. I think this might be more of a shortfall in the acting than the writing. Oreatta is just as over the top but I believe the performance.
I think the problem with Gaetano is the mechanics of how he fits into the family are too sketchy. They’ve finally hinted that he has support back in Italy which NY respects, but what that means is still vague.
I think they needed his father to tell Justo more in the first episode about why Gaetano was coming than just a brief bit about visiting his mother. There is just too much for the audience to guess about him.
Gaetano is ultimately threatening to Josto because he is “more Italian” than he is. This is doubly funny because Josto doesn’t actually have any real understanding of what it means to be Italian anyway- he was born and raised in America and spent a chunk of his childhood traded away to the Irish anyway. Gaetano is presented as an over the top caricature of all the stereotypes Josto (and other Americans) imagine Italians are like. The joke is that Gaetano isn’t even “more Italian” than Josto, he is exemplifying the misguided stereotypes Josto THINKS constitute being “more Italian.” Gaetano is immediately recognizable to the viewer as a ludicrous caricature and it only makes it funnier how insecure Josto is around him.
Well, if that’s what they were going for they’ve failed because based on the reactions here all he’s done is annoy people.
The joke is that Gaetano isn’t even “more Italian” than Josto, he is
exemplifying the misguided stereotypes Josto THINKS constitute being
“more Italian.”
But is that the joke or is that the problem?
Just like Varga last season, Gaetano is cartoonish, annoying and drags down the show. I wish they would stop doing that.
He’s also legitimately an idiot, shooting his own man through the door when there were a half dozen other ways that could have gone. (Plus, it couldn’t have been more obvious, yet the scene is directed as if its supposed to be a surprise. Even on a filmmaking level, Gaetano is hurting the show)
I couldn’t care at all what happens to Ethelrida, would be shocking if the nurse one ups her but they’d never kill a child, but I’m very very interested in what happens between Loy and Justo
They killed a teenager…
They showed one small child (Rabbi) being forced to murder another small child (Ari Moskowitz) in the first episode.Which reminds me, what happened to Rabbi’s younger brother who should have been traded to the Italians but wasn’t? And like his mother? Did the Italians kill everyone?
i feel like i can see an ending where Loy and/or Justo end up wounded and in the hospital and Oraetta does her thing. Maybe not?
I’m wondering when Josto will learn about Chekhov’s ring. One of the Italians would have to see Ethelrida wearing it, I suppose.
yeah! that slipped my mind. i know this may not be the best fargo, but i am enjoying some of the performances and i’m really happy with the vibe of chris rock’s gangster.
I totally get the comment about the state of the show. I was wondering if I am just at a different point in life watching this season that past versions. But this season doesn’t hold the attention as much. Past seasons were more entertaining with characters you really wanted to see. This year it feels like more of a thinking drama to meI am curious as to what happens to a couple characters. I am interested in the Oraetta and Ethelrida story. But more so I want to know how Deafy fits in
Weirdly this season is the one I’ve watched the most episodes of. I think I made it 3 eps into season 1, 1 ep into season 2, and skipped 3 entirely. Dunno why. Maybe because of Olyphant and Rock? Hard to say.
You should check out the other seasons, particularly season 2. I’m also a fan of CR and TO, but this is the weakest season by far and I am struggling to get thru it.
I’m with you on this season; the reviews here have been a consistent string of B+s, but my personal reactions have ranged between B- and C+. It also feels like all the stories are so disparate; I know we’re seeing the characters collide and stories coalesce together, but each character still feels like they’re in their own show.
There’s just something empty about the setting for one thing. It’s generic 50s, generic midwest/rust belt (they say it’s Kansas City but it sure doesn’t feel like Kansas City), quirky but ultimately one-note stereotypical mobsters.
They’re drawing heavily on Miller’s Crossing, I think, but they aren’t quite capturing what made Miller’s Crossing such an amazing movie.
Hey, great minds think alike. Rabbi Milligan increasingly reminds me of Tom Reagan and Schwartzman as a (not quite as good) Leo O’Bannon.
I’m with you. Miller’s Crossing is still up there in the top three Coen Bros films for me. While this one leans heavily on that film, there isn’t the same whiz-bang forward motion that other movie has. I love what Noah Hawley has done with ALL the seasons, and this one had the potential to be the most involving for me, but it’s just not. At least, not yet.
Deafy is sitting back while snacking taking it all in. He will then swoop into the last episode, stop a death, shoot one or two baddies, and arrest the crooked cop, all the while acting like Raylan Given’s grandpa.
Regarding Orietta’s “Aha!” Reaction to seeing the “anonymous letter”, if she found Ethelrita’s Journal where it was left, then she would indeed know what her handwriting looks like….
After rewatching last week’s hotel room scene with Swanee, Zelmare, and Ethelrida and then this week’s shootout, I’m warming up to the two outlaws. I know they’re cartoon characters, but they’re just plain fun. Both of them gunning down mobsters with their pantyhose seemingly hiked up too high was a stitch. Something about this season reminds me of “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.” And I was musing that a good ending would be if the Faddas and the Cannons all wind up in the same hospital shot up and in traction at the end… then Oraetta is left to practice her healing ways on the lot of them.
I like the cut of your jib, sir.
Or Oraetta slips on a banana peel.
AND Oraetta slips on a banana peel.Everyone laughs. Slam cut to…The funeral home rolling in cash.
I can totally see a character driving a car into a river and drowning. Probably Deafy.
And Gaetano randomly destroying a gas station with his bare hands.
So the ghost figure dude showed up again in the birthday cake scene. Anybody got any good theories on what it is and if the show will bother to follow thru with it (and not just be like the random stuff from seasons past like the UFO)
Just that the family is cursed, as Swanee mentioned Zelmore told her. I should watch it again but in the scene where we were meant to think Swanee was being killed by the ghost I got the impression Zelmore knew it was there?
She definitely sensed it was there
I have no idea where the ghost is going, but I very much enjoyed the spooky use of “Happy Birthday to You” now that it has been freed from copyright hell.
I also liked the awkward patch job on the cake to replace the slice Josto’s brother ate.
I was thinking the ghost might be some sort of hallucination from embalming chemical fumes, but then that wouldn’t explain why it was in the outlaw’s tub…
Concerning the handwriting: Ethelrida forgot her diary in Oraetta’s “trophy room,” so she’ll learn it was her soon enough.
Also loved the callback to Joe Bulo in this episode, it’s looking like the “young Mike Milligan” theory is becoming less and less a theory as S2 connections keep appearing.
A List of Fictional Characters Ranked by Their Success (or Lack Thereof) Playtime is Over EditionRabbi Milligan “I never got to choose. A child soldier, that’s what they made me. But that’s not gonna happen to you.” “Don’t look away. This is what men do.” After making sure Satchel’s up on his Upton Sinclair, it’s not like Rabbi was just going to leave his fellow hostage to a bad fate. So as promised, they vanish. Holds his spot from last week.Omie “He’s awoke” He’s skinny, but he’s got reach enough to put Odis in a nice choke hold and enough power that Gaetano ain’t looking so good. Not a lot of talking from the top of the list this week, just a lot of ownage. Previously unranked.Zelmare and Swanee “He’s as big as a house!” Execute a nice, smooth double-team on Gaetano. Seems the outlaws aren’t exactly horrible at being criminals, particularly when neither of them is puking. Up from last week.Satchel Cannon — Rescued by Rabbi, Satchel gains his life but most likely loses his chance at seeing home ever again, which would make this the unofficial start of Mike Milligan Begins. Previously unranked.Loy Cannon “It’s okay. I’ve been having a bad day, too.” Makes his moves, tagging Gaetano, taking claim of Odis, and getting on a war footing. But his plans don’t seem 100% sharp with only a phantasmal Doctor Senator on his side. Why exactly is Gaetano taken alive? And what kind of plan, exactly, is telling Odis to go fetch Satchel with nothing more than “Go in there and grab him?” Given Loy’s clearly monologued feelings about Odis’s temperament and competence, you’d think he’d come up with something better than having the oddball detective go in alone and improvise with his son’s life on the line. In any case, as Zack noted, Loy’s monologues fall a little flat this week, even if you still learn a thing or two. For example, I never would’ve guessed that prizefighters were unionized in Sugar Ray Robinson’s day. Up from last week.Josto Fadda “Here’s a true story. For a dick, you’re irregular.” “A tornado crashes by, you don’t run after it.” Gets a deadline from New York (via Violante) and a directive to “make things right” with his kidnapped brother. Like the Cannons, he’s making his moves, but he’s flailing just as much—and relying just as heavily on Odis—as Loy is. Anybody else think his playing around with that hairbrush was Oraetta-motivated? Down slightly.Oraetta “I can assure you, Oraetta Mayflower is a Christian citizen of the highest character.” That fugue state Oraetta entered when Harvard started talking about she-cats and petty squabbles probably means those macaroons are going to have something stronger than ipecac in them when she finally decides to bake. But first things first, which means bad news for the guy with the gout, and bad news coming for Ethelrida. Unranked last week, down from her last ranking.Detective Odis — Now property of Loy Cannon, same as Thurman, Dibrell, Swanee and Zelmare. Not that Josto knows that, he thinks he still owns Odis, which sets the twitchy detective as the ball in a ping pong game between the two gangs. And that’s without even mentioning near-absent Deafy, who likely has some strong ideas of his own about the property rights to Odis Weff. Down slightly.
Calamita “I know you from when you were a baby.” After last week’s lesson on doing his job, Calamita’s back to trying to be management in this episode, which doesn’t work for Josto or Violante. As down as I’ve been on Calamita, I think Josto’s taking him a bit too lightly. Back in the day, Calamita and Josto were the dynamic duo, knives out to kill the Milligans after Rabbi started the double-cross. I get the feeling it’s going to come back to knives in the end for the two of them. Big drop from last week.Gaetano — Kills Paolo in a friendly fire incident, then gets popped by Swanee, and over and over again by Omie. After all the big talk, it looks like his reputation far exceeds his skills. If you’re going to do a psycho stabbing dance in front a mannequin, you’d best have better instincts (and a much faster reload time) when your house is under attack. If they wanted him to keep any of his menace, they should’ve pulled a Fargo gross-out special and just had him on the toilet when the shooting started. Even bigger drop from last week.Rest in PeaceAntoon Dumini “Land of plenty. That’s in the Constitution.” Actually, no, it isn’t. Regardless, this is what happens when the cast is too damn big. Antoon’s been in previous episodes, usually saying important stuff like a half-dozen variations on “Boss?” And then, in the last minutes of his time on the show, we get a ton of exposition on him—he was promised his own territory! He’s a good earner! He ate his shoes during the war! He’s got an ambitious, but sympathetic wife, and cute kids!—because we have to feel the weight of his decision. This was a big enough scene, the character in it should’ve been known to us so we’d give a damn about his Camp Elegance story and his death at Rabbi’s hand.Not rankedEthelrida — Nice of Mr. Snowman to show up for her birthday. Maybe they give him the weird dip in the cake from where Ziro got his piece last episode?Joe Bulo, out of New York — Doesn’t get to say anything, just stands there looking Brad Garret tall but otherwise not terribly Brad Garret-y. Has a date with Hanzee Dent and a hat box, but that’s in his future and our past. We know he survives this moment in history and thrives until the late 70s, so I’m guessing, no matter what Josto says, this is all eventually gonna be his business, probably sooner than later.
his Camp Elegance storyThis story confused me. The Battle of Monte Cassino was fought in 1944. Italy had firmed the armistice with the Allies the previous year, so the only opposing troops in Cassino were German. And yet Antoon explicitly said he was captured and brought to that camp as a prisoner of war. Which, why should they send prisoners of war all the way to Kansas? And what would this make him, some hardcore fascist that kept fighting alongside Nazis even after Mussolini got deposed? Is it really something to brag about years later? Even Gaetano voiced his disillusion with Mussolini, and bragged of having switched from killing communists to killing fascists (Mafia families were typically against the regime).By the way, “Antoon” is not an Italian name, it’s a Dutch name. I guess it’s used as a nickname for Antonio, but that would more likely be “Antò” or “Totò”, and he wouldn’t write it down as his own name anyway, certainly not spelled that way.
I don’t know about Monte Cassino, but there were POW camps all over the US during WW2. Wikipedia has a list.
At Ft. Gordon near Augusta Ga. there is a small POW cemetary with 21 graves of German and Italian POWs whom died from illnesses, work accidents and suicide.
By the way, “Antoon” is not an Italian name, it’s a Dutch name. I guess it’s used as a nickname for Antonio, but that would more likely be “Antò” or “Totò”, and he wouldn’t write it down as his own name anyway, certainly not spelled that way.Yeah, I was extremely surprised when Satchel got to the place where Dumini had carved his name that it was Antoon, not Antonio, carved into the wall. I’d assumed that Antoon was a nickname he’d gotten stateside.I can’t speak to the composition of Axis forces at Monte Cassino, but I seem to recall that part of the rationale for putting POW camps in the midwest was that there were fewer Italian-American communities there than on the East Coast, and therefore fewer people who’d be willing to help or hide an escaped prisoner. The more likely real answer would be politics: prison camps employ people, so it’s likely someone in the federal government was spreading the wealth of wartime funds to allies in Kansas.
I can’t speak to the composition of Axis forces at Monte CassinoItaly wasn’t part of it, wasn’t fighting against Allies anymore by then, the Fascist regime had fallen in July 1943, Mussolini was arrested, the country was led by anti-fascist forces that signed the armistice with the Allies in September 3, 1943. The Battle of Monte Cassino, which took place between January and May 1944, was the German reaction to that.I don’t know if some hardcore Italian fascist had defected to Nazi at that point. But what sense would it make for Antoon to call himself a hardcore fascist defeated at Cassino while also making the patriotic speech about becoming American?
Antoon was probably referring to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. A great many POWs (mostly German) were brought here following the Second World War. Some to be executed for war crimes. Today Leavenworth is a maximum security federal penitentiary that has housed a fair number of infamous mafiosi since the end of WWII.
A great many POWs (mostly German)Yeah, I don’t think the Americans took many Italian POWs, if at all. Italy had a long-standing resistance movement and reacted to the arrival of the American troops by establishing an Allied-friendly government. The deposed fascists surrendered to that government, so they were tried in Italy by Italians (when not summarily executed, of course).
Apparently, they took about 50,000 POWs stateside, almost all of them eventually paroled from their camps to help ease labor shortages in the U.S.
I seem to remember Antoon’s wife is Josto and Gaetano’s sister.
Wow. Okay, now it makes a lot more sense that Antoon’s family seems to live at the Fadda house, and that she’d feel that the way to get a message to Josto would be through Rabbi.
usually saying important stuff like a half-dozen variations on “Boss?” LOL XDYa know, I’ve seen shows sometimes take a background character and give them the spotlight for an episode. It can work. But there was something about the breadth of material they loaded on Antoon that made me go “wait a minute” maybe this deserves more than what we got? As such, taking the kid, changing his mind, dying anyway.. none of it moved the needle for me.Agreed about Loy’s tactics this week.
For that kind of thing to work, the episode has to be about that background character, in a way. Either we follow that character around for the hour, or the scenes about him have to be spread throughout the episode, so that we know early on he’s going to be more important than he seems. As it stands, Antoon is roughly on the same level as Gaetano’s deceased henchman, Paolo, right up until Josto asks him to kill Satchel (he gets off one last “Boss?” and then he starts acting like he’s actually a character in this story), and that’s what, 10-15 minutes from the end of the episode?
“Has Oraetta seen Ethelrida’s handwriting before?” She has if she found the book that Ethelrida left behind.
Or she will when she finds Ethelrida’s book.
But… plotwise, that would make the letter kind of pointless, right? Like, she left her notebook in such an incriminating place, that she would be onto Ethelrida either way.
Given the way that Rabbi Milligan is giving literature lessons to Young Satchel, it’s obvious that Satchel is future Mike Milligan… Mike was always very well-read.
I am enjoying this show’s slow burn and its costumes, settings and atmosphere are top notch. I am expecting a big payoff and will probably be disappointed if there isn’t one. The characters are somewhat over the top and some of the actors are better pulling that off than others. Sorry Gaetano, you aren’t one of them.
I like this season a great deal, even though it’s not all working. I agree with the comment in the review that the monologues are feeling a bit gratuitous, Loy’s in particular.But I think the multiple threads of stories are progressing really well, moving in a common direction even if we can’t tell how they will end up. I think it feels a lot more cohesive than the previous season and on a par with the first two.
Chris Rock is doing yeoman’s work but that type of monologue has to convey a sense of sadistic revenge. Loy is furiously grieving the loss of his friend and confidant. I am not getting those feelings from Rock’s mostly stoic demeanor. He did manage to show believable emotion when confronting Loy’s wife and mother in law.
Agreed. I would be a lot more invested in Loy if Rock’s acting weren’t so inconsistent. I know he can pull off drama from his New Jack City days, but his monologues are lacking gravitas. His best speech was with the wife and MIL, the emotion of which I’m guessing is easier for him to tap into.
Ha! I didn’t want to say it but there it is.
I think there is a need to link the monologues more effectively to the action. Loy telling the story of Odis in the war was effective and worked within the scene, but Loy talking to Odis about the dolls rising up to take over the apartment felt like mediocre theater. And since Loy was definitely mourning the death of Doctor Senator, it seems odd for him to speaking so abstractly. He made a lot more sense when he told Smutnys that he was done playing around and was taking over their business.
Loy’s monologues would be right at home in a feature film (Tarantino made a carreer out of characters doing exactly what Loy does), where bad people need to make those kinds of impressions in short amounts of time, but stretched for a series, it can be an element that feels tiresome or inauthentic
i’m with you, and i continue to read these recaps despite them becoming a gigantic bummer for me.
Oraetta has not seen Ethelrida’s handwriting. But she will if/when she finds her notebook/journal that Ethelrida left in her closet of trophies. Why Ethel hasn’t missed said notebook/journal or why Oraetta hasn’t found it is fodder for another day.
Oraetta is a much more malignant version of Peggy Blumquist from Season 2. Both are kooky women dissatisfied with their place and trying to self actualize in societies that don’t like independent women, but Peggy killed out of distraction or necessity while Oraetta obviously does it to satisfy her sense of superiority.Probably the closest Peggy came to Oraetta was the scene where she had Dodd tied up and started lecturing him and stabbing him, although even then she was only part way to the full fledged craziness of Oraetta.
It’s not a
bad shift for the character, who had been largely comic relief till
now—he’s a lot less amusing when he’s ordering the death of a child.I was taken aback by Josto’s indifference towards his own son.Somebody says something like “Loy’ll kill Zero for sure”, Josto says “Maybe”, and that’s it as far as anyone’s concern for Zero goes.
I thought Zero was Josto’s brother, not his son. Josto isn’t married, and his relationship with his fiancé doesn’t seem particularly sexual. And I doubt he or his father would have let a bastard be part of the family.
Oops, you’re right, but still.
I forgot about his fiance. What happened with that? That feels like a character who should be around alot more.
Zero is his brother, not his son, but yeah.I think the show is trying to contrast how differently Milligan and Josto experienced and processed their times in captivity, too.
You’re right. Josto’s single, but yeah.I’d forgotten Josto even was a hostage.
Agreed with the Josto/Milligan comparison. Josto is obsessive about seeming like a real member of the family; Milligan, meanwhile, possesses virtually no allegiance to anything beyond his own survival (and that of Satchel, who he sees as a younger version of himself). Two very different reactions to that situation.
I had no prior recollection of Antoon Dumini. Was this the first time we saw his wife? Who played her?
No mention of Joe Bulo from season two showing up?
Oraetta’s patient/victim, . . . was that just sloppy writing? Gout is painful, but I’ve never seen anyone comatose and groaning mindlessly and incessantly from it.
Is Loy supposed to be an ineffectual man-boy who wants to be boss but isn’t respected by anyone
or am I just projecting that on the character because of Jason
Schwartzman and his whiny voice and my own general dislike of him as an actor? At this point I really can’t figure out
what to make of him, though his Trump reference last week was just too fucking much.
Josto. Loy is Chris Rock’s character.And yes, Josto is supposed to be over his head.
He was at his most interesting in scenes with Oraetta, but I think you’ve got the gist of the character. With Schwartzman I get the sense they were going for the anti-Al Pacino. Their whole Josto pitch is “What if The Godfather, but Fredo was in charge?” If so, they nailed it
Okay, I’m on board for that (sorry I mixed up the names!)
Hey, the names in this show are weird, and there’s a lot of em. I need a glossary half the time 🙂
I do think you nailed it. Fredo is the Faddas.
It’s a very “Fargo” take on the Italian Mafia 🙂
I read someone said its all a Wizard of Oz homage with Jason Swartzman being the scarecrow because he’s got no brain.
I see Rabbi increasingly as Tom Reagan from “Miller’s Crossing”, and I don’t think that’s accidental. His persona and some of the character’s appearance and how he stands is intended to invoke that.
In case anybody’s interested, the book that Satchel is reading to the Rabbi is “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair. The quote is: “There is one kind of prison where the man is behind bars, and everything that he desires is outside; and there is another kind where the things are behind the bars, and the man is outside.” It’s in reference to a starving man in the streets of Chicago, surrounded by all the delicious food he cannot have. Sinclair was a very strong socialist.
I’m a little cooler on the episode. Solid “B.” Not as good as last week’s. Kind of bugged me that Gateano was shot in the back of the head and somehow survived. Apparently they just grazed him, but at point-blank range, you’d have to be trying to miss.
But I did enjoy Josto’s reaction to the news of his brother’s capture. Calamita pleads that they rescue him, but Josto immediately accepts his death. He (and the audience) secretly hopes for the worst, so he can move on, lol
They WERE trying to miss, that was kind of the point.
I’m finding Chris Rock a little distracting here, maybe this part would have been better handled with a better actor, like say Don Cheadle? I’m still enjoying the series to an extent, lots of good performances
This season has felt like a pale imitation of a better show, and if I had to pinpoint one flaw that has dragged it down above all others, I’d happily point to the speechifying by the criminals. I could probably count on the fingers of one hand all the speeches this season that have been memorable in and of themselves, appropriate for the scene they appear in, and natural to the character giving them.Take the scene with Loy, Gaetano and Omie. Is there any conceivable reason why Loy would bother trying (poorly) to intimidate Gaetano before, y’know, torturing him? Or why he’d think Sugar Ray Robinson and Jack Blackburn mean anything to an Italian transplant who barely speaks English? Or why Omie’s skill with his fists needs any elaboration when Loy can have Gaetano tortured in far worse ways with just a little bit of imagination? (And should’ve, now that I think about it.)
I liked the inverse of Miller’s Crossing. Its darkly funny and appropriate for the series.