Fargo Recap: Season 3, Episode 2, ‘The Principle of Restricted Choice’

As Fargo season 3 moves on, the tracks are now laid for the bloody conflicts to come.

Fargo moves on from the mixed up tragedy of the previous episode in ‘The Principle of Restricted Choice.’ It wastes no time in doing so – Gloria barely has time to look through her father’s secret belongings when she is called in to welcome a new chief of police. Mix-ups have always been at the center of Fargo’s dark heart, and episode 3 is mainly concerned with untangling them. To the extent that they can be untangled at this point, anyway.

Emmit is trying to find a way to wiggle out of a money laundering deal with Varga, which is now heating up. Much will be written about the phenomenal cast that Fargo season 3 is working with, but we’re going to put in a special word for David Thewlis as Varga.

Watching him work his way into Emmit’s life and business is a delicious treat. But no matter how dark Fargo gets, it always knows exactly how to bring back the humor. An elderly man trying to figure out Google? check. Someone bringing up the possibility that Varga is smuggling “slave girls?” check.

For her part, Gloria doesn’t care much for computers, a point that is hilariously brought to her attention when she is mocked for it – “do you know what year it is? the future.” We also find out that her deceased father, who was apparently a science fiction writer at one point, was actually her step-father. This could end up being an important distinction since her father’s surname was Stussy. Interesting.

Image Credit: FX

It’s obvious that Nikki is going to be the driving force when it comes to her and Ray. There are flashes in their relationship to Peggy and Ed from last season, though an amped up version. Cue Nikki slapping him a couple of times because his “chi” is wrong. She basically gives him an ultimatum: steal the amp or make peace with his brother.

When he shows up at Emmit’s place at 10:30, Emmit’s immediate reactions is to ask if someone died. So in case, you were still not sure how close they were, there you go. The plan is for Ray to distract his brother while Nikki sneaks in the back.

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While Ray explains that Emmit doesn’t owe him anything and that he wants to make up, Nikki is buying trying to lift the stamp. It’s the sort of juxtaposition that Fargo is so fond of. She doesn’t find it, but she does decide to leave a used tampon behind.

But Emmit wasn’t trying to hide the stamp, he was just getting the frame fixed. Again, another mix-up; another misunderstanding. Sy is hungry to take Ray out, but that’s when they get distressing some distressing news.

That man who searched for Varga on Google without truly understanding what he was getting into? He gets thrown off a railing. Two episodes into the third season and Fargo is already off on a fiery pace, expertly laying down the tracks that will provide the collisions for the rest of the season.

Turning back to Gloria, it turns out that her mother was only married to Ennis Stussy for four years, and Gloria feels that he used to go by a different name while living in LA.  It is also agreed that he was “a horrible man,” which is pretty much the feel we got from him during the short time we spent with him. The funeral director’s easy characterization of him provides some great black humor.

Sy purposefully (and gleefully) backing into Ray’s car. It’s an act of war and one that at least Nikki isn’t going to take lying down. But Fargo doesn’t want you to forget what the big picture is, and that happens to be Varga, who makes an appearance at Emmit’s office to end the episode.

He’s moving in; his easy malevolence effortlessly overtaking Emmit’s weak objections. Not entirely unlike Lorne Malvo injecting himself into Lester’s bloodstream, Varga is here to stay.

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Varga lays it all out for him, philosophizing like a classic villain, telling him that he’s trapped. That’s it. Varga may end up being the fiercest adversary that Fargo has ever had, and there is a lot of excitement in that.