S5 might be less "Fargo" feeling overall (I don't totally agree with that but I don't feel strongly enough to fight about it), but it's certainly the most "Coen" feeling. There are huge pulls from most of the Coen catalog. So much so, that it honestly feels like this could well be the last season of the show.
Sounds like Hawley will be busy with the Alien series for awhile. I bet he takes a break from Fargo and releases a new season when he's inspired to do so.
tragabigzanda wrote:Fantastic. Need to rewatch S2 to decide which I like best. I agree that the number of commercials messed up the pacing of the finale but otherwise a slam dunk.
Oh. I watched on Hulu and assumed most of those fades were intended to be artistic. That would have been a lot of ads.
Which makes me wonder if x09 and x10 were originally intended as a single episode -- breaks in TV shows tend to increase in frequency after the first half-hour.
Good interview with Hawley on the latest episode of The Prestige TV podcast. That 500-year flashback was originally intended to open the season but he said that'd be too much work for the audience right off the bat (apparently, he forgot he opened season 3 kind of like that). He did mention, and I agree with, the inherent humor in having a sequence start with a "500 Years Earlier" titlecard in the middle of an episode. Probably couldn't do that if it were the first sequence of the season.
Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 09, 2026 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The whole season was subverting expectations and Coen lore. Which I love. And which is why the ending was so stellar. It was also so earnest and kind without being saccharine or shmaltzy. What a beautiful sentiment to end a violent horror show like Fargo.
It's another reason why (Hawley's new show aside) I won't be surprised if this is the last season of Fargo.
Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 09, 2026 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.