‘Fargo’ Season 4 Episode 7: Nurse Mayflower came with great promise but we have only seen less and less of her
Spoilers for ‘Fargo’ Season 4 Episode 7 ‘Lay Away’
The fourth season of Noah Hawley’s dark and funny anthology series, ‘Fargo’, has been a great one so far. While it’s noticeably a little different from the last three seasons, it has still lived up to the broader themes and shticks of the show. But there is one thing that doesn’t go down well. So, the first thing that people noticed in the new season is just the sheer number of characters introduced in the beginning. And that left barely any room for viewers to breathe. Suddenly, people were unable to decide which character to concentrate on. Thankfully, as the show progressed, we realized some of the characters were much less important than the others.
But as the show began offering less and less screen-time to some of the characters, we began to feel let down because some of them had shown immense promise. And one of those characters is Nurse Oraetta Mayflower, played by Jessie Buckley. Nurse Mayflower, who seemed like a Nurse Ratched archetype was much more demented than one would have assumed. She has a sickly sweet demeanor but a heart full of malice. As she sweet talks people with her rustic Minnesota accent and polite manner, we are shown that she is a sociopath with no conscience and a killer to boot.
Under the guise of taking care of her patients, she kills them - sometimes by drugging them, sometimes by smothering them. In fact, she is the one who is responsible for the tension in Kansas City. Had she not killed Donatello Fadda, the Italian crime family patriarch, Josto wouldn’t have been thrust to the throne and Loy Cannon may not have attempted to take over their businesses.
She also has a fling of sorts with Josto -- the two do drugs and have sex -- but somehow her story seems to be going nowhere and that’s sort of frustrating given what a fantastic character was set up at the start. Sure, Nurse Mayflower has her moments, but so far, it seems that her character is destined to be on the sidelines and remain nothing more than a subplot and feature anywhere in the grand scheme of things.
Even in episode 7, while it is enjoyable to see her kill again (this time, Dr. Harvard) with a macaroon, just to get a hold of the letter that contained an anonymous complaint about her, this limited screen-time is very annoying in general. Nurse Mayflower is an intriguing character and we want to know more about her. We want to see what she is up to and what more she is capable of. We want to see if there is any comeuppance for her unconscionable acts. And we want to see who turns out to be her match if at all there is one.
Yes, there is still a bit to come in this season and maybe the show will make good on this implied promise of having a good arc for Nurse Mayflower. The only worry here is if the payoff will be worth the wait.
‘Fargo’ Season 4 airs every Sunday at 9 pm ET, only on FX.
