'Fargo' Season 4 Episode 9: Is Rabbi Milligan dead? 'East/West' sees him get shot and blown away
'Fargo' Season 4 Episode 9 is set in a 'Wizard of Oz' theme environment as it takes Rabbi Milligan (Ben Whishaw) and Satchel (Rodney L. Jones) outside of Kansas City where the two of them hole up in Barton Arms in Liberal, Kansas. The hotel that the two of them end up staying in is owned by two sisters, who are the witches of East and West, separated by their beliefs — religious and political.
One sister is liberal and believes that "colored" people will not be treated with prejudice, while the other sister is conservative. So when Rabbi Milligan arrives here, claiming that the Black child who accompanies him is his ward, they are immediately given accommodation in the West Wing.
While Satchel who remains behind meets a dog named Rabbit who he befriends very quickly, Rabbi tries to gather his bearings and decides to retrieve $5,000 that he had hidden in a feed store in the past. However, the feed store is no longer there and the wall that he had hidden the money in, is gone as well. Instead, he finds himself face to face with two brothers who have stolen his money and set up a store of their own.
Rabbi returns to his hotel to make a plan, and while he does that we see Satchel try to convince Rabbi to let him bring the dog along the next time they step out. Rabbi decides to go ahead and blackmail the brothers at gunpoint and ask them for his money again, and at this exact moment, Satchel catches the eye of a cop who sees nothing but a Black boy seated comfortably in a car that he shouldn't be able to afford with a pet that he shouldn't be able to have.
The tension at this point racks higher as a nervous Satchel and his dog make the cop more suspicious by the minute, and he is ready to draw the revolver from its holder at even a hint of danger.
Inside at this point, we see Rabbi struggle to get his money back. When he is handed all of $1,000, he struggles to leave without hurting the brothers, and every moment he wastes contemplating how he should deal with the brothers inside, Satchel is left to respond to the cop alone. At one point, we begin to believe that this is it.
This is how Satchel and Rabbi will be separated because, to be honest, all the warm moments that we have seen featuring the two so far have been a build-up to their separation.
Fortunately, though, Rabbi ends up appearing at just the right moment and saves Satchel from further probing by the officer. Instead, he is informed to keep the "colored" invisible. This incident only alienates Rabbi to the idea of taking the dog along with them. This and the fact that the dog would become another mouth to feed.
So when the two of them return to their room, Rabbi informs Satchel that they will be leaving that night, and Satchel is heartbroken. He then mentions how all he had wanted was this one thing, one thing for his birthday, and Rabbi's heart melts.
He ends up asking the front desk where to get Satchel a treat or candy for his birthday. He is told that there is a store 8 or 9 miles out and he leaves after informing the lady at the front desk that he will return for the boy. However, this store is the same one where Loy Cannon's (Chris Rock) henchman, Omie Sparkman (Corey Hendrix) is lying in wait for Constant Calamita (Gaetano Bruno).
We had seen Omie had shot a man dead and at that exact moment, Calamita arrives. Following Calamita is the Rabbi who is shocked to see a body lying on the floor of the store. A moment too late, he realizes that something is amiss and ends up drawing his gun, but is shot by Calamita. Before Calamita can take another shot though, Omie pulls the trigger on Calamita, and in the ensuing gunfight, Omie falls.
Before either Rabbi or Calamita can take a shot at each other though, the two of them are blown away by a tornado. Will Rabbi make it? We are not hopeful because every scene of Rabbi and Satchel so far had set up their heartbreaking separation. So when we see Satchel leave with nothing but the gun that Rabbi had left behind the day before and the dog, we are certain that he is leaving everyone behind.
'Fargo' Season 4 new episodes air every Sunday at 10 pm ET on FX and can be streamed on Hulu.