'Fargo' Season 4 Episode 9 Preview: In 'Wizard of Oz' chapter, will Tin Man Rabbi be able to save his heart?
One-upping the massacre in Sioux Falls in the second season, episode 8 of ‘Fargo’ Season 4 saw two massacres take place, one in a crowded train station, the other in the Fadda family’s home. But episode 9 may just move aside from the consequences of both these incidents and move towards a storyline that no one is expecting.
Episode 9 is titled ‘East/West’, and the promo for the episode is in black-and-white. But that is not the most bizarre thing about the promo at all. For one, we see Rabbi Milligan (Ben Whishaw) and Satchel (Rodney L. Jones III) in the promo. We both haven’t seen them in a bit ever since Josto (Jason Schwartzman) ordered Antoon to kill the child and Rabbi intervened and the two escaped.
We see Rabbi tell the boy that if he did not come back in time, it would either mean he was in jail or he was dead. We then see Rabbi following Constant Calamita (Gaetano Bruno), a man he knows would kill both him and Satchel. Calamita and Rabbi have a showdown. And then something utterly bizarre happens -- a tornado arrives and from what one can tell, it becomes the death of Calamita. But one can never be certain about these things, especially in ‘Fargo’.
This scene reminds of something the great character of Doctor Senator (Glynn Turman) told Loy (Chris Rock) earlier in the season: “Hubris to think that you can control things. That's why God created tornadoes. To remind us.”
This great foreshadowing, however, is not the only thing at play here. This scene, and especially, the tornado sequence playing in monochrome reminds very specifically of the 1939 musical fantasy film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Comparisons of the fourth season of ‘Fargo’ with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ have been going on for a bit.
If symbolism lessons from fans on the internet are to be trusted, Noah Hawley’s story bears many parallels with the film and its characters. As per a Reddit user, Ethelrida (E'myri Crutchfield) is Dorothy. Odis (Jack Huston) is the lion who needs courage. Rabbi is the Tin Man. Josto is the Scarecrow, for he lacks brains. Zelmare (Karen Aldridge) is Glinda, the good witch, and Nurse Oraetta Mayflower (Jessie Buckley) is the wicked witch of the West.
The Reddit user adds, “And of course Oz, ‘The great and powerful’, is America/the American dream itself: A great illusion, the shining city that appears welcoming, but is not to our characters this season (POC, Immigrants, LGBTQ+folk, Native People).”
Apart from that, there are other comparisons. While ‘The Wizard of Oz’ takes place in the state of Kansas, ‘Fargo’ takes place in Kansas City, Missouri. But one has to wonder what then the episode holds for the story.
The Tin Man is given a heart in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Up until that, he was a cold person, devoid of feelings. That comparison can easily be made with Rabbi, who is a detached human being because of his childhood abuse. But is Satchel then the heart that he is given? Fan theories suggest that Satchel would grow up to be Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) from season 2 of ‘Fargo’. So, they both have to then survive for that to happen. So, will the episode finally see Calamita die? One can only guess.
‘Fargo’ Season 4 airs every Sunday at 9 pm ET, only on FX.