'Fargo' Season 4 Preview: Crime anthology series will see huge departure with no cop protagonist this time
‘Fargo’, the anthology black comedy-crime drama television series created by Noah Hawley, inspired by the '90s Coen Brothers' black comedy film of the same name, is soon to return and like all previous seasons of the show, it looks both refreshing and exciting. In many ways, ‘Fargo’ is not the easiest show to watch. It can appear monotonous, it can feel drab and makes you wait while it builds up to a climax that shocks and awes.
The show, which has every quintessential Coen Brothers aesthetic in place, tells the story of crime but not just crime in its usual way. It deals with deeper existential questions as it grapples with the grey area between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral, and more. So, with that in mind, what can one expect from season 4?
As per the synopsis released by FX: “In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations -- that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the U.S. at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago -- and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities -- you saw a collision of outsiders, all fighting for a piece of the American dream. In Kansas City, Missouri, two criminal syndicates have struck an uneasy peace. One Italian, one African American. Together they control an alternate economy -- that of exploitation, graft, and drugs. This too is the history of America. To cement their peace, the heads of both families have traded their eldest sons.”
The trailer for ‘Fargo’ Season 4 begins with a standoff between the two gangs. In a way that is extraordinarily typical of a Coen Brothers comedy, the trailer takes us through the beginnings of an impending gang war between two groups that want to seize power.
What sets ‘Fargo’ Season 4 apart from its previous seasons, however, as far as the trailer shows, a police officer is not the protagonist this time. In season 1, it was Allison Tolman who played Molly Solverson, In season 2, it was Patrick Wilson who played Lou Solverson, and in season 3, it was Carrie Coon who played Gloria Burgle. All three were righteous, moralistic police officers. This time, however, cops seem to be conspicuous by their absence. But that shouldn’t mean much, given how Hawley’s writing of the show -- and other shows -- has always been full of surprises.
According to the show’s creator Noah Hawley, “This year, we’re really looking at the origins of the American capital crime, which is the exploitation of cheap labor. It took a long time for those people working to break into what we consider mainstream America. The story of any family is the story of America. History is a living thing. The way we keep it alive is to tell stories about it and keep it in our mind and keep it fresh.”
But as is normal with ‘Fargo’, it’s not just the story that awes alone. It’s the cast as well. After stalwarts like Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman (season 1), Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, and Ted Danson (season 2), Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Carrie Coon, and David Thewlis (season 3), the latest big name to join the ranks in ‘Fargo’ is comedian Chris Rock. But Rock is not the only actor of repute in the show. Andrew Bird, Jessie Buckley, Jeremie Harris, Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Timothy Olyphant, Glynn Turman, and Ben Whishaw, among others, are part of the show’s ensemble cast.
Another key difference between season 4 and previous seasons is the matter of race. The show, so far, has been extremely white. Yes, ‘Fargo’ has had Black characters in the previous seasons. Bokeem Woodbine’s Mike Milligan in season 2 was phenomenal and received critical acclaim. But Season 4 has more of a Black cast than ever before.
The show was initially scheduled to premiere on April 19. With only nine of the 11 episodes produced before the global shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, original plans for a spring launch were scrapped quickly. Production on these final two episodes wrapped on September 8. The longer time spent with the scripts was a good thing Hawley told Variety, because “this show has a lot more moving pieces and a lot more nuance to it.”
Had the show premiered in April, it would have launched ahead of the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Rock told Variety that although he found the scripts “pretty powerful” when he read them a year ago, “Are they more powerful now? Yeah,” he said, comparing it to how jokes he told years ago were said to be “so on.” That happens “when you’re in the right spot, and Noah’s in the right spot.”
“A long overdue conversation is taking place and this show would have been on point at any point when it was released because this conversation has been going on all through our history; it just so happens that the conversation is at the forefront right now,” Hawley said. “And what I wanted to explore, thematically, [was] what it means to be an American, what it means to be on the outside of that experience and who gets to be on the inside of that experience -- it’s never been more relevant.”
‘Fargo’ Season 4 premieres September 27, only on FX.