Warning: This article contains spoilers for Fargo season 5.
Fargo season 5 is the closest that the FX anthology series has come to directly adapting the plot of the original Coen brothers movie – but exactly how close are the similarities? Created by Noah Hawley, Fargo is a TV adaptation of the Coens’ film that shares its title and its tongue-in-cheek claim that the fictional events of its storylines are based on true events. But rather than remaking the Oscar-winning classic, Hawley has instead told brand-new stories with brand-new characters that emulate the movie’s Midwestern setting, pitch-black sense of humor, and tales of ordinary folks getting swept up in a life of crime.
Every previous season of Fargo has told its own crime story completely separate from the 1996 film that inspired the series. Fargo has told stories about Kansas City gangsters in the 1950s, the unlikely buddy pairing of a hitman and an insurance agent, the self-proclaimed “Parking Lot King of Minnesota,” and a hit-and-run incident that ties back to a powerful mob family. But, with a mild-mannered car salesman, a kidnapping plot that goes awry, and a pair of wealthy in-laws who are reluctant to fork out a ransom, Fargo season 5 has a few key similarities with the Coens’ original movie.
6 A Midwestern Housewife Is Kidnapped From Her Home
But This Housewife Knows How To Fight Back
The most obvious similarity between the timeless Fargo movie and the fifth season of the TV show is the inciting incident of the plot: the abduction of a Midwestern housewife from her suburban home. Juno Temple’s Dot Lyon is minding her business one day when two masked assailants break into her house and drag her out kicking and screaming. This scene is a direct homage to a scene from the Coens’ movie in which Jerry Lundegaard’s wife Jean is kidnapped from her home. The main difference is that Dot puts up a heck of a fight; she burns one of the kidnappers and slashes the other with an ice skate.
In both cases, the abductee’s husband organized the kidnapping, but under very different circumstances. Jean’s husband Jerry just wanted to shake down his in-laws for a hefty ransom. But Dot’s husband Sheriff Roy Tillman (played by Jon Hamm) feels betrayed that she ran away from him to start a new life, and sends the kidnappers to bring her back to him. The makeshift masks worn by Ole Munch and his partner Donald Ireland during the break-in in the TV show are almost identical to the masks worn by Carl and Gaear when they kidnapped Jean in the original movie. In both scenes, the abductees run to the bathroom to hide.
5 The Rich In-Laws Are Reluctant To Pay A Ransom
Despite Having Plenty Of Money To Spare
After the kidnapping in both the Fargo movie and season 5 of the TV show, the rich in-laws are reluctant to pay a ransom. Dot’s cold-hearted mother-in-law Lorraine – the “Queen of Debt” who runs America’s biggest debt collection agency, played brilliantly by Jennifer Jason Leigh in the Fargo season 5 cast – is skeptical that Dot was actually kidnapped. Lorraine believes that Dot concocted the whole thing to squeeze some cash out of her husband’s parents. In the movie, Jean’s father simply refuses to part ways with any of his hard-earned pennies, similar to John Paul Getty. In both cases, the in-laws’ reluctance to pay up significantly complicates the plot.
4 The Husband Works At A Car Dealership
But This Isn’t The Same Husband Who Orchestrated The Kidnapping
In both the movie and the TV show, the kidnapped woman’s husband works at a car dealership. Their offices are even dressed and designed to look almost identical to one another. However, in the TV show, this isn’t the same husband who orchestrated the kidnapping. Wayne Lyon, played by David Rysdahl, is the timid pushover that Dot married after she escaped from the clutches of Sheriff Tillman. In the movie, Jean’s current husband is also the one who hired her abductors. In Fargo season 5, Dot has two different husbands: one who hired a pair of kidnappers and one who has no idea what’s going on.
3 The Kidnappers Are Constantly Bickering
Ole Munch & Donald Ireland Are The New Carl & Gaear
One of the funniest parts of the original Fargo movie was the constant bickering between the kidnappers, Carl and Gaear. Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare played these scenes perfectly, with Stormare as the deadpan sociopath and Buscemi as the exasperated comic foil. Fargo season 5 continues that tradition as Ole Munch and his hired hand, Donald Ireland, won’t stop bickering throughout the whole abduction. Donald keeps complaining about his burns and Ole Munch keeps pulling rank because he’s sick of hearing about it. The Fargo TV show has always emulated the movie’s snappy comedic interplay, but season 5 borrows a specific character dynamic.
2 The Story Is Set In Minnesota
Scandia To Be Exact
Despite being named after Fargo, North Dakota, the majority of the Coens’ movie takes place in Minnesota. Fargo season 5 is back in the familiar locales of Minnesota – in Scandia, to be exact – with the familiar “Minnesota nice” accent. Most previous seasons of the Fargo TV show have shared this similarity with the movie. Season 1 kicked off in Bemidji, Minnesota (although it eventually moved to Las Vegas); season 2 took place in Luverne, Minnesota; and season 3 was set in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Season 4 is the only one not set in Minnesota – instead, it takes place in Kansas City, Missouri.
1 The Kidnapping Goes Horribly Awry
But In Very Different Ways
Not only does Fargo season 5 borrow the movie’s inciting incident of the abduction of a Midwestern housewife; it also borrows the subsequent plot point that the kidnapping goes horribly awry. But the way that the kidnapping goes awry is totally different in both stories. In both cases, the kidnappers are pulled over by the cops with their abductees in the car. In the movie, Gaear kills the cop and a couple of passers-by. This midnight killing spree ends up attracting a lot more police attention than just the kidnapping, and all the criminals involved in the plot go down for it.
In the TV show, when the cops pull over the kidnappers, Dot simply flees the scene and escapes to a gas station. There, she sets up a booby trap that kills Donald and she disappears into the night before Ole Munch can catch her. This is where Fargo season 5 starts to deviate drastically from the events of the Coen brothers’ movie. It’s not a straightforward remake of the original film; it’s more like a remix. It starts out with more or less the same plot setup, but then takes a few unexpected twists and turns into an all-new story.
