Season 5

Fargo is back to the first seasons' quality. As a whole, this season five is better than the average score of individual episodes. It has all the great Fargo ingredients: great characters, great cinematography inspired perfectly encapsulating the style of the Coens' original movie, absurdity, dark comedy elements, a mysterious being, violence, great cinematography, snow, winter boots, mid-western accents. In particular I like that this season entirely happens in a conservative microcosm (or is that a macrocosm?) w/o the need for liberal characters that represent the contrasting morale high-ground. That wouldn't be subtle anymore. The main topic of domestic violence is approached in a very serious way. Very educative w/o being preachy. Sometimes almost poetic.

That said, the main story isn't very complex. She was abused, escaped, hunted, caught, escaped, hunted again, escaped again - eventually: redemption. Other Fargo seasons felt way more complex. Don't get me wrong, the main story is still good (and it tells a wider story of power, the patriarchy and the men upholding it and who think the can enjoy impunity). Not sure if that simple story really deserved 450 minutes of TV. Instead, they could have explored more of the side stories. What happened to golfer guy and the lady officer? What was the point of this story anyway? It's perhaps another abuse story (financial exploitation and emotional abuse) but it was never really explored thoroughly. Likewise, I don't understand what's the point of introducing this billionaire mother in law. Sure I get it. This backdrop is used to sharpen her character and perfectly fits the debt, forgiveness and redemption theme of this season. But after you saw the downfall of the parking lot empire in season three and how well season 3 told a morale story about wealth distribution and capitalism, I expected that - by the end of this fifth season - her actions and her overconfidence led to her (financial) demise. I also expected to watch the Minnesota ex police officer slowly finds out that she was hired for dirty work that goes against her morale compass. Plus: What really happened to Linda? Is she in that pit? Biggest disappointment: the underdeveloped character of Roy's third wife. She's probably one of the most complex characters and I would have loved if they had taken the time to explain how the victim also became a perpetrator and enabler (by extension). This could have been a very educative story about the devastating ripple effects of domestic abuse. These stories are never told thoroughly though and the season finale did little to tie the loose ends. The only side story explored well is Munch's story - yet as it's customary in Fargo - his existence remains a mystery and his story is a riddle.

I love how Fargo never makes sense until the season finale. This one, I would argue, takes that to the extreme but fortunately has an incredible ending.
I get what Noah's doing here. I am fully aware of studios forcing shows to be 'inclusive' and 'diverse' nowadays but here it's completely an artistic decision. One to piss off any conservatives in the audience. Themes of feminism rammed down our throat for the whole back half, women getting revenge against men, republican bashing, the black hero archetype and even a Latina doing the signature white Fargo accent...in almost Fincher-esque fashion Noah Hawley is trolling half his audience and I have to respect him for always going all out for each season of this show. To me, I'm just not sure all that works as it takes a great deal of soul out of it. Also, this season, particularly the first half, felt almost fan-made and I can't put my finger on exactly why - perhaps it wasn't as confident as it usually is?
That said though, the ending really saves the season and wraps a lot of it up in complete optimism and tells us to embrace modernity, which ties it all back to its consistent mockery of conservatism in the episodes prior.
I would still say it's the weakest season of Fargo because NONE of the others have this 'fan-made' feeling but it's pretty damn close to season 4, and I rated them the same anyways.
Oh and Sam Spruell's acting is remarkable here.