Critical Condition: Fargo

Fargo (SoHo, 9.30 Thursday)

“The new season of Fargo might be the most Fargo that Fargo has ever been. Last year’s installment of Noah Hawley’s imaginative communion with the films of Joel and Ethan Coen was a big crime saga with a sprawling cast that functioned as historical allegory about capitalism and spiritual malaise in the dawn of the Reagan era. Also, there were UFOs. His new story dials back the scale, at least to start. It’s a more intimate neo-noir about desperate people doing dumb things for dubious reasons, triggering a cascade of consequences for a widening array of people.” — Entertainment Weekly.

“Hawley and his team approach this season as they did the previous two – with enormous ambition to create a heady world of dark playfulness. They go to it with formidable zeal. The colours and soundtrack are a marvel to behold. The cheerful playing with language is exquisite. The gory deaths are simultaneously shocking and hilarious. There is enormous creative flair at work here and, on the evidence of the first two episodes, Fargo might once again be the best TV drama of the year. The sheer energy of it is breathtaking.” — The Globe and Mail.

“As we’ve seen in the first two seasons, coincidence, fate, luck — whatever you want to call it — plays a major role in the battle between right versus wrong. Anything can happen to anyone, making for a tense first hour and what will undoubtedly be a fraught full season. And while Fargo is scary, the scares aren’t cheap — far from it. Rather than the ‘gotcha!’ moments or gory abominations dominating studio horror franchises, what’s frightening in Fargo is a blend of good intentions and bad ideas escalating beyond control.” — IndieWire.

“The details always matter in Fargo: the words and names and how they’re pronounced; the visually adroit use of wide shots right before the cameras dive in to see what outside influence will try to unsettle the belief systems of the locals; the raucous, upbeat music and the stoic, placid people; the overall tone, which is a dance of the quirky with the folksy, almost always ending in the deadly. These are the trademark Fargo elements that crop up each season. It’s all here.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

“In the early going, the third season of Fargo, which is set in 2010, offers a sprinkling of skillful characterisation, dialogue, and production design without providing enough psychologically compelling components to balance out the largely dry and even perfunctory aspects of the drama.” — Variety.