In the seventh episode of “Fargo,” “Did you do this? No, you did it!” the show takes a bit of a breather after the high tension of the last few episodes. While it’s perhaps unfair to call an episode with multiple character deaths and flashes of mob violence slow, the bulk of the run time focused more on character development.
At times, “Fargo” presents so many compelling characters that someone is always left out, and this episode goes light on the police investigation and Ed/Peggy storyline in order to spend more time with characters who have been overlooked in recent weeks. By leaving the fates of Ed (Jesse Plemons), Peggy (Kirsten Dunst) and Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan) from last week’s cliffhanger uncertain until the end of the episode, the show begins wrapping up some of the recent storylines.
As the end of, essentially, the second act of the season, the episode seems to largely put an end to the mob war that has been ongoing. While most of the key players are still active in Floyd (Jean Smart), Bear (Angus Sampson) and Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine), all seem to have more pressing concerns and the scenes of large groups of gunmen lighting each other up are largely in the past.
This week, we finally see a side beneath Milligan’s confident exterior from earlier in the season. Despite being the only African American in a setting that is almost exclusively white — other than Hanzee (Zach McClarnon), Dodd’s Native American enforcer — Milligan’s race has never played a major role in plot development prior to this episode. Now out of favor with his employer who takes the time to make a final racist jab, Milligan’s constant esoteric allusions seem to be a way, according to his boss, to prove he is different. In an episode where he also quotes Martin Luther King, Jr., his stand out line is, “If the goal is to kill those who oppress you, what does it matter who goes first.” Cut loose from his organization, Milligan joins Ed and Peggy as the show’s main wildcards going into the last few episodes.
More and more, Milligan resembles Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough) — one of the stand out villains from fellow FX show, “Justified” — down to the same signature weapon and a mirroring arc. However, whereas Quarles’ composure hid an insane side, Milligan is painted with more pathos.
Continuing from last week, Bear continues to emerge as the most compelling member of the Gerhardt clan as the family starts to openly fracture. Likewise, Betsy Solverson (Cristin Milioti) is given a few great scenes as she acknowledges her inevitable death. Even the strange alien thread, appearing throughout the show, has finally started to tie into the actual plot. After Ed’s brief appearance at the end of the episode, it appears all parties are headed to Sioux Falls and the “Sioux Falls Massacre” foreshadowed in the season premiere is not far behind.
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