Near the End of a Strange Season, Fargo Drops Its Most Compelling and Ambitious Episode

Season Three of Fargo has been a strange one to pin down, which is really saying something about a series coming off a season that boasted UFOs as a storytelling device. It’s not the straightforward narrative that’s been the challenge, but the shifting nature of Fargo itself. Where the first two seasons hid some of their flaws behind solid performances and the very newness of the series, this season has struggled to find its unique voice. Season Three boasts a familiarity in its structure that can quickly morph into complacency, and nearly every episode this season has labored to put forward a creative vision that truly feels fresh.

I mention this season’s troubles because “Who Rules the Land of Denial?” is by far its most compelling and ambitious episode—in particular, the first half, which we spend in continuous suspense as Nikki (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and another inmate, to whom she’s chained, attempt to escape Yuri (Goran Bogdan) and his police-impersonating assassin (DJ Squalls). The fact that Nikki’s escape partner is none other than Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard), the deaf hitman from the show’s first season, is a nice touch, but that kind of knowing winking isn’t its core appeal. Rather, it’s the episode’s approach to building tension, along with some visual inventiveness, that contributes to the nearly 30-minute sequence feeling like the best stretch of the season so far.

The tension builds immediately, as “Who Rules the Land of Denial?” begins with a scene that takes place right before the climax of last week’s episode, in which the prison bus carrying Nikki flipped over and left her reeling. Here, we’re privy to the cause of that accident, as we watch Yuri and his men building a homemade version of the kind of apparatus that’s typically used to flip stunt cars on film sets. The dread comes from knowing what’s coming—and that’s where the episode plays with our expectations. The scene doesn’t move quickly. Rather, like Yuri in general, it’s methodical in its pace. The pole is slowly assembled and set in the road, and then everyone waits, the hum of the approaching bus slowly working its way into the sound design. It’s a beautifully crafted sequence that sets the tone for the first half of the episode, in which dread and impending doom run rampant.

As Nikki and Mr. Wrench make a run for it, various shifts in the color palette and sound design keep us on edge. The nighttime shots, set deep in the woods, make it look like the scenes are filmed in black and white, allowing shadows to play tricks and underscoring Nikki’s psychological state: She sees danger lurking behind every tree. While waiting for Yuri and his men to pass them by, much of the audio cuts out; all we hear is eerie, deafening silence, a kind of vacant blowing of the wind that’s somehow sound and the complete absence of it all at once. This leads to a stirring, violent climax that sees Nikki and Mr. Wrench strangle and decapitate the fake police officer before Mr. Wrench sends Yuri running after chopping off his ear.