2.9 The Castle It was also gloriously absurd. Sheer, unadulterated Fargo. Indeed, there is a case to be made for The Castle being considered the exemplar episode of Fargo, every special component working at full pelt and contributing to a superbly entertaining whole, hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure. The narration that opened the episode and continued at key points in the narrative worked surprisingly well. Martin Freeman’s calm and dispassionate voiceover made a pleasant counterpoint to the highly emotive, partial action that took place on screen and created a slight distancing effect, as though the chaos that unfolded was simply a story from another time and from which the viewer was entirely safe (which, gentle reader, we all are). It also helped to embed the growing Fargo mythos, in which the film and the several TV seasons form part of a wider tapestry of stories, each linked by a common mood unique to the area in which they are set. This has emerged in a largely unforced manner and here, in an explicit reference, it feels earned, like the confirmation of something we had all accepted anyway. The attitude of the Cheney and his officers was also a good summary of many of the problems that Fargo sketches so brilliantly. First and foremost is a complete blindness to the reality of the situation (here again, Lou’s Cassandra moment helped to underline the point). Prattling on about radio silence and commendations, Cheney came across as little more than an armchair general who had found himself turfed out of his seat without realising that he was now standing up. When reality finally dawned it was too late. It always is. Too late too for Floyd Gerhardt, who exhibited her own kind of blindness. The role of Hanzee has been deliberately underexplored and he remained such a mystery to the viewer that Freeman’s narration had to be drafted in to fill in some of the blanks. Hanzee was as much a mystery to the viewer as he was to his adoptive family and in particular, Floyd. The Gerhardt matriarch never quite managed to rule the family as she intended and flattered herself that she was in control as much as Cheney did, to her comparable cost. Like him, she couldn’t see the problem that lay right before her. Oh, never mind the flying saucer, Ed. Let’s go. Read Michael’s review of the previous episode, Loplop, here.
