Lou Solverson is on the case.
The hunt for Rye continues on Fargo, leading to some of the best and most suspenseful interactions of the season.
Spoilers for Fargo’s third episode, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” continue below.
As Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) follows the string of clues surrounding the Waffle Hut case, he finds himself crossing paths with some of the most dangerous players in Season 2’s stories. First, when he’s in Fargo to investigate Judge Mundt’s (Ann Cusack) office, he finds Skip (Mike Bradecich) suspiciously arriving at her door. Fargo police officer Ben Schmidt (Keir O’Donnell), an older version of whom is Gus Grimly’s (Colin Hanks) commanding officer in Season 1, isn’t inclined to follow any dangerous leads on Mundt’s case — including, later, dealing with the Gerhardts — so he doesn’t pursue Skip, despite his sketchy behavior. Lou, though, isn’t one to let a lead go cold.
Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Donovan and Keir O’Donnell in Fargo
Later in the episode Lou decides to investigate Skip’s typewriter shop solo, and there he meets Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) and the Kitchen Brothers (Brad and Todd Mann) in a test of wills and weapons that fortunately is bloodless. Mike is a high point of Season 2, and seeing him size up Lou like he did Hank (Ted Danson) in last week’s episode is one of the most tense and best moments here. His team and Lou are all looking for Skip in the hopes of having him lead to Rye, but what they don’t know is that the shop owner has already been captured by Simone Gerhardt (Rachel Keller) and will eventually be killed — or at least seemingly killed — by Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan) and Ohanzee (Zahn McClarnon).
As viewers have by now realized, Dodd is one of the least subtle characters on Fargo, despite the fact he’s trying to undermine his mother Floyd (Jean Smart) as leader of the Gerhardt operation. He is all brute force, as he showed in his abuse of his daughter, attack on Skip and confrontation in the episode with Lou. When the state police officer shows up with Ben to the Gerhardt residence, Lou shows some sass that is a welcome turn for his character. While he plays a neat game of verbal chess with Floyd, it’s Lou’s face off with Dodd that is going to leave a lasting impression. If he’s a smart guy — and we know he is — then Lou is going to be paying more attention to this family, and what is going on between them and the Kansas City ring.
Whether he makes the connection between them and Skip remains to be seen. A savvy cop, Lou clearly realizes Skip is someone key to his investigation, so he’s likely going to pursue speaking with him again. That makes Lou the likeliest candidate to discover Skip’s tie sticking out from the tar — the one clue to reveal his body to the police.
We want to hear it.
Meanwhile Betsy Solverson (Cristin Milioti) continues to be the best detective of the bunch when she tells her father Hank (Ted Danson) her theory on how Rye’s shoe ended up in the tree: he was hit by a car, and the person drove away with Rye’s body still on the vehicle. It’s unfortunate that she shared this theory right in front of Peggy (Kirstin Dunst), because Betsy is spot-on, as viewers know. This scene was some of Dunst’s best acting thus far this season, which is saying something because she’s been truly excellent in the role. Michael Uppendahl’s excellent direction turned this into a scene as tense as both of Lou’s showdowns, making them all carry equal amounts of significance.
Betsy’s revelation prompts Peggy to convince Ed (Jesse Plemons) to come up with a cover story for their busted car that day, essentially making them in the clear. There isn’t much evidence left to tie the Blomquists to the murder, but surely there’s something left that will give them away. Hank’s assessment of the type of person who would hit someone, drive home and then make dinner — which, as the viewer knows, is exactly what Peggy did — was borderline too meta, but also was a great way to underline what a sociopath she is.
This episode borrows its title from Albert Camus’s philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus,” in which he explains his concept of the absurd and the futility of man’s search for meaning in life. He uses the story of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, who was condemned by the gods to push a boulder up a mountain, have it fall to the bottom again, and repeat the cycle. This is being used by creator Noah Hawley as a metaphor for the futility of these characters’ struggles; specifically Lou, who is a good man greatly outnumbered by the evil people in the world. But is it the struggle to combat evil that makes Lou happy, as Camus concludes of Sisyphus’s struggle with the boulder? Lou is trying to resolve this one crime, but the more he pulls back the layers, the more danger he gets himself in. He is only beginning to realize that this story is about a lot more than just finding Rye, and he likely won’t rest until he sees the full picture. At least we can rest easy knowing that at least he lives long enough to be a key figure in Season 1.
With great direction and excellent acting, Fargo delivers a great third outing. The three tense showdowns underline the fact that stakes are being raised, as Lou Solverson fights the good fight to try to combat the evil deeds being committed around him. But he is in over his head, and is beginning to notice. Time is running out for him to discover what happened to Rye before more nefarious forces do and turn the Waffle Hut clue trail cold.
