A 10-episode season is far too short a time to spend with Dot, Wayne, Scotty, Lorraine, Witt, Roy, Indira, and, yes, even Gator. Unfortunately, that’s all we get with FX’s Fargo season five as episode 10, “Bisquik,” brings the second-best season of the series to a close.
The season finale opens with the now-blind Gator (Joe Keery) deserted by his dad and left to make it back to the ranch on his own. He whines as he repeatedly falls and then eventually makes it into the secret tunnel almost by accident.
Gator emerges from the tunnel in a field and is immediately spotted by the FBI. He throws up his hands, no longer the arrogant vape-addict we’ve come to know and loathe.
Meanwhile, “patriots” line the ranch’s fence on Roy Tillman’s orders, fully prepared to take on the FBI. North Dakota Deputy Witt Farr (Lamorne Morris) is with Alpha Team as they stealthily make their way onto the ranch, while Roy (Jon Hamm) asks his militia leader father-in-law if he’s seen Ole Munch. The old man gives Roy a hard time, inferring that he’s soft and weak. Roy’s had enough and dispatches his third wife’s dad by slashing his throat.
Karen walks up just as her dad’s taking his dying breaths, takes one look at the scene, and runs off. Roy is about to chase her when he turns the corner on the porch and comes face to face with an enraged and well-armed Dot (Juno Temple).
She takes aim and shoots Roy in the stomach – yes! – before he can draw his gun. Witt hears the shotgun blast and knows it’s Dot. She’s just about to pull the trigger again and finish off Roy when Alpha Team arrives and orders her to put her weapon down.
Dot immediately does as instructed while yelling that she’s the hostage. Gunfire erupts as “patriots” fire on the team, and Witt uses his body to shield Dot from being hit by accident. Roy uses the gunfight to make a break for it.
Witt refuses to let Dot put herself in danger again and won’t let go when she wants to give chase.
While the men he called to protect him are fighting the FBI and likely dying, Roy turns tail and runs to the tunnel. Witt leaves Dot on the porch and follows Roy’s blood trail. He doesn’t wait for backup to arrive and enters the confined space, well aware he could be walking into an ambush but determined to find Roy.
Witt doesn’t notice Roy’s hiding in the shadows but turns around just in time – forcing Roy to pause his approach. Roy refuses to drop his knife and instead talks about being shot in the belly. Witt calls in his location and that he’s with Roy.
Witt’s a decent man and he fails to kill Roy when he has the chance. Instead, the despicable, corrupt sheriff makes as if he’s dropping the knife and then closes the distance quickly. He stabs Witt in the chest, and Witt is forced to die with Roy’s face as the last thing he sees.
Dot’s rescued off the porch and walks past Karen, now in handcuffs. She’s in a state of shock, but her immediate concern is learning if Roy’s been caught.
Roy emerges from the same hidden tunnel exit as Gator, and it’s not until he’s forced face down into the snow that he realizes he’s outnumbered and outgunned. FBI Agents Joaquin and Meyer stand over Roy and inform him that Gator gave him up.
Dot makes it to the FBI command post, and Gator’s already there, handcuffed and being helped by EMTs. He apologizes, and Dot instantly forgives him. Dot displays a level of compassion we should all strive for as she promises to bring Gator his favorite cookies in jail.
Dot’s happy to hear Agent Meyer spoke with Wayne and that her hubby knows she’s safe. But the moment of happiness is fleeting as she’s informed Trooper Witt Farr has died. (Absolutely gut-wrenching that she called him “her trooper” when she asked Meyer about his whereabouts.)
Dot’s quiet on the drive back to her house. (Juno Temple does an incredible job of displaying the range of emotions and thoughts flowing through Dot’s mind as she’s told she’s almost home.) The car pulls up in front of her home and Dot grabs Scotty (Sienna King) up in a huge hug and gives Wayne (David Rysdahl) a big kiss. She steps away from her hubby and daughter when Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh) approaches.
“I just got the download. Shot him in the stomach, they said. That’s my girl,” says Lorraine, the very picture of icy control. Dot’s not buying the detached act and pulls her mother-in-law in for a hug, refusing to let go as a visibly uncomfortable Lorraine pats her on the back.
The action moves forward one year.
Indira (Richa Moorjani) is already there when Dot and Scotty arrive with flowers for Witt’s grave. His tombstone reads:
Whitley James Farr
1983 – 2009
Beloved Brother
(The tombstone next to Witt’s is for Jesse Kawzenuk. Kawzenuk is a visual effects supervisor on the series.)
Dot doesn’t know much about Witt’s personal life, and Indira reveals he wasn’t married but had a cat named Lucky. His furkid now lives with Indira. Witt was the only son and had six sisters, and Dot believes that’s why he was so nice.
Apparently, the car business has expanded over the last year, and Dot jokes that she and Wayne are “moguls” now. However, she sticks with handling the behind-the-scenes stuff as she’s not really a people person.
It seems like life has gotten back to normal as Indira says goodbye and heads off to check in with her boss, Lorraine. Dot remembers they need to stop at the store for sour cream since Wayne’s making chili for dinner.
Next, we head to the Federal Penitentiary in Thompson, Illinois. Roy Tillman’s serving his sentence there, and Lorraine Lyon pays him a visit. Roy, of course, believes his so-called trial was rigged, and Lorraine confirms she is the largest donor to the Federalist Society. Roy continues to play tough guy, claiming prisons are divided by race – which is the way the world should be.
Lorraine listens to him spout nonsense and then informs him his real punishment is about to begin. She has Indira wait outside, since she still has principles, and then lays out her plan. Lorraine has paid off all the debts for certain prisoners and put extra cash in their commissary accounts. They’ll be able to buy Vaseline and Vienna sausages on her dime.
She points out some rough-looking prisoners sitting nearby as now being in her debt, but she’s just begun with the list. All the prisoners in cell blocks A, B, and D are also being subsidized by Lorraine Lyon.
When Roy says that’s mighty Christian of her, Lorraine is quick to correct him. This has nothing to do with the Bible.
“It’s an older text, written on stone tablets in the age of the skullf**ckers,” says Lorraine. She insists Nadine had nothing to do with this.
Lorraine assures Roy that she wants him to feel the abuse and degradation his wives felt every day for the rest of his life. She also hopes he stays alive for a very long time.
Roy can’t hide the fear from his face as she slides over a pack of cigarettes and leaves.
And now it’s time for Dot to come face-to-face with the man who tried to kill her and then saved her life, keeping the tiger alive to fight another day.
Ole Munch (Sam Spruell) is seated in her living room, and poor Wayne is totally oblivious to the danger his family is in as Dot and Scotty arrive home. But Dot knows exactly what Ole is capable of, and Ole confirms he freed her so that the tiger could finish her fight. However, he’s not done with her yet.
Wayne picks up on “tiger” and happily provides a description of animal. He only stops the small talk when Dot gently says, “Wayne.” Wayne fetches Ole a pop – something Ole’s never enjoyed in his life – as Ole assures Dot they are going to finish their engagement.
“The debt must be paid. A man’s flesh was taken. Now a pound is required in return,” declares Ole.
Wayne leaps back into small talk, proving he always believes the best about people.
Ole continues with a stream of cryptic descriptions of his past, and Dot asks why everyone always says a debt must be paid. But what if you can’t? She believes the most humane thing is to say the debt should be forgiven.
Ole considers this while not breaking eye contact with Dot the Tiger. Wayne thinks it’s time to make biscuits, and he and Scotty head to the kitchen as Dot informs OIe that he has two choices. He can wash his hands and help make biscuits, or they can do this some other time.
Ole remains seated in the living room, watching the family. He finally joins them and scrubs his filthy hands.
Ole tries to talk about his code, but Scotty, Wayne, and Dot won’t let him finish. Instead, they finish working on dinner and give Ole the task of mixing the biscuit ingredients. Dot quietly reminds him that he knew the risk when he took the job and can’t be mad now at the risk.
Dot suggests his own mom would have done whatever it took to get back to him, just like she did to get back to Scotty and Wayne. Preparations complete, they sit down to a dinner of chili and biscuits. Dot’s loving hubby ignores the weirdness and picks up bits of Ole’s string of consciousness he can relate to.
Ole discusses being a sin-eater and how he was forced to eat the bitter, disgusting food. He says now he can not sleep, grow old, or die. “All that is left is sin,” says Ole.
The Lyon family listens to their very strange dinner companion, a new experience for an ageless man. Dot decides the cure for eating sins is to eat something made with love and joy. She offers Ole one of the biscuits he made with the family and tells him he will be forgiven.
Ole takes a moment to process this and then accepts the biscuit. Before tasting it, he looks at Wayne and Scotty and sees no judgment in their eyes. Ole takes a tiny bit and savors the taste of pure joy.
And that, my fellow Fargo enthusiasts, is the end of a near-perfect season. I can only hope that somehow Noah Hawley works Dot and the Lyon family back into a future season. I realize it’s an impossible ask, but a Fargo fan can hope, can’t she?
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