Lou Solverson continues his investigation of the Waffle Hut murders in this episode of Fargo, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” but when his work takes him to the Gerhardt homestead, they are none too pleased to meet the Minnesota police officer. Speaking of the Gerhardts, we learn a little more about their family dynamics and what they plan to do about the whole Kansas City situation. Meanwhile, Ed and Peggy go one step further to complete their own murderous cover-up.
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The Gerhardts Consult Their Allies
With Otto Gerhardt down for the count and the Kansas City Mafia closing in, Ma Gerhardt, also known as Floyd, calls together a few of what seem to be the Gerhardts’ business partners or allies to discuss future options. She tells them about Kansas City and how they could either sell or fight back. Of course, Dodd wants to go in guns blazing, but Bear is more willing to follow his mother’s lead on the whole thing.
Essentially, Floyd doesn’t want to go to war if she doesn’t have to. But, ultimately, she has to know these men have her back no matter what happens. They reply that they aren’t going to make the first move themselves, but if the Kansas City guys go after the Gerhardts, the men are willing to go after the syndicate in retaliation. Seems like Ma Gerhardt has things a little more under control than her son thought she would.
Lou Continues to Solve the Puzzle
When Hank tells Lou the fingerprints on the gun that was found near the Waffle Hut match those of Rye Gerhardt, the youngest heir of the Gerhardt syndicate out of Fargo, he decides to head there himself to learn more. He meets an officer there, Ben Schmidt, and they talk for a bit about the reputation of the Gerhardt family in Fargo. Basically, the guy tells Lou he’d be better off blaming the whole thing on himself and leaving the whole thing alone.
But, of course, Lou isn’t the type to do that. And while he and Ben are in the same building where Judge Mundt’s office was, he sees a man approach her door and walk away from it several times. Suspicious, they follow him to his car and it’s none other than Skip Sprang, our favorite friendly neighborhood typewriter salesman.
They question Skip for a bit, and he claims he was there for a hearing about some back tax trouble connected to Mundt. They eventually let him go since they have nothing on him other than he’s “squirrelly,” but that’s not the last we see of Skip in this episode of Fargo.
Showdown
Lou’s investigation brings him to the home of the Gerhardts, which he visits with Schmidt in tow. But they don’t exactly receive a warm welcome. When they are ordered to relinquish their guns, Schmidt does so, but Solverson refuses. And when Floyd comes outside to question them, it’s clear that she’s got Schmidt in her back pocket and expects Lou to be on his way without any trouble.
But Lou isn’t having any of that. He tells them all about the dead judge and Rye’s possible connection to the murders, and generally refuses to back down. Dodd follows his mother onto the porch, as does Bear and his son eventually, and Lou challenges the oldest Dodd far more than he’s clearly used to. Lou Solverson refuses to back down when facing the very real threat of the Gerhardt family, and it’s certainly admirable. Eventually, Dodd backs down and Floyd orders Lou and Ben off the property, refusing to speak to them any further.
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Lou vs. Mike Milligan and the Kitchen Brothers
The whole thing leads Lou to Skip’s typewriter shop, which he visits after Ben Schmidt backs down and heads out on his own. There, it’s not Skip that he finds, but rather Mike Milligan and the Kitchen Brothers.
Eventually, the brothers have their guns drawn on Lou, and he has his out as well, but Mike eventually leads the brothers out of the shop with no harm done. “We’ve seen everything there is to see,” he explains, and Lou is left in the dingy shop on his own. After, he heads to a gas station and gets to hear a strange story about lights in the sky and aliens from a resident, and the whole thing is very strange, so it’ll probably end up being important later on Fargo.
Skip’s Big Mistake
So where did Skip end up after his run-in with the law? Well, he tried to turn to Rye but instead finds Dodd’s daughter and his associate, Hanzee, in the room he expects to find the youngest Gerhardt son crashing in. They lead him straight to Dodd, and it doesn’t end well for him.
After roughing up his daughter a bit, Dodd confronts Skip in the middle of nowhere, Hanzee by his side, and there’s no saving the poor salesman. Dodd threatens and harms Skip in an attempt to find out where Rye is, but Skip swears he knows nothing. So they order him into his own grave.
That’s right. There’s a hole dug perfectly for a body to lie in, and Hanzee tells Skip to get into it. He begs and pleads, and even offers up a tidbit about talking to Mike Milligan, but it doesn’t help. A nearby truck dumps what appears to be tar on him as he screams, which seems like a really awful way to go. I think I would’ve just run and let myself be shot or something instead.
Dodd tells Hanzee to go to Minnesota in search of Rye and to kill anyone who gets in the way of bringing him back. The guy means business, and I have a feeling Skip isn’t going to be the last man dead under his watch.
Ed and Peggy’s Newest Scheme
So what are Ed and Peggy up to in this installment of Fargo? Well, after Hank comes into the salon with a wanted poster featuring Rye, Peggy rightfully quietly freaks out, since that’s the guy she hit and killed with her car and all. Betsy brings up her theory of the shoe in the tree being from the murderer and suggests a hit-and-run situation.
Which is, of course, what happened, as we know, but Peggy tries to divert Hank, claiming that Betsy’s theory doesn’t make sense, since why wouldn’t someone stop if they hit a person with their car? Well, I dunno Peggy, why wouldn’t they?
The whole thing sends Peggy into panic mode, and she retrieves her husband from his job in order to go out and cover up the last piece of evidence of their own bloody crime. They take the car with the smashed windshield out to the middle of nowhere, and, citing a tried-and-true method a chronically drunk relative of hers used to do to hide the truth of his drunken accidents, Peggy suggests that they fake a new accident in order to conceal what really happened.
At first, when Ed tries to drive the car into a nearby tree, he supposedly hits black ice and smashes the back corner of it instead. On the second try, he does it “right,” and the damage looks like it all took place right there by the time a tow truck arrives.
So it looks like between the car and the body, Peggy and Ed have totally erased all evidence of their involvement in Rye Gerhardt’s death. But I’m sure it won’t be that easy for the Blomquists, especially with the rest of the Gerhardts still in the picture.
Fargo airs Monday nights at 10pm on FX.
(Image courtesy of FX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
