‘Fargo’ season 2, episode 4 review: Have Ed and Peggy owned up to their ‘accident’?

“Fargo” season 2 has taken a while to get going this year, but we are going into the fourth episode now and things are starting to make a bit more sense (outside of the UFO’s storyline that we are pretending isn’t happening.) There is a race between the Gerhardt and Kansas City mafia to find Rye and Lou and Hank are pushing back at these two mafias to find Rye themselves. Who is going to find out that he’s dead first?

Let’s start tonight with the story of the mob, mostly because the Kansas City crew at one point seemed to get the upper hand. Now, here’s the question: How much do we really care about it? The feeling that we have right now is that the would be better with about 30% less of the mob. No offense to Brad Garrett, who is wonderful in everything, but “Fargo” is suffering from the bad kind of a “too many cooks” phenomenon. If there weren’t so many characters, this show could easily resolve itself within an hour’s run time. That scene with Floyd in the car? Still heartbreaking … almost as much so as her sitting near her husband right before the end credits rolled.

Elsewhere, Peggy found herself a lesson in empowerment in this episode as she was encouraged to take the money for her own self-improvement rather than just giving into the demands of Ed. Lou paid them a visit near the end of the episode, which was mostly significant in trying to call Ed and Peggy out on his resting facial expressions. “You have no idea what’s coming” is the warning that he laid out to them, which was brilliant in its subtlety. He warned them that the Gerhardt’s were coming searching for Rye, and they better prepare before their own bodies lie within the ground.

Did Peggy and Ed listen? Not exactly. Instead, they asked for Lou to leave, standing by their “accident” until further notice … which has us in turn thinking that more “accidents” could befall them in the future.

So far through four episodes, “Fargo” remains a mixed bag. The UFO story is an eye-roller, but there’s no doubt that the performances are brilliant and there was at least some connective tissue in many of the stories. Patrick Wilson may not have dominated the air time tonight, but he was fantastic every time we saw him. There were moments in this episode about a drug trial that ring a bell slightly, but we’re trying to keep our eye on the prize here … even though it’s a prize not everyone may want to win. Grade: B.

What did you think of this week’s epsiode of “Fargo” and do you like this season better then season 1? Leave us your thoughts int he comment box below. (Photo: FX)