One Element That Makes Fargo S5 True Masterpiece

Summary

• The new season of Fargo, which ended last week, touched on many themes that viewers will find themselves returning to over and over again.
• However, there was one important topic that went unnoticed by many fans.
• The concept not only connected the main characters and tied the story together, but it also provided a lot of food for thought.

Fargo Season 5 ended on January 16 with its tenth and final episode, Bisquik, proving once again that Noah Hawley is one of the best television writers of our time.

In the new season, Hawley managed to tackle many thought-provoking topics, such as the position of women in the world, domestic violence, far-right movement, fight for survival, living by principles, enjoying life to the fullest, and many more.

In addition, there was one theme that went unnoticed by many viewers, but which ran through the whole story and connected its characters on a deeper, more philosophical level. It was the examination of debt.

The Theme Which Tied Everything Together

Redditor u/fractalfay pointed out that Fargo Season 5 is actually a brilliant study of debt and how it is perceived by different people. Hawley included a line about the frightening percentage of Americans who have credit card or other money debt. But the theme goes much deeper.

If we look at each character individually, we'll see that they all have the idea of debt woven into their arcs, words, motivations, and actions. It is these ideas that make them the characters we see on screen.

Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

Of course, the most obvious character associated with the theme of debt is Lorraine. She is a highly successful debt collector who uses debt as currency and a powerful weapon.

Her belief at the beginning of the season is that debt is something you get into, never something that is just handed to you by fate. As a result, she feels no compassion and refuses to even hear the word 'victim.'

But that changes when Lorraine learns Dot's story. In the end, she accepts Dot as a person and her 'daughter' and uses the debt to punish the man who sees her as a thing.

Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm)

Another person who operates under the concept of debt is Sheriff Roy. He may seem like a man who doesn't care about money, but in his case, debt is not about valuable possessions, but about what the world and people owe him as a birthright.

For Roy, debt is a one-way sword. He never owes anyone anything. Everyone owes him. That's why he's so sure of his righteousness. That's why he's in no hurry to pay Munch. That's why he refuses to let Dot get on with her life and stop thinking of her as a thing that is owed to him.

Roy and Lorraine's views on the debt are very different, and that leads to the iconic confrontation we see in the final episodes of the chapter.

Ole Munch (Sam Spruell)

The concept of debt opens most interestingly in the arc of 500-year-old sin-eater Munch. Since he first swallowed the sins of others, he has become the ultimate debt collector, roaming the earth and eating the sins of those who hire him, sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of hell.

The only way he knows how to live is under a strict code, which is best shown in the scene where he takes Gator's eyes to make him pay the moral debt of killing an elderly woman.

But when Munch comes to Dot to collect her debt, Dot and Wayne show him that there is an alternative way to live. It is better to eat with joy than to consume sin. And sharing is better than collecting. The moment he realizes this is the last and most beautiful scene of the whole season.

Source: Reddit.