History Series / Fargo

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:After Varga's henchmen beat Nikki to within an inch of her life in the previous episode, Ray and Nikki flee to a motel. Ray realizes he has forgotten something back at his apartment and leaves Nikki alone, unaware that one of Varga's henchmen, Meemo, has followed them to the motel to finish the job. Meemo hides in the bathroom while Nikki gets some ice, leading the audience to believe that Nikki's demise is imminent. Instead, it's ''Ray'' who ends up dead, killed accidentally by Emmit, and Meemo is called away to help clean up the scene before he has a chance to kill Nikki.]]

'''SPOILER WARNING: The plot of Fargo is pretty unpredictable even to GenreSavvy tropers, and many tropes on this page and the character page are spoilers simply by their name. Read at your own risk.'''

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: In the spirit of Showalter and Grimsrud from the film, each season has a pair: Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench in Season 1, the Kitchen brothers in Season 2, and Yuri and Meemo in Season 3.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Villains tend to be very conservative in their views. Malvo and Dodd Gerhardt in particular ''hate'' women, and Varga is quite hostile to the poor and minorities.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Season 3]]

* MuggingTheMonster: Nikki and Ray start messing up Emmit's life and think that the worst that could happen is that Sy will try to get back at them. They are for a very rough surprise when they find that their actions mess with Varga's "investment" in Emmit and Varga does not take such stuff likely.

* WickedCultured: The villainous V.M. Varga is well-traveled and multilingual.

* AnyoneCanDie: The show isn't shy about bumping off major characters, especially in Season 2.

* RealityEnsues: A parole officer is strictly prohibited from having sex with a parolee because of the great potential for abuse. When Ray's bosses find out about his relationship with Nikky they are extremely unhappy and fire him when he tells them that he intends to keep seeing her. In addition this could be considered a violation of Nikky's parole and she could be sent back to prison.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: In a ShoutOut to the original film, every episode opens with a declaration that it's based on a true story with the names changed. The caption even holds the word "true" onscreen for a second or two after the rest have faded.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Villains tend to be very conservative in their views. Malvo and Dodd Gerhardt in particular ''hate'' women.

The show was renewed for a third season in November 2015. Little is currently known about the season, save that it will [[http://www.avclub.com/article/fargo-season-three-return-futuristic-world-21st-ce-229314 return]] to a [[TwentyMinutesIntoThePast 21st century setting]], more specifically [[TheNewTens 2010]]. Creator/EwanMcGregor will [[ActingForTwo star]] as two brothers, Emmit and Ray Stussy.

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: Blunkin's search for "VM Varga" yields a single result, which is a website carrying Varga's computer virus. Apparently a search for "VM Varga" is so rare that he'll kill anyone who makes one.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Ray and Sy have a bitter confrontation, indulge in a little FlippingTheBird and Ray's car is totalled to ''The Christmas Song''.

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: Blunkin's search for "V.M. Varga" yields a single result, which is a website carrying Varga's computer virus. Apparently a search for V.M. Varga is so rare that he'll kill anyone who makes one.

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: Blunkin's search for "VM Varga" yields a single result, which is a website carrying Varga's computer virus. Apparently a search for VM Varga is so rare that he'll kill anyone who makes one.

* OddlySmallOrganization: Before the County takeover, the entirety of the Eden Valley police force was made up of only 2 officers, and that includes the chief[[note]]In 2011, the average in the US for cities with fewer than 10,000 residents was 3.5 officers per 1,000 inhabitants.[[/note]].
* OhCrap: Emmit and partner Sly's reaction when Varga makes it clear they can't pay back the "loan" but rather are going to be used to launder money for his criminal organization.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Emmit reads a newspaper article about [[spoiler: Ennis Stussy's]] murder, and doesn't even comment on the fact [[spoiler: the victim has virtually the same name as him.]]

* IdiotBall: All over the place.
** Emmit honestly thinks you can borrow money from an organized crime family and then just pay it back like a normal loan rather than, say, the family holding it over you for further control. Varga lampshades it by asking if Emmit never wondered why someone would just give him a million dollars without asking for any collateral. Lampshaded by Emmit's lawyer:
--->'''Irv:''' You borrowed a million dollars from a guy without knowing his first name.
--->'''Emmit:''' Look...
--->'''Irv:''' I'm not asking a question, I'm just assessing the level of stupidity.
** Ray thinks it's a great idea to trust a drugged-up parolee to rob his brother of a stamp.
** The parolee, Maurice, manages to totally misread the directions, drive 75 miles to the wrong town, thinks a man in his 80s is somehow Ray's ''twin'' brother, kills the guy and brings Ray back a set of normal stamps. Oh and he demands $10,000 for his "work."
** Irv puts Varga's name into a web search engine. The screen turns into a camera that takes the photo of himself and his secretary, then turns off. Irv just shrugs and continues his work, not considering that [[spoiler: Varga is sending a couple of hitmen to kill him.]]