History Series / Fargo

The third season ended airing on June 21, 2017, after which Hawley stated that the show would be going on indefinite hiatus due to his commitments with ''Series/{{Legion}}'' and several planned feature films, as well as a lack of creative ideas for a fourth season.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Season 1 uses logical paradoxes and Zen Buddhist koans. Season 2 uses literary and artistic allusions (except for "[[LongTitle Did You Do This? No, You Did It!]]")

''Fargo'' is a 2014 Creator/{{FX}} crime series based on the Creator/CoenBrothers movie [[Film/{{Fargo}} of the same name]]. It also draws inspiration from their entire library of works, while the brothers themselves take the role executive producers alongside show creator and primary writer Creator/NoahHawley. Originally conceived as a MiniSeries, acclaim of the show's first season led to its renewal and evolution into [[ThematicSeries an anthology]]. Each season focuses on a new set of characters and a different year and plot, but retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: As the series goes on there's a surprising addition of more fantastical elements sprinkled throughout. While season 1's comparison of Lorne to the Devil may have just been Lorne being poetic, season 2 features aliens and season 3 delves into some surreal elements. They blur the line between being real supernatural events happening in an otherwise grounded story or just being the themes of the series manifesting in odd ways not meant to be taken literally.

''Fargo'' is a 2014 Creator/{{FX}} crime series based on the Creator/CoenBrothers movie [[Film/{{Fargo}} of the same name]]. It also draws inspiration from their entire library of works, while the brothers themselves take the role executive producers alongside show creator and primary writer Noah Hawley. Originally conceived as a MiniSeries, acclaim of the show's first season led to its renewal and evolution into [[ThematicSeries an anthology]]. Each season focuses on a new set of characters and a different year and plot, but retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected.

There was also a [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382026/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 failed television pilot]] released in 2003 starring a pre-''Series/TheSopranos'' Edie Falco that failed to get picked up, despite the critical praise.

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

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Villains tend to be very conservative in their views. Lorne Malvo, Dodd Gerhardt, and Yuri Gurka in particular ''hate'' women, and V.M. Varga is quite hostile to minorities, the overweight, refugees/migrants, and especially the poor.

->''This is a true story.''

'''''Fargo''''' is a 2014 Creator/{{FX}} crime series based on the Creator/CoenBrothers movie [[Film/{{Fargo}} of the same name]]. It also draws inspiration from their entire library of works, while the brothers themselves take the role executive producers alongside show creator and primary writer Noah Hawley. Originally conceived as a MiniSeries, acclaim of the show's first season led to its renewal and evolution into [[ThematicSeries an anthology]]. Each season focuses on a new set of characters and a different year and plot, but retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected.

->''[[TrueCrime This is a]] [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie true]] [[TrueCrime story.]]''

* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover / UltimateUniverse: With the number of {{Expy}} characters, it really does feel like [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Coen Brothers]]: TheSeries. WordOfGod has described Season 1 as ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' meets ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' and ''Film/ASeriousMan'', while Season 2 is ''Fargo'' meets ''Film/MillersCrossing'' and ''Film/TheManWhoWasntThere''.

'''''Fargo''''' is a 2014 Creator/{{FX}} crime series based on the Creator/CoenBrothers movie [[Film/{{Fargo}} of the same name]]. It also draws inspiration from their entire library of works, while the brothers themselves take the role executive producers alongside show creator and primary writer Noah Hawley. Originally conceived as a MiniSeries, acclaim of the show's first season led to its renewal and evolution into [[ThematicSeries an anthology]]. Each season focuses on a new set of characters and a different year and plot, but retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected. Hawley stated around the end of the third season that it would likely be the last one, as he was running low on ideas and didn't want to keep it going unless there was a quality story to tell, plus he was being stretched thin by several other projects. However, he hasn't completely ruled out bringing the show back if another good idea does come to him.

'''''Fargo''''' is a 2014 Creator/{{FX}} crime series based on the Creator/CoenBrothers movie [[Film/{{Fargo}} of the same name]]. It also draws inspiration from their entire library of works, while the brothers themselves take the role executive producers alongside show creator and primary writer Noah Hawley. Originally conceived as a MiniSeries, acclaim of the show's first season led to its renewal and evolution into [[ThematicSeries an anthology]]. Each season focuses on a new set of characters and a different year and plot, but retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: As the series goes on there's a surprising addition of more fantastical elements sprinkled throughout. While season 1's comparison of Lorne to the Devil may have just been Lorne being poetic, season 2 features aliens and season 3 delves into some surreal horror elements. They blur the line between being real supernatural events happening in an otherwise grounded story or just being the themes of the series manifesting in odd ways not meant to be taken literally.

** Season 2 includes a number of characters from Season 1 (Lou and Molly Solverson, Ben Schmidt, Mr. Tripoli, Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench)and shows the events surrounding the oft-mentioned Sioux Falls massacre.
** Season 3 has a mention of Stan Grossman from the film.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fargoffx_6223.jpg]]

->''This is a true story. The events depicted took place in Minnesota in 2006. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.''
-->-- '''The text that opens each episode'''

'''''Fargo''''' is a 2014 television series on Creator/{{FX}}, based on the [[Film/{{Fargo}} movie]] of the same name and executive-produced by the Creator/CoenBrothers. It was originally announced as a miniseries, but later revealed to be [[ThematicSeries an anthology series]]: each season will follow a totally different set of characters and subplots, instead retaining the same themes and tropes.

Season One opens with Lester Nygaard (Creator/MartinFreeman), local salesman and ButtMonkey trapped in a loveless marriage with a belittling wife. Confronted by Sam Hess, the asshole who used to [[TheBully viciously bully]] him in school, Lester finds himself at the hospital for a broken nose and [[YankTheDogsChain coming to the end of his rope]]. Unfortunately, [[ForWantOfANail the one friendly stranger he starts to vent at]] just so happens to be Lorne Malvo (Creator/BillyBobThornton), a [[BlueAndOrangeMorality blue-and-orange]] aligned ProfessionalKiller passing through who takes sympathy on his situation. Naturally, ''[[FinaglesLaw things begin to snowball from here.]]''

Season Two began airing October, 2015. It [[{{Prequel}} takes us back]] to TheSeventies and explores the [[CrypticBackgroundReference infamous-yet-mysterious]] Sioux Falls incident that ''everyone'' insists on [[NoodleIncident vaguely recalling]]. It stars Patrick Wilson, Creator/TedDanson, Jean Smart, Creator/KirstenDunst & Creator/JessePlemons. Features at least three characters from season one (Lou & Molly Solverson, as well as Gus Grimly's boss Ben Schmidt), and a more in-depth look at the previously off-screen menace of the Kansas City Mafia.

The third season began airing in 2017. It is set TwentyMinutesIntoThePast, in [[TheNewTens 2010]]. The plot involves a sibling rivalry between two brothers, [[ActingForTwo both played by]] Creator/EwanMcGregor, and how their machinations intersect with the family of a small-town police officer played by Carrie Coon.

[[foldercontrol]]

!!The first season contains examples of:

[[folder:A-L]]
* AnimalMotifs: Show up frequently, most notably with Malvo who is constantly associated with wolves. As a theme, fish are shown throughout the show.
* AsianAirhead: Linda, [[spoiler:Lester's wife after the TimeSkip]].
* AssassinOutclassin:
** When Numbers and Wrench finally learn Malvo's identity and are ordered to kill him, Malvo escapes their vehicular ambush in a snowstorm [[spoiler:and kills Numbers before heading off]].
** Malvo himself falls victim to this when he tracks down [[spoiler:Lester]], who [[spoiler:sets up a bear trap and]] injures him enough to force him to flee.
* AssholeVictim: Sam Hess, a grown man who still acts like a high-school bully to Lester. [[spoiler:Along with Lester's wife and the man mistaken for Lorne.]]
* AxesAtSchool: Lester does this as part of his plan to frame his brother. He plants a gun in his nephew Gordo's backpack. When the gun is discovered at school, this causes the police to search the house, finding the evidence Lester planted (along with Chazz's own illegal firearm).
* BadassFamily: The Solverson/Grimley's. Molly cements her status as a GoodIsNotSoft Determinator throughout the series and Lou is definitely a RetiredBadass however in the final episode [[spoiler:Lou shows he's still very much a BadAssGrandpa when he spends the entire night outside the house with a shotgun to guard Gus and Greta from Malvo and when he explains the situation to Greta she immediately gets her own gun and joins him. Finally Gus steps up and waits to kill Malvo in his hideout.]]
* BattleDiscretionShot: When Malvo [[spoiler:machine-guns the Fargo mobsters]], the camera stays facing the building as he goes in, then tracks up and over past the mirrored windows following the shots and screams. The only blood we see is from [[spoiler:one man thrown through a window down to the sidewalk]].
* BestialityIsDepraved: Malvo tells a story about a woman who thought it would be funny to bend over and let her boyfriend's dog hump her, apparently unaware that he's not neutered. The dog tries to mount her for real and won't let her go; they end up having to kill it to rescue her.
* BigBadEnsemble: Lorne Malvo and Lester Nygaard.
* BilingualBonus: Viewers who know ASL can pick up on a few extra jokes and conversations between Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench. For example, thanks to translations circling the internet, part of their introductory conversation with Hess' lawyer is revealed as this:
-->'''Mr. Wrench''': [signing to Mr. Numbers] Ask him about the library.\\
'''Mr. Numbers''': There's no library in this town. Why is there no library in this town?\\
'''Max Gold''': Uh, cutbacks?\\
'''Mr. Numbers''': [signing to Mr. Wrench] He doesn't know.\\
'''Mr. Wrench''': [signing to Mr. Numbers] Let him know that his tie is absolutely hideous.\\
'''Mr. Numbers''': [chuckles] He thinks every town should have a library.\\
'''Max Gold''': I agree. (beat) Tell him I agree.\\
'''Mr. Numbers''': [signing to Mr. Wrench] His mother bought it for him.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Lorne is finally killed by Gus, Lester falls through ice and drowns and Gus, Molly and Greta are expecting a happy future, but a lot of innocent people either died or suffered greatly due to the search for Lorne and Lester and the actions of the duo.]]
* BlackComedy: There's a definite mix of humour and horror, such as Lester [[spoiler:intentionally knocking himself out to spare himself any suspicion in the wake of a murder.]]
* BookEnds: For Lester, who breaks his nose at the beginning of the first episode and [[spoiler: during the climax of the last episode.]]
* BullyingADragon: A subversion in that while Lester antagonizes Lorne Malvo, he is still aware of how dangerous he is. [[spoiler: As expected, Malvo does go after Lester, but he fails to kill him. While, Lester does not walk away from the ordeal unscathed and initially bites off more than he could chew, Malvo does not get his revenge.]]
* ButtMonkey: Lester, though his arc seems to be TheDogBitesBack.
* CallBack:
** When Malvo confronts Gus at the police station, he gives him a riddle. Molly has to give him the answer and when the two men meet in the last episode of season one, Gus tells him he knows the answer.
** When Malvo asks Lester if he wants Sam Hess to be killed, he says, "Yes or no". Lester is too shaken and confused to answer, as he is an ExtremeDoormat in the first episode. After the TimeSkip, Lester becomes more confident and meets up with Malvo again. [[spoiler: This time, Lester decides to stand up to Malvo. When Malvo asks, "Is this what you want? Yes or no?", Lester flat out tells him, "Yes".]]
** Earlier in the season, Malvo tells a story of a bear caught in a bear trap who escapes and goes off to die on his own terms. [[spoiler: In the last episode of the season, Malvo gets his own leg caught in a bear trap and escapes, only to die in his cabin once Gus catches up to him.]]
* CampingACrapper: In "The Heap", Lorne Malvo kills the cop guarding Wrench's hospital room by hiding in the bathroom till the cop has to go, them ambushing him and strangling him.
* CatchPhrase: Malvo's seems to be "Aces" when he's pretending to be a dentist.
* ChekhovsGun:
** Chazz's taser. [[spoiler:Lester uses it to escape Numbers and Wrench]].
** Chazz's bear trap. [[spoiler:Lester uses it in the finale to disable Malvo]].
* ChekhovsGunman: While it initially looks like Gus will play a major role in the pursuit of Malvo, his only substantial contribution is that he actually met Malvo face-to-face. Beyond that he is not a very good cop and does not really move the investigation forward. However, in the finale [[spoiler: he recognizes Malvo driving by, finds Malvo's hideout and then shoots Malvo dead]].
* TheChessmaster:
** Lorne Malvo.
** Surprisingly, [[spoiler:Lester]] becomes one later on.
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Both averted and played straight. Stavros Milos is Eastern Orthodox, however he associates with Saint Lawrence of ''Rome'', and has a stained glass image of St Lawrence, which is far more Catholic than Orthodox. Also during a sequence a Latin litany chant is used, where one might have expected a chant in Greek.
* ContrivedCoincidence:
** In a flashback scene, Stavros's discovery of [[spoiler:Carl Showalter's stash of money right after he prays for a miracle.]] This naturally makes him start to believe in the existence of God.
** The two hitmen tasked with finding the man who killed Sam Hess run into a man who matches the general description of Lorne and even has a wound on his head in the same area that Lorne has. In addition the man is a KnifeNut and supposedly made threats against Hess. After they abduct the man, they are seriously vexed when they find out that they got the wrong man.
** Lampshaded when Molly correctly connects all the deaths to each other but cannot convince Bill that it is not just a series of unlikely coincidences.
** [[spoiler:After Stavros buries the money in the snow, he happens upon Wally and Dmitri's car wreck while driving home (although perhaps justified considering they were driving to the same place).]]
** After the TimeSkip, Lester is at a conference in UsefulNotes/LasVegas when out of the blue he runs into Lorne in the hotel bar. This unlikely meeting is somewhat foreshadowed by Bill's story of finding his African-refugee-adoptee in a random supermarket in another town, months after he and his wife were supposed to meet the kid; their initial meeting being prevented by the boy's bag being stolen at the airport.
** Gus seems to be magnetically attracted to [[spoiler:Malvo]], and runs into him nearly constantly after their first meeting, right until episode 10 when [[spoiler:he has to stop to avoid a wolf right outside Malvo's house.]]
* DaChief: [[spoiler:Bill Oswalt becomes the new chief after his predecessor dies. He spends his first few episodes in office resisting Solverson's detective efforts before finally breaking down]].
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Chief Thurman. His death sets up the real protagonist, Deputy Solverson.]]
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:In the finale, a wolf appears in the road, forcing Gus to stop his car and inadvertently discover Lorne's hideout. Later, when Malvo returns to heal himself, he sees the same wolf outside and is distracted by it long enough for Gus to get the drop on him.]]
* DiabolusExMachina: The fate of [[spoiler:Wally and Dmitri]]. They get killed by a torrent of ''falling fish''. Made worse by the fact that [[spoiler:Stavros had just tried to make peace with God to spare his son from the Ten Plagues (actually just Lorne), only to have them be killed by [[NecroNonSequitur a real "miracle"]].]]
* DisguisedHostageGambit: Malvo tricks the cops into wasting their time and killing [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Don Chumph]]]] this way: he uses [[DuctTapeForEverything duct tape]] to gag him, tie him to an exercise machine, and stick an unloaded shotgun pointed at the front door into his hands. He draws the cops' attention by firing a rifle at some cars outside, leaves, and then sets up a tripwire to make the rifle fire more once the SWAT team arrives. When the team entered the front door, the light was in their eyes, so all they saw was a silhouette of a man holding a shotgun. Since the exercise machine kept him propped up even after being shot, the ''entire squad'' continued firing continuously for several seconds until they could see he was dead.
** This is echoed in episode 10, where [[spoiler:the car salesman is taped to the steering wheel of Malvo's car and distracts Pepper and Budge for long enough for Malvo to sneak up on them.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: As condescending and unsupportive Chazz may be as a brother, [[spoiler:he and his family pay dearly due to Lester's plotting.]]
* DumbMuscle: Don Chumph. In the sense that he's used to run all the errands and mundane tasks.
* {{Expy}}:
** Molly has elements of Marge, being a PluckyGirl with serious MinnesotaNice and is a [[GoodIsNotDumb surprisingly competent police officer.]] [[spoiler:And a matching pregnancy as of "The Heap".]]
** Lorne is one for [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen Anton Chigurh]] -- a mysterious, malevolent loner with an odd haircut whose MO heavily incorporates ItAmusedMe.
** Lester starts as a pretty clear one for Jerry Lundegaard from the film. Then [[CharacterDevelopment things go in a drastically different direction.]]
** Linda Nygaard is a subtle one. She shares traits with Mike Yamagita: she's Asian-American, harbors an infatuation with a love interest, and even shares the name of the off-screen Linda Cooksey in the movie.
** Glenn Howerton's character, Don Chumph, can be seen as one for Brad Pitt's character from ''Film/{{Burn After Reading}}''. They're both grinning, dim-witted personal trainers involved with half-assed schemes to extort money.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Lester's first scene has him being mercilessly and passive-aggressively criticized for his inadequacies by his wife. He simply absorbs the abuse, establishing him as a rather pathetic ExtremeDoormat.
** Chief Thurman is introduced making some astute observations at a crime scene and gently correcting Solverson, establishing him as a good guy and a good lawman.
** Solverson is introduced following Thurman's lead and learning from his detective skills, showing that she is an up-and-coming police officer.
** Lorne Malvo is introduced with a naked man in his trunk, establishing him as a creepy crook.
** Bill Oswalt is introduced having just vomited at a crime scene, establishing him as a less-than-stellar example of police competence.
** Gus Grimly is introduced sitting in his police cruiser and catching up with his daughter over a walkie-talkie, establishing his dual life roles.
** Numbers and Wrench are first introduced as a simple pair of intimidating hitmen, and then they start signing to each other. An interview with the writers confirms this was intended to make them seem unpredictable and secretive.
* EstablishingSeriesMoment: Most of the first episode seems like a retread of the movie: Lester is an Expy of Jerry Lundegaard, a nebbish businessman who's the ButtMonkey of his own family and who has an encounter with a far more dangerous and edgy stranger. Like Jerry trying and failing to get the ice off the windshield of his car, Lester tries and fails to fix his washing machine. And, like Wade in the film having open contempt for his son-in-law, Pearl has open contempt for her own husband. [[spoiler:Then stammering milquetoast Lester picks up a hammer and beats Pearl to death.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Molly's story about the man who left his glove on the train platform is lost on Lester because he can't comprehend a charitable act. However, he quickly solves Agent Budge's [[FoxChickenGrainPuzzle riddle about the fox, the rabbit, and the cabbage]] because he has become a master at serving his own interests.
* ExtremeDoormat: Lester, [[CharacterDevelopment to begin with]]. He's even described in the show's description as "put-upon".
* FlawExploitation: Malvo's M.O., to the point that he even does it to minor characters [[ForTheEvulz for no apparent gain]]: {{troll}}ing them by poking at resentments and inadequacies just to see whether they will take the bait, and punishing those who do.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** "Buridan's Ass" opens with a shot of fish swimming in a restaurant tank; near the end of that episode, [[spoiler:Stavros' son and bodyguard are killed by a rain of fish]].
** It's not his job, but Gus Grimly frequently has to stand in for Animal Control, a job the rest of the cops look down on. [[spoiler:Malvo is repeatedly compared to a predatory animal, especially by himself, and Gus figures this out just before killing him.]] Foreshadowing the same scene is the story Malvo tells about [[spoiler:a bear who gnawed his leg off to get out of a trap, before dying "on his own terms".]]
* [[FoxChickenGrainPuzzle Fox-Chicken-Cabbage Puzzle]]
** In the "A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage" episode, Budge asks Pepper this riddle to pass the time while they are [[ReassignedToAntarctica assigned to the file room]]. Pepper gets hung up on the details and eventually provides a unique answer.
--> '''Pepper''': A Turducken.\\
'''Budge''': A what's that now?\\
'''Pepper''': He stuffs the cabbage in the rabbit and the rabbit in the fox, and he eats all of them.\\
''' Budge''': That's not the answer.\\
'''Pepper''': It's ''an'' answer.
** In the subsequent "Morton's Fork" episode, Budge asks Lester the riddle while driving him back to his home and he gets the correct answer right away.
* FreezeFrameBonus: If one pauses the scene in episode 9 when Lester buys the plane tickets one can see that [[spoiler:he only bought ''[[http://gfycat.com/KeyHeartfeltGiraffe# a single one-way ticket for one person]]'']].
* FridgeLogic: Discussed in-universe. When Gus tells Molly the neighbor's anecdote about the rich man who futilely gave everything, including his life, for the good of humanity, Molly wonders why the man couldn't just live on and work for charity.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Lorne & Lester.
* FunWithSubtitles: Mr. Wrench is deaf, so he usually talks in sign language as his partner, Mr. Numbers, translates. But in "Eating The Blame",[[note]]Season 1 Episode 4[[/note]] they talk to each other with nobody else around. So instead, subtitles appear next to their faces as they "talk."
* GambitPileup: Lorne and Lester each have an increasing number of complex and risky schemes piling up on either side to keep them both alive and out of jail.
* GetIntoJailFree: In "Eating the Blame", Lester punches a cop in order to get arrested and away from Numbers and Wrench. Numbers and Wrench later stage a bar brawl and get arrested and placed in the same cell as Lester.
* GlasgowGrin: [[spoiler:Malvo]] gets one when he is shot in the face and killed. He never has to live with it, however.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Best exemplified through Bill, who inadvertently lets Lester off the hook for Pearl's murder as he cannot believe him to be capable of such a crime. [[spoiler:In the finale, he decides to retire and let Molly take over his post, stating that he can't stomach how utterly cruel and savage the world can be to produce men like Malvo and Lester.]]
* GoodIsDumb:
** A major motif throughout the series is that as well-intentioned and good Gus and Bill may be, their flashes of incompetence are counterproductive. The difference between the two is that Gus owns his incompetencies; he admits that he didn't act correctly when stopping Malvo's car, and sends numerous bunches of flowers to Molly after [[spoiler:he shoots her.]] Bill's constant need to save face and pride and assert his authority in the face of Molly's investigation really screws things up, though he redeems himself in the end when he [[spoiler:decides to leave the force, and recognises Molly's superior policing abilities.]]
** Averted with Molly and Vern.
* GunNut: Chazz.
* HereThereBeDragons: Discussed by Malvo while warning off Gus in the pilot.
* HumanShield: Lester uses his new wife as this to protect himself from Lorne, even having her wear his red jacket with a hoodie.
* ImpersonationGambit: Lester [[spoiler:after ending up in the hospital due to being septic with infection, switches beds with his heavily bandaged and sedated roommate. Why? So he can be taken out of the room for surgery, past the police, steal a car, go to his house and get the bloody hammer and some sexy pictures of his wife, break into his brother's house, plant the evidence next to an illegal machine gun, place a pistol in his nephew's backpack and get his brother arrested and blamed for his wife's murder. Then, get back to the hospital and switch back. IT WORKS.]]
* {{Irony}}: Throughout Season 1, Malvo tricks Stavros into thinking God is inflicting the Ten Plagues on him, which eventually motivates Stavros to [[spoiler:bury the blackmail money in order to make peace before God can kill his son. However, Stavros' son ends up dying ''after'' he does so, this time from an actual act of nature (God?) in which Malvo had seemingly no involvement]].
* ItAmusedMe / ForTheEvulz: With some scenes, it's implied that Lorne is part of a crime ring who's killing for an ulterior motive. With the kid in the motel parking lot and Sam's kids, however, his actions fall squarely into this trope.
* ItsPersonal: The series is driven by people going an extra mile for personal reasons.
** The main plot starts when Malvo decides to kill Sam as a personal favor to Lester.
** Molly pursues the case so doggedly because [[spoiler:Malvo killed Chief Thurman, her friend and mentor]].
** Gus goes after Malvo because he is ashamed of letting Malvo intimidate him into not doing his job.
** The middle man who gives Malvo his contracts lampshades the fact that Fargo sending hitmen after Malvo must be for personal reasons. If there was a business reason for killing Malvo, additional steps would have been taken to manage the situation before hitmen were sent out.
* KickTheDog:
** Lorne kills Milos's dog as part of his blackmail scheme.
** Lorne's visit to [[spoiler:Mr. Wrench in the hospital]] has shades of this. It's pretty clear he's enjoying rubbing the fact that he [[spoiler:killed Mr. Numbers and Wrench's employers]] in his face.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Lester's wife is so mercilessly critical of him that it's still possible to sympathize with him even after he murders her]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Poor Linda.]]
* KnowYourVines: In "The Heap", Ida mentions that when Vern was courting her, he gave her a bouquet of poison ivy. Which he picked himself.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Lester's is the rhythmic clunking of his malfunctioning washing machine.
** Malvo's is a single chime, repeated three times.
* LetMeTellYouAStory: In the finale, as Lester is being escorted out of the police station, Molly takes the time to tell him a parable about a man who was boarding a train and found that he left one of his gloves on the platform. With no time to get it back, he instead threw the other glove out the window so that someone else could have the pair if they needed it. The parable is Molly's attempt to tell Lester that it makes more sense to let go of his selfish viewpoint and make the decision to tell the truth because there is enough evidence built up around him that he will never be completely off the hook. The gloves can be seen as a metaphor for the evidence, and the stranger who will find the first glove is the police department. It does no good to lie anymore because they will continue to pursue him forever, but if he gives up his second glove, so to speak, some good can come of the whole mess. Naturally, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Lester has no idea what her point is]].
* LethallyStupid: By pure coincidence, Lester encounters Lorne again after the TimeSkip. A smart person would let sleeping dogs lie and walk away, hoping that the psycho killer did not recognize him. Lester goes right up to Lorne so he can brag about how successful he has become since their last meeting. Lorne denies knowing Lester and gives strong hints that Lester should just walk away. This only angers Lester, who is no longer willing to tolerate people who ignore him. He follows Lorne and keeps pestering him. With his cover identity about to be blown, Lorne decides to stop pretending and starts killing people.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Wrench and Numbers are ruthless {{professional killer}}s working for a nebulous crime syndicate, but they are nowhere near as evil as Malvo, the man they try to track down and kill.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-Z]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Lorne.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
** [[spoiler:The out-of-the-blue storm of fish that leads to Dimitri's death, seemingly as a divine punishment to Stavros. The news seem to believe it to be a tornado phenomenon.]]
** [[spoiler:The wolf that appears to both Gus and Malvo (allowing the former to spot Malvo's house and distracting the latter enough so that Gus can kill him) could just be a regular animal or a supernatural force sent to remove Malvo's presence from the world. Malvo himself seems to have supernatural elements to him, given his allusion to the Garden of Eden when speaking with Lou and the way that he briefly springs back to life after Gus first shoots him.]]
* MeaningfulName: Everyone.
* MenacingStroll: Lorne's main method of moving around[[spoiler:, even when being attacked by hitmen wielding submachine guns.]] Except when he's in character. It also becomes a bit labored after the [[spoiler:bear trap incident.]]
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Examined and acknowledged. When talking to Lester, Bill muses about other tragedies -- a ship sinking with hundreds of passengers, a deadly flu that claimed a few lives, etc. -- and mentions that he's most grieved about a few murders within a short time within his own city. He's closer to the case of these particular murders being that he closely knows the Nygaards and is shocked by [[spoiler:Chazz's supposed involvement.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Lester gets away with his crimes for over a year. When he spots Malvo, he goes out of his way to pick a fight with him, even ignoring a few threats, both subtle and not-so-subtle. This ends up putting a target on his head and leads to four people being killed (including his new wife), which once again gains the attention of the police. Malvo is taken down and in the process, the police find out Lester was responsible for the murders of Pearl and Verne. Lester soon dies while being pursued by cops. If he hadn't decided to confront Malvo, he would have lived and likely would have never had legal trouble again.]]
* NotNowKiddo: Stavros's whole attitude towards his son. Particularly egregious/tragic when he tries to tell his father [[spoiler:about who's been faking the "plagues" against him]], but Stavros is too panicked to listen.
* OneManArmy: Lorne. [[spoiler:He clears Fargo's organized crime headquarters in less than 2 minutes by himself, without so much as a scratch. 22 people are dead by the time he is done.]]
* TheOner: Malvo's shooting massacre in "Who Shaves the Barber?" (though most of the shootout is only heard from outside as the camera pans across the building's windows).
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench.
* ParanoiaFuel: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] against Stavros by Lorne in the blackmail subplot. For example, Lorne changes his back medication to Adderall and begins recreating [[Literature/TheBible The Ten Biblical Plagues]].
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Lester's wife tears into him while pretending to engage in casual conversation over a meal.
* PetTheDog:
** Bill Oswalt has adopted an African refugee and is quite emotionally invested in looking out for him. This shows that in spite of being an obstructive and incompetent boss, he's a decent guy at heart.
** When Lester approaches Malvo at the hotel, he brags about his Insurance Salesman of the Year award. As Malvo gets his party to leave to avoid getting his cover blown, his fiancée Jemma congratulates Lester.
* PlayingBothSides: Lorne against Don and Stavros in the blackmail subplot.
* PluckyGirl: Molly.
* PoliceAreUseless:
** Except for Molly and Chief Thurman, the other cops are portrayed as incompetent and/or gullible. Gus freely admits that he is not a very good cop and while teaming up with Molly helps him improve, he clearly lacks the temperament to be a police officer.
*** Bill Oswalt, especially. He continually refuses to see what's right under his nose, despite Molly continually showing him evidence of what's really happening, all because the evidence points to things that don't fit into the way he sees the world or his town. He becomes so irate at the idea that one of his citizens could have committed murder, he orders Molly off the case, insisting it was probably a drifter. [[spoiler:Which was only half true, and was mostly based on a guess anyway.]]
** Two FBI are staking out the headquarters of the Fargo mob and are clearly bored out of their minds. They fail to notice Lorne walking past their car with a submachine gun barely hidden under his jacket. When Lorne [[spoiler:proceeds to kill everyone in the building]], they still fail to realize that something really bad is going on till [[spoiler:a dead body falls out a window]]. Once they realize how badly they screwed up, one suggests that they get back into their car and pretend that they just arrived at the scene.
* PointyHairedBoss: Related to Police Are Useless above: Chief Bill Oswalt is clearly not cut out for his position, to the point where his predecessor Chief Thurman wanted Molly to succeed him instead. Since taking over, Bill has done nearly everything to completely undermine Molly's investigation while doing almost no investigative work of his own.
* ProfessionalKiller: Lorne Malvo. When we first see him, he's taking his latest victim somewhere to kill him. And also Numbers and Wrench.
* PsychoForHire: Lorne Malvo.
* RainOfSomethingUnusual: A rain of fish comes down onto Duluth in the "Buridan's Ass" episode, causing [[spoiler:Stavros' head of security, Wally, to crash, which kills himself and his passenger, Dmitri.]] A news report in the next episode explains that the fish were sucked up from a lake into the sky by a tornado.
* RealityEnsues:
** During a blinding snowstorm, Gus fires at the sound of gunshots without first identifying his target. [[spoiler:He hits a fellow police officer.]]
** With the Nygaard case seemingly solved and no further signs of Malvo, the main characters move on with their lives and no one in authority is interested in re-investigating the case.
* ARealManIsAKiller: Lorne Malvo seems to believe this.
** He seems to have a great deal of respect when Wrench and Numbers try to kill him, going so far as to tell Wrench he's a WorthyOpponent [[spoiler:and spare his life.]]
** When [[spoiler: Hess]] is killed, he tells Lester that he is more of a man than ever. Lester didn't actually kill him, but to Malvo, he was the one responsible and commends him for a job well done.
** He also gives Gus a smile when [[spoiler: Gus puts a few bullet holes in his chest.]]
* ReassignedToAntarctica: The two FBI agents who failed to notice that a massacre was happening right across the street from them are assigned to the file room and are still there after the TimeSkip. They are bored out of their minds and it's clear that they will never be assigned to any real police work again.
* RecklessGunUsage: Everything Lester is shown doing with his shotgun in the flashback to when he purchased it in "The Six Ungraspables". His wife remarks that he would be the only person capable of blowing his face off with an unloaded shotgun.
* ReliablyUnreliableGuns: In the finale, [[spoiler:Lester's]] gun jams after firing a single bullet. The gun spent a year in a box in a basement with no maintenance and it looks like the ejection mechanism malfunctioned. [[spoiler:Lester]] is able to manually eject the casing, but the delay is enough for [[spoiler:Malvo]] to get away.
* RhetoricalRequestBlunder: An exasperated Lester tries to stop Lorne from bothering him with a sarcastic suggestion.
--> '''Lester:''' "Heck, you're so sure about it, maybe you should just kill him for me."
--> '''Lorne:''' *Grins evilly.*
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After the Fargo mob tries to have him killed, Malvo goes on a shooting rampage at their headquarters, ultimately killing 22 people and eradicating the organization. In-universe, this would have been, at the time, the second (now fifth) deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
* RunningGag: Bill going outside to vomit when he sees the corpses.
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Vern is proven to be smart, brave, and friendly throughout episode one, just before he gets gunned down.]]
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Sam Hess still acts like the JerkJock he was in high school and continues to bully and humiliate Lester every chance he gets, even breaking his nose. This last act is what ultimately gets him killed.
* StealthSequel: [[spoiler:Stavros' wealth came from finding the bag of $920,000 that Carl Showalter hid in the snow at the end of the film.]]
* [[{{Television Geography}} Television Geography]]: The majority of the Bemidji scenes were filmed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
** Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers ask a local why Bemidji has no libraries. In fact, Bemidji has two libraries, three if one counts Bemidji State University.
* TapOnTheHead: When Malvo kills a group of people in an elevator, he asks Lester for help disposing of the bodies. Fearing for his life, Lester slams his salesman-of-the-year award across the back of his head to flee. It [[ImplacableMan doesn't knock him out or even hurt him all that much]], but he takes the opportunity to run anyway.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Numbers and Wrench.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Pepper and Budge.
* TimeSkip: [[spoiler:A year passes in the middle of "The Heap".]]
* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Budge and Pepper]].
* {{Troll}}: Lorne, especially with Sam's kids and the kid in the motel parking lot.
* VillainBall: In Season 1, Lorne Malvo really has no practical reason for doing many of the evil things he does, but his decision to [[spoiler:abandon his bounty hunt in UsefulNotes/LasVegas to go after Lester is what leads to his undoing]].
* VillainProtagonist: Lester is the closest thing to a main protagonist in the show, and he's one of the villains, though not the worst villain by far.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Lester upchucks after Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers interrogate him about his involvement with Sam's murder.
* VomitingCop: Bill Oswalt is introduced returning to a crime scene after having just thrown up.
* WhamEpisode: Episode 6, ''Buridan's Ass''. Come the episode credits: [[spoiler:Chumph has been set up by Malvo, ending in him being gunned down by SWAT officers]]; [[spoiler:Mr. Numbers is ambushed by Malvo, ending with his throat being slit]]; [[spoiler:Stavros hides the last of his money again only to find Dmitri and Semenko dead in a car wreck]]; [[spoiler:Lester has planted all the evidence against him, setting up Chazz to be framed for his wife's murder]]; and [[spoiler:Gus has inadvertently shot Molly in the whiteout, thinking she was a hitman.]]
* WhamShot:
** In the blizzard, Gus discovering [[spoiler:Molly's unconscious body, realizing he shot her]].
** An extended pan through the woods [[spoiler:to reveal a TimeSkip, showing Gus as a mailman]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Wrench is told by Malvo to try to kill him later, if he wants. [[spoiler:He is never seen again]].
** [[spoiler:We don't see what happens to the used car salesman Malvo uses in his ambush of Pepper and Budge. He's last seen taped to a steering wheel begging for his life as Lorne approaches with a gun in his hand.]]
** [[spoiler:Stavros]] disappears after episode 6, despite being quite a major character for the first half of the season.
** [[spoiler:Chazz]] is never shown being released after [[spoiler:wrongfully being imprisoned for killing Lester's wife]]. We also never see what happens to [[spoiler:his family]] after the time skip. [[invoked]][[WordOfGod Noah Hawley]] was asked about [[spoiler:Chazz]] in an interview and said that it can be assumed that he was released; they just didn't think it was worth filming. The rest of his future is open-ended.
* WorldOfSymbolism: Each episode's title is the name of a philosophical concept or paradox, with each episode seeming to illustrate said concept as it plays out.
* WorthyOpponent: Malvo has respect for Wrench and Numbers when they try to kill him, telling them they "got closer than anyone". Later, he seems to feel this way about Gus as well. This is telling since he has little regard for Gus in their first few meetings, [[spoiler:but gives him a smile when he kills him.]]
* WoundedGazelleGambit: After being stuck in the house with the bodies of his wife and a police officer, Lester runs into a wall and knocks himself out so that it will look like he was just another victim. [[spoiler:It works.]]
** When Malvo is ambushed by Wrench and Numbers, Malvo cuts himself with his own knife to create a blood trail and the illusion that he is wounded to set up his own ambush.
[[/folder]]

!!The second season contains examples of:

[[folder:A-L]]
* AbusiveParents: Dodd Gerhardt physically and verbally abuses his adult daughter Simone. He seems rather resentful of the fact that she is a girl, when he wanted a boy, even though she seems rather enthusiastic about entering the family business.
* AbsenteeActor: Despite her name appearing in the credits, Kirsten Dunst doesn't appear at all in "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!" [[invoked]]
* AmbiguouslyGay: Constance Heck is strongly implied to be trying to seduce Peggy, though this is never confirmed. She's constantly undermining Peggy's relationship with Ed specifically and men in general. When she drives Peggy home, she invites herself in and at one point brushes Peggy's hair behind her ear, though she's examining Peggy's shiner. At the hotel room she's to share with Peggy, Constance has lit romantic candles and put Chablis on ice while wearing a robe.
* AmbiguouslyJewish: The Kansas City mob seems to be a multiethnic corporation run predominantly by Jews. Joe Bulo (played by the Jewish Brad Garrett) drops a Yiddish expression and seems to have a very low opinion of Germans. The Kitchen brothers wear wide-brimmed hats and beards, giving them a Jewish look. Hamish Broker is also played by the very Jewish Adam Arkin.
* ArtifactTitle: Oddly inverted. The original movie takes place almost exclusively in Minnesota with only the opening scene in Fargo. The first season has a few scenes in Fargo. But the second season has much of it taking place there and is the home of the Gerhardts.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Hanzee steals hydrogen peroxide to disinfect his wounds. In reality, hydrogen peroxide slows down wound healing, but is often used on wounds due to a common misconception.
* AssassinOutclassin: The Narrator of episode 9 confirms that The Undertaker and his men were sent to kill [[spoiler:Mike for his failures. Mike and Gale surprise and kill them when they show up]].
* BaitAndSwitch: In episode 7, the mobsters bring in "The Undertaker," an infamous Mob "cleaner" who seems set to be the next big bad of the show. In their first meeting, Mike walks up, hand extended, and [[spoiler:shoots the Undertaker in the head.]]
* BeautyInversion: Jean Smart has long had "real woman" good looks and has aged gracefully. In this series, she looks like an old woman of the prairie who has strongly led a crime family.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: During the montage of all the dead Gerhardts, Otto, Dodd, and Bear look terrible with holes in their heads. Yet Floyd is lying gracefully with a pool of blood on her sweater and Simone looks gorgeous with no signs of any wound at all.
* BigBad: By the end of the season, it's clear that [[spoiler:Hanzee]] fits the bill.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:It's pretty apparent Lou's wife and father in law aren't long for this world, leaving him to raise Molly without them. The Gerhardt criminal empire is destroyed and all its members are dead save Charlie, who is in jail and will likely be convicted of attempted murder, ruining his father's hopes of a better life for his son. Mike is doomed to a life of mediocrity as some nameless office schmo, and Hanzee loses his entire identity, himself resigned to a lifestyle he's come to despise, and is DoomedByCanon. Ed's dead, having never gotten the simple life that he wanted, Ben and Hank are clearly affected by the events of the season, and Peggy is downright certifiable, not to mention carted off to the slammer. The body count of the season is tremendous, but even so, Lou seems to take everything in stride and [[EarnYourHappyEnding goes on to live his life, getting to see his daughter grow up and start a loving family of her own.]]]]
* TheButcher: Ed is an actual butcher, but when he gets wrapped up in a MobWar, people assume he's some sort of contract killer. He's frequently referred to as "the butcher," and he eventually uses this to his advantage, calling himself the Butcher of Luverne.
* CallBack/CallForward:
** [[spoiler:Hanzee, who through many years of plastic surgery and hard work will become Moses Tripoli]], the boss of the Fargo syndicate, will be wiped out by Malvo by season one, which is 30 some odd years from the events of season two. During his conversation with his associate, he talks about building a kingdom, though he is reminded that it, too, will eventually fall into the ocean.
** [[spoiler:First season protagonists Molly and Gus, an older Lou and Greta show up in the opening of series finale.]]
** It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers]] were the kids Hanzee helps out in the 10th episode. [[spoiler:It helps that Hanzee is hinted to actually become Tripoli, the mob boss of the Fargo syndicate.]]
* CassandraTruth: In "The Castle", Lou tries to warn Chief Cheney against setting up a sting operation with the Blumquists as bait, telling him that the Kansas City mobsters (who he has faced several times at this point) are too smart to fall for it. Cheney not only calls him a coward, but has one of his deputies escort him out of the state. [[spoiler:Lou turns out to be right about the plan being a terrible idea, but the real danger comes from the Gerhardt family, not the Kansas City mobsters.]]
* TheCloudCuckooLanderWasRight: Lou's conspiracy theorist friend Karl says that the PowersThatBe are behind the events at the Waffle Hut. Lou tells him it's just [[spoiler:a shooting]] in the middle of Minnesota, not a presidential assassination. Karl tells him to just watch, this thing is going to snowball. This being Fargo, he turns out to be right.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Karl Weathers.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Hamish Broker, middle manager for the Kansas City crime syndicate.
* CreditsGag: The first episode has one in the style of the 70s MGM logo.
* CuteAndPsycho: Peggy
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:After killing three people in the Waffle Hut, Rye seems set up to be the Lester Nygaard of Season 2 (an impulsive murderer trying to stay ahead as the police close in on him), only for him to be killed off by Peggy and Ed by the end of the premiere.]]
* DeusExMachina: In "The Castle" Lou, Ed, and Peggy are in lethal danger when all of a sudden [[spoiler:an UFO appears and hovers over the motel]]. They use the distraction to save themselves.
* TheDreaded:
** The Gerhardt family has a nasty reputation in Fargo. Det. Ben Schmidt tells Lou that he would rather confess to the murders himself and go to jail than have to take on the Gerhardts.
** Episode 7 has "The Undertaker," an infamous enforcer sent to clean up the mess Mike makes. [[spoiler:Mike ends up shooting him dead in their first meeting.]]
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Betsy manages to see [[spoiler:her daughter as she grows old, even her child with Gus and an older Lou in the 10th episode.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Rye is introduced whining about his lack of respect to his condescending older brothers.
** Ben Schmidt is introduced getting [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted by a woman walking by]] while Lou is trying to talk shop with him, establishing him as a pretty poor cop.
* FakeGuestStar: Zahn [=McClarnon=] as Hanzee Dent, Jeffrey Donovan as Dodd Gerhardt, Bokeem Woodbine as Mike Milligan, and Cristin Milioti as Betsy Solverson.
* FictionalDocument: ''A History of True Crime in the Midwest'', seen being plucked from a bookshelf at the start of "The Castle" and heard being read by Creator/MartinFreeman.
* ForWantOfANail: To ensure that they aren't implicated in the killing, Peggy and Ed fake an accident. Which leads to Dent discovering the car in a local auto shop and tracking them down. Which also leads to Lou to the same conclusion.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Waiting For Dutch", the Gerhardt patriarch is threatening "I'll grind their bones to make my bread" when he has a stroke; bread is also a recurring symbol of Gerhardt family stability in early episodes. In the next episode, [[MeaningfulName Rye]] has his bones ground in a meat grinder; from then on, no bread and peace, just meat and war.
** In "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!", Ed calls the Gerhardts and Mike Milligan from a phonebooth that has a game of hangman on the wall. Later [[spoiler:Dodd fails to kill him by stringing him up in a noose]]. The letters that are filled in are S_O_X F_LL_ which makes Sioux Falls the obvious answer.
** Lou's first scene with his family has him reading a book to his daughter. The book seems to be portraying a very family-unfriendly scene, which causes Lou to become increasingly disturbed. This establishes a feeling of vague unease before the bodies start dropping.
* FranchiseBlackSheep: Currently the only story in the ''Fargo'' canon not to have a female cop as a major character.
* FriendOrFoe: [[spoiler:Dodd Gerhardt]] accidentally shoots one of his own men during their search of [[spoiler:the Blomquists' house]].
* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler:The U.F.O. incident]] never got written down in the Sioux Falls incident report, probably because they knew that no one would believe it.
* GutturalGrowler: Bear speaks with a voice that will shake the fillings out of your teeth.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Ronald Reagan, played by ''Creator/BruceCampbell'' of all people.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** [[spoiler:Dodd complains to Ed that women lack the ability to think rationally. All the while he's engaging in some major BondVillainStupidity by not either getting the hell out of there or finishing off Peggy.]]
** Karl says that RFK's assassination was falsely blamed on an "Ay-Rab," then calls the perpetrators racist.
* IronicName: Peggy wants to go to a seminar in Sioux Falls called "Lifesprings," but [[spoiler:ends up in the middle of a bloodbath instead]].
* JurisdictionFriction: The crimes take place in three different states and four different jurisdictions.
** Averted with Lou and Hank. The Waffle House Massacre is technically Hank's jurisdiction, but he has no problem working with Lou when Lou offers to help out.
** Subverted with the Fargo PD. They cooperate with Lou as long it does not upset the Gerharts too much and then keep on cooperating since they are desperate to stop the killing. Lou is not happy that they make a deal with Floyd, but goes along with it.
** Played straight in "The Castle" where the South Dakota cops take over and Lou's refusal to participate in their dangerous plan gets him escorted to the state border. Hank is also almost kicked out but agrees to play along. Averted with the Fargo cops, who want to get in on the possible headline news arrest so they join in with the South Dakota plan.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:After multiple episodes of murdering innocent bystanders, Ohanzee has managed to elude police capture at the end of the season. He'll eventually be killed by Malvo, but not before reigning as the head of the Fargo mob.]]
* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler:Mike Milligan's long-awaited promotion to kingpin of the North Dakota underworld turns out to be nothing more than a dull nine-to-five job in a cramped office building.]]
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:All of the Gerhardts are killed except for Charlie, and he is going to jail. Hanzee, Betsy, and Hank are all DoomedByCanon even though they survived the season. Ed Blumquist and quite a few other supporting characters don't survive the season as well.]]
* KitchenSinkIncluded: Peggy uses a loose sink to [[spoiler:smash one of Dodd's men in the head]].
* LastChanceToQuit: Lou offers this to the Blomquist couple in the closing minutes of "Fear and Trembling."
* LateToTheParty: [[spoiler:Mike Milligan]] arrives a few minutes after the Sioux Falls Massacre has ended and wisely decides to just get into his car and drive off.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: [[spoiler:Hanzee]] sets up the Gerharts to start a firefight with [[spoiler:the South Dakota cops]], hoping that both sides wipe each other out and he can then [[spoiler:kill Ed and Peggy]].
* LiteraryAllusionTitle:
** "Waiting For [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Dutch]]" is a reference to ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'' by Creator/SamuelBeckett.
** "Before the Law" is a parable by Creator/FranzKafka.
** ''The Myth of Sisyphus'' is a philosophical essay by Creator/AlbertCamus.
** ''Fear and Trembling'' is a Christian theological work by Søren Kierkegaard.
** ''Literature/TheGiftOfTheMagi'' is a short story by Creator/OHenry.
** ''Theatre/{{Rhinoceros}}'' is an Absurdist play by Creator/EugeneIonesco.
** "Loplop" is the name of an avian AuthorAvatar used by Surrealist artist Max Ernst.
** ''The Castle'' is a novel by Franz Kafka.
** "Palindrome" is a literary term for a word read the same forwards and backwards.
* LongingForFictionland: [[spoiler:Peggy convinces herself that her situation with Ed in "Palindrome" is just like a romantic movie she had recently seen, because if they were like the two lead characters, Ed would still want to be married to her.]]
* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: [[spoiler:When Peggy hits him with her car, one of Rye's shoes flies off and ends up caught on a tree branch. Since Peggy drives off with him lodged in her windshield, the presence of the phantom shoe initially confuses Lou and Hank.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: In "Palindrome," [[spoiler:Ed admits that while he still loves Peggy, their personalities and aspirations are too different for their marriage to work. Peggy's brain responds by hallucinating smoke coming through the vent so that she can pretend that their situation is like a movie she had recently watched with a similar setup where the heroine was saved from a perilous situation by the hero who wanted to be with her]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-Z]]
* MadeOfIron: The Gerhardt men are notoriously hard to kill.
** In 1951, it apparently took 19 bullets to do in Dieter Gerhardt.
** In 1979, his [[spoiler:great-grandson Rye]] was beaten, stabbed, run over by a car, bled out for several hours, and still had enough strength left in him to [[spoiler:attack Ed]] before finally being put down via yet another stabbing.
** [[spoiler:Dodd]] needs to be tasered with a cattle prod no less than three times before [[spoiler:Peggy]] can be sure he is not getting up. He also withstands being stabbed multiple times and being hit in the back of the head with a fireplace tool [[spoiler:before being taken down with a headshot by Hanzee]].
** [[spoiler:Bear]] is shot in the head and twice in the chest, and still managed to almost strangle Lou to death. He's only stopped by the massive distraction of [[spoiler:the UFO]], at which point a shot to the head puts him down.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
** After last season's subtly Biblical themes, this season is more overtly sci-fi. [=UFOs=] and extraterrestrials are referred to by minor characters and the soundtrack; both Rye and Ohanzee Dent separately see strange bright lights in the sky outside the Waffle Hut. The latter even loses about two hours of time without realizing, judging by his pocket watch. [[spoiler:And then a UFO shows up at the motel massacre.]]
** Betsy has a vision of the future when she sleeps that is too accurate to be a normal dream.
* MeaningfulEcho: When Rye threatened the judge in the Waffle Hut, he told her it wasn't "one of those optional, check-A-or-B scenarios." [[spoiler:Later, when Hank asks Peggy to explain why she continued driving after hitting Rye, she replied that it wasn't a test where you could check A or B.]]
* MeleeATrois: The MobWar escalates into a conflict between the Gerhardt family, the Kansas City Syndicate, and the state police (mainly Hank and Lou) who are trying to stop them both. This conflict is particularly complicated since the first two factions are trying to kill each other without killing any cops, since neither can handle dealing with police heat in the middle of a MobWar, and the police are likewise trying to avoid getting into a shootout with either side. [[spoiler:Hanzee Dent exploits this to wipe out the Gerhardt family by tricking them into thinking a bunch of out-of-state cops not wearing their uniforms are Kansas City men holding Dodd hostage. It doesn't end well for either the Gerhardts or the police.]]
* MinnesotaNice: Discussed and deconstructed by Mike Milligan, who claims that people in the Midwest are not really that nice, but are just very good at using politeness to disguise the fact that they are actually unfriendly and hostile to someone.
* MobWar: One of the main plot points of the season is the fight between the Gerhardt Crime Family and the Kansas City Mafia. In the end, [[spoiler:Kansas City wins because of Hanzee Dent's betrayal and the Gerhardts' internal strife]]. It culminates in the mythic Sioux Falls Massacre, and, with around 60 deaths total, has, as Lou said in Season 1, bodies stacked up to the second floor.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: Luverne, being in southwest Minnesota, is a prairie town in RealLife. The show, however, regularly portrays Luverne with lots of pine forests -- a feature of the northeastern part of the state.
* TheNarrator: "The Castle" features excerpts from a Midwest true crime book being read over the action. Narrated by Creator/MartinFreeman, no less!
* OhCrap:
** The Judge was truly surprised when Rye pulled a gun on her.
** Ed, Peggy, and Hanzee all have this reaction at the end of "Loplop", when they see [[spoiler:Lou and Hank approaching the cabin.]]
* OpeningMonologue: Slightly subverted as Freeman's voice-over narration prefaces the penultimate rather than first episode of the season.
* PapaWolf: (Ironically) Bear. He was really upset when he found out Dodd sent his son to make the hit on the Butcher and then would stop at nothing to free him from jail. Ultimately, he gives in to reason when Karl convinces him that breaking him out will be much worse for him than letting him go to trial. It's obvious he does not want his son involved in the family business and will go to great lengths to make sure he accomplishes legitimate things. He also calls Simone out [[spoiler:before he executes her]] for showing no concern for her cousin's situation.
* PoliceAreUseless:
** Averted with Lou and Hank, who are very competent and quickly figure out what is going on and try to stop the bloodshed.
** The Fargo police are too afraid of the Gerhardts to do anything about their criminal empire and only spring into action when they have a full blown MobWar on their hands.
** The South Dakota cops try to avert this trope by being proactive and setting a trap for the Kansas City mobsters, but are LethallyStupid about it and it blows up in their faces. When Lou tries to warn them, they ignore him and have him escorted to the state line.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Lou and Betsy have very conservative views on gender. Betsy tells Lou to feed more than what he had on fishing trips as a child because "she's a girl" and Lou's speech to Peggy at the end is subtly sexist, albeit not in a condescending way.
* PoorCommunicationKills: The cops at the motel in Sioux Falls turned off their radio, so Lou can't warn them of the Gerhardt family's approach.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: The trope is Zigzagged throughout.
** It's played straight in episode 8 with [[spoiler:Dodd]] who's shot through the head, and while the exit wound is bigger than the entry wound, it's a small clean through and through.
** Episode 9 averts this with [[spoiler:Bear]], who's shot through the chin, and a good chunk of his skull is taken off when the bullet exits.
* PyrrhicVillainy: [[spoiler:Mike Milligan wins the war against the Gerhardts, but his reward is a tedious desk job.]]
* ReallyDeadMontage: [[spoiler:All the Gerhardts that died are shown in the opening of the 10th episode.]]
* RiddleForTheAges: According to TheNarrator, no one ever found out what caused [[spoiler:Hanzee to betray the Gerhardts]] or even if it was a spur-of-the-moment decision or something that has been brewing for decades.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: Hank's office full of symbols. [[spoiler:The reason is more eccentric than crazy: he's trying to create a more effective language based on pictures.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: Mike Milligan, who some early reviewers compared to {{Film/Shaft}}.
* SeinfeldianConversation: In "The Castle", the various cops talk about where the best place to piss is while playing poker.
* TheSeventies: '79, to be precise.
* ShroudedInMyth: Ed Blomquist becomes this to most of the Gerhardt family because of Dodd's fabrications and his sheer luck. By the time Hank tries to explain to Floyd that "The Butcher of Luverne" is not a hitman, she's convinced he's some sort of SleeperAgent.
* ShutUpHannibal: While Peggy delivers her MotiveRant to Lou, he shuts her up pretty quickly by stating something simple:
---> ''People are dead, Peggy.''
* ASimplePlan: Rye just wanted to extort the judge to get a few more bucks. [[TemptingFate What could possibly go wrong?]]
* SpannerInTheWorks:
** The Blomquists actions completely disrupt the plans of both the Gerhardt Family and the Kansas City Syndicate.
** Hanzee's scheme to get Ed and Peggy derails the police, the Kansas City Mob and the Gerhardts plans.
* [[StealthSequel Stealth Prequel]]: Aside from the obvious, non-stealthy ways in which this is a prequel to Season 1, [[spoiler:Moses Tripoli, the boss of the Fargo syndicate, is the identity assumed by Hanzee Dent at the end of the season. He also has an encounter with Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench, who are children at the time.]]
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Dieter Gerhardt apparently took 19 bullets to the head in 1951.
* UnreliableNarrator: Peggy tells Ed she was a total mess after running down Rye and couldn't think straight. However, we see her being cool and collected as she cleans herself up and takes time to do regular chores.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: During the long awaited Massacre at Sioux Falls, [[spoiler:a FlyingSaucer appears out of nowhere directly above them, and everyone drops what they're doing. Everyone except Peggy, who says, "It's just a flying saucer. Come on, Ed, we've gotta move!"]]
* VerbalTic: Lou says "Yup" when he spots a clue.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While this season isn't a "true story" any more than the film or first season, Peggy's hit-and-run is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gregory_Glen_Biggs the murder of Gregory Glen Biggs]]. Lou also relates the real life story of [[http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/us/vietnam-sea-rescue/ Ba Van Nguyen]]'s chinook rescue.
* WhamEpisode: "The Castle" depicts the infamous Sioux Falls Massacre, set up in season 1 and foreshadowed all season. But even that event of huge importance is almost completely overshadowed by [[spoiler:the UFO descending above the massacre and being seen by Lou, Bear, Hanzee, Ed, and Peggy.]]
* WhamLine:
** In "Fear and Trembling", Constance mentions the seminar she and Peggy plan on attending is in Sioux Falls, [[ForegoneConclusion which, according to Lou in Season 1 and foreshadowed throughout Season 2]], becomes the site of a massacre.
** In the season finale "Palindrome", [[spoiler:Hanzee, having just received his new identity of "Moses Tripoli," tells his associate of his policy toward rivals, "Kill or be killed. Head in a bag. (''in Sioux'') That's the message." This reveals Hanzee to be the true identity of Mr. Tripoli, the Fargo boss Malvo kills back in season 1. When Tripoli is told that the killing of Sam Hess was likely personal and not related to the business, he responds with almost the same words.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** While Charlie's incarcerated, his final fate after is never shown as the season concludes.
** [[spoiler:Gale, the surviving Kitchen brother (the one with the red trench coat), is not seen after he and Mike Milligan stroll around the Gerhardt house and kill one of their hired thugs.]]
* YourMom: Lou, of all people.
-->'''Mike Milligan:''' So, where'd you say you saw ol' Skip?\\
'''Lou Solverson:''' At your mother's house. I think goin' in the back door.
[[/folder]]

!!The third season contains examples of:

[[folder:A-Z]]
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: To talk to her son from LA, Gloria had to call her partner, Donny, who then proceed to pull aside the school bus Nathan was on to lend him the phone.
* TheAllegedCar: Ray's piece of shit Corvette, which is falling apart. It's implied it used to be a CoolCar, but that was decades ago and Ray is too broke to keep it in good condition.
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Ray eats it about halfway through the season.]]
* AssholeVictim: Howard Zimmerman the Hollywood producer who [[spoiler:conned Thaddeus Mobley out of all the money he had back in TheSeventies]] richly deserved it when [[spoiler:Thaddeus beat him into a coma with his own cane.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:After Varga's henchmen viciously beat up Nikki in the previous episode, she and Ray flee to a motel. Ray realizes he left something in his apartment and leaves Nikki alone, unaware that one of Varga's henchmen, Meemo, 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 her demise is imminent. Instead, it's ''Ray'' who ends up dead, killed accidentally by Emmit, and Meemo is called away to clean up the scene before he has a chance to kill Nikki.]]
* BeautyInversion: Ray is portly and balding, neither of which really apply to Creator/EwanMcGregor. Emmit represents a slighter case, as he only gets saddled with a ''really'' unfortunate hairstyle.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Informed that Varga has brought a semi-truck into a parking lot they own, Emmit's reaction is that it's against city property codes.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Unlikely coincidences and their consequences are the main theme of the season, and they shape the plot to a greater degree than previous seasons.
** Monumentaly stupid as Maurice may be, what are the odds that after driving 75 miles the wrong way to Eden Valley instead of Eden Prairie he would still run into someone named E. Stussy?
** What are the odds that [[spoiler:the stamp's frame would require repairs just before Nikki broke in to steal it?]]
** This is discussed by Varga who uses the example of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to point out how coincidences can have momentous effects. Ferdinand survived an assassination attempt earlier in the day but then his driver got lost and stopped the car to get his bearings. Coincidentally, one of the assassins was just a few meters away and seized the opportunity to open fire. Ferdinand died and World War 1 began.
* DealWithTheDevil: As Varga lampshades, Emmitt really should have asked more questions before he took the money.
* EntertaininglyWrong: When Nikki [[spoiler:breaks into Emmit's house to steal the stamp and finds a framed picture of a donkey instead]] she concludes that he has anticipated her move and left her a cunning personal insult, while [[spoiler:moving the stamp to a safety deposit]]. In reality, [[spoiler: the stamp's frame got broken and Emmit just sent to to get fixed.]]
* FanService: Mary Elizabeth Winstead flashes her rear end getting out of a bathtub.
* FemmeFatale: The first season to feature full-blown examples, as Nikki Swango fills this role in the present day while Vivian Lord did in the backstory.
* FictionalCounterpart: A newspaper clipping identifies the sci-fi award Thaddeus Mobley [[spoiler:a.k.a. Ennis Stussy]] won as a "Golden Planet" but the shape of the trophy makes it pretty clear it's supposed to be a stand-in for a Hugo Award.
* ForWantOfANail:
** A flashback reveals that Thaddeus Mobley took his alias, [[spoiler:Ennis Stussy]], from a stamp on a toilet reading [[spoiler:"Dennis Stussy and Sons" with the D worn off]]. This saved his life at the time and also doomed him to die 35 years later and halfway across the country when [[spoiler:he is mistaken for another "E. Stussy" and murdered]].
** "The Lord of No Mercy" gives us two: If Ray hadn't forgotten something in his apartment and went back, [[spoiler:he wouldn't have ended up dead at Emmit's hand]]. And the episode ends with Gloria deciding to turn around and head to Ray's apartment, [[spoiler:unaware that Varga and Meemo are there cleaning up the crime scene at that moment]].
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: There are three main factions, so to speak, involved in the the season's plot: Chief Gloria Burgle, looking for justice for the murders (the Good); Ray and Nikki, a pair [[spoiler:of murderous petty criminals]] who get a somewhat sympathetic portrayal (the Bad); and the loathsome monster V.M. Varga and his sadistic goons (the Evil). This leaves Emmit and Sy in the unenviable position of being caught between all three.
* HiddenDepths: Both Yuri and Meemo are surprisingly intelligent for goons. Yuri is prone to waxing poetic about Russian history, while Meemo either has some legal knowledge or can fake it convincingly enough to face down an IRS agent.
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Nikki]] comes up with the idea to use an air conditioning unit to [[spoiler:kill Maurice after he fumbles the robbery.]]
* ItsASmallNetAfterAll:
** Blumkin'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.
** Varga himself makes a search for "Gloria Burgle" and receives 0 hits. Apparently Gloria is such a WalkingTechBane that it extends to everyone with the same name.
* IndyPloy: [[spoiler:Nikki Swango]] reveals a great aptitude for these when [[spoiler:she comes up with a way to kill Maurice and convincingly make it look like an accident]] ''in less than a minute'' and then executes it flawlessly in less than ''two''.
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Ray dies thanks to the stamp that started his stupid feud with Emmit.]]
* LoanShark: Subverted. Emmit thought that he was borrowing money from one and is prepared to pay a hefty interest on the loan. However, the people who gave him the money thought of it as an "investment" and insist that Emmitt pay them back by using his business to launder their money.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident:
** [[spoiler:Maurice]]'s death is passed off as an accident, which is possible because [[spoiler:he was killed by dropping an air conditioning unit on his head.]]
** The death of [[spoiler:Emmit's lawyer, Irv]] is reported as a suicide, even though [[spoiler:he didn't jump of off that parking structure, but was rather thrown off by Varga's goons.]]
* MoonLandingHoax: Varga uses this as an example during his speech on "perception becomes reality." Whether he's saying it really was a hoax or if he's just messing with Sy and Emmit is unclear.
* 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 lightly.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In typical ''Fargo'' fashion [[spoiler:Nikki]] decides that the best solution to the problem of [[spoiler:Maurice fumbling the robbery and blackmailing Ray for it]], is to kill him ''immediately''.
* OddlySmallOrganization: Before the County takeover, the entirety of the Eden Valley police force was made up of only two 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 Sy'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.
** Also when Varga takes over an office of Emmit's to start bringing in several dozen file folders to be used in their money laundering. Once again, they insist they can pay back the money and can't hide it with their small lots. Varga simply tells them to buy more lots.
-->'''Varga''': There we go. Now you see it. You're trapped. Oh and [[spoiler: condolences on your lawyer.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: With his perfect hairline and chestnut brown hair, you'd expect Emmit to be younger than the balding, grey-haired and weathered Ray, but Emmit is actually the older brother.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: The Stussy brothers occasionally sound like they're Minnesotans by way of Scotland.
* OutsideContextProblem: Varga and his goons are a threat that Ray and Nikki couldn't have possibly seen coming and the ramifications of which they can't possibly understand.
* PolarOppositeTwins: Ray is an overweight balding low-level parole officer barely making ends meet. Emmit is a debonair man into the high life and comes off highly educated. What they have in common is getting in ''way'' over their heads on things.
* 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.
** If you use a massive Hummer to smash not one, but ''two'' cars in a restaurant parking lot ''in broad daylight'', the police are not only going to come looking for you, they're going to find you rather quickly.
* RippedFromThePhoneBook: When he arrives at Eden Valley, Maurice looks up E. Stussy in a gas station's phone book and ripps out the page with his address in full view of the attendant. Not only does it lead to him killing the wrong person, it also provides evidence that the killing wasn't random.
* SiblingRivalry: One of the central themes of the season. Ironically the two genuinely seem intent on settling the rivalry by episode two, only for Sy and Nikki respectively escalate it.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Ray and Sy have a bitter confrontation, indulge in a little FlippingTheBird and Ray's car is totaled to "The Christmas Song."
* StupidCrooks: Maurice might just be the stupidest criminal in the series which is saying a lot given the competition.
* TwinSwitch: Ray manages to imitate Emmit to get into his bank vault, taking $10,000.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Although they're not married yet, Ray and Nikki. Not only is he probably old enough to be her father, he looks like an overweight gnome, while she is a gorgeous bombshell.
* UnPerson:
** This concept is examined as it applies to the Information Age where so much of our identity is connected with our online presence .
** Varga has almost no online footprint and has arranged that all searches for his name go to a single website that he controls.
** Gloria does not exist as far as the Internet is concerned because she has no website or social network presence. This is taken even farther when motion sensors all over the country fail to recognize her presence and automatic doors fail to open for her. It's as if technology is disputing her existence.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Emmit reads a newspaper article about [[spoiler: Ennis Stussy's]] murder, and doesn't even comment on the similarities in name and location.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Both Emmit and Sy are confused by Varga's very strange speaking manner, leading to them to ask this:
-->'''Sy Feltz:''' Where are you from?
-->'''V.M. Varga:''' [[NonAnswer America]].
* WickedCultured: The villainous V.M. Varga is well-traveled and multilingual.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Nikki's greatest asset isn't her ability to come up with new plans or adapt the old ones when they fail or get derailed.
[[/folder]]

* MobWar: One of the main plot points of the season is the fight between the Gerhardt Crime Family and the Kansas City Mafia. In the end, [[spoiler:Kansas City wins because of Hanzee Dent's betrayal and the Gerhardts' internal strife]].

* ForWantOfANail: A flashback reveals that Thaddeus Mobley took his alias, [[spoiler:Ennis Stussy]], from a stamp on a toilet reading [[spoiler:"Dennis Stussy and Sons" with the D worn off]]. This saved his life at the time and also doomed him to die 35 years later and halfway across the country when [[spoiler:he is mistaken for another "E. Stussy" and murdered]].

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: Blumkin'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.

* MoonLandingHoax: Varga uses this as an example during his speech on "perception becomes reality." Whether he's saying it really was a hoax or if he's just messing with Ray and Emmit is unclear.

* ContrivedCoincidence:

* MoonLandingHoaz: Varga uses this as an example during his speech on "perception becomes reality." Whether he's saying it really was a hoax or if he's just messing with Ray and Emmit is unclear.

* TheAllegedCar: Ray's piece of shit corvette which is falling apart. It's implied it used to be a CoolCar, but that was decades ago and Ray is too broke to keep it in good condition.

** "The Lord of No Mercy" gives us two: If Ray hadn't forgotten something in his apartment and went back, [[spoiler:he probably wouldn't have ended up dead at Emmit's hand]]. And the episode ends with Gloria deciding to turn around and drive to Ray apartment, [[spoiler:unaware that Varga and Meemo are there cleaning up the crime scene]].

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:After Varga's henchmen viciously beat Nikki in the previous episode, she and Ray flee to a motel. Ray realizes he left something in 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 clean up the scene before he has a chance to kill Nikki.]]

* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Nikki]] comes up with the idea to use an air conditioning unit to [[spoiler:kill Maurice after he fumbles the robbery.]]