History Series / FargoSeasonFive

* PrisonRape: As his LaserGuidedKarma, Lorraine pays half the prison to [[spoiler:do to Roy everything he did to his wives, which presumably involves raping him]]. Lorraine notes that the prisoners she pays can use the money to by Vaseline.

After being caught up in a riot at a local school board assembly, Scandia housewife Dorothy "Dot" Lyon (Temple) is arrested for accidentally tasing a police officer, charged and run through the system. It seems like things won't escalate and she returns home to her husband Wayne (David Rysdahl) and daughter Scotty (Sienna King), but Dot's arrest digs up spectres from her past in the form of Sheriff Roy Tillman (Hamm), her abusive ex-husband and a North Dakotan Constitutional sheriff. Tillman deploys his screwup son Gator (Keery) and deeply strange hired gun Ole Munch (Spruell) to retrieve Dot, and what follows is an increasibly bloody cat and mouse game. The season also features Dot's rich mother-in-law Lorraine Lyon (Leigh) and her attorney Danish Graves (Foley), and police officers Witt Farr (Morris) and Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani).

** Agents Joaquin and Meyer's boss refuses to let them investigate Tillman directly, reasoning that he's covered his tracks too well and it would lead nowhere at the moment. He recommends keeping Tillman as a "hobby" for their off-time; this is the same situation as when Molly Solverson was ordered to leave Lester Nygaard alone but kept working on the case in her spare time.

* CreepyStalkerVan: Gator and his men drive a black cargo van to Dot's neighborhood when they intend to kidnap her on Halloween. Dot sees them coming, immediately going on high alert when she sees the van come to a stop on her street moments after passing her family as they're returning home, and she notices the occupants wearing ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' masks.

** In "The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions", Witt Farr looks up an article on Gator that notes that he got kicked off a task force investigating a number of suspicious disappearances around the Tillman ranch. [[spoiler:In "Blanket", it's revealed that the well next to the ranch's windmill is a mass grave, as Roy has Danish's body tossed down the well after killing him.]]

** During Gator's break-in at Dot's house, Dot tries to attack him with a nailbat, only for it to become stuck in a column. Gator then proceeds to take the nailbat, gives it a twirl, and uses it for himself. Gator is played by Creator/JoeKeery, also plays Steve Harrington in ''Series/StrangerThings'', who tends to use a nailbat as his weapon of choice and is sometimes shown twirling them.

** During Gator's break-in at Dot's house, Dot tries to attack him with a nailbat, only for it to become stuck in a column. Gator then proceeds to take the nailbat, give it a twirl, and use it for himself. Gator is played by Creator/JoeKeery, also plays Steve Harrington in ''Series/StrangerThings'', who tends to use a nailbat as his weapon of choice and is sometimes shown twirling them.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: As the milita fortifies Tillman's ranch, Tillman's father-in-law asks him "Are you Hitler at the Reichstag, or Hitler in the bunker?" Roy is visibly shaken and doesn't give a straight answer... and later is seen checking his own personal escape tunnel.
--> '''Sheriff Roy Tillman:''' Just in case.

* BittersweetEnding: Though far more sweet than bitter. [[spoiler:On the bitter side, Witt Farr and Danish Graves are both murdered by Roy and Gator is permanently blind, but Gator redeems himself slightly by narcing on his father and making amends with Dot. Indira is free of both her worthless husband and her debt, working for Lorraine (who uses her considerable wealth to ensure Roy's prison life is Hell on Earth). Lorraine is also finally on good terms with Dot, who finally returns to her family freed from Roy's shadow forever. When Munch shows up at the Lyon home to attempt a SuddenDownerEnding, Dot convinces him to lay his vengeance aside and helps him regain his humanity]].

** Gator objects to Roy paying Munch off and tries to retrieve the money. [[spoiler:He accidentally kills someone Munch cares about, which results in Munch unleashing his wrath on the Tillmans, cutting Gator's eyes from his head and helping Dorothy get her revenge.]]

** In "The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions", Witt Farr looks up an article on Gator that notes that he was previously removed from a task force investigating a number of suspicious disappearances around the Tillman ranch. [[spoiler:In "Blanket", it's revealed that the well next to the ranch's windmill is a mass grave, as we see Roy having Danish's body tossed down the well after killing him.]]

** When Lars says he's going to meet his personal trainer, he spritzes himself with cologne. [[spoiler:He's later revealed to be cheating on his wife]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: Roy Tillman. He's introduced brutalizing a man for beating on his wife, but it's revealed that [[spoiler:Roy himself has beaten and/or murdered all three of his wives]]. In the end, he summons a militia to make a LastStand with him but also [[spoiler:plans to sneak off if things go sideways]].

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: After Ole Munch shows just how dangerous he can be, Roy Tillman decides that feuding with Munch is unwise and pays the money he owes Munch for the initial kidnapping. He even apologizes for his actions and admits that the screwup was his fault and not Munch's. [[spoiler:However, Gator cannot let it go and goes to kill Munch and retrieve the money. [[BullyingADragon It doesn't end well.]]]]

** Munch becomes the monster in the equation when his landlady's verbally abusive son comes around, insulting her and threatening Munch if he doesn't start paying rent. Munch responds by burying an ax in his face.

* OrWasItADream: Most of [[spoiler:Dorothy's plotline in episode seven is a dream about visiting a community of women who have escaped domestic abuse founded by Linda, Roy's first wife]]. After waking up, she slowly comes to accept that it all was a dream, but some details turn out to be true in reality. For example, in her dream, she found directions hidden in a small hole under an abandoned windmill. In reality, [[spoiler:Linda is buried under a similar windmill on the Tillman property]]. This and her other possibly prophetic dreams throughout the season make it an open question if it was just a dream or a vision.

* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Roy has a son by his first marriage named Gator who is in his late 20s / early 30s. He also has two younger pre-teen daughters by his third and current wife.

** Lorraine's political contributions and business connections mean she has virtually every power player in the nation on speed dial. She can cut through quite a bit of red tape with a phone call. For example, you might wonder how she entered three new candidates onto the sheriff ballot with the election already in full swing, but when Roy tries to question the local election official at the debate, the man is nowhere in sight, clearly having been paid off to bend the rules.

* StopCopyingMe: [[spoiler:Danish has three random debtors change their names to "Roy Tillman" and appear in a debate between the real Roy and his opponent. They proceed to humiliate Roy by repeating every single thing he says until he storms off the stage. They even knock over their podiums to copy Roy doing the same.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Roy advocates men "correcting" their wives by beating them and certainly practices what he preaches. He viciously beat his first wife Linda ([[spoiler:eventually murdering her]]), hospitalized Dot several times, slaps his current wife for nicking his ear during a haircut, and when he gets humiliated by [[spoiler:the fake "Roy Tillmans"]] at the debate, he instinctively punches the female moderator in the face.

** Though Dot rigs the house with [[HomeAloneAntics many traps]] in anticipation of a second home invasion, it doesn't lead to an expected CurbstompBattle a la ''Film/HomeAlone1''; knowing how dangerous she is, Gator and his goons approach the job more cautiously than Munch and Ireland, and are able to avoid the broken glass trap and use greater numbers to their advantage. Though Dot gains the upper hand several times, she's always on the run due to fighting alone. Also, one of her traps backfires and electrocutes Wayne, which leaves him with brain damage, as well as setting the house on fire.

** Though Dot rigs the house with [[HomeAloneAntics many traps]] in anticipation of a second home invasion, it doesn't lead to an expected CurbstompBattle a la ''Film/HomeAlone1''; knowing how dangerous she is, Gator and his goons approach the job more cautiously than Munch and Ireland, and are able to avoid the broken glass trap and use greater numbers to their advantage. Though Dot gains the upper hand several times, she's always on the run due to fighting alone. Also, one of her traps backfires and electrocutes Wayne, as well as setting the house on fire.

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler:In the escape tunnel, while held at gunpoint by Witt and asked to drop the knife he’a carrying, Roy makes as if to slowly lower his hands to the floor to deposit the weapon, but takes advantage of a brief flickering of the tunnel lights to suddenly spring forward and plunge the knife into Witt’s chest instead.]]

* DropTheHammer: Literally. In the second Lyon home invasion, one of the thugs is killed when a sledgehammer Dot rigged up falls on his head.

** Dorothy/Nadine and Roy both occasionally dream of each other, [[DreamingOfThingsToCome sometimes including visions of things that will happen but have not yet]]. Additionally, Dorthy receives a call from Roy while he's praying and reminiscing about their relationship, but there is no obvious telephone near him at the time. Roy believes there is a divine connection between husband and wife. Are the dreams a result of their connection or just the dreams and nightmares of two people obsessing over each other? Was the call a regular telephone call meant as a threat or another manifestation of their connection?

** Roy Tillman is a devotee of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump while Lorraine is contemptuous of him, at one point calling him "The Orange Idiot". During the climax, one of them has the influence to personally call in a favor from the president. It's not Roy.