History Characters / FargoSeriesSolversonGrimlyFamily

* TheVietnamVet: He is one and it's implied his experiences there had a huge effect on him. He and his wife like to paraphrase the catchphrase of Walter Winchell, "Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America, from border to border and coast to coast, and all the ships at sea." Winchell was a staunch and outspoken anti-Communist.

* Meaningful Name: Subverted. Grimly might bring to mind the truly grim Gaear Grimsrud, the horrific psycho for hire in the original Fargo film. Gus is anything but grim, being a kind well meaning man.

!!!'''Played By:''' Colin Hanks

->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AllisonTolman, Raven Stewart & Laura Geluch

-->'''Molly:''' I shot him twice. Just like they teach you. Center mass. And him with a bazooka. How the heck did I do that?
-->'''Gus:''' Cause you're you.

->'''Played By:''' Creator/PatrickWilson & Creator/KeithCarradine

-->'''Lou:''' Had a case once, back in '79. I'd tell you the details, but it'd sound like I made 'em up. Madness, really.
-->'''Malvo:''' Bodies?
-->'''Lou:''' Yes, sir. One after another. Probably, if you stacked 'em high, could've climbed to the second floor. Now, I saw something that year I ain't ever seen, before or since. I'd call it animal. Except animals only kill for food. This was... Sioux Falls.

->'''Played By:''' Creator/CristinMilioti

-->''"We're put on this earth to do a job. And each of us gets the time we get to do it."''

->'''Played By:''' Colin Hanks

->'''Played By:''' Joey King

* JurisdictionFriction: In "The Castle", Lou ends up being arm-wrestled out of the Blomquists case by the Sioux Falls Police Department, going as far as excluding him from every important talks, insulted at every opportunity, and escorted out of the state. [[KillEmAll It doesn't go well for the Sioux Falls police]].

* NiceGirl: As sweet as her dad, if not more so. She instantly gets along Molly and accepts the Solverson family as her own. [[PapaWolf Lou]] in particular is fiercely protective of her.

* {{Tomboy}}: Aside from her rather [[BoyishShortHair boyish haircuit]], when she sees that Lou is standing guard outside the house in case Malvo shows up, she promptly retrieves her own rifle to help her grandfather out if need be.

* TakeCareOfTheKids: He was Molly's primary caretaker in her childhood, due to Betsy's IllGirl status.

* IllGirl: She's undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

* CoolOldGuy: Keeps a cool head and his skills from police work into old age. His first response to his belief that Malvo may be targeting his family? Grab a shotgun and sit on the porch (in the Minnesota cold).

* NervesOfSteel: First shown [[spoiler:when he faces Lorne Malvo in a cordial, but firm way, despite the possibility of Malvo killing him]]. Shown in its full glory when he inspects the murder scene in The Waffle Hut and betrays no sense of emotion or fear, and makes jokes with Mike in a standoff.
* NoodleIncident: As said multiple times in Season 1, something happened in Sioux Falls in 1979 while he was still a policeman. Something bad. Season 2 is centered around this event and the build-up to it.

* DaddysGirl: A woman in her late 30s and still the apple of her father's eye. Even back when she was little, Lou would be there to read Molly bedtime stories. She often has to remind him that she's now a grown up and can take care of herself.

* NotSoDifferent: She's the [[EvilCounterpart Good Counterpart]] of Lorne, which is acknowledged by the latter with a knowing face when they finally see each other.

* BadassGrandpa: Keeps a cool head and his skills from police work into old age. His first response to his belief that Malvo may be targeting his family? Grab a shotgun and sit on the porch (in the Minnesota cold).

* {{Adorkable}}: Has her moments, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7xq_3cJi08 making small talk with an anecdote about spiders laying eggs in someone's neck.]]

* Meaningful Name: Subverted. GRIMly might bring to mind Gaear GRIMsrud, the horrific psycho for hire in the original Fargo film. Gus is anything but grim, being a kind well meaning man.

* CoolOldGuy: He's a loving father who makes 'Dad Jokes', a quick wit, and a solid badass. His badassery is not diminished by his old age. He is unarmed, retired, and not in a helpful position, but his demeanor, NervesOfSteel, and cautiousness make him come off as a force to be reckoned with on his own. He doesn't hesitate to break out the shotgun when it comes time to protect his family.

* PapaWolf: In the Season 1 finale, he grabs a shotgun and stands guard outside his daughter's house.

* ProtectThisHouse: As shown above, he guards Molly's house not only to protect her daughter, but to also protect [[{{Tomboy}} Greta]], her step-granddaughter. He does it once before in 1979, against a more general danger he's not determined yet.

* TheVietnamVet: He is one and it's implied his experiences there had a huge effect on him.

* {{Expy}}: His position, intelligence, courage, and good-heartedness makes him a DistaffCounterpart to the original ''Film/{{Fargo}}'''s hero, Marge Gunderson. They even have a speech with a captured criminal at the back of their police car about simple goodness against the idiocy of evil.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Just like her father back in the day, Molly is clearly assertive, smart, knows exactly when to follow her gut, has great detective skills, and never does anything by half. And [[HisStoryRepeatsItself just like her father]], finds herself being sidetracked and dismissed by blockheads with higher positions despite being on the right and actually having the common sense to try to stop their ill-conceived plans to catch the possible suspect.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: She has no memory whatsoever of the Sioux Falls incident detailed in season 2, mostly because her parents, Lou in particular, didn't want to expose her to the amount of violence that was happening. Being a little child when it occurred, it's understandable, if a tad [[{{Irony}} ironic]] considering she would have her own case when she would grow up.

* TimeShiftedActor: She appears in Season 2 as a six-year-old played by Raven Stewart. [[note]]Though to fit the time frame with Season 1, she should only be four or five, since she explicitly states that she's 31 in January 2006.[[/note]] Considering that she grows up to be an incredibly skilled detective, rather than being a precocious little kid, she's amusingly oblivious to the intense drama going on around her -- as Season 1 establishes that she has no memory of anything that happened at the time.

* WrongGenreSavvy: She correctly figures out that Lorne killed Sam on Lester's behalf but assumes that it was a paid hit. It does not cross her mind that Lorne did the killing just for the heck of it.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[ConditionedToAcceptHorror There's the kind of things a schoolteacher gets exposed to -- truancy and the like -- and then there's the stuff a cop sees -- murder and violence and general scofflawery.]]"'']]

* ActionDad: In the second season, where he has a far more active role the events of the story.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Poor Lou has allot of hardship in his life; his experiences in Vietnam, the events of Season 2 including the Sioux Falls Massacre, the death of his beloved wife, and later taking a bullet on a traffic stop that forces his retirement. But, as Betsy's [[DreamingOfThingsToCome dream]] in "Palindrome" shows, as an older man he'll know true contentment and happiness with Molly, Gus, Greta and his young grandson.

* GutFeeling: [[spoiler:When Lorne Malvo walks into his shop Solverson quickly picks up on the fact that there's something ''very'' wrong with him, and it's even implied in an anecdote that he has an idea of how evil Lorne is, which is part of the reason he doesn't help him find out where Lester is. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since he was an experienced police officer and it never goes beyond a strong suspicion.]] He also quickly figures out that Skip is involved in Rye Gerhardt's affairs. He does miss Ed's suspicious behavior, but that can be explained away by the not inconsiderable distraction of his wife's illness. [[spoiler:He later realizes the full implications.]]

* NervesOfSteel: First shown [[spoiler:when he faces Lorne Malvo in a cordial, but firm way, despite the possibility of Malvo killing him.]] Shown in its full glory when he inspects the murder scene in The Waffle Hut and betrays no sense of emotion or fear, and makes jokes with Mike in a standoff.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Despite all the trouble he caused, Lou expresses his posthumous admiration of [[spoiler:Ed Blumquist to his widow, saying how much he admires the man for defending his family, no matter what.]]

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Even though he is forcibly escorted out of South Dakota state lines, he turns his car around and bravely places himself in the [[spoiler:infamous Sioux Falls Massacre.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the start of the show, he's a clearly lonely widower who makes the grievous error of letting Malvo go. By seasons end, he's married, expecting a second kid, [[spoiler:working happily as a mailman, and makes up for his mistake by killing Malvo.]]

* NiceGuy: Very nice making it all the more ironic that [[spoiler:he of all people, is the one to kill Malvo.]]