History Recap / FargoS02E03TheMythOfSisyphus

* BuriedAlive: How Skip Spring bites the dust, [[JustForPun or should we say hot asphalt?]]

The manhunt for Rye begins after fingerprints are pulled from the gun found at the Waffle Hut. At the same time, Milligan, Dodd, and his henchman Hanzee (Zahn [=McClarnon=]) each conduct an independent search for him. Hank encounters Betsy while hanging a wanted picture of Rye at the local beauty salon. She speculates that Rye is the victim of a potential hit and run. Peggy discounts Betsy's theory but quickly convinces Ed to crash her car a second time as an explanation of the damage caused by hitting Rye.

Meanwhile, Lou travels to Fargo to meet Detective Ben Schmidt (Keir O'Donnell). They visit the Gerhardt farm and have a tense encounter with the clan. Lou then visits Skip's typewriter store, where he encounters Milligan and the Kitchen brothers, also searching for clues, resulting in another standoff. Dodd's daughter Simone (Creator/RachelKeller) tips off Hanzee about a lead on Rye, and they ambush Skip at Rye's apartment. He is brought to Dodd for interrogation. Dodd learns that Skip has no information on his brother's whereabouts. He and Hanzee force Skip into an open grave and bury him alive in hot asphalt. Dodd then tells Hanzee to do what is necessary to find Rye, beginning in Luverne.

The manhunt for Rye begins after fingerprints are pulled from the gun found at the Waffle Hut. At the same time, Milligan, Dodd and his henchman Hanzee (Zahn [=McClarnon=]) each conduct an independent search for him. Hank encounters Betsy while hanging a wanted picture of Rye at the local beauty salon. She speculates that Rye is the victim of a potential hit and run. Peggy discounts Betsy's theory, but quickly convinces Ed to crash her car a second time to as an explanation of the damage caused by hitting Rye.

* CharacterDeath: Skip Spring ends up buried underneath a pile of burning asphalt .

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: he Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Creator/AlbertCamus.

* OhCrap: Peggy's reaction when Hank comes in to the beauty salon to put up wanted posters of Rye in the window, and Ed's reaction to the same when she pulls him out of work so they can go deal with damaging the car further.

Meanwhile, Lou travels to Fargo to meet Detective Ben Schmidt (Keir O'Donnell). They visit the Gerhardt farm and have a tense encounter with the clan. Lou then visits Skip's typewriter store, where he encounters Milligan and the Kitchen brothers, also searching for clues, resulting in another standoff. Dodd's daughter Simone (Rachel Keller) tips off Hanzee about a lead on Rye, and they ambush Skip at Rye's apartment. He is brought to Dodd for interrogation. Dodd learns that Skip has no information on his brother's whereabouts. He and Hanzee force Skip into an open grave and bury him alive in hot asphalt. Dodd then tells Hanzee to do what is necessary to find Rye, beginning in Luverne.

* BuriedAlive: How Skip Spring bites the dust, [[JustForPun or should we say asphalt?]]

* DramaticIrony: Peggy chiming in to discredit Betsy's (correct) theory about Rye Gerhardt being hit by a car instead of fleeing the scene. Hank sides with Peggy.

-->'''Hank:''' It’s not like you’re just gonna drive home with a Gerhardt in your window and start supper.

'''Season 2, Episode 03:'''
!!The Myth of Sisyphus
!!!Written by Bob [=DeLaurentis=]

The manhunt for Rye begins after fingerprints are pulled from the gun found at the Waffle Hut. At the same time, Milligan, Dodd and his henchman Hanzee (Zahn McClarnon) each conduct an independent search for him. Hank encounters Betsy while hanging a wanted picture of Rye at the local beauty salon. She speculates that Rye is the victim of a potential hit and run. Peggy discounts Betsy's theory, but quickly convinces Ed to crash her car a second time to as an explanation of the damage caused by hitting Rye.

-->'''Lou:''' We're very friendly people.
-->'''Mike:''' No, that's not it. Pretty unfriendly, actually. But it's the way you're unfriendly--[[MinnesotaNice how you're so polite about it.]] Like you're doing me a favor.

Floyd leads a meeting with some Gerhardt allies concerning the possibility of fighting the Kansas City Mafia. The men establish that they won’t be the ones to attack first, but they’ll go to war in the event of a move by Kansas City. Joe Bulo, meanwhile, meets with Mike over breakfast at their hotel. When Mike shares that Rye disappeared after gunning down a judge, Joe sends Mike out to find him in order to gain some leverage over the Gerhardts.

Hank, meanwhile, radios Lou to inform him that Rye Gerhardt’s fingerprints were found on the gun at the scene of the Waffle Hut crime. Lou ventures to Fargo Municipal Court, where he meets Ben Schmidt in the hall waiting on forensics results. When he mentions that the Gerhardts are connected to the incident, Schmidt fills him in on the extent of the family’s impressive criminal reputation.

At the Gerhardt residence, Simone informs Hanzee that she knows of a place where Rye used to conduct a little business on the side. Betsy, meanwhile, goes into town for a haircut, where Hank comes in to request Constance hang up a wanted poster in the window with Rye Gerhardt’s face on it. Peggy overhears Betsy propose a theory to her father in which Rye Gerhardt was hit by a car instead of fleeing the scene, then decides to poke a hole in the logic by asking why the alleged motorist wouldn’t stop after hitting him. Hank takes the bait, and Peggy pulls Ed out of the butcher shop to fill him in on the arisen theory.

Back at the courthouse, Lou and Schmidt find Skip Spring anxiously lingering around and ask him about his business. Spring fills them in on the hearing he was ordered to attend by Judge Mundt concerning some back-tax records. Lou considers bringing him in to dig deeper into his involvement with Mundt, but Schmidt ultimately figures it wouldn’t be worth it, and the two officers let him go.

Spring goes to an apartment building to contact Rye, but finds Simone and Hanzee waiting for him instead. Ed and Peggy, meanwhile, drive out to an empty area somewhere to crash their car into a tree and account for the damage that Rye left in their windshield.

In the Gerhardt kitchen, Bear informs his son Charlie that he’ll be sending him back to school tomorrow due to tensions beginning to escalate with the business. Lou and Schmidt arrive on the premises and meet with Floyd in the front yard. The officers inquire about Rye, and when Floyd asks them to leave without seeing him, Dodd arrives to try and intimidate the men even further. Schmidt shrinks up immediately, but Lou stands his ground and mentions that a man named Mike Milligan might be looking for Rye as well. After a little more tension, Dodd calls off the henchmen and Lou and Schmidt are escorted from the premises.

On the way back, Lou asks his partner to drop him off at Skip Spring’s typewriter store, where he finds Mike Milligan and the Kitchen brothers. They point their guns at each other and have a bit of conversation before the criminals exit the building, leaving Lou to consider their business looking for Skip.

At an abandoned construction site around dark, Dodd and Hanzee ask Skip one last time about Rye’s location. When he can’t answer, he’s asked to lie down in a pre-dug shallow grave, but he tries one last time to save his life by mentioning how Milligan and his goons came in his shop the day before. Dodd is unamused, and a truckload of burning asphalt is dropped on top of him, burying him alive.
----

* DebutQueu: Ben Schmidt makes his 70s debut here despite his bigger role further on in the actual Sioux Falls incident.

* FilleFetale: Simone falls back on her sexuality to manipulate her way out of trouble, and attempts to use it on Hanzee (which fails) and Skip (which succeeds as much as she needs it to).

-->'''Mike:''' No, that's not it. Pretty unfriendly, actually. But it's the way you're unfriendly--how you're so polite about it. Like you're doing me a favor.

* CharacterDeath: The episode ends with Skip Spring buried underneath burning asphalt.

* Foreshadowing: A man at the auto shop recounts to Lou the recent UFO activity that's been going on in the sky.
* PostStressOverreating: Lou is offered a piece of cake when he comes home, then he recounts how many times a weapon was pointed at him throughout the course of the day.