History YMMV / FargoSeasonOne

* IdiotPlot: A rare example where the trope heightens the story's tension due to the characters' unpredictability:
** Lester's repeated attempts to avoid being punished for his crimes just keep making him look more suspicious, and when he manages to get away with everything he ruins it with suicidal overconfidence by moronically confronting Malvo in public.
** Lorne Malvo presents himself as an expert assassin, but constantly screws his jobs up and walks away empty-handed after either pushing people too far or indulging his constant blood lust.
** The whole plot would have stopped in its tracks if Gus had done his job and arrested Malvo instead of being intimidated by him at the traffic stop; it highlights how policing is the wrong line of work for him.
** Bill indirectly causes several deaths and an innocent man being sent to prison by stubbornly refusing to let Molly investigate, simply because he's too naive to accept Lester could be a murderer.
** FBI Agents Pepper and Budge get rightfully ReassignedToAntarctica when they stupidly fail to notice Malvo's bloody massacre of the Fargo syndicate.

* OneSceneWonder: Gus's neighbour Ari Ziskind.

* RecycledPremise: Season 1 is basically a modern, American version of Dostoevsky's ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment''.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Lorne Malvo]], the mysterious [[Characters/FargoSeriesOtherCriminals killer]], is a [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who, in his spare time, enjoys toying with hapless human beings and seeing how he can break them or [[TheCorrupter turn them into murderers and monsters]] like himself [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. The downtrodden Lester Nygaard is only his latest corrupted victim, among dozens of others, all of whom he keeps recordings of in the moment they became killers, recordings which he regularly listens to when he is bored. Lorne is a {{sadist}}ic, ruthless and efficient killer who has murdered countless people throughout his career, and racks up a body count that numbers in the dozens, including the slaughter of an entire building of people, to setting his partner up to be disturbingly killed in a faked SuicideByCop when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]]. In one notable instance of Lorne's unpredictability and wicked nature, he disguises himself as a normal man to get close to an assassination target, and, after becoming engaged to a woman who loves him as part of his cover, Lorne murders his mark, the man's wife, and even his own fiancée with nothing more than wry amusement after Lester recognizes him. Combining utter heartlessness with dry humor and a fascination with the dark side of human nature, it's no surprise Lorne is frequently likened to a hungry predator.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Lorne Malvo]], the mysterious BigBad of this season, is a [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who, in his spare time, enjoys toying with hapless human beings and seeing how he can break them or [[TheCorrupter turn them into murderers and monsters]] like himself [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. The downtrodden Lester Nygaard is only his latest corrupted victim, among dozens of others, all of whom he keeps recordings of in the moment they became killers, recordings which he regularly listens to when he is bored. Lorne is a {{sadist}}ic, ruthless and efficient killer who has murdered countless people throughout his career, and racks up a body count that numbers in the dozens, including the slaughter of an entire building of people, to setting his partner up to be disturbingly killed in a faked SuicideByCop when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]]. In one notable instance of Lorne's unpredictability and wicked nature, he disguises himself as a normal man to get close to an assassination target, and, after becoming engaged to a woman who loves him as part of his cover, Lorne murders his mark, the man's wife, and even [[spoiler:his own fiancée]] with nothing more than wry amusement after Lester recognizes him. Combining utter heartlessness with dry humor and a fascination with the dark side of human nature, it's no surprise Lorne is frequently likened to a hungry predator.

* FanPreferredCouple: Wrenchers (Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers) seems to be the most popular pairing in the entire series owing in part to the pair's banter and ambiguous relationship. A03 lists their pairing as the most popular, having over triple the amount of fanfics as the next most popular ship (Lorne/Lester).

** FBI Agents Lester and Budge get rightfully ReassignedToAntarctica when they stupidly fail to notice Malvo's bloody massacre of the Fargo syndicate.

** FBI Agents Lester and Budge get rightfully ReassignedToAntartica when they stupidly fail to notice Malvo's bloody massacre of the Fargo syndicate.

* FanPreferredCouple: Wrenchers (Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers) seems to be the most popular pairing in the entire series owing in part to the pair's banter and ambiguous relationship. A03 lists their pairing as the most popular, having over triple the amount of fanfics as the next most popular ship (Lorne/Lester).

** Was Lester initially a genuinely good natured person who descended into sociopathy after Malvo made him feel responsible for the death of Sam Hess or was he always a sociopath who concealed his true nature until he began to feel that he could get away with anything without getting caught?
** Lorne's conversation with Ari has him mention Ari's "Jew bus" in a derogatory tone. Was he simply testing the waters to try and see how he could get under Ari's skin or, in keeping with Lorne's Devil motif, does he have an underlying hatred for God's chosen people?

* BrokenBase: At the end of Season 1, [[spoiler:Gus killing Malvo rather than Molly, so that Molly and Malvo never even once have a scene together beyond a brief glimpse during the snowstorm shootout.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Lorne Malvo]], the mysterious BigBad of this season, is a [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who, in his spare time, enjoys toying with hapless human beings and seeing how he can break them or [[TheCorrupter turn them into murderers and monsters]] like himself [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. The downtrodden Lester Nygaard is only his latest corrupted victim, among dozens of others, all of whom he keeps recordings of in the moment they became killers, recordings which he regularly listens to when he is bored. Lorne is a {{sadist}}ic, ruthless and efficient killer who has murdered countless people throughout his career, and racks up a body count that numbers in the dozens, including the slaughter of an entire building of people, to setting his partner up to be disturbingly killed in a faked SuicideByCop when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]]. In one notable instance of Lorne's unpredictability and wicked nature, he disguises himself as a normal man to get close to an assassination target, and, after becoming engaged to a woman who loves him as part of his cover, Lorne murders his mark, the man's wife, and even his own fiancee with nothing more than wry amusement after Lester recognizes him. Combining utter heartlessness with dry humor and a fascination with the dark side of human nature, it's no surprise Lorne is frequently likened to a hungry predator.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Lorne Malvo]] is a mysterious stranger and [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who, in his spare time, enjoys toying with hapless human beings and seeing how he can break them or [[TheCorrupter turn them into murderers and monsters]] like himself [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. The downtrodden Lester Nygaard is only his latest corrupted victim, among dozens of others, all of whom he keeps recordings of in the moment they became killers, recordings which he regularly listens to when he is bored. Lorne is a {{sadist}}ic, ruthless and efficient killer who has murdered countless people throughout his career, and racks up a body count that numbers in the dozens, including the slaughter of an entire building of people, to setting his partner up to be disturbingly killed in a faked SuicideByCop when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]]. In one notable instance of Lorne's unpredictability and wicked nature, he disguises himself as a normal man to get close to an assassination target, and, after becoming engaged to a woman who loves him as part of his cover, Lorne murders his mark, the man's wife, and even his own fiancee with nothing more than wry amusement after Lester recognizes him. Combining utter heartlessness with dry humor and a fascination with the dark side of human nature, it's no surprise Lorne is frequently likened to a hungry predator.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoForHire Lorne Malvo]] is a mysterious stranger and [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who, in his spare time, enjoys toying with hapless human beings and seeing how he can break them or [[TheCorrupter turn them into murderers and monsters]] like himself [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. The downtrodden Lester Nygaard is only his latest corrupted victim, among dozens of others, all of whom he keeps recordings of in the moment they became killers, recordings which he regularly listens to when he is bored. Lorne is a {{sadist}}ic, ruthless and efficient killer who has murdered countless people throughout his career, and racks up a body count that numbers in the dozen, including the slaughter of an entire building of people, to setting his partner up to be disturbingly killed in a faked SuicideByCop when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]]. In one notable instance of Lorne's unpredictability and wicked nature, he disguises himself as a normal man to get close to an assassination target, and, after becoming engaged to a woman who loves him as part of his cover, Lorne murders his mark, the man's wife, and even his own fiancee with nothing more than wry amusement after Lester recognizes him. Combining utter heartlessness with dry humor and a fascination with the dark side of human nature, it's no surprise Lorne is frequently likened to a hungry predator.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Was Lester initially a genuinely good natured person who descended into sociopathy after Malvo made him feel responsible for the death of Sam Hess or was he always a sociopath who concealed his true nature until he began to feel that he could get away with anything without getting caught?

* BrokenBase: At the end of Season 1, [[spoiler:Gus killing Malvo rather than Molly, so that Molly and Malvo never once even have a scene together beyond a brief glimpse during the snowstorm shootout.]]

--> '''Bill''': I used to have positive opinions about the world — about people. I used to think the best. Now? I'm looking over my shoulder. An unquiet mind,that's what the wife calls it... I never wanted to be the type to think big thoughts about the nature of things. All I ever wanted was a stack of pancakes and a V8.