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| 12 | Click [[Series/{{Fargo}} here]] to go back to the main page. Click [[Characters/FargoSeries here]] to go back to the character page. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | !The Stussy Brothers |
| 17 | |
| 18 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 19 | |
| 20 | * CainAndAbel: Ray is the Cain, but under the big white smile Emmit is no saint himself, so it might be more a case of Cain and Cain. |
| 21 | * PolarOppositeTwins: They're not twins, but as they're portrayed by the same actor, this kind of applies to Ray and Emmit. Ray is a balding, shifty, and bitter parole officer barely making ends meet. Emmit is a handsome, enormously successful, and self-assured businessman. |
| 22 | * SiblingRivalry: They certainly don't get along. Ray is boiling with resentment and bitterness toward Emmit, while Emmit only begrudgingly allows Ray to be part of his life at all. |
| 23 | * SiblingYinYang: Big time. Emmit is wealthy, successful, handsome, lives in a big house, respected by his community, and a charming, good-natured man. Ray works a low-paying and unglamorous job, lives in a regular apartment, and is disliked for his abrasive personality. While Emmit seems to only tolerate Ray but has no serious ill-will towards him (at first, anyway), Ray is utterly seething with resentment towards Emmit. The two couldn't be more different. |
| 24 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: The Stussy brothers aren't twins (Emmit is 2 years older), but they look so much alike that the relationship is undeniable. [[spoiler:Ray is even able to successfully impersonate Emmit with a shave and the right wig.]] |
| 25 | [[/folder]] |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[folder:Ray Stussy]] |
| 28 | !!Raymond "Ray" Stussy |
| 29 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stussy_ray.jpg]] |
| 30 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"You can't give me what was mine from the start."'']] |
| 31 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/EwanMcGregor |
| 32 | |
| 33 | ->'''Valet:''' No tip? |
| 34 | ->'''Ray:''' Ya. Get a real job. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | Balding and pot-bellied, Ray is the kind of guy who peaked in high school. Now a parole officer, he has a huge chip on his shoulder about the hand he’s been dealt, and he blames Emmit for his misfortunes. |
| 37 | ---- |
| 38 | * AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:On the receiving end.]] |
| 39 | * TheAllegedCar: Much like Ray himself, his Corvette is barely working and has clearly seen better days. |
| 40 | * AnimalMotifs: "The duck" in the ''Music/PeterAndTheWolf'' motif from Episode 4. |
| 41 | * AntiVillain: He's a spiteful, mean-spirited screw-up, but still manages to be sympathetic, mostly due to his love for Nikki. |
| 42 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After pretending to make up with Emmit while Nikki tries to steal the stamp, he admits that it felt good to have a "normal" conversation with his brother. Unfortunately, Nikki's actions make true reconciliation impossible. [[spoiler:Possibly shown again during his death; while bleeding out from a shard of glass to the neck, his last action is to call out to his brother.]] |
| 43 | * BeautyInversion: Ewan [=McGregor=] is a good-looking man, meaning it took two hours of makeup to turn him into the paunchy, balding, windburned, strangely sticky-looking Ray. |
| 44 | * BigBrotherWorship: Totally averted. He deeply resents his older brother for what he considers tricking him into trading the corvette for the stamps. In fact, all of the conflict between them in the season is started by Ray — Emmit did not see his brother as someone worth hating. |
| 45 | * {{Blackmail}}: Attempts to do this to Emmit with [[spoiler:the sex tape, but it doesn't work, as Stella gets to it first]]. |
| 46 | * ButtMonkey: It's clear he sees himself as one and is deeply resentful about it. And it's hard not to agree that his life is not exactly something to envy, even if at least some of that can be chalked up to his own making. |
| 47 | * CainAndAbel: Has this dynamic with his brother Emmit. [[spoiler:Ironically, he winds up being the Abel when Emmit accidentally kills him.]] |
| 48 | * CoolCar: Averted; he inherited a Corvette from his father, and it was probably pretty cool at the time. By 2010, however, [[TheAllegedCar it's being held together largely by hope and it's clear that Ray has been unable to take care of it]]. The car is also a constant reminder of how he was (supposedly) swindled out of his "rightful" inheritance. And lastly, if a Corvette and Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead on your arm can't make balding, sleazy Ray cool, nothing can. |
| 49 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:When he pulls a shard of glass from the stamp frame from his neck and slowly bleeds to death, begging Emmit for help.]] |
| 50 | * CuteKitten: [[spoiler:What he ''apparently'' reincarnated as.]] |
| 51 | * DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:The stamp that he wanted so badly ends up being the cause of his demise.]] And [[spoiler:Dies the way he lived: making a mess and begging his brother for help.]] |
| 52 | * DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Lasts longer than most examples, but he still dies a little over halfway through the season when he seemed to be a VillainProtagonist in the vein of Lester and Peggy.]] |
| 53 | * DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:His eyes are wide open after his death.]] |
| 54 | * DisproportionateRetribution: All of the problems in the season are caused by Ray being bitter that Emmit didn't give him a ''stamp.'' |
| 55 | * EnemyEatsYourLunch: Downs Maurice's pint while blackmailing him. |
| 56 | * {{Expy}}: He and Nikki are essentially [[Film/RaisingArizona Hi and Ed]] having switched jobs. |
| 57 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Nikki is the one person he truly cares about. |
| 58 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He does feel some guilt over [[spoiler:Maurice's murder]], though he gets over it pretty quickly. |
| 59 | ** He also sounds taken aback when he finds out that Stella left Emmit due to his ploy with the sex tape, implying he didn't want things to go that far. |
| 60 | * EvilIsPetty: Good god, is he ever. He won't stop until he feels that he has "beaten" his more successful brother by getting the stamp. |
| 61 | * FatalFlaw: [[spoiler:His inability to make amends with his brother ends up leading to his death when he refuses to take the stamp back from him, and the two get into a scuffle that ends with his death.]] |
| 62 | * ForWantOfANail: If he hadn't forgotten something in his apartment after trying to flee Varga and his men, [[spoiler:the chain of events leading to Emmit accidentally killing him wouldn't have happened]]. |
| 63 | * ICouldaBeenAContender: He loves to blame his current life situation on his brother Emmit 'cheating' him out of inheriting his father's prized stamp. It's ultimately just an extension of his NeverMyFault tendencies and only serves to highlight how pathetic, petty, and vindictive he is. Emmit eventually comes to understand why he thinks this way, [[spoiler:though unfortunately too late to spare him]]. |
| 64 | * IgnoredEpiphany: When the two actually talk and hash things out, Ray realizes he has little genuine anger towards Emmit and seems happy to finally move on. But Nikki's actions reignite the feud and force Ray to forget his revelation. |
| 65 | * {{Jerkass}}: He is a very petty and spiteful man who is perfectly willing to ruin his brother's life over a one-sided, pathetic childhood feud. |
| 66 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In spite of his ''major'' flaws and insecurity issues, his love for Nikki is totally genuine and he would do anything for her. |
| 67 | * KavorkaMan: He's balding, a little overweight, sickly-looking, and works a low-paying job. That's in addition to his less than stellar personality. Nonetheless, he's still engaged to someone as beautiful as Nikki. |
| 68 | * KickTheDog: Not tipping the valet at the beginning of the season. [[spoiler:Also, disguising himself as Emmit and sending a fake sex tape to Stella was possibly the cruelest thing he's done. Granted, he was trying to blackmail Emmit with it and didn't necessarily mean for her to see it first, but he was perfectly okay with that outcome.]] |
| 69 | * LethallyStupid: |
| 70 | ** As Maurice's parole officer, he should have known that Maurice was an incompetent screw-up. He still hires Maurice to steal the stamp from Emmit and gives him only vague instructions on what to do. It is a miracle that Maurice only killed one person. |
| 71 | ** [[spoiler:It's then turned around on himself, as after refusing to accept Emmit just giving him the stamp out of pure ego, he gets a shard of glass stuck in his carotid artery in the ensuing scuffle, and even pulls it out himself despite Emmit warning him not to.]] |
| 72 | * NeverMyFault: He blames all his misfortune on his brother. |
| 73 | * NiceToTheWaiter: Averted. |
| 74 | * OddCouple: Ray and Nikki seem happy enough as a couple. |
| 75 | * OutlawCouple: Seems poised to become one with Nikki after the cops start turning up the heat on them, [[spoiler:but he dies before it can happen]]. |
| 76 | * PetTheDog: He has a brief moment when impersonating Emmit where he tells his bank manager not to be too hard on an employee who made a mistake. |
| 77 | * 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. |
| 78 | * {{Pride}}: His major flaw, [[spoiler:and it's what leads to his death. He can't accept that Emmit is giving him the stamp; he needs to take it from him by force]]. |
| 79 | * {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:Paul was inexplicably driven to name a kitten Ray, which was born around the same time as his death. Nicki is quite willing to believe it really is him.]] |
| 80 | * TheResenter: Ray is incredibly resentful of Emmit, seeing him as having the life he could have and blaming him for [[NeverMyFault his crappy life]] in addition to blaming the world in general. |
| 81 | * SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Eats it a little more than halfway through Season 3.]] |
| 82 | * SlashedThroat: [[spoiler:Emmit accidentally smashes the stamp frame in his face, causing a shard of glass to go into his neck and kill him.]] |
| 83 | * StupidCrooks: His attempt to hire a dumbass criminal to commit a crime against a family member goes about as well as it did for that ''other'' down on his luck Minnesotan. |
| 84 | * SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler:Randomly gets a shard of glass to the neck during a scuffle with Emmit.]] |
| 85 | * TwinSwitch: They're technically not twins, but Ray takes advantage of their similar appearance to screw over his brother in two ways: first, stealing $10,000 from his bank account in disguise, [[spoiler:and second, creating a fake sex tape while still in disguise and sending it to Emmit's wife]]. |
| 86 | * UglyGuyHotWife: Not only is he probably old enough to be her father, he looks like an overweight gnome, while she is a gorgeous bombshell. This only adds to viewers' and other characters' suspicions that Nikki might be using Ray. |
| 87 | * UnknownRival: Emmit really isn't aware of the depths of Ray's hatred toward him, at least at first. |
| 88 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Due to the huge difference in their appearances, many people assume that Ray is considerably older than Emmit. In reality, Emmit is the older brother by two years. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Emmit Stussy]] |
| 92 | !!Emmit Stussy |
| 93 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stussy_emmit.jpg]] |
| 94 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm a fair man. I treat people honestly. Help 'em when they're down."'']] |
| 95 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/EwanMcGregor |
| 96 | |
| 97 | ->''"First come the well-wishers with their fake smiles. Then, the richer you get, here come the deadbeats with their hands out."'' |
| 98 | |
| 99 | Emmit Stussy is the Parking Lot King of Minnesota. A handsome, self-made, real estate mogul and family man, he sees himself as an American success story. |
| 100 | ---- |
| 101 | * TheAce: Handsome, successful, and a family man. This being ''Fargo'', he does not get to enjoy this status for long thanks to Ray and Varga. |
| 102 | * AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Accidentally kills his brother during a fight.]] |
| 103 | * AnimalMotifs: The ''Peter and the Wolf'' montage introduces him as "the bird" of the story. |
| 104 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Turns himself into the police and confesses everything in Episode 9. When Varga undoes this in the next episode he even turns on him and threatens him with a gun, to little effect unfortunately]]. |
| 105 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Subverted in that [[spoiler:his murder of Ray is a complete accident, and he feels horrible about it afterward]]. |
| 106 | * BigBrotherInstinct: Averted with regards to Ray, though there is ''far'' less animosity on his side than on Ray's in their mostly one-sided feud. [[spoiler:Ironically, he is the one who ends up accidentally killing Ray.]] |
| 107 | * BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Wrench shoots him in the head in his kitchen.]] |
| 108 | * BreakTheHaughty: His confident, self-assured demeanor is completely shattered by Varga, who walks all over him and turns him into a pawn without breaking a sweat. [[spoiler:Gets worse when his wife thinks he is cheating on her, and then when he accidentally kills Ray.]] |
| 109 | * ButtMonkey: The rich, successful Emmit quickly sees his life collapse around him when Ray and Varga enter the picture, though he doesn't get it quite as bad as Sy. |
| 110 | * CainAndAbel: With his younger brother, Ray. Ray is the Cain, but under the big white smile, Emmit is no saint himself, so it might be more a case of Cain and Cain. [[spoiler:Winds up solidifying himself as the Cain when he accidentally murders his brother in a scuffle.]] He later realizes that he's been the Cain all along, ever since he tricked Ray into giving up the stamps when they were kids. |
| 111 | * TheCharmer: Shown to be one. His hilarious incompetence during his dinner with Goldfarb showcases [[spoiler:just how badly Ray's death has shaken his usually calm persona]]. |
| 112 | * TheChewToy: All but called one by Varga in the final episode, when he makes a smug remark about prey animals instinctively going limp in a predator's jaws. [[RageBreakingPoint Emmit doesn't appreciate the comparison]]. |
| 113 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: He's not overtly or even usually the corrupt type; in fact, he's initially pretty clean-cut. Still, he took out an illegal loan from highly amoral characters who are now drawing him along into increasingly shady activities. |
| 114 | * DealWithTheDevil: He took a loan of a million dollars from V.M. Varga's people to keep his company afloat when the Great Recession hit. Emmit was apparrently under the impression that he could just pay it back like he would a bank. Of course, things don't quite work out that way. |
| 115 | * TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Finally gets back at Varga by faking his consumption of the sleeping pills and then sneaking out to the police station to confess. Subverted when Varga gets a FallGuy to take the heat off of Emmit so that the Stussy brother is back in his clutches.]] |
| 116 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Emmit lives through the ordeal with Varga, but even though he was forced to declare personal bankruptcy, he is in a much better place with his family reunited. Until Wrench kills him to avenge Nikki's death.]] |
| 117 | * {{Foil}}: [[spoiler:To Lester Nygaard. Both wind up killing a family member in a heat-of-the-moment action: Lester killed his wife who despised and belittled him, and Emmit killed his brother who actively tried to ruin his life for a petty feud. The difference is primarily in how both characters cope with the murder, especially post-timeskip. Lester is [[NeverMyFault quick to absolve himself of responsibility and heap the blame on others]], and gradually [[StartOfDarkness sinks into depravity and sociopathy]], while Emmit is gradually consumed by guilt and regret, culminating in him attempting to stand up to Varga and his organization by confessing to the police.]] |
| 118 | * HappilyMarried: To Stella, [[spoiler:though this is ruined when Ray is able to frame him for adultery]]. |
| 119 | * HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Wracked with guilt for Ray's death, he tries to turn himself in to the police. However, the attempt is sabotaged by Varga, who arranges for a fake serial killer to take the blame, denying Emmit his chance to atone.]] |
| 120 | * HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:He wasn't too much of a heel to begin with, but unlike most characters on this show, he actually takes a meaningful stride toward amending his actions by confessing.]] |
| 121 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: Sy is closer to him than his actual brother. Varga begins to sow seeds of doubt about him in Emmit's mind, however, causing Emmit to become suspicious and belligerent in Sy's presence. |
| 122 | * HopeSpot: After everything unfolds, Emmit reconciles with his wife and only gets two years probation for his role in the Narwhal affair. Five years on, he's enjoying a Christmas dinner with his reunited family. [[spoiler:Then Wrench kills him.]] |
| 123 | * IdiotBall: Both Varga and lawyer Irv lampshade just how stupid Emmit was for accepting a million dollars from someone whose first name he didn't even know and never considering there would be strings attached. |
| 124 | * IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:He tries to turn himself in for killing Ray, but Varga has somebody else take the blame for him.]] |
| 125 | * ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:He seems genuinely interested in making amends with Ray until he learns that Nikki broke into his house while they were speaking and left a used tampon in his drawer. This is the last straw for Emmit… until the ''real'' last straw comes when Ray creates a sex tape disguised as Emmit and uses it to ruin Emmit's marriage.]] |
| 126 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Emmit is able to get off with a light punishment for his role in the events of the season, and is shown happily reunited with his family during the five year TimeSkip. Then it's subverted when Mr. Wrench puts a bullet in his head to avenge Nikki.]] |
| 127 | * KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:Just barely. The camera moves over to Wrench as he puts the bullet in Emmit's head.]] |
| 128 | * LovedByAll: During their confrontation, Emmit lampshades that Ray is the only person he knows who doesn't like him. |
| 129 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:When he realizes he has killed Ray. He is consumed by guilt and goes through SanitySlippage, eventually leading to him turning himself in.]] |
| 130 | * NiceGuy: On the whole, Emmit is a darn friendly person. He's usually smiling, frequently pleasant, and charming in an aw-shucks kind of way. He loses some of his niceness when dealing with Ray, but even then, he tries to maintain his usually polite air, and is at most a little condescending until Ray and Nikki ''really'' start to push him. For the most part, Emmit seems regretful of how his and Ray's relationship has soured over the years. |
| 131 | * NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:His last, best attempt to make amends with Ray by giving him the stamp goes awry when Ray's {{Pride}} gets in the way, starting a fight that ends with his brother's death.]] |
| 132 | * OhCrap: |
| 133 | ** You can see the look of horror in his eyes when Varga tells him that he is now going to be used as part of his organization's money-laundering scheme. |
| 134 | ** [[spoiler:Happens again late in the season when Varga renders his confession meaningless with a FallGuy.]] |
| 135 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Emmit's perfect hairline and chestnut brown hair would suggest that he's younger than the balding, grey-haired and mustachioed Ray, but he's in fact the older brother by 2 years. |
| 136 | * PolarOppositeTwins: Emmit is a debonair man into the high life and comes off highly educated. Ray is an overweight balding low-level parole officer barely making ends meet. What they have in common is getting in ''way'' over their heads on things. |
| 137 | * RageBreakingPoint: He tries his best to be civil with Ray, but [[spoiler:the used tampon and the sex tape send him over the edge]]. |
| 138 | * RecurringElement: He's this season's answer to [[Film/{{Fargo}} Jerry Lundegaard]] and [[Series/FargoSeasonOne Lester Nygaard]], being a naive Midwestern businessman who gets involved with some very bad people and gets in ''way'' over his head. |
| 139 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Played with. Giving the stamp to Ray to make things up with him ends with Ray getting killed.]] |
| 140 | * SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:He was already on the edge after Stella left him, but Ray's death completely pushes him over. He quickly spirals out of control and becomes a NervousWreck, not helped by a mysterious aggressor leaving reminders of the murder (the stamp) in his office. It eventually reaches the point where he believes that Ray is somehow still alive and conspiring against him.]] |
| 141 | * SmugSnake: Somewhat; he's not evil or even that much of a {{Jerkass}} at the start, but he definitely has a high opinion of himself. Varga ''quickly'' remedies this. |
| 142 | * TraumaCongaLine: Not quite as much as Sy, but he really has a hard time of it once Ray actively starts ruining his life and Varga takes over his organization. |
| 143 | * TookALevelInJerkass: As Ray and Nikki keep escalating the situation and Varga hooks his claws deeper into him, Emmit gradually loses his charming demeanor. |
| 144 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The poor dope had ''no idea'' what he was getting into when he borrowed a million dollars from a guy whose full name he didn't even know. |
| 145 | * UnwittingPawn: Varga sees him as a means to an end in expanding his own business. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | !Ray's Family & Associates |
| 149 | |
| 150 | [[folder:Nikki Swango]] |
| 151 | !!Nikki Swango |
| 152 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swango_nikki.jpg]] |
| 153 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"You're the hand and I'm the glove."'']] |
| 154 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead |
| 155 | |
| 156 | A crafty and alluring recent parolee with a passion for competitive bridge playing. Nikki is a woman with a plan, focused on always being at least one move ahead of her opponents. |
| 157 | ---- |
| 158 | * ActionDuo: [[spoiler: With Mr. Wrench in the last three episodes]]. |
| 159 | * ActionSurvivor: She survives Varga's men hunting her through the woods with the assistance of [[spoiler:Mr. Wrench]] as they're handcuffed together. |
| 160 | * AloofDarkHairedGirl: To pretty much everybody but Ray, with whom she has a genuinely loving relationship. |
| 161 | * AnimalMotifs: Introduced as "the cat" in the ''Peter and the Wolf'' montage in Episode 4. |
| 162 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Yuri and Memmo beat the absolute crap out of her but while she is obviously badly hurt afterwards, they didn't touch her face. |
| 163 | * BookDumb: She's an ex-con with little formal education, but exceptionally crafty, clever and intelligent. She may well be the smartest person in the whole season and is the only one able to meet Varga at his level. |
| 164 | * BornLucky: Despite the universe seemingly conspiring against her, Nikki simply ''refuses'' to die. [[spoiler:Her luck runs out in the finale.]] |
| 165 | * BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:How she goes out.]] |
| 166 | * CardSharp: Nikki is a very skilled bridge player. |
| 167 | * TheChessmaster: Subverted. Nikki is a bridge player and utilizes the nuances of that game in her schemes. Bridge is about achieving synchronicity with your partner and properly assessing what information your opponents have and what information they lack. |
| 168 | * ComplexityAddiction: Her tendency to overthink things gets to the point that she starts attributing the same mentality to others. When Emmit briefly moves the stamp to fix the frame and replaces it with a picture of a donkey, she jumps to the conclusion that he knew she'd be coming for it and was making a "jackass" insult. After making her own power play back by leaving a used tampon in his drawer, she gushes to Ray about how great it is to have such a WorthyOpponent. |
| 169 | * CutenessProximity: Nikki is a hard woman, but even she melts at the sight of Paul's fuzzy, fluffy kitten. [[spoiler:And this was mere moments before being told that the kitten is apparently Ray reincarnated.]] |
| 170 | * DeadpanSnarker: She has her moments. |
| 171 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Inverted. If anything, Nikki's main flaw as a schemer is that she overthinks things and ends up either making things worse or creating issues where there weren't any. |
| 172 | * DragonInChief: While she sees herself as the sidekick, there's no doubt that she's the truly competent and intelligent one in her pairing with Ray. |
| 173 | * DistractedByTheSexy: [[spoiler:She successfully distracts a gun-toting Maurice by exposing herself fully, in theory allowing Ray to get the drop on him. Her part of the plan works, but Ray is too slow on the draw to get the gun.]] |
| 174 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: She places highly in a bridge tournament with Ray and soon thereafter establishes her cunning during their encounter with Maurice. In later episodes, she shows additional canniness and credits her skill in bridge for her strategic mind. |
| 175 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all her flaws, her love for Ray is completely genuine and the two have a surprisingly sweet relationship. |
| 176 | * EvilGenius: She may very well be one of the smartest characters on any season of the show, but her moral compass isn't exactly pointing where it should. |
| 177 | ** She is able to calculate [[spoiler:the precise time it will take for Maurice to reach the front door of the building and be on the exact spot to be squashed by the AC]] completely on the fly. |
| 178 | ** Just from [[spoiler:following Yuri and Meemo for a morning]], she is able to correctly deduce [[spoiler:Emmit's ''entire situation'' with Varga]] down to the last detail. |
| 179 | ** It takes her all of ''one conversation'' with Varga to figure out that [[spoiler:Narwhal doesn't exist and Varga just pretends to be middle management so people won't pay special attention to him]]. |
| 180 | ** She is able to learn sign language in under 2 months. |
| 181 | * {{Expy}}: As mentioned above, she and Ray are a job-switched [[Film/RaisingArizona Hi and Ed]]. |
| 182 | * FemmeFatale: Nikki is very aware of how sexy she is, and knows how to use her sexiness to manipulate others. |
| 183 | * FireForgedFriends: [[spoiler:With Mr. Wrench after their ordeal in the woods.]] |
| 184 | * {{Foil}}: To Sy. |
| 185 | ** They are both the closest confidants to their respective Stussy brothers and play a major role in keeping the rivalry going due to their own hatred of the other brother who they see as a liability to the one they're attached to. |
| 186 | ** They come from polar opposite backgrounds, Sy being a lawyer for a major company and Nikki being an ex-con with little education. However, Nikki repeatedly proves herself to be extremely competent and savvy while Sy repeatedly makes serious errors that make things worse. |
| 187 | ** Sy is also an anxious wreck much of the time while Nikki is always calm and collected. |
| 188 | ** Their interactions with Varga are also complete opposites as Sy is cowtowed right away and forced to endure horrific mistreatment from Varga who sees him as nothing but a weaker person to torment for his own pleasure while Nikki shows right away that she isn't intimidated by him and is perfectly capable of seeing through his lies and Varga recognizes that she's capable of hurting him and panics, even earning a degree of respect from him when he realizes how capable she really is. |
| 189 | * GenreSavvy: See EvilGenius. Although her tendency to overthink things sometimes makes her WrongGenreSavvy. |
| 190 | * HiddenDepths: Most people, including Emmit, write off Nikki as a trashy ex-con, but she repeatedly demonstrates that she's much smarter and more cunning than she appears and is even the only character who is brave and smart enough to hurt Varga. |
| 191 | * ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:She makes use of an air conditioning unit to kill Maurice. Later, both her and Wrench use the chain linking them together to decapitate Golem.]] |
| 192 | * KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Shot right between the eyes in a MutualKill by the cop she was about to pointlessly murder for getting in the way of her murdering Emmit.]] |
| 193 | * LadyMacbeth: It's possible (if unlikely) that Ray and Emmit could have reconciled, if not for Nikki constantly egging Ray on and encouraging him to beat his brother. Tellingly, the first time Emmit and Ray sit down and just talk to one another (which was really just a distraction so that Nikki could steal the stamp), Ray realizes he has little genuine animosity towards his brother and was actually content to bury the hatchet, until Nikki ruins that chance by leaving a used tampon in Emmit's desk drawer, thus re-igniting the feud. |
| 194 | * MadeOfIron: [[spoiler:Takes Yuri and Meemo's beating quite well, all things considered. She also survives a bus crash and getting shot in the leg with a crossbow by Yuri.]] |
| 195 | * MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:Nikki drops her air conditioning unit on Maurice's head from her window, making it look like the unit just came loose and the entire thing was an unfortunate accident. It helps that she'd been complaining to the landlord about it for a while.]] |
| 196 | * MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: In her relationship with Ray, she is unquestionably the brains of the operation, as well as the most ruthless of the pair. [[spoiler:Maurice found out to his detriment when she squashes him like a bug with a 200 lbs air conditioning unit.]] |
| 197 | * MurderIsTheBestSolution: [[spoiler:When Maurice attempts to blackmail Ray, she immediately jumps to killing him.]] |
| 198 | * MutualKill: [[spoiler:Nikki and a state trooper shoot each other at a traffic stop before she can take revenge on Emmit.]] |
| 199 | * MsFanservice: Aside from her rather flattering wardrobe and the fact that she's... well, she's Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead, she flashes her rear when getting out of the bath. |
| 200 | * NervesOfSteel: Nikki is always cool, collected and composed, never panicking or showing fear, and is the only person in the series who Varga can't intimidate. |
| 201 | * NeverGotToSayGoodbye: [[spoiler:She never gets any closure on her relationship with Ray; he simply dies while trying to retrieve the getaway money for them.]] Becomes subverted in "Who Rules the Land of Denial?", where [[spoiler:Paul Marrane introduces her to a kitten that is implied to have Ray's soul in it]]. |
| 202 | * NeverMyFault: She's either unable to or in complete denial over how her own actions [[spoiler:contributed to Ray's death]]. Instead, she focuses all her rage on Emmit and doesn't care about any extenuating circumstances. |
| 203 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler:Ambushed by Yuri and Meemo during a meeting with Sy, resulting in them beating her so badly she needed to crawl back into her car and likely had some serious internal injury.]] |
| 204 | * NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:She seems to have been KilledOffscreen during her beating, but it's quickly revealed that she survived, albeit with massive injuries.]] |
| 205 | * OddCouple: |
| 206 | ** Things might be a little manipulative on Nikki's end, but there seems to be genuine affection between her and Ray. |
| 207 | ** A non-romantic variant occurs late in the season. [[spoiler:Who would have expected her to team up with the deaf hitman Mr. Wrench?]] |
| 208 | * OutlawCouple: Seems poised to become one with Ray, [[spoiler:but he dies before it can happen]]. |
| 209 | * RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:What ends up doing Nikki in. Despite being a wanted criminal, she decides to stay in Minnesota to expose Varga and Emmit's criminal endeavors. While she does manage to disrupt Varga's operations in Minnesota, Varga himself escapes and her determination to destroy Emmit leads to a confrontation with a state trooper that kills her.]] |
| 210 | * SpannerInTheWorks: Ray and Emmit might have repaired their relationship had it not been for Nikki. |
| 211 | * StatuesqueStunner: She's 5'8 and very attractive. |
| 212 | * StupidCrooks: Though she's far more intelligent and savvy than other examples in the series, her tendency to overestimate her intelligence and over-analyze situations occasionally blows up in her face: |
| 213 | ** She thinks that Emmit moving the stamp was him anticipating her attempt to steal the stamp in advance, when in actuality it was due to the serendipitous event of him needing to have the frame fixed, and her attempt at making her own power-play in 'response' just winds up re-igniting the feud between the brothers. |
| 214 | ** [[spoiler:She attempts to extort money from Emmit by sending a fake sex-tape as blackmail to his house, not anticipating that ''any'' of the multiple other family members, including his wife, who are currently living in the home would pick it up this suspicious package pre-emptively and watch it themselves. Sy is quick to out the self-defeating idiocy of her plan on the phone to her. To her credit, she is able to think on her feet and revise the plan accordingly; double the ransom amount for her and Ray to confirm the video is fake to Emmit's wife.]] |
| 215 | * TooCleverByHalf: She is very intelligent and she knows it, but not so much as she thinks. So she ends up committing several blunders that blow up in her face. |
| 216 | * TookALevelInBadass: After the TimeSkip, she becomes even more formidable and seems to drop her StupidCrooks tendencies. [[spoiler:Partnering up with Mr. Wrench certainly helped her to achieve this.]] She even manages to make the unflappable Varga sweat a little. |
| 217 | * UglyGuyHotWife: She's the hot wife (or rather, fiancé) to Ray. |
| 218 | * UnknownRival: Varga certainly didn't see her as much of a threat, and she takes advantage of this. [[spoiler:She also utilizes his complete unawareness of Wrench's existence to blindside him.]] |
| 219 | * ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Whatever her faults, she truly does love Ray [[spoiler:and she goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Varga and Emmit for his death]]. |
| 220 | * XanatosSpeedChess: She is extremely good at thinking on her feet, but this comes at the expense of her long-term planning. This is best shown after [[spoiler:the fake sex-tape she wanted to use to blackmail Emmit gets seen by his wife first]]; Sy points out the stupidity of failing to consider that possibility while planning things in advance, but she rallies in seconds and turns the mistake around to retain her leverage. After the timeskip, her success rate with her new plans suggests she has gotten a lot better at this, possibly due to collaboration with the more experienced [[spoiler:Mr. Wrench]]. |
| 221 | [[/folder]] |
| 222 | |
| 223 | !Emmit's Family & Associates |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Stella Stussy]] |
| 226 | !!Stella Stussy |
| 227 | !!!'''Played By:''' Linda Kash |
| 228 | |
| 229 | Emmit's wife of 25 years. |
| 230 | ---- |
| 231 | * HappilyMarried: She seems to have a happy marriage with Emmit. [[spoiler:This ends when she thinks he is cheating on her.]] |
| 232 | * HotGuyUglyWife: While by no means ugly, Stella has not aged nearly as gracefully as Emmit. |
| 233 | * ScreamingWoman: [[spoiler:Has a complete breakdown when she sees "Emmit's" sex tape.]] |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[folder:Grace Stussy]] |
| 237 | !!Grace Stussy |
| 238 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CaitlynneMedrek |
| 239 | |
| 240 | Emmit's young daughter. |
| 241 | ---- |
| 242 | * {{Jerkass}}: Doesn't seem too broken up about her mother [[spoiler:immediately breaking off ties with Emmit when he is accused of adultery]]. |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[folder:Sy Feltz]] |
| 246 | !!Sy Feltz |
| 247 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sy_feltzz.jpg]] |
| 248 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg |
| 249 | |
| 250 | Emmit's best friend and trusted employee. |
| 251 | ---- |
| 252 | * ActorAllusion: doubles as a Coen MythologyGag. Michael Stuhlbarg plays an antagonistic man named Sy, while in ''Film/ASeriousMan'' he was ''antagonized'' by a man named Sy. |
| 253 | * AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The last time we see him, he's woken from his coma, but is still in a vegetative state, barely able to slightly twitch his face when spoken to.]] |
| 254 | * ArchEnemy: He ''really'' doesn't like Ray, even more so than Emmit, who was willing to bury the hatchet before Nikki escalated the rivalry. |
| 255 | * BadLiar: Like you wouldn't believe. He can barely stammer out a sentence when interrogated by Winnie Lopez over his hit-and-run (although this is also because he knows that Yuri and Meemo are watching him suspiciously from the other room). |
| 256 | * BerserkButton: Ray seems to be this for Sy, who becomes very aggressive in any dealings with him, to the point he uses his Hummer to smash up Ray's Corvette. |
| 257 | * ButtMonkey: You betcha. Varga and his cronies immediately dislike Sy and take every opportunity possible to torment him, ranging from cruel insults to [[spoiler:''pissing in his mug and making him drink from it'']]. It finally culminates [[spoiler:when Varga poisons him with cyanide and sends him into a coma]]. |
| 258 | * TheChewToy: If something bad is happening, it's probably happening to Sy. |
| 259 | * TheConsigliere: To Emmit. Deconstructed in that his own stupidity and incompetence usually ends up creating more problems for Emmit. |
| 260 | * DrivesLikeCrazy: He deliberately totals Ray's Corvette after Nikki's attempted burglary, but then hits another car on the way out just because he wasn't looking. |
| 261 | * {{Foil}}: To Nikki. Both of them serve as TheLancer to Ray and Emmit, respectively, but whereas Nikki is the truly dangerous and intelligent one in the relationship (whose only flaw is her tendency to ''overthink'' things), Sy is completely incompetent and usually makes things worse for Emmit with his own stupidity. |
| 262 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Is increasingly becoming this; Varga and his henchmen already hate him, and they begin to plant the seeds of mistrust in Emmit's mind as well. |
| 263 | * ForcedToWatch: [[spoiler:Rather than kill Sy for his failings, Yuri and Meemo decide to brutally beat Nikki in front of him instead. They don't kill her, but judging by his facial expressions, they might as well have.]] |
| 264 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: He is closer to Emmit than Emmit's real brother. |
| 265 | * HonoraryUncle: He is practically a member of Emmit's family, closer to him than his actual brother, to the point that he was invited to Grace's wedding while her actual uncle Ray wasn't even told she was getting married. |
| 266 | * HummerDinger: Drives one of these, despite being a city lawyer. |
| 267 | * IconicOutfit: Sy is in the habit of leaving his parka on even when he is indoors, to the point that he is almost never seen without it. |
| 268 | * LadyMacbeth: A male example. Similarly to Nikki egging on Ray, Sy encourages Emmit to continue the feud with his brother based off of his own dislike for him. |
| 269 | * LargeHam: His increasingly exaggerated breakdowns are a sight to behold. |
| 270 | * NervousWreck: He has a tendency to lose his shit pretty easily, especially after Varga starts making threats. |
| 271 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Smashing up Ray's car (and inadvertently hitting another car in the process) seems like a good intimidation tactic in theory, but all it ends up doing is bringing police attention to Sy and Emmit at the worst possible time. |
| 272 | * NumberTwo: To Emmit. |
| 273 | * OhCrap: He is equally as shocked as Emmit when he realizes how in over their heads they are with Varga's organization. |
| 274 | * SanitySlippage: The events of the season take a toll on him. |
| 275 | * TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: [[spoiler:Varga poisons his coffee, sending him into a coma.]] |
| 276 | * ThrowTheDogABone: Very downplayed. After being kicked around throughout the third season, [[spoiler:the five year TimeSkip in the finale shows he eventually woke up from his coma. The downplayed part comes from the implication he has some brain damage. Though he's still better off compared to Emmit, Ray, and Nikki, who all ended up dead.]] |
| 277 | * TraumaCongaLine: All manner of misfortune falls upon Sy over the course of the season — he's insulted, threatened, [[spoiler:forced to drink from a mug of piss]], and [[spoiler:ForcedToWatch as Nikki is brutally beaten]]. It's almost a relief when [[spoiler:Varga poisons him and sends him into a coma]]. |
| 278 | * TookALevelInBadass: Hilariously subverted. He asks for Emmit's permission to "take off the shackles" and give him free reign to handle the situation. Turns out the "unchained" Sy isn't much more competent than normal. |
| 279 | * UndyingLoyalty: He will do anything for Emmit. Ray derisively refers to him as an "errand boy". |
| 280 | [[/folder]] |
| 281 | |
| 282 | [[folder:Irv Blumkin]] |
| 283 | !!Irv Blumkin |
| 284 | !!!'''Played By:''' Hardee T. Lineham |
| 285 | |
| 286 | Emmit's lawyer. |
| 287 | ---- |
| 288 | * DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Yuri and Meemo kill him by throwing over the side of a parking garage.]] |
| 289 | * HeKnowsTooMuch: Varga has him killed for investigating him. Irv didn't actually know anything and it seemed unlikely he found anything out, considering how hopeless he is with computers (and the fact that Varga had taken precautions against being investigated[[note]]and by "precautions", we mean the technological equivalent of a PokeInTheThirdEye[[/note]]), but his death serves as a message to Emmit and Sy. |
| 290 | * HopelessWithTech: Irv is so terrible with computers that he can barely use a search engine, and not without help. [[spoiler:This leads him obliviously downloading Varga's virus onto his computer, prompting Varga to send his henchmen to kill him.]] |
| 291 | * SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:His death sends a message to both Emmit and the audience that Varga is far more than just a CorruptCorporateExecutive; he's a cold-blooded killer as well.]] |
| 292 | * WhatTheHellHero: He's understandably unimpressed by Emmit's problem. |
| 293 | -->'''Irv:''' You borrowed a million dollars from a man without knowing his first name.\ |
| 294 | '''Emmit:''' I know how it-\ |
| 295 | '''Irv:''' It's not a question. I'm just assessing the level of stupidity. |
| 296 | [[/folder]] |
| 297 | |
| 298 | [[folder:Madeline]] |
| 299 | !!Madeline |
| 300 | !!!'''Played By:''' Zina Lee |
| 301 | |
| 302 | Emmit and Sy's receptionist. |
| 303 | ---- |
| 304 | * GirlFriday: For Stussy lots. She's the one who organizes and helps with appointments. |
| 305 | * OhCrap: The Narwhal agents creep her out, and this is her reaction when they begin to move into the Stussy offices en masse. |
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