Recap / Fargo S 0509 The Useless Hand

Dot tries to escape the ranch and evade Roy and his henchmen, who hole up in preparation for an assault. Munch returns to exact vengeance on the Tillmans.

Tropes present:

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Gator isn't. Doesn't save him.
• Bad with the Bone: Dot picks up what is implied to be Linda's femur and grips it like a club when preparing to defend herself.
• Bait-and-Switch: Dot turns on the gas stove's valves while escaping, leading the audience to believe that there will be an explosion. Unfortunately, Roy smells the gas and orders that the doors and windows be opened.
• Big Damn Heroes: Munch shoots the group of goons that are about to find Dot, and then helps her out of the grave and hands her a gun.
• Dramatic Drop: Downplayed. Wayne drops the bag of groceries he was loading into the trunk of his car onto the ground when Scotty informs him that Dot is the person calling his phone, but it's not the focus of the shot.
• Face Death with Dignity: Dot visibly steels herself when she thinks Munch is about to shoot her. Luckily for her, it doesn't work out that way.
• Gory Discretion Shot: We only hear Gator screaming when Munch cuts out his eyes; later in the episode, a cloth is tied over them so we don't see the extent of the damage.
• Jurisdiction Friction: The FBI and state police quibble over what to do while approaching the ranch.
• Idiot Ball: Dot picks it up briefly when she decides to leave her rifle outside the grave before climbing in, despite knowing that she's being followed by men with guns.
• Internal Reveal: While searching the house for Dot, Roy finds Munch's payment in Gator's closet, and realizes Gator has somehow drawn Munch back into their conflict.
• Irony: One of the few achievements Gator can brag about is being a sharpshooter. He proved this when he shot "Munch" (actually the dead body of Irma's deadbeat son) from a considerable distance with a sniper rifle. Now, when a very alive and vengeful Munch has Gator at his mercy, he cuts his eyes out with a red-hot knife, depriving him of his only talent permanently.
• Lack of Empathy: Roy (unsurprisingly) doesn't bother to check on his unconscious wife after Dot knocks her out. Nor is he the least bit sympathetic to Gator being blinded, instead instantly bemoaning his son's uselessness.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Munch is in fine form this episode. He's able to transport Gator to an ice fishing shack in the middle of God knows where, then walk him back to the Tillman Ranch in less than a few hours (while also bypassing the militia Roy has summoned). When he kicks Gator back to Roy, Munch simply vanishes into the fog.
• Title Drop: When Munch monologues about betrayal to Roy and Gator, he says that the correct way to deal with a hand that gives and another that takes is to cut off the latter, then return the "useless hand" with its function destroyed.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Munch delivers two fittingly short ones to both Tillmans.
  • When he's about to cut Gator's eyes out:
    Munch: An old woman watches young men play a game. She drinks. She drinks because her own son has spit the nipple from his mouth. She bothers no one. And yet, you killed her.
  • When he's returning Gator to Roy:
    Munch: It tells a lot about a man, the words he uses to describe a double cross. We have heard it all. To Welsh. To Gyp. To Jew. As if to steal is a man's lineage, what a man is.
• Redemption Rejection: Karen rejects Dot's offer to end Roy's abuse and says that she'll kill her herself.
• Quote Mine: Roy's ramble about the Bible and God to the state troopers and FBI agents is nonsensical, to say the least; for instance, he responds to Witt's declaration that he's looking for Dot by saying that Lot's wife has already turned into a pillar of salt and she won't be turning back, despite this making no sense in context.
• Worthy Opponent: Munch seems to see Dot as this, as he says that fighting a tiger in a cage would not be a fair fight and helps her out of the mass grave. After she remains confident even in the face of what seems like certain death, he hands her the rifle she took from Karen and tells her to keep being a tiger.