As an anthology, each Fargo season possesses its own self-contained narrative, following a disparate set of characters in various settings and eras, albeit in a shared universe. This is, however, the first season of the series to not have any remote connection to either a previous season or to the film. It is set in Minnesota and North Dakota in the fall of 2019. It stars Juno Temple as Dorothy "Dot" Lyon, a seemingly typical Midwestern housewife living in Scandia, Minnesota, whose mysterious past comes back to haunt her after she lands in hot water with the authorities. Jon Hamm also stars as North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman, who has been searching for Dot for a long time. Other cast members include Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dot's wealthy and conservative mother-in-law Lorraine Lyon, Joe Keery as Roy's loyal son Gator Tillman, Lamorne Morris as Deputy Witt Farr, and Sam Spruell as mysterious drifter Ole Munch.[3]
The season has been met with positive critical reviews with many critics calling it a return to form with the show and favorably comparing it to the earlier seasons. The season was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Best Actor and Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for Hamm and Temple, respectively.[4]
Cast
Main
Juno Temple as Dorothy "Dot" Lyon / Nadine Tillman (née Bump), a seemingly ordinary housewife from Scandia, Minnesota, who is haunted by her past after accidentally coming to the attention of authorities following a middle school board meeting gone wrong
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lorraine Lyon, Dot's wealthy, arrogant mother-in-law; known as the "Queen of Debt", she is the billionaire CEO of "Redemption Services", the largest debt collection agency in the U.S.
David Rysdahl as Wayne Lyon, Dot's loving and respectful, yet often passive husband, who owns a small Kia car dealership
Joe Keery as Gator Tillman, Roy's brash son, deputy and protege who's eager to prove his worth to his father
Lamorne Morris as Whitley "Witt" Farr, a North Dakotastate trooper who encounters Dot during her escape from kidnappers and becomes embroiled in the ensuing investigation
Richa Moorjani as Indira Olmstead, a Scandia deputy with financial troubles who investigates Dot's kidnapping and later becomes suspicious of her story
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch (pronounced "Ooh-la Moonk"), a mysterious criminal-for-hire who holds vendettas against both Dot and Tillman, and who is also a 500-year-old sin-eater originally from Wales
Dave Foley as Danish Graves, Lorraine's in-house attorney and loyal right-hand man
Sienna King as Scotty Lyon, Dot and Wayne's tomboy 9-year-old daughter
In 2019, Scandia housewife Dorothy "Dot" Lyon is arrested by deputy Indira Olmstead when she mistakenly tasers an officer during a riot at her daughter Scotty's school board meeting. After being bailed out by her husband Wayne, she is kidnapped by criminals Ole Munch and Donald Ireland after a long struggle that ends with all three being injured. Wayne's wealthy mother Lorraine, who runs a debt collection agency, agrees to pay any potential ransom. While driving Dot into North Dakota, Munch and Ireland are pulled over by state troopers. Dot flees and Munch kills a trooper and shoots his partner Officer Witt Farr who hides in the same gas station as Dot. She rigs the store with traps, killing Ireland and injuring Munch, who escapes while she treats Witt's wound. She flees before Witt can learn her name and walks home, where she claims to a confounded Wayne that she was not kidnapped, despite evidence to the contrary.
Roy Tillman, Munch's client and the constitutional sheriff of Stark County, explains that Dot is his long-gone wife. When Munch demands triple his payment for not being made aware of her skills, Roy's son (and deputy) Gator attempts to execute him, but Munch instead kills two of Roy's men and escapes. FBI agents Joaquin and Meyer press Tillman to enforce local laws despite his distaste of them. Gator visits a recovering Witt to probe for information on Dot, running into Indira seeking the same information. Gator deletes a picture of Dot from her phone to prevent Witt from identifying her. Believing Dot faked the kidnapping to extort her, Lorraine tries to pay her to leave Wayne and threatens legal action when she refuses. With Scotty's help, Dot rigs the entire house with a series of booby traps to deter invaders, explaining it to Wayne as an affordable "security system". When Gator and a deputy stop at the same gas station that was previously shot up, Munch kills the deputy and pins a note written in blood to the man's chest with a hunting knife demanding payment.
Roy instructs Gator to cover up the deputy's death as an accident and to look for clues into Munch's whereabouts. Dot makes plans for Halloween, switching around the street signs in the neighborhood and designing "zombie killer" costumes for her and Scotty with weapons and bulletproof vests. An elderly woman named Irma discovers Munch living in her house but appears indifferent and allows him to stay. A flashback to Wales 500 years ago depicts a funeral where a man — the immortal Munch — is paid to consume a meal representing the dead man's sins. Dot and Wayne attempt to buy guns, but their plans are foiled by a mandatory one week waiting period. Witt confronts Gator at the police station after seeing Gator steal evidence related to Ireland. Gator is given a plan by Roy to kidnap Dot that night on Halloween when everyone is wearing masks and they can operate without drawing attention. Munch performs a ritual in a shed at Roy's farm, covering himself in goat's blood and chanting in Latin. After trick or treating Dot notices a suspicious van outside her house, the occupants wearing masks. Munch, dripping blood, enters Roy's house where Roy's current wife and two young daughters are sleeping.
Gator and his crew invade the Lyon house wearing Halloween masks but Dot recognizes Gator. She manages to fend off the assailants, but in the process, Wayne receives an electric shock from one of her traps, which sets the room on fire. Her family and Gator's crew manage to escape before the fire department arrives. Roy approaches his house and discovers the deputy guarding it has been killed. He follows Munch's footprints to his daughters' bedroom, finding his daughters untouched, but an arcane symbol drawn on the wall in blood. With Wayne recovering in the hospital, Witt and Indira show up to question Dot, but are rebuffed by Lorraine's attorney Danish Graves. FBI agents Joaquin and Meyer suspect Roy of providing weapons to the militia, but their boss refuses to support an investigation. Roy visits the house of a couple he had earlier counseled about domestic violence and notices more bruises on the wife's arm. Roy insults the husband and goads him into pulling a gun, but Roy fires his own gun first and kills him. Roy tells Gator to frame the dead husband for Munch's crimes at the gas station to stop the police investigation.
Dot and Scotty temporarily stay at Lorraine's fortified house. Lorraine and Graves try to have Dot institutionalized, but at the hospital, she attacks the guards and escapes. Lorraine meets with banker Vivian Dugger and offers to buy his failing bank. Sheriff Roy visits Lorraine looking for Dot, but Lorraine rebuffs him and offers to help fund his re-election to get rid of him. Indira arrives at Lorraine's compound to inform her that Dot has escaped, but Roy overhears and orders his henchmen to kidnap Wayne. Dot, disguised in nurse's attire, narrowly evades Roy's men at the hospital and overhears that they are there for Wayne. She hides a recovering Wayne in the bathroom of his ward while duping the men into kidnapping a different patient. Joaquin and Meyer arrive at the hospital to question Dot, but she evades them as well, sneaking back to Lorraine's compound to retrieve Scotty and take to Indira's house. Dot admits to Indira that her ex-husband is after her, and asks Indira to take care of Scotty for a few days while she attends to other business.
Roy confronts Dugger outside a strip club, coercing him into not selling his bank to Lorraine. Back at the Tillman ranch, Gator's men torture the cancer patient they had mistakenly kidnapped, but Roy realizes they got the wrong man and kills him. The FBI agents interview Wayne at the hospital but get nowhere. They later meet with Indira and tell her their plan to use Dot to uncover Roy's illegal activities. Roy decides to pay off Munch to continue pursuing Dot although Munch prophesizes that both men have little time left to live. Munch drives off with a tracking device Gator has planted on his car. When Indira finds Lars has left Scotty by herself, she takes her back to Lorraine's house and gives her a file detailing Dorothy's abuse by Roy. Lorraine offers Indira a job running her security team and offers to fix her debt problems. Danish Graves tracks down Dugger at the strip club where Lorraine smugly tells him over the phone that she's informed the government about his mismanagement of the bank's funds and his life is ruined. Lorraine examines the file Indira had given her and realizes how severely Dot had been abused by Roy.
Irma's verbally abusive son shows up at her house, sees Munch, and demands he starts paying rent. Munch hands him a large roll of bills and he leaves, but Munch follows him out and kills him with an axe. Driving a long distance, Dot falls asleep at the wheel and almost crashes. She stops at a roadside diner and later retrieves a postcard for Camp Utopia from a cache buried near a windmill. When she arrives at the camp, she learns that Roy's first wife Linda Tillman is operating it as a refuge for women who have left abusive partners and all taken the name "Linda". Meanwhile, Gator tracks Munch's car to Irma's house, where he shoots a figure rocking in a chair with a high powered rifle. However, it is the corpse of Irma's son being rocked by Munch. When Gator attempts to grab Roy's bag of money in Munch's car, he is accosted by Irma. He pushes her away and she falls, hitting her head on the sidewalk. She dies just before Munch goes outside to investigate. At Camp Utopia, Dot blames Linda for apparently offering her to Roy, enabling Linda to escape the abusive household. Dot eventually agrees to the camp's truth-telling process by crafting and staging an elaborate puppet show telling how she was taken in by the Tillman family at the age of 15 and abused by Roy. This convinces Linda to return as a witness with Dot and have Roy arrested. However, Dot wakes up at the roadside diner and realizes the Camp Utopia experience was just a dream. As she leaves, she is knocked unconscious by a car skidding on the icy road. After she awakens in the hospital, she is told that her husband has come to collect her, but it turns out to be Roy who gloats that he has finally captured her.
Danish Graves selects three men in North Dakota from the Lyon book of debtors, and has them change their names to the same name. At the hospital, Witt Farr sees Roy forcing Dot to check out of the hospital, but he is outnumbered and cannot help her. Roy takes Dot back to his ranch and restrains her with chains in a barn. Indira returns home to find Lars cheating with another woman. She berates him about how worthless he is and orders him to leave. Roy arrives at the election debate to find three other candidates also named Roy Tillman who echo his words whenever he speaks. Angered, Roy punches the female moderator and storms out. Meanwhile, when Dot tells Gator that his father knew he would grow up to be a loser he counters by saying Linda never left the ranch. Gator angrily drives away, overlooking Munch in the back seat of his patrol car. Witt Farr sees Danish Graves at a gas station and tells him about Dot's predicament. Returning from the debate, Roy violently attacks Dot vowing she will never leave alive. Danish Graves arrives at the ranch and offers to fix Roy's election for the return of Dot, however, Roy kills him. Dot watches out the barn window as Roy's men throw Danish's body into a hole next to the same windmill as the cache in her dream.
Inside a remote ice fishing cabin, Munch heats a knife and tells a restrained and fearful Gator that he must take an eye for an eye for the killing of his innocent landlady. Indira, now Lorraine's head of security, tells Lorraine the last location of Danish Graves' cell phone was the Tillman Ranch. Instead of calling the Governor, Lorraine says she will call the President. Roy streams a video calling all "patriots" to help defend his ranch. In the chaos of the arriving militia and approaching fog, Dot manages to escape through the floor of the barn and sneak into the farmhouse. She calls Wayne before being interrupted by Karen Tillman. Dot overpowers Karen and takes her phone and gun. While looking for Dot, Roy comes across the money bag in Gator's closet. Dot calls Lorraine, who promises help is on the way. Heavily armed FBI and state police, including Witt Farr, arrive outside the ranch to search the farm, but Roy says he does not recognize their authority. While outside searching for Dot, Roy is approached by Munch, leading Gator by a rope with his eyes bandaged. Munch accuses Roy of double-crossing him, leaves Gator, and disappears in the fog. Dot hides in the pit where Danish's body was dumped, but is discovered by three of Roy's men. Before they can take any action, they are killed by Munch, who helps her out and sets her free.
A blinded Gator makes his way to the dugout to a tunnel leading him to an escape hatch outside the ranch. He hears voices in the distance and follows them. A small FBI team including Witt Farr prepares to sneak onto the ranch and rescue Dot. Roy is rebuked by Odin for his inability to kill Dot or control Gator. As Odin attempts to fight him, Roy slits his throat with a knife. Karen turns the corner, sees Roy and her dead father, and flees. As Roy chases her, he is confronted by Dot, who immediately shoots him in the abdomen. Before she can shoot again, the FBI team arrives, arresting Karen. The sound of the gunshot alerts the militia, who engage in a shootout with the FBI. During the chaos, Roy escapes, but Witt follows a blood trail to the dugout, where Roy overpowers him and kills him with the knife. Roy exits the tunnel to find the FBI waiting to arrest him; a smirking agent Joaquin informs him that Gator gave him up. A year later, Dot and Indira visit Witt's grave on the anniversary of his death. Lorraine visits Roy in prison and informs him that she's helping all the other prisoners and their families pay off their debts. In return, they will make Roy feel the same pain he inflicted on his wives. Dot and Scotty return home to find Wayne cooking dinner and entertaining a visitor, Munch. Munch explains to Dot that he freed her so she could fight fairly, but that his business with her is not finished, due to the wounds Dot gave him when he tried to kidnap her. Dot challenges his worldview, and offers him a meal if he will help cook. She teaches him to make biscuits from a box of Bisquik, and he joins the family for dinner. He tells the family of his life hundreds of years ago as a sin-eater and the cursed existence he has lived since that day. Dot tells him that the cure is to break free from fear and eat a meal cooked with love and offered freely. She offers him a biscuit. Munch hesitates, but eats it, breaking into a smile.
Production
Development
On the day of the fourth season's finale, "Storia Americana", series creator Noah Hawley was questioned about a potential fifth season. He said, "The danger is always that you're going to stay at the dance a little too long. So I have to put a lot of it in place in my head and really make sure that it's worthy of joining these 41 hours. I don't want to try and make another one unless I think, 'Oh, we have to make this one. It's the best one yet.'"[6] By March 2021, Hawley said "I'll get to it in the next year."[7]
In February 2022, FX officially renewed the series for a fifth season.[8] Hawley said that the season would be more "comedic" in tone, saying "It's always a balance between how dramatic versus comedic it is, and this is the more comedic end of the spectrum. I really love it."[9]
The season premiered on FX on November 21, 2023, with the first two episodes, with the rest debuting weekly.[1] It was originally scheduled to premiere in September 2023, but was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.[2]
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 94% based on 51 reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A back-to-basics caper populated by the likes of a mesmerizing Juno Temple and a thick slice of Hamm, Fargo's fifth season is a superb return to peak form."[16] On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]
