BWW Recap: The Blumquists Take Control on FARGO

Tonight's episode of FARGO took a different turn, only following the perspectives of two sets of people: Ed and Peggy and Hanzee. The episode begins where we left off with Ed after he ran away from Hank and Lou. He returns home and he and Peggy escape with Dodd to his uncle's cabin in the woods. Their plan is to call the Gerhardt's, inform them they have Dodd, and give them Dodd in exchange for their freedom.

However, this doesn't go as planned. After two failed attempts to get through to someone at the Gerhardt's, Ed decides to call someone else who might be interested: Mike Milligan. A noticeably thankful Milligan agrees to meet Ed the next morning at 8AM to do the switch. Before that can happen, Hanzee appears at the cabin. Instead of killing Ed and Peggy and taking Dodd home, Hanzee asks Peggy if he can cut his hair to be more "professional." When Dodd complains, Hanzee shoots him in the head. Hanzee mutters to Peggy that he is "tired of this life." Right before Peggy starts the hair cut, Ed and Hanzee see Hank and Lou through the window. This prompts Hanzee to get up and start shooting. In the chaos, Peggy stabs Hanzee in the neck, and Hanzee tries to shoot Ed, but is out of bullets. Hanzee runs out the front, right before Hank and Lou come in the back.

This is the first time we gain insight into Hanzee's character. For most of the series, Hanzee has been a quiet force for the Gerhardts, doing most of their dirty work. It isn't until this episode that we get to see some of his struggles. While looking for the Blumquists, Hanzee encounters men in a bar who spit in his drink, antagonize him outside, and treat him like a lesser human. If it were anyone else, they would let it happen, but not Hanzee, he shoots 3 of the men and then two cops before he gets away. Even though he kills all of those people, you empathize with him, because you realize that his whole life he's been treated like a lesser human because he is Native American. When Hanzee arrives at the cabin, you think he's going to kill Ed and Peggy, but instead it's Dodd who he kills. Years of being treated badly and being called "half-breed," Hanzee finally pulled the trigger on the worst member of the Gerhardt family. If the clothes and locations don't remind you that this season takes place in the 1970s, the racism towards characters like Hanzee and Milligan will.

With Dodd dead, the Blumquists are in quite a predicament. It doesn't help that Lou and Hank have just showed up, either. Worse than that, when 8AM rolls around the next morning and they don't have Dodd, the Blumquists are going to have to deal with a desperate and dangerous Mike Milligan. They've managed through killing Rye, the butcher shop setting on fire, capturing Dodd, and almost dying multiple times, so I could potentially see them getting out of this mess alive, however. Both Peggy and Ed have grown a lot in the past few episodes, but Ed more than Peggy. Ed went from a cookie-cutter midwesterner--working in the butcher shop and living in the house he grew up in--to a man who is willing to kill to protect his wife and himself. He's gotten smarter and he's accepted the situation and excelled in staying alive. He was forced into this situation when Peggy decided not to go to the police when she hit Rye, and instead of just giving up and turning himself in, he's fought for his freedom. Ed has grown to be one of my favorite characters, and I hope he doesn't have a bloody end.

Whereas Ed accepted his situation, Peggy has forced hers. The entire season, Peggy has longed to break out of her mundane life, to "actualize" and become the best her she could be. Instead of gaining that insight from a retreat, she found her peace through a hallucination with a shrink, who told her to stop thinking, and start being. This insight changes her whole outlook on live, and she is renewed with the excitement that things are going to get better. She is excited about the "adventure" her and Ed are going on, and she doesn't seem at all worried about getting caught by the cops or even killed by Gerhardt men. She even goes as far as to stab Dodd when he's being impolite, so that he will mind his manners. Her actions have become so alarming that even Dodd thinks she's crazy. Peggy may not be in her right mind, but her willingness to do anything without thinking of the consequences has helped her and Ed stay alive in this whole fiasco (even if it was her who got them into it in the first place).

The show is starting to wind down, most of the main characters are either dead or close to what their trying to achieve. With Lou and Hank closing in on Ed and Peggy and now Hanzee, they are one step closer to solving this whole case and ending the bloodshed. The Gerhardt's are comprised only of Bear and Floyd now, and it doesn't seem like they have a leg to stand on anymore. Kansas City is prime to take over, and Mike Milligan will either be at the head of that or another casuality. With only two episodes left, there is still a lot to resolve, and there will be a lot of action to come.

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Let me know your thoughts on this episode of FARGO in the comments below, or tweet me at @kaitmilligan! Make sure to come back next week as I recap another epsiode!

Photos Courtesy of the Fargo FX Twitter

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