FX’s Fargo season five episode eight, the season’s penultimate episode, is one of the series’ finest hours of storytelling. It opens with Ole Munch (Sam Spruell) punishing Gator (Joe Keery) for his innumerable acts of cruelty, topped off by the murder of Ole’s elderly mother.
Gator tries to bribe Ole into letting him go, but Ole doesn’t care one iota about promises of women, weapons, or cash. Tied to a chair, Gator can only whimper and beg as he realizes Ole’s about to take a red-hot knife to his eyes. An eye for an eye, correct? “This for that,” says Ole, adding, “What is taken must be given.”
Over at the Tillman Ranch, Dot (Juno Temple) is back in the game after a brief moment of despair at the end of episode seven. She maneuvers the metal cot into position beneath an exposed nail and makes a grab for it. Roy (Jon Hamm) steps outside the big house, but he doesn’t hear when Dot takes a tumble and breaks one of the floorboards in the outbuilding.
Ranch foreman Bowman (Conrad Coates) reports that no one has heard from Gator, and Roy reveals the governor is ignoring his calls. They’re on their own at this point. The tide has turned and it’s time to rally the patriots. They need to bring weapons and be prepared for battle.
Roy also gives the order for Bowman to kill Dot.
Dot repeatedly stamps down on the board to make the opening larger. By the time Bowman walks in, it appears that Dot has somehow escaped.
Dot hides under the floorboards and uses a nail to unlock her handcuffs.
Meanwhile, Lorraine Lyon’s calls to Danish Graves are going unanswered. Indira (Richa Moorjani), now in a business suit and professional in manner, delivers the news that his cell has been off for hours. The cell’s last known location was at the Tillman Ranch.
Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is done playing her twisted version of nice. She orders Jerome to call the “orange idiot” since her donations mean she’s owed a favor.
Indira calls her friend North Dakota Deputy Witt Farr (Lamorne Morris) to inform him the FBI is about to raid the Tillman Ranch. Indira can’t be there in person, given her new position, but she trusts that Witt will save Dorothy if she’s still alive.
Witt immediately leaps into action and heads to the Tillman Ranch.
Roy shoots a video calling for all patriots to respond to his ranch. “This is America’s Sheriff issuing a call to arms,” says Roy. He echoes a certain politician and says that after the government comes for him, they’ll come for all the patriots next.
The next scene is of truckloads of well-armed “patriots” arriving at the ranch to the tune of “Y.M.C.A.”
The arrivals provide a bit of a distraction, enough for Dot to make it into the main house unnoticed. She heads upstairs to her old bedroom and manages to use the landline to call Wayne (David Rysdahl) and Scotty (Sienna King). Roy’s third wife, Karen Rebecca Liddiard), interrupts the call before Dot can say anything other than that she’s okay.
Karen holds Dot at gunpoint as she snarls that Roy won’t even let her change the sheets. They still sleep in Dot’s “filth.” Plus, Dot’s photos are still all over the walls.
Dot pleads with Karen to help her end this. Together, they can take down Roy and make it so he’ll never hit another woman. Karen decides that’s a big no, and Dot easily disarms her and hits her with the butt of the rifle. She leaves Karen knocked out on the bedroom floor, keeps the rifle, takes Karen’s cell phone, and uses a hidden stairway down to the first floor.
Dot turns all the gas on and tucks her hair up under a hat before exiting the house.
Roy returns to the big house and sniffs the air just as he hears a man about to light a cigarette. Unfortunately, he acts quickly and the house doesn’t go up in flames. They search the house, and Roy spots Karen unconscious and injured but doesn’t help her. He’s obsessed with finding Dot.
While searching the house, Roy finds the bag of cash Gator was supposed to have given Ole Munch. He realizes his son stole it back.
And speaking of said son, Ole’s leading him on foot through the snow, hands tied and rope around his neck.
Dot finds an out-of-the-way spot and uses Karen’s cell phone to call Indira. Lorraine demands the phone, and Dot is sad to report that Roy killed Danish when he came to the ranch to save her. Dot claims to be safe right now, and Lorraine explains state and federal forces are on their way. She tells Dot to find somewhere safe to ride out the battle.
Dot’s confused as to why Lorraine would help her now, and Lorraine’s forced to admit she cares. “No daughter of mine is going down on the one-yard line,” says Lorraine. She orders her daughter-in-law to put her big girl panties on and stay in the fight.
Indira takes over and tells her to stay out of the fight and to hide somewhere they won’t look. Dot knows the perfect place: the hidden grave by the windmill.
A North Dakota SWAT team and heavily armed FBI agents pull up in dozens of vehicles – including tanks – right outside the ranch’s main gate.
Roy’s gathered 40+ weekend warriors as the FBI Special Agent-in-Charge exchanges banter with the SWAT team leader. The SWAT guy describes Roy Tillman as a famous Gary Cooper-type sheriff, and the FBI SAIC confirms they’ll try not to injure the women and children.
Agents Joaquin and Meyer join the leaders and explain that it’s their case. They describe Roy’s people as ready for another 1776 and believe they won’t back down without a fight. Witt walks up with news that the hostage, Dot, has a cell phone with her and they can use it to track her location. Neither the Special Agent in Charge nor the SWAT team leader were aware that there’s a hostage, but the SWAT team will put her on their list of things to do. Agent Meyer speaks up and says Dot’s critical to their case, and the SWAT leader agrees to move saving Dot to the top of his list.
The SWAT leader also agrees to let Witt coordinate a rescue plan with tactical.
Roy rides out on his horse and orders the officers to get off his land. Of course, the SAIC doesn’t back down and isn’t intimated by Roy’s threats or his ragtag, wannabe army. Roy claims not to know who Danish Graves is and refuses to say if Dot/Nadine is on his property.
Witt speaks up, and Roy isn’t shocked that he’s joined the witch hunt. Agent Meyer points out that the true definition of a witch hunt isn’t witches hunting men. It’s men killing women to keep them in line. Roy doesn’t take kindly to a woman speaking to him this way and warns her there are patriots ready to penetrate her from behind.
The SAIC is done with this standoff. Roy needs to let them in, or else he’ll wind up in handcuffs. Roy seems to believe God has set him on this path and that everyone else is wrong. They can leave and live or stay and die. (Yeah, I don’t think this is going to end how Roy thinks it will.)
Roy and his foreman discuss their next move, and Roy figures out the FBI got there too fast to have just responded to Dot’s call. He knows Lorraine’s behind this and that she made a call to “weaponize the deep state.”
Roy believes Dot is still on the property and that she’s hiding in either the dugout or the grave. Roy checks out the dugout – a secret tunnel system that goes under the ranch and out into a field. She’s not there, but he hides a knife just in case he needs to return.
Roy exits the tunnel only to discover Gator and Ole Munch appearing through the mist 20’ away. Ole confirms Gator had to forfeit his eyes after pulling a double-cross. Gator sobs and apologizes to his dad for not letting it go like he told him to.
Ole calls Gator a useless hand and pushes him into Roy, causing both men to fall down. By the time Roy looks up again, Ole’s disappeared back into the mist. Roy has no sympathy for Gator and tells him, “If there ever was a point to you, it’s gone now.”
Roy walks away, leaving the now-blind and injured Gator on his own.
Witt informs the SWAT team that Dot will likely be armed, but whatever they do, they should not shoot her. “This story will not end with us crushing the victim with a helping hand,” declares Witt.
The SWAT team agrees not to shoot the hostage.
Dot is, in fact, hiding in the grave next to Danish’s body. Unfortunately, she left the rifle behind when she climbed down into the pit. Foreman Bowman and two men are charged with checking out the grave and spot the discarded rifle. The grave’s lid is removed and Dot is exposed. Bowman takes aim and as visions of Wayne and Scott flow their Dot’s mind, the foreman is yanked away from behind.
Ole Munch appears at the top of the pit and assures Dot that she’s free to come out. He offers Dot his hand, saying it wouldn’t be fair to fight a tiger in a cage. Once out of the pit, Ole hands her a rifle and says, “Now the tiger is free.”
Dot doesn’t reply and watches as Ole Munch walks off into the mist.
Episode nine ends with Dot walking with determination toward the big house.
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New Fargo season five episodes air on FX on Tuesdays at 10pm ET/PT.
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 1 “The Tragedy of the Commons” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 2 “Trials and Tribulations” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 3 “The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 4 “Insolubilia” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 5 “The Tiger” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 6 “The Tender Trap” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 7 “Linda” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 8 “Blanket” Recap
- Fargo Season 5 Episode 10 “Bisquik” Finale Recap
