- Molly takes the lead, while Gus pursues a hunch. Lester manipulates a situation, and Malvo finds a new target.
- Fargo Morton's Fork- June 17, 2014
We pick up right where we left off with Lester in his car hyperventilating having just seen his wife shot. He calmly goes into his office and to the safe and takes out their passports and some cash. He flashes back to Lorne in the elevator asking if this is what he wants.
He puts their house and car keys in her hands. He heads to Lou's coffee shop and says his wife will be along presently but she had to get something at the office and he orders her a grilled cheese. He claims he has to use the bathroom and sneaks out the back and calls the police about shots fired. He goes back to the diner and again notes his wife will be along soon. Lou says he already said that. He also tells him that a man was in there looking for him earlier. Lester flashes back to putting the boarding passes to Acapulco in his coat pocket which his dead wife is now wearing. For a split second you can tell he's pondering going back to get them but suddenly police cars go screaming by. Lou notes nothing good will come of that. Lester agrees.
Molly, Gus, and Greta are watching "Deal or No Deal" when she gets the call that the second Mrs. Nygaard is now dead.
At Lester's shop, Bill explains what happened without getting too close to the body or the blood that makes him ill. Molly notes that she is wearing Lester's coat so just maybe she wasn't the intended target. Lester busts in pretending to be all upset and freaks out at the sight of the body. Molly wants to ask him some questions and wonders if this is connected to Las Vegas, a repercussion for what he saw. He realizes they are suspecting him and again he freaks out that his wife is dead and says he's going to be sick.
He asks if he can say goodbye. Bill says yes. He goes over to the body and attempts to snag the boarding passes but Molly notes it's an active crime scene and he can't touch the body and leads him away.
Lorne is holed up in a cabin when he hears on the police radio about the murder and Lester being picked up. He grabs some weapons and heads out.
The FBI guys are waiting in the Bemidji precinct and one asks the other if they are dreaming. Molly tells them about the plane tickets in Linda's pocket. Bill gives the coroner's report of one shot to the head. Lou shows up to tell Molly about the man coming into the diner. She shows him the security photos of Lorne and he says it could be him, but notes he changed his look. Bill comes by and says they're going to question Lester. Molly says she has to go. Lou notes that she doesn't. She tells him to call Gus for her and tell him it's going to be an all-nighter. He says he'll do one better and go over there and stand guard with a shotgun to protect his granddaughter. She tells him he's a good man.
Lorne arrives at the precinct. He jimmies open the FBI guys' car door and grabs a small black book out of the glove compartment.
Bill, Molly, Pepper, and Budge go to question Lester. They show him pictures of Malvo and he says he is not going to talk without a lawyer and he has arrangements to make for his wife. He says to lock him up or let him leave. Molly tries to appeal to him saying Lorne is not going to stop and Lester has to know it because a man like that might not even be a man.
Gus awakes to find Lou on his porch. Lou fills him in. Gus says he's going to Molly and asks Lou to watch over Greta. Lou says he will.
Molly briefs the other cops on how they're going to fan out to try and catch him. The FBI is sending in backup and Pepper and Budge will babysit Lester at his house. Gus calls and asks her to promise not to go after Malvo because he can't take Greta to another funeral. She notes it's her job and she is obviously itching to do it. He asks again saying he knows it's unfair to ask. She promises to stay at the precinct and coordinate from there.
After he hangs up with Molly, Gus is stopped short by a wolf in the road. The wolf wanders off and Gus watches. His eye lands on a red BMW in front of a cabin. He knows Malvo was driving a red BMW. He pulls off to the side of the road and approaches the house. As he does so, Malvo gets in his car and drives away. Instead of calling the police or Molly, Gus enters the house.
Molly goes to Bill and tells him the plan of trying to draw Malvo out by using Lester as bait and that the FBI is sending back up. A pensive Bill tells her he's quitting after this, he doesn't have the stomach for it anymore. He says he was not meant to contemplate the nature of life. She tries to persuade him a little bit but he notes that he's going to recommend her to be chief and that he knows Vern was behind her too. He says he hopes after she has the baby she will come back. She says she'll think about it. She tells him to keep his chin up.
Malvo calls the Bemidji precinct pretending to be FBI to get the agent's names. He then calls the FBI and pretends to be Budge, using the passcodes he stole from the small book he stole from their car, and says they've reached a dead end and calls off the back-up.
Malvo goes to a used car lot and asks to test drive an old car that looks exactly like an undercover FBI car. The dealer, the young man with the pregnant wife to whom Lester tried to sell insurance in the pilot, calls shotgun.
Pepper and Budge drive Lester home. On the way he solves the fox, cabbage, rabbit riddle. (Row the rabbit over since the fox won't eat the cabbage. Go back and get the fox but take the rabbit back. Leave the rabbit but take the cabbage back since the fox won't eat the cabbage. Go back and get the rabbit.) Lorne follows them. At home, Lester goes through the box of Chazz's hunting gear in the basement.
Back at Gus's, Greta brings Lou a cup of coffee. He talks about his time as a state cop. She asks if he ever stood guard like this before. He says once, in 1979, when Molly was four. She asks if the person came. He says it was less a who than a what and that it eventually did come. Greta goes back into the house and grabs her BB gun. He asks what she plans to do. She says she'll put the guys eye out and Lou can take care of the rest.
Molly is clearly restless and bored back at the precinct as the other cops check in with no news. She grabs her coat and tells the desk sergeant that she's going to Lester's house. The sergeant wonders if she's safe alone. Molly tells her to lock the door.
Lorne's dummy car approaches Lester's house. Pepper and Budge think it might be their back-up. They get out and asks the driver to step out. When no one does they draw their weapons and approach. They see that it is not Lorne behind the wheel but the dealer he bought the car from with his hands taped to the wheel. Lorne approaches them from behind and shoots them both dead. He looks at the guy in the car who begs him not to kill him since he has a child.
Molly drives.
Lester is upstairs wildly pulling clothes out of the suitcases they had packed for their trip. He pulls out his Salesman of the Year trophy and tosses it on the floor with the clothes. He heads back downstairs and sees that the doors are open on the FBI car and there are blood red tracks in the driveway in the snow. He races back upstairs and calls the police begging them to hurry. Lorne hears the call as he approaches and hears Lester say that the bathroom door doesn't lock. As he walks across the clothes-strewn floor however, his leg is caught in a bear trap, which Lester recovered from Chaz's gear. They take shots at each other and Lorne throws Lester's trophy at him and beans him in the nose. Lester dives into the bathroom. After a beat he heads out and sees Lorne is gone, having wrenched his leg out of the trap.
Lorne heads back to the cabin and tends to his messed up leg, quite expertly. When he has splinted it we see Gus approach from the side with his gun drawn. Gus says to him that he figured out his riddle about the shades of green. Lorne congratulates him. Gus then shoots him several times. Lorne is still moving, however, so Gus shoots him again and again. He is unsettled but Lorne is dead. He reaches over and grabs Lorne's knife.
Molly rolls up to the cabin. She and Gus embrace. He leads her inside and shows her the body. He points to a briefcase and tells her to open it. Inside are all of Lorne's tapes. She grabs the one marked Lester Nygaard and plays it and hears the call where Lester confessed to killing his wife.
An onscreen title tells us its Two Weeks Later.
We see Lester tooling along on a snowmobile at Glacier National Park in Montana. As he heads back he spies a phalanx of police waiting for him. He turns tail and the police give chase. Lester crashes his snowmobile. He begins running, right past a sign that says "Danger: Thin Ice." The police try to call him back but he doesn't listen. Cracks start to spider through the ice until suddenly a hole opens up and Lester drops through, leaving his hat floating atop the slushy water.
Molly, Greta, and Gus sit on the couch watching "Deal or No Deal." Molly doesn't share the news of her call. Gus tell her he's getting a citation for bravery. He says it should be her. She says, nope, that's his deal. She notes, with contentment, that she gets to be chief.
And that's a wrap on the first season of "Fargo."
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