The second season of the American black comedy crime drama television series Fargo, billed as Fargo: Year Two and Fargo: Installment 2, aired on FX from October 12 to December 14, 2015, totaling ten episodes. The series is an anthology about violent crime in the American Midwest, with each season acting as a self-contained story within the show's shared continuity. A prequel to the first season set in early 1979, Year Two centers around a married coupleâÂÂPeggy and Ed BlumquistâÂÂtrying to cover up the murder of a local crime family scion, which kickstarts an investigation by Minnesota state trooper Lou Solverson and a bloody gang war.
The season was produced by FX Productions and MGM Television, with Noah Hawley serving as showrunner. Hawley and the writers sought to expand the scope of Fargo storytelling in the characters and subject matter, as well as the more turbulent setting. Filming began in Calgary, Alberta in January 2015 and ended after 85 days. The principal cast of the season features Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart, and Ted Danson. Its ensemble also includes Cristin Milioti, Jeffrey Donovan, Zahn McClarnon, Bokeem Woodbine, Angus Sampson, Brad Garrett, Nick Offerman, Rachel Keller, and Keir O'Donnell in recurring roles.
Year Two received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences for its writing, directing, cinematography, editing, and the performances of Dunst, Wilson, and Plemons. The season received various accolades, including 18 nominations and 2 wins at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, 3 nominations at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, and 4 wins at the 21st Critics' Choice Awards.
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Fargo creator Noah Hawley revealed details of a new season at a Television Critics Association (TCA) press event, and by July 21, 2014, FX commissioned ten episodes for season two. As an anthology, each Fargo season follows a self-contained story, with distinct sets of characters, settings, and events bound by a shared universe.
Hawley and the writers expanded the show's storytelling scope in the characters and subject matter. They doubled the number of main characters to bolster the central story with interconnecting arcs and perspective. Hawley also wanted to elicit sympathy for characters that would normally be perceived unfavorably. The producers at one point discussed revisiting a modern period for the main story. Inspired by Miller's Crossing (1990) and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), they envisioned a prequel set between Luverne, Minnesota, Fargo, North Dakota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1979, 27 years before the events of Fargo season one. The shift in time, according to Hawley, enabled the creation of a more turbulent onscreen world.
A principal cast of five actors received star billing in the show's second season. While Nick Offerman, Brad Garrett, Patrick Wilson and Kirsten Dunst were among several early candidates, Hawley did not tailor his characters with specific actors in mind. The search for actors was sometimes difficult because of the meticulous demands for advertising. Producers then disclosed their expectations for the conditions of the set to a hired talent's agents, especially pertaining to cold weather, logistics, and potential scheduling constraints. Hawley had further discussions about roles to actors inexperienced working in television. Once hired, the cast trained with a dialect coach to master a Minnesota accent.
Dunst and Jesse Plemons were Fargo season two's first significant casting choices. Dunst received news about the show through her agency, and obtained the part the day of her initial meeting with Hawley. The actress recalled, "I was so impressed by the way it looked, the writing; it was such high-quality television." To rehearse, Dunst used dreams she documented as guidance for her character. Plemons came to Hawley's attention for his work in Friday Night Lights (2006âÂÂ11) and Breaking Bad (2008âÂÂ13). The actor had increased his weight for the crime film Black Mass (2015), and Hawley felt his bulky physique captured Ed's essence, described as "almost like a cow". Plemons admits he was at first unsure how to approach Ed, as he considered the comparison to a cow descriptive of a buffoonish person.
By January 2015, Wilson, Ted Danson, and Jean Smart completed the starring cast. Wilson was unique among the actors for playing an already established character; Keith Carradine portrayed Lou for the show's first season. Hence, Hawley sought a reinterpretation of the character, though Wilson analyzed Carradine's work for some performance cues. Wilson was compelled by Fargo partly to elevate his career prospects. Danson found learning the Minnesota accent daunting; to improve, he began practicing as soon as he was signed, often before a given shoot. Smart's role required a more aged look, which producers achieved by cutting and dyeing her hair, and Hawley lent the actress a book of paintings by Andrew Wyeth to explain her character.
An ensemble of 20 actors comprises the majority of the cast. Hawley found ensembles enticing because they presented "a lot of really good moving pieces". At Paleyfest 2015, the Fargo creator commented: "It's sort of like a horse race in a way, especially when you know that everyone is on this collision course. It's like, 'Who's going to make it?' And you can put people together in unexpected pairings." Offerman played Karl Weathers, an alcoholic and Luverne's only working lawyer, and Cristin Milioti was hired as Lou's terminally ill wife Betsy Solverson because Hawley considered their personalities similar. Garrett portrays Joe Bulo, and Bokeem Woodbine appears as Mike Milligan, a role he was offered two days after auditioning. For the role of Hanzee Dent, Hawley hired Zahn McClarnon two weeks after his audition. Six others play members of the Gerhardts: Kieran Culkin as Rye, Rachel Keller as Simone, Michael Hogan as Otto, Allan Dobrescu as Charlie, Angus Sampson as Bear, and Jeffrey Donovan as Dodd. When asked about his decision to cast Donovan, Hawley reportedly told the actor, "I don't know. You just come off with a sense of power. I think Dodd comes off with a sense of power, and I thought that you have the chops to find the humor in it." Donovan gained 30 pounds in preparation for his role. Other major supporting roles in Fargo season two include Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan, Keir O'Donnell as Ben Schmidt, and Elizabeth Marvel as Constance Heck.
Producers embarked on location scouting immediately after Fargo was renewed. Principal photography began in Calgary, Alberta on January 19, 2015, and took 85 days. The city's central business district and Kensington neighborhood doubled for Kansas City, Sioux Falls, and Luverne. The filmmaking crew constructed the Waffle Hut set on the CL Ranch in neighboring Springbank. Elsewhere in the area, shooting took place in Didsbury, High River, Fort Macleod, and St. Mary's University. Initially, the weather posed a challenge for the production because it was too warm for snow. To solve this problem, the production crew brought snow to the set from nearby mountains.
Continuing his services from season one, Dana Gonzales oversaw production of the show's second season. The cinematographer took cues from William Eggleston to develop a retro visual palette. To achieve this quality, Gonzales relied on vintage practical lighting technology, and captured scenes with an Arri ALEXA camera, retrofitted with vintage Cooke lenses. In one section of Calgary where they were filming, camera crew replaced each sodium-lamp street light with tungsten light bulbs, a lighting style Gonzalez chose intending for a more immersive experience. As well, the production employed split screen effects to streamline the narrative during transitions after Hawley viewed the thriller film The Boston Strangler (1968) for reference. Gonzales said: "We felt that split-screen would be an incredible way to track all these characters and locations within the episode: Where's the Gerhardt family? Where are the guys from Kansas City? Where's Peggy? Where's Ed?"
Costume designer Carol Case worked closely with Hawley on developing Fargo costumes. Case was particularly interested in replicating the aesthetic of 1970s Western fashion. She and the designers aimed to create wardrobe faithful to a "really small-town America[n]" style. They also felt it was important to distinguish the style of the rural characters from the more image conscious city dwellers. For the city dwelling characters, Case sourced clothes purchased from New York to create a more sophisticated look. Though Fargo producers already had a few pieces in their possession before shooting, sourcing vintage clothes proved challenging, for much of the available supply was inadequately insulated for cold weather. As a consequence, many costumes, such as Dunst's, were either modified by adding insulation, or created anew by the design team. Some modern pieces were used for footwear and accessories.
Leading music production of Fargo season two were composer Jeff Russo and newly appointed music supervisor Marguerite Phillips, the latter hired immediately after her first meeting with Hawley. Together, they brainstormed the show's musical direction; progressive rock, krautrock, Jethro Tull, and The Runaways were among several early ideas. Phillips spent months searching for song choices that were mostly obscure. Russo employed various compositional and recording techniques to build an authentic retro sound. The soundtrack features songs by Lisa Hannigan, Billy Thorpe, Burl Ives, Cris Williamson, Devo, Jeff Wayne, Yamasuki, Blitzen Trapper, Shakey Graves, White Denim, and Bobby Womack, as well as a cover of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch's "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" performed by Hawley. The use of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath in the opening scenes of the season finale received acclaim. Russo also recorded music with the University of Southern California (USC) marching band at Hawley's request.
Fargo premiered to 1.59 million U.S. viewers; 609,000 were in the 18âÂÂ49 demographic. Viewership was down by 40% after the series premiere, and 19% from the season one finale. From then on, ratings for the second season fell in the 1.13 to the 1.32 million range until the final episode, which peaked with 1.82 million viewers.
Fargo was considered among the best television shows of 2015 by the American press. The season also has each episode maintain a perfect 100% rating as well. Metacritic gives the season a score of 96, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". It was the highest rated TV show of the year on the same site, as well as the 20th highest of all time.
Christopher Orr of The Atlantic called Fargo "smart, thrilling, imaginative television, in addition to being wicked funny", in which Hawley assumes greater narrative dimension and assurance in his vision. Matthew Gilbert from The Boston Globe identified the dialog, acting, cinematography, music, set design and directing as its most satisfying attributes. So too did The Hollywood Reporter Tim Goodman, who believed that said qualities "make a very riveting and entertaining dark comedy spectacle". Neil Genzlinger, writing for The New York Times, said that Fargo marries deadpan humor, violence, and "observational oddity" in a way unmatched by similar dramas. In his review for Variety, Brian Lowry believed that despite the show's brisk pace, Hawley nonetheless adds depth to his story. Dan Jardine of Slant Magazine agreed and thought that the narrative complexity is what distinguishes season two from Fargo freshman season. Rolling Stone Rob Sheffield felt that Fargo painted "a fascinating portrait of America at the crossroads". Alan Sepinwall said in his review for HitFix that the series captures its namesake film's most redeeming qualities while assuming a distinct identity, and The A.V. Club website felt that the series was "the rare cable drama that forgoes attenuated storytelling and moral ambiguity, and instead delivers episode after episode where a lot happens, and all of it matters".
The ensemble performances were frequently mentioned in the critiques. Lowry cited the cast as one of the show's strongest assets, and Robert Biano in USA Today wrote that Fargo cast was "with nary a false note". The Daily Telegraph critic Michael Hogan singled out Dunst, Danson and Wilson for their work on the show, as did the San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand, whose opinion was that many of the performers' signature roles enhanced Hawley's script. Matt Zoller Seitz of New York magazine found Wilson to be the stand out among a pool of actors that "deserve their own stand-alone appreciations". He said of the actor's performance: "He's a young man, and he's in good shape, but he carries himself like an older, heavier one, as if weighed down by burdens he hasn't fully acknowledged because he's not ready yet. You get a sense of a personality, perhaps a soul, in the process of evolving." Reviews from Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post singled out Donovan, Smart, Milioti, Garrett, and Offerman for their acting. Grantland, The New York Observer, and the Los Angeles Times also praised the ensemble performances.
Fargo was a candidate for a variety of awards, most of them recognizing outstanding achievement in writing, cinematography, directing, acting, and special effects. The series received 18 Emmy nominations at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. It was named Television Program of the Year by the American Film Institute, and received 3 Golden Globe nominations â such as for Best Actor and Best Actress â Miniseries or TV Film (Wilson and Dunst respectively). Other accolades included 2 Satellite Awards nominations, two TCA Award nominations, and an Empire Award nomination. At the 21st Critics' Choice Awards, Fargo won 4 awards from 8 nominations, the majority of which was for the cast.
On February 23, 2016, 20th Century Fox released the second season of Fargo on DVD and Blu-ray formats in region 1. In addition to all ten episodes, both DVD and Blu-ray disc formats include five featurettes; "Lou on Lou: A Conversation with Patrick Wilson, Keith Carradine and Noah Hawley", "Waffles and Bullet Holes: A Return to Sioux Falls", "The Films of Ronald Reagan: Extended Fargo cut", "The True History of Crime in the Midwest", and "Skip Sprang TV Commercial".