Fargo has come to be known for its fantastic writing and its most recent season is no exception. Where some of the best lines have gone to just a handful of characters in seasons past, season three gave almost everyone at least one line of rather memorable dialogue. This past season’s villain, V.M. Varga, almost stole the show single-handedly not just with
Fargo may not be the easiest rewatch, but we can definitely reminisce upon our favorite lines. Here are some of our favorites from this past season.
“Y’know, Congratulations And All That.” - Ray Stussy
We begin the series with Ray Stussy going to party at his brother Emmit’s house for his wife’s birthday. We get a better sense of just how strained Ray and Emmit’s relationship is as the season goes on, but it’s so well established from the very beginning here.
Ray is no stranger to asking Emmit for money given that he is very well off, and somehow despite this fact, he still is awkward as ever and can’t muster a proper congratulatory greeting to his brother before diving into why he’s really there.
“We See What We Believe, Not The Other Way Around” - V.M. Varga
The first two seasons of Fargo were marked by great villains and season three may have delivered the best of the series so far. V.M. Varga has no shortage of great lines throughout the season and this is one of the best.
Varga spends a good deal of the season discussing Emmit his potential to become truly rich and powerful, that he’s been thinking too small for too long. Varga doesn’t mold himself around the world; the world molds itself around him. He causes characters to question the reality they’ve always known and ask themselves what they actually believe.
“There’s Violence To Knowing The World Isn’t What You Thought.”- Gloria Burgle
Gloria Burgle has been the police chief for some time in Eden Valley and very well may not have seen a single murder in her time. The first episode of the season changes that entirely by seeing her stepfather get murdered by mistake, completely turning her world upside down.
Naturally, she tries to solve his murder, but the more she gets into the weeds, the less things make sense. The more that Gloria becomes aware of the nonsensical events taking place in her world, the more disoriented she feels. Sometimes, events in our own lives, like faith crises, can wreak havoc in their own violent ways.
“A Lie’s Not A Lie If You Believe It’s True.” - Emmit Stussy
Fargo finds its protagonists continually having to justify their poor choices. Emmit, despite him being an arguably poor brother to Ray, finds himself having to lie more and more as he tries to hide the illegal activities of V.M. Varga.
Like the original film, every episode begins with the words, “THIS IS A TRUE STORY,” and perhaps more than ever, this season tries to explore the truth of the stories we tell and how they are shaped into the truths we make in our lives. Emmit, in particular, begins to reevaluate his relationships with his company, his wife, and perhaps most consequentially, his company.
“What’s The Math There?” - Sy Feltz
Sy Feltz may seem like a typical arrogant attorney at the beginning of season three, but as it progresses, we see him experience plenty of abuse himself. The bonds of friendship made between him and Emmit are tested thanks to the arrival of V.M. Varga and his goons. When it comes to light that Ray has been murdered, Emmit tries to lay blame for the series of unfortunate events at Sy’s feet. He breaks down the lack of logic in Emmit’s argument and concludes with, “What’s the math there?”
In some ways, this gets at the heart of the season. How do all these terrible things that happen add up? How does anyone make sense of the chaos? Fargo loves raising questions like this through dialogue.
“It’s Finished, OK?” - Emmit Stussy
Halfway through the season, Emmit finally tries to bury the hatchet between him and Ray. For so long, they’ve fought over the last stamp in a collection of rare and valuable stamps. Emmit meets up with Ray, hoping to let bygones be bygones and give him the stamp.
There are so many points during the course of the season where we think that the last move has been made and now all the parties can go home happy. But, as Ray’s accidental death proves, nothing’s ever really finished on Fargo. Not until the very end. And sometimes, not even then.
“He Was Right. I Am A Bad Person. But He Wasn’t So Good Either.” - Vivian Lord
During Gloria Burgle’s brief visit, she meets a woman from her stepfather’s past, Vivian Lord. Gloria eventually discovers how Vivian and a Hollywood producer conned her stepfather out of his fortune. Vivian admits her guilt but notes that Gloria’s stepfather was no saint either.
We often think of people in binaries, good and evil. But one thing Fargo continually tries to remind us is that these binaries are simply too restrictive and trying to place these labels on people is a lot easier said than done.
“Remember, Richest Guy In The Room Is Always The Boss” - Nikki Swango
An interesting dynamic of both Fargo the movie and the TV series is how more often than not, it’s women that really get the work done. For so much of Ray Stussy’s life, he’s been more of one who is acted upon rather than the one who acts.
His girlfriend Nikki changes that, however, and convinces Ray to start standing up to Emmit in ways he hasn’t before. She convinces Ray to impersonate Emmit and his bank to retrieve the infamous stamp they’ve fought over. Ray may be the one that walks into the bank, but Nikki is the one who gets him out the door in the first place.
“I Got This Theory, In Private, That I Don’t Actually Exist.”- Gloria Burgle
If Fargo doesn’t have you feeling a little existential at some point, you’re probably not paying much attention. Where Marge Gunderson was left to wonder about the evil she may have previously been ignorant of, Gloria Burgle and other law enforcement officers in the series are left to question their entire existence as a force of good.
In the penultimate episode, Gloria comes closer than ever to closing the case on Emmit Stussy and V.M. Varga’s deeds, only to be thwarted again and prevented from putting either of them behind bars. Gloria wants so bad to bend the moral arc in the world of Fargo, but what the world seems to continually tell her over and over is she is not, and there’s probably no force at all.
“The World Is Wrong… It Looks Like My World, But It’s Different.” - Sy Feltz
In the seventh episode, Sy Feltz returns home after a meeting with a potential buyer of Emmit’s parking lot empire and breaks down crying in front of his wife. He knows that the deal they may cut with the buyer may put them in a bad place, but he no longer feels like he’s in control of his life.
The world he has known all his life has shifted all too quickly in a very short period of time and he no longer recognizes it. In the midst of our own chaotic lives, don’t we all arrive at this conclusion at some point?
