All The Connections Between ‘Fargo’ Season Two And The Coen Brothers’ Movies

(Spoilers for series and Coen brothers movies ahead.)

Fargo is one of the best shows on TV right now. It’s ending its arguably superior season two, and in the traditional Coen Brothers’ fashion, it should be filled with bloodshed and dark comedy for days. But what else does the TV show have in common with the Coens’ other pieces of work? They’re siblings with an IMDb list that’s long and varied with almost all winners (if you turn a blind eye on works such as Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers), and there’s no way that series creator Noah Hawley could keep from throwing in homages to those movies. He’s even stated that he keeps films like No Country For Old Men in mind throughout the creation process. Some of these easter eggs can be subtle, and some are as subtle as a leg going through a wood chipper.

Let’s start with references to the movie Fargo. It has the same name, for one. It could be a strange coincidence, but I think they’re connected. Beyond that, we see that certain characters look and act alike. Steve Buscemi as thug Carl Showalter looks a lot like the show’s youngest Gerhardt brother, Rye, played by Kieran Culkin. Similarities between the two characters are drawn again when the infamous wood chipper that dismembers Buscemi is not unlike the meat grinder used by THE butcher, Ed, to dispose of Rye’s body. In the Fargo series, Dodd Gerhardt is kidnapped, thrown in a trunk, tied to a post, and has a bag thrown over his head, which is not unlike what happens to Jerry Lundegaard’s wife, who also ends up dead when the kidnapping goes wrong.

Miller’s Crossing, one of my favorite Coens’ projects, matches the themes of Fargo with warring gangsters giving each other the high hat, complete with plenty of bodies and double-crosses. Bear Gerhardt takes Dodd’s daughter Simone out to the woods for a secluded execution in response to her Betrayal (and out of spite for his own son’s involvement in crime). The scene mirrors Crossing when Tom nearly puts one in Bernie’s brain in the forest.

The Gerhardt gang take after the Coens’ first movie, Blood Simple, when they bury legendary typewriter salesman Skip Sprang alive, albeit in a much more careless way. The lovable Nick Offerman plays the lovable Karl Weathers, a loud, opinionated blowhard that resembles Big Lebowski‘s Walter Sobchak, although he keeps his guns and dirty undies in check. Fargo characters frequently repeat the phrase “Okay then,” much like Raising Arizona. Silent but deadly Hanzee Dent questioning (then killing) a shopkeep is also like silent but deadly Anton Chigurh engaging a store clerk in the most tense heads-or-tails ever. Outside of plot similarities, Fargo employs a few variant versions of songs “Don’t Leave Nothing But The Baby” and “O Death” from O Brother, Where Art Thou.

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