Fargo: Film vs. Series

That0therGeorge talks about the brilliance of his favourite film 'Fargo (1996)' by the Coen Brothers. He then contrasts it with 'Fargo (Season 1)' by Noah Hawley, analysing their similarities and arriving at a conclusion on which is stronger when it comes to quality writing.
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Instagram - / that0thergeorge

[@That0therGeorge]

What are your thoughts on Fargo? Do you prefer the film to the series or vice versa? Leave your thoughts below.

[@godsoneus]

Gotta say, all of your videos deserve WAY more views. Good stuff

[@That0therGeorge]

That's kind of you to say, thank you.

[@godsoneus]

Nah, seriously, it's nice to stumble across smart, well written, interesting and entertaining videos, in a sea of lifeless click bait. Not to mention AI narration! It's appreciated man 👍

[@That0therGeorge]

@@godsoneus I appreciate you watching, thank you! Hope to see you about in the future.

[@jayaprakash387]

I would say Fargo is my second favorite show after deadwood. I would recommend watching deadwood if you haven't. The two most dense shows I have watched yet so entertaining and reachable.

[@it.was.written]

Ever seen The Sopranos?

[@That0therGeorge]

That's the one with Timothy Olyphant, right? That has been on my watchlist for a long time!

[@That0therGeorge]

@@it.was.written I know you weren't asking me, but I really need to watch that

[@jayaprakash387]

@@it.was.written Yeah I have seen all the "prestige tv" stuff: The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, BB/BCS, The Americans, The Leftovers etc. All great but my personal favorites are Fargo and Deadwood.

[@it.was.written]

@@jayaprakash387 they can be your favorites, but they are by no means denser that the Sopranos and especially not The Wire.

[@yggdrasil2]

I agree with you that the shotgun wound, or rather that it takes so long for it to be discovered, is a stretch and a pretty severe plot contrivance. It also isn't introduced that well IMO, took me a while before I realized what it actually was. Thankfully, the plot we got due to that contrivance was incredible.

[@That0therGeorge]

Yeah exactly. I can't undersell how GOOD the Season really is. Unfortunately, the wound is quite a big contrivance and does have a ripple effect on how the rest of the Season plays out. You're right though that more or less everything else in the plot is incredibly well written.

[@dutchvanderlinde2002]

I actually knew it a pellet from the shotgun almost instantly, so I find it strange a lot of people didn't pick it up immediately. My complaint with season 1 revolves around Bob Odenkirk character blindness towards all the evidence was just too silly. It's weird I hate the film, but I love the show.

[@theunfunnyjokester]

@@dutchvanderlinde2002I also picked up on it too. Anyways I thought the movie was really good and anyways Bill would probably be more lenient towards Lester because they went to school together and he was an innocent loser

[@Synto56]

Love the vid! Really hope u go over Season 2 as well!

[@That0therGeorge]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. There's a good chance I may in the future! What do you think of Season 2?

[@Synto56]

@@That0therGeorge I really liked it! It embraced the 70’s vibe pretty well and although kinda meh the UFO stuff was pretty cool. I loved how all the mess that occurred started with a hit and run and added so much to the Fargo theme in my opinion. I just loved the ideas in the season mainly with like fate and absurdism. Mike and Lou became some of my favorite characters in television and I just loved how interesting the Gerhardt family was in general.

[@That0therGeorge]

@@Synto56 Cool cool. I personally thought the UFO stuff was a little out of place with its implementation, but overall I really like the Season as well! Would put the film and S1 above it myself, but there are still many strong aspects of that season.

[@Synto56]

@@That0therGeorge agreed! I just really loved that it was just fun to watch!

[@That0therGeorge]

@@Synto56 Have you seen 3 and 4 yet?

[@Krejii05]

Omg no way its saul he lived past BCS!

[@That0therGeorge]

Lmao, yes he did!

[@Regularguy220]

I started with the show and only watched the film about at the start of the third season. I honestly love the first 2 seasons of the show and didn't find the film as good as season one. Season 3 was also good but i didn't find season 4 terribly good honestly

[@That0therGeorge]

That's fair enough. Who would you say if your favourite character across all of Fargo? (love the username btw)

[@Regularguy220]

@@That0therGeorge honestly its a hard choice. Malvo is just so fun to watch its hard to not like him. Though id probably say Lester with how much he changes throughout the series from being somewhat sympathetic at the start to being as bad as malvo by the end. Though for pure comedic presence id say karl in the second season takes it despite his very little screen time.

[@That0therGeorge]

@@Regularguy220 Good choices. I think my pick overall would be Malvo. Billy Bob Thornton just kills it in that role. What other shows are you into? Just out of interest

[@Regularguy220]

@@That0therGeorge honestly your channels had covered alot of them. Fargo, breaking bad and better call saul are the ones i like but have finished. Ive just started watching mad men and the Americans and their pretty good so far but if you end up doing videos on them they'll likely be on the watch later list till ive finished either one

[@That0therGeorge]

@@Regularguy220 I haven't seen either of those actually, but heard very good things! 'The Americans' is the one with Keri Russel, right?

[@opaljk4835]

I love the movie. It’s pretty perfect. I agree that parts of the fargo series drop the ball. Some seasons much more than others. Season 1’s subplot about the money was my only issue with it. It didn’t feel totally necessary, and it felt it might’ve only been a means to utilize the money from the movie. But also there’s too many monologues and parables. It just gets worse as the series goes on. That being said season 1-3 are pretty great, issues aside.

[@That0therGeorge]

Season 1 isn't bad by any means. I just don't believe it reaches the same heights as the film. As you said, I believe the film is as perfect as it can possibly be.

[@dwbryant13]

Saws character was the most enraging of them all. Despite the fact that Lester is much more despicable

[@GrannyGamer1]

👍🏾

[@That0therGeorge]

Glad you enjoyed.

[@yggdrasil2]

This is bizarre, I literally just began watching the show this week! Anyway, I absolutely love what I've been seeing thus far and the first season is actually what I would call a miracle. I didn't actually like the movie that much. It's extremely good, but I feel like the basic concept is handled much better in other Coen movies, like The Man Who Wasn't There.

[@That0therGeorge]

Don't watch until the end of the video until you've finished the season! But anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I don't quite agree with you. The film is basic, but I'd say the writing excels even more because of that - a bit like '12 Angry Men'. We can probably agree though that 'The Man Who Wasn't There' is an underrated gem.

[@yggdrasil2]

​@@That0therGeorge I finished season 1 yesterday so I'm good. :) I guess I meant more that I don't love Fargo the Movie, because I do really like it, it's really well-made, but the basic story and characters doesn't grip me the same way as the show does. And The Man Who Wasn't There definutely kicks ass! They make a pretty fun reference to it in season 2 I've heard.

[@That0therGeorge]

@@yggdrasil2 Ah okay that's a relief, I was worried I may have spoiled it for you. And yeah that's fair enough. The show has got a slightly different tone going for it, so I do understand why a lot of people would prefer it. I don't remember seeing a reference actually, but I wouldn't be surprised since plenty of Coen movies got referenced in Season 1 as well. I presume you'll be watching Season 2 now?

[@yggdrasil2]

@@That0therGeorge Funny story about that, I actually jumped straight from season 1 to season 3, which I just finished today lol (on account of being home due to food poisoning). I had actually seen a retrospective of the series before watching it and season 3 simply seemed more interesting to me than season 2.

[@That0therGeorge]

@@yggdrasil2 Ah sorry to hear that, hope you recover soon. Yeah it doesn't really matter what order you watch it in. Obviously the show isn't released in chronological order anyway. Have you been watching much aside from Fargo?