I think Peggie, being insane (later on thinking the Native American was pouring smoke into the room, there was none) just passed the UFO as normal because she thought she was hallucinating - funny line though.
The Absurd, in philosophy, is the idea that humans innately search for meaning in a universe where there is none to be found. That "makes life a joke." Themes of Absurdism are brought up in every episode, and the titles are actually names of books/essays written about the Absurd. So when we finish the season and take to internet forums to frantically look for a meaning behind the irrational inclusion of a UFO, we are falling for an absurdist joke played at our expense by Noah Hawley. Notice as well that characters, such as Lou, who are very pragmatic and capable of staying level-headed in the face of carnage and senseless violence are the most resistant to the UFO. They have come to terms with the Absurd and live their life well in spite of it, choosing to keep their chins up and pressing on with what needs doing. They don't normally question the big problems in life, so they don't overthink the UFO and this allows them to survive.
@@Weah702 Thanks :) It's always nice to see one of your comments has started snowballing likes, even if it took a 1.5 year incubation period to get going!
They weren't hinting at fish rain for the entire season, they were hinting at the UFO the entire season and then using it as a deus ex machina as to why Lou survived, and that's it.
Same. It is so rare for a show to have a second season that acts as a prequel to the first season, yet introduces new and interesting characters that deepen the first season, and stands on its own.
Speaking on the ideals of anti-climatic character endings in the Coen universe, I thought it was hilarious how Mike's character ended in a cramped new office as a desk jockey. They made him so awesome, and ended him so pitifully lol
I think the very end of “Burn After Reading” perfectly describes the pure philosophy of the Coen Bros in their filmmaking. “Jesus what a clusterfuck... What did we learn, Palmer..? I don’t fuckin know either...” The Coens show this nihilistic idea that nothing actually matters and the world is complete chaos. These things just happen, we have no explanation for them, but they’re still interesting as hell. I think that more fictional stories should learn from this idea, because chaos is far more interesting than order.
I thought Peggy's reaction was included to comically compliment and contradict her burgeoning, and often fleeting moments of insanity. The states of denial her mind would fly into when under extreme stress portrayed a tendency for lunacy, and by the time we accepted this in the show as an endearment that complimented who she was, they played with it in that scene. I think it was to show a moment where everyone was questioning their sanity and awestruck by the UFO, while Peggy was the only sane and nonchalant person about it. That's just my interpretation of it though. This show is amazing.
I always had a thought that she originally ran over Rye because she was also looking at the UFO not the road was why she didn't think it was unusual the second time. also maybe why she went crazy (more than usual) in the first place. Hanze saw it too. He had the same reaction. Sheriff Hank was writing his own language in hieroglyphics. Before he saw it that night. With the guy at the gas station talking to Lou about it as yet more. The UFO is there and potentially talking to hank Larsson telepathically in symbols. Before he sees one.
The UFO is just a physical representation of the unexplained, "cosmic forces" outside of our control, God, the randomness of the universe. I tried not to read into it too much and I think it makes sense.
What I took from it was how the pettiness of human endeavors can make us miss what's truly important. There's a bloody UFO in the sky but everyone's busy killing each other so no one even has time to reflect on it. It's such a bizarre situation, but at the same time it's understandable because the stakes for everyone are essentially life and death. But there's a bloody UFO in the sky. We've gotta be pretty messed up to not even pay attention to that.
You nailed it. I feel that one of the reasons the Coens films are so brilliant is the fact that they don't explain everything. Things happen. I could go on, but I'll just say I think your videos are fantastic. I just happened to stumble upon one of them a couple of nights ago, so now I'm plowing through them all. Great work man.
This guy doesn't get anything. He dismisses the idea that it's a metaphor and then just says it's real and has no explanation, like it's one or the other. It's all about humanity, it has nothing to do with aliens or whether or not they're real. That's what the universal language is about.
It's so awesome to see Mike Milligan as a child being a child "Satchel Loy" who was shown real love and taught that he has the chance to choose what life he wants to live by Rabbi Milligan in season 4 of Fargo.
The UFOs are God. The entire second season was based on the story of Job, who resists Satan's temptations (see opening scene with Rye and the judge.) People react to the UFOs the same way people view miracles: as a holy sign. That's why Peggy is so nonchalant. Patrick Wilson is saved by divine intervention. Literally, a Deus ex Machina. And Hanzee is Satan, as evidenced by the finale discussion with a man identified only as "The Book," or, presumably God. He renames Hanzee, wonders if he'll join another empire. "Maybe start one of my own," Hanzee replies, a nod to the Biblical uprising the Devil led. And Mike Milligan's promotion with the Kansas mob is his introduction to hell. 🙂Amazing show.
You are wrong (sorry to say). The UFO is a consequence to the fact that FARGO is not a real story although they claim it is. They basically had to throw in the UFO encounter to make the audience think about the fact that what they were watching actually never happened (contradicting the initial opening that this is a true story). It is just that, it is one of the consequences of the fact that the "This is a true story" is in fact a lie. With other words, you either make it linear and make the viewer at one point know that it is all a lie OR, you make it more interesting by adding UFOs with the objective of making the viewers come to their own conclusion of all of it not being a true story at all. You all think too deep. UFO is merely meant as a consequence to wrongly stating that the events were true, the UFO is supposed to make people wake up. UFO has no biblical nor philosophical explanation here. Same as with the falling fish but they did admit there was a tornado over a lake nearby so that could be a plausible explanation but not the UFO. UFO = "Hey viewers, this all never happened, just fyi, but continue enjoying the show. Bye bye and thanks for watching !"
“Ain’t it a minor miracle …while everyone else…losin they damn minds” I think that mike mulligan line is trying to reinforce the point you’re trying to make
Don’t forget that it’s also a reference to the Coen brother’s film, THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, also starring Billy Bob Thorten. In the movie both he and his boss’s wife see UFOs. Just one of the countless references to Coen brother’s films beyond Fargo.
I like how the design of the season 2 UFO looks very “70s”. The shape, lights, etc. resembled how they were portrayed in movies and TV shows of the era.
I think the whole point of Fargo is that crazy things happen and we have to decide who's right and who's wrong, the ufo is there embody the craziness of the season, that sometimes things just fuckin happen and they're out of your control
this was inspired by a well documented UFO sighting case from MN, involving officer Val Johnson’s experience in Warren MN when a UFO appeared and destroyed his patrol car and he called the incident in to police headquarters on his radio. So it was incorporated into the show which some seasons are set in MN UFO sightings happen all the time in MN and it is incidental in the middle of other events they have nothing to do with.
I think if you watch this series as if you would watch a comedy then you wouldn't complain so much about a UFO ruining the "seriousness" of the show. IMO, the whole series has been the best comedy I've ever watched, it's not really about making you laugh though but to be ironic, unpredictable, random and so obscure and depressing at times, that you could laugh and cry at the same time out of all the misery around the main characters. It's kind of like this book, the Myth of Sisyphus by Camus, if you try too hard to make meaning out of the misery in your life, you won't find it.. it's better to just accept the absurd.
Hey Ryan, I remember watching this when you first uploaded it. just finished the second season and has to watch it again. please keep up the good work. As you bring out the meaning of things in the most articulate ways. you're a genius!
Respecfully, 7:10 is exactly why I loathed the UFO's explicit appearance. It felt to me like an "easy/clarifying" answer. I didn't see it and go "what?! that's not enough information for me!". Ironically I felt it made the season more mundane.
Its so weird that, just by adding black bars on top and bottom of the image, you get a way more cinematic look. Every single shot looks now from a movie, but before it looked from a TV show. Anyway, loved this video man. And the series as well. /SPOILER/ What an amazing last episode, and how it linked to the first season... Sublime.
I wish you would have mentioned the language he was developing and the picture of the UFO that Molly drew. Also the dream that Mollys mom had (could have been a vision). I think it really added to the mystery of the UFO. Loved this inclusion to this story so much! I found it so fascinating and beautiful.
Great video Ryan. I'm glad to see you're a Fargo fan. I'd love to see you do some more videos on the show, perhaps one discussing the use of split screens in season 2 or covering some of the hidden connections between season 1 and 2.
@@MixtapeMessiah92 Season 3 was different, its hard to explain how, but compared to the other two seasons(not saying its better or worse, just different), it built up more towards the climax. It was slow in the beginning but like a roller coaster, once it got there, it GOT THERE. We got Wrench and Swango besting Varga, the conflict between the Stussy brothers, Emmitt’s dramatic downfall where he loses his friends and family in search for greater fortune. I wouldn’t say it was any better or worse than the other two seasons, just good and different in its own way.
"... I just don't understand it." - Margie in response to the crimes of the film. "... I just don't understand it." - The Audience Discussing the UFO. Footage of the Sioux Falls Motor Motel UFO appearance shows up in the first episode of Season 3 as a tape being watched by the father of the protagonist Gloria Burgle. I love season 3 because it seems the most aware of its status as an adaptation and takes advantage of what we expect from the show, movies, and storytelling in general. It almost crosses into Twin Peaks territory as far as self-awareness goes. It's hard to say what the "mystery/supernatural" element to Season 3 is, there's so much to chew on and too much to summarize here. It all seems to tie back into the film and Margie's mentality of "I just don't understand it.' I'd definitely recommend the 3rd season for anyone who loves getting lost in stuff like this and if you're really nuts- The canceled pilot that has echoes of each season, from a character working in a beauty salon feeling stuck in Fargo, and two brothers causing trouble in the name of their dead father. It starred Edie Falco as Marge Gunderson. A lot of people dislike season four focusing on organized crime, so it's funny to think Margie was almost replaced by someone who would go on to be in The Sopranos.
Noah Hawley almost, ALMOST had a way to work the UFOs in that wouldn't have been so, well, dumb. We know that 1) the events of season 2 of "Fargo" are detailed in a book and based on accounts of survivors; 2) one of those survivors was Peggy and she's given to delusions, and 3) she was present at both UFO sightings. So my take on it would have been that the UFOs were part of Peggy's interviews, probably as little more than a footnote in that book. It would even be consistent for Peggy to say, "Oh, and then a UFO came down and hovered right above the motel! Everyone was all weirded out, but not me, I do a lot of reading, I know all about UFOs already." That could have worked until the last five minutes of the last episode, when Lou Solverson said he saw the UFO too. They could have instead had Lou say, "Can you believe? Peggy Blumquist says there was a flying saucer floating over the parking lot all during the shootout". Sorry, I don't buy the argument that UFOs fit the story because people in the 1970s believed in UFOs. If that's where we're going with this, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and Transcendental Meditation (and the abilities it grants) would have been appropriate for the story. For that matter, as a Native American, Hanzee should have had magical powers. None of that works in a story about very material, very grounded events.
I agree with your assessment from the film standpoint, but I think you missed the literary context. The entirety of season 2 is a love letter to post-modernity. The center does not hold, as reflected by Heller, Kerouac, Plath and in the case of the UFO- especially Dick or Vonnegut. Ted Dansen's speech at the end is very purposeful. He emphasizes the importance (and often failure) of language to describe the incommunucable nature of the human experience and the seemingly chaotic stage it is set in... this is very much a postmodern ideal, and Vonnegut specifically tackled this ides with the Tralfamadore aliens in Slaughterhouse5. The idea being that there is something so haunting and peculiar about the current human zeitgeist that symbolizing it with an alien encounter is as good of a way as any to detail it. It is something prevelent yet mysterious. It determines events in our lives but is left out of police reports... because how do you explain it? It is almost like our words fail is, just like Danson suggests. I think the inclusion of the UFO is a direct homage to Vonnegut and these ideas... or maybe Im just reaching...
+StevenGaspard You make a very fascinating point which should be considered also. It's interesting because my friend has a different interpretation also - we can look at it literary or philosophically. I chose the latter because it's consistent with the Coen brothers' filmmaking ethos.
I like surprises like the UFO. It was such a shock but I like that sort of thing. Like the lost series. I like to think when you first see the UFO it dropped someone off and 2nd time tried to pick someone up. And it's up to the audience to figure out who that person is.
Great video. For me the UFO's in Fargo are like the witches in Macbeth. Are they necessary? No. But both the UFO's and the witches speak to what people found fascinating at the time, and they add a surreal element that keeps things interesting.
I remember reading somewhere that the reason for the UFO was simply to be something strange enough to be memorable. We all have a few special scenes from movies / shows that we've seen in our years that we'll never forget, and the UFO scene was designed to be one of those. Whether you liked it or thought it was random bullshit, if you find yourself thinking about it after a year or so then it did its job.
Season 2s inclusion of the UFO is undoubtedly one of the coolest things to be pulled off in a TV series. The backlash is understandable, especially for people who aren't familiar with the Coen brothers work. Some people just can't cope with not knowing and that's fine.
I do not accept the mystery. I accepted it in "Close Encounters" and even going back to "The Day The Earth Stood Still" but I could not accept it in "The Sopranos" when Paulie Galtieri attends a seance with a spiritualist in another town who rattles off a list of people Paulie murdered decades ago including the order in which he killed them starting with his first. Still, I loved those made for TV Fargos.
people disliked this? man I just binged watched the series and I fucking loved this twist, my mouth was gaping the whole time like the characters would be, and only a few select moments in media have ever pulled something like that off they foreshadowed UFOs the whole season and I really thought it was going to be a simple misdirect or some thematic bullshit, especially because I went into the show blind and thought it was actually based on a true story or real events, so when a flying saucer actually appeared it was pretty shocking and hilarious and it got me even more hooked into the story knowing anything could happen if they had the balls to throw aliens into such a dark and serious show like this and besides, UFOs actually exist, and people have reported real encounters like this many times before, so even if you don't believe in aliens, I'm sure you can believe the characters simply THINK they saw a spaceship and the story got exaggerated, right?
During the Vietnam war it was commonly accepted amongst pilots that "experimental enemy fighters" referred to UFOs and amongst soldiers the term "enemy helicopters" also referred to UFOs. Yet if there was a serious Vietnam war movie that had a random scene where a pilot saw a flash of light or something it would be considered fiction. I guess it's weird how theres a difference between common knowledge or common understanding and official knowledge or official facts.
it really just drives the nail on fargo's main theme. the crime and crazy events fall upon regular naive folk against violent crimes to contrast. its no different then the point of the conversation in the end of the movie. a cruel turn of fate causes unforseen consequences and we must live in a wolrd of it
they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages, and printed messages from U.S. president Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record
My theory for the reason why Peggy wasn’t fazed by the UFO at the motel was because she had already seen it. She hits Rye in episode 1 because she sees it too while driving and became distracted.
I think it could be a time machine from the future viewing the massacre as this is a historic event within the Fargo universe. The ufo maybe popped up a few times throughout the series as the time traveler’s wanted to know how the massacre started
I thought the spoiler alert in the beginning was only in reference to season two of the show in question. I guess I just know the ending to The Man Who Wasn't There now.
***** fuck off with that moron excuse. No one in this world has enough time to watch every interesting movie at once, not even to speak of classics that were made before you were born. So it doesnt matter for shit for how long the movie has been out, you simply dont drop spoilers out of the blue, especially not if you want to be considered professional.
In an episode of Barney Miller from series 6 or 7 a character talks about seeing a UFO in Fargo years before and that episode was from 1980 or 81. I'll find out which episode it was when I get the chance.
Thanks for the vid. Your reasoning sounds plausible. Makes me definitely wanna watch the season again. May I ask where you are from? I can't really place your accent. It sounds US-american mostly, but then you pronounce some endings (in words like "explains") very uniquely. Could it be that you have German ancestors? Thanks for your answer in advance. Best greetings from Germany.
i think you missed the boat man, the real question to Fargo season 2 is when/why does Hanzee decide that he will betray the Ghearts since he is only surviving member of "the family", this leads back to one of the few scene of Hanzee when he has a flash back to when he is a child and the magic man comes to his school and you see magician pull a rabbit out of his hat, which mirrors the present where Hanzee had just killed a rabbit, showing that either a belief he held as a kid/younger man is now dead to the older hanzee as symbolize with the rabbits. this is the one scene where people cant explain it purposes or meaning, thus i think that scene and its purpose/meaning has a lot of impact on the over arching story of Hanzee
You touched on it but I think the UFO was a way of showing their insigficance within the scope of their entire universe. Hence the shot of thr UFO floating over the hotel. Showing how it dwarves this building
Awesome video! Great points on how they play on people's fear of the unknown. Do you by chance know the name of the song used at the beginning? Thanks in advance. Keep making awesome stuff.
Really interesting interpretation, at the time when watching it I thought it was because of the era the season takes place but couldn't figure out if it was a metaphor for something greater. Its unexplained nature does fit neatly with the Coens style. Just subbed for a great video my friend :).
"Fargo" (the TV series) is missing something. I think it's heart, and story arc, and character development. I really don't care about anyone. I"m not rooting for anyone. There's no real motivation, nothing from these characters that feels genuine, that we can identify with. You can tell the writers and directors are GOING for something, TRYING to do something, but it always falls short (like the offbeat covers of older songs, which is supposed to make us feel something). Compare "Fargo" to "Breaking Bad". Maybe an unfair comparison, because Bad is the best of all time (IMHO), but it's a yardstick. And, by that yardstick, "Fargo" (the show) comes up WAY short. (as also opposed to "Fargo" the movie, which was fantastic).
I understand that the writers don't have to explain the UFO. So many shows have done things that weren't explained (e.g. the blackout in The Sopranos), but they left a lot of material for the audience to use in developing the correct interpretation. The important thing to note is that there must be an explanation for the UFO that is related to the theme. Personally, I am still trying to figure it out. The writers have a purpose to adding the UFO to the story (it is unexplained in the show) but it is our job to find out. However, one cannot claim that the UFO was added to highlight on the idea that some things are left unexplained.
I seen a couple of them during a grass fire near my house, they are real, at first I thought they were just ash flying up but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.
to me, the UFO as a at best strange and at worst illogical plot-device, simply functioned as the perfectly fitting answer to another illogical part of the plot: the guy who got shot in the head but still managed to stay conscious. i am not a doctor, so maybe this is possible, but to me it seemed like he got shot from the side and had a wounding in his ear. so.. bullet right through the brain? this bugged me enough to be happy and thankful when the UFO stopped him.
I love how people are angry about the UFO, i'm laughing everytime i think about season 2 because of that x) "sceptical" people have been waiting until season 2 episode 9 to think "this show is unrealistic".. So they've been watching 18 episodes of reactionary phantasms without blinking, that's hilarious xD
there is no explanation about the UFO because this whole story is based on people opinion about true event, maybe one of the witness is drunk when they told their opinion, maybe the witness got car light shout straight to their face and thought that was UFO kind of thing, idk. everybody got their theories tho. Just dont think too much about this. Enjoy the greatness of this series. it is a masterpiece. btw Fargo s03 coming soon we have to be excite for what coming next.
Or, the USAF was testing those things in that area when the story occurred. www.military.com/video/space-technology/spacecraft/us-air-force-tests-flying-saucer/3943489006001 There's a major Air Force base in Minot, built in '57.
It’s a way to say, “look. This is a true story, and now I just put some hard to believe stuff with it, you can choose believe it or not “ real life true stories are more absurd than those fake stories
For some reason during the shootout at the end of season 2 there's heaps of duck metaphors and duck jokes. Sitting ducks. What is it with the duck metaphor?
I think u need to rewatch and reevaluate season 2. Coincidental? No. The guy in the parking lot says they are caretakers to the zoo. This theme is the absurd optimism that also runs heavily throughout Fargo season 2. You have Noreen reading Albert Camus, Mike Milligan calls himself an optimist as he refers to getting his partners head in a box as an opportunity for advancement and one step closer towards The American Dream. And again the man in the parking lot surmising aliens are our caretakers, not Sentient beings that just want to get us on their ships in order to probe our bodies. There are actually many other Easter eggs in this season that are letting viewers know the aliens are around throughout this season. There are space ships zooming across frames that are so subtle they will be missed if you blink. Also there are noises that can be heard laid under dialogue as the episodes carry out the story. You also have supporting characters turning around 360 degrees looking up into the skies as if they believe they heard something or saw something only to brush it off to their imaginations and go right back into scenes without even the slightest mentions. Watch it again, closely and with headphones on
Soooo, that was basically nine minutes of a guy saying, "I have no clue why the UFO was in season 2 of Fargo but I'm going to ramble some nonsense that sounds sophisticated and hopefully it will stand up." Better to just say, "who the hell knows."
I always thought the UFO was because it could not be explained why the one man was standing out in the middle of the road, and then latter when the cop is being choked then why not.
