I just now picked up on the parallels between this scene and the scene at the beginning of the show. This story both began and ended with someone running off in desperation into the deadly winter and dying from the cold.
In the final episodes of the season, we saw Lester trying to be someone he wasn't, someone more sure and self-confident, but in the end, he died being the person he has always been: A coward.
@@theunfunnyjokester So, Lester had a period of self-confidence and other moments that Jerry didn't have, and Lester showed himself to be a really evil person at all times of his personalities. Maybe we would have to give a 'season' and not just a movie to develop Jerry's entire personality and find out which of the two would be the most evil. But in terms of both being pathetic it's almost equal, maybe there's a technical tie... lol
Zak 84 The consequence of Sam Hess’s death would’ve lead to Wrench and Numbers killing him this way. Lester manages to narrowly escape them, but in the end he dies that way anyway. Ironic.
I think this scene wants to show how Lesters construct of lies breaks apart like the ice hes standing on. Thats probably why they chose this ending. The ice breaking apart has a meaning in my opinion. Youre on thin ice lester....
I despised Lester but I loved this scene. So beautifully filmed and acted. And the music, oh my god.... Perfect ending for his character. He was on thin ice ever since he killed his wife. That ice had to crack at some point. You can't run away from it. If you stay still, it'll still crack. If you turn back you will get caught. Love it!
He was the perfect mirror of malvo. Malvo saw himself as a predator and Lester saw himself as Prey, but both would do anything to preserve their own lives, like when Lester lets his 2nd wife get killed in his coat. Malvo was the devil and Lester tried to beat the devil at his own game
It's pretty beautiful. The last episode is called Morton's Fork: In TV, this fork usually comes in the form of a choice that ultimately leads to the same path: either choice results in the same, or similar, unfortunate consequence. Lester falls into the same hole that was drilled for him by Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench earlier, where Lester got away -- but only briefly. His wicked ways made him doomed no matter what. Very cool.
I think this show make me realize how bullying impact a person so hard that make them weak and destroy people around them, lester's ending is so sad but he deserved it for his crimes
@@ShivamPatel-yq7rr dude 3 was great...A bit slow at the beginning but, It got me excited after Nikki teamed up with Wrench Yeah and 4 was trash, I gave up after watching 2 episodes
Just finished the first season, amazing imo. Weird if I knew Lester was gonna die at the beginning of the show I would’ve felt bad, but episodes 9,10 really changed my mind on him. How cocky he got and what he did to his 2nd wife was messed up
@@PretendingToCare Framing his brother for murder, traumatizing his nephew, exploiting a widow and screwing her just because of who she got married to, setting up his wife to die, provoking the murders of three people (albeit inadvertently), etc... that ice hole was too good of an ending. He was always an egotistical sociopath, really, it was just his cowardice always keeping him in check. Kind of like Walter White.
The Devil is defeated, his avatar killed by a coward who finally found his courage. His briefcase of lost souls was confiscated by the defenders of the innocent, but the Devil would not return to his home empty-handed. No, he would have his consolation prize. You think of Hell as a hot and burning place. But the deepest circle of Hell, reserved for traitors against their own kin, has no fire at all. The deepest circle of Hell is cold.
lester betrayed his own ppl, mainipulted and lied like a rat to get his way, but justice got to him, he was the devils pawn, he was a demon, and just like demons he was a coward and died a coward
Lester is the animal that lorne always wanted to be. Lorne told mr wrench at the hospital about the bear that cut his own leg and killed himself just to die in his own terms. Lester would do anything just so he won’t get caught. He sent his wife to her death, and in the end, just like the bear, he ran to his death, just so he will die in his own terms. Lorne, on the other side, smiled before he was killed. He realised there’s nothing he can do, so he accepted it. While lorne was only talking all the time about being an animal, lester actually was one.
Lorne accepted it because he knew his time was up (the wolf he saw), he turned Gus, as his final deed, into a predator. Also Lorne died on its own terms; he fixed his leg after getting caught by Lester and he wanted Gus to kill him, so he would turn a prey into a predator.
I wonder if Jerry Lundegard will ever be mentioned in the tv series. Next season is supposed to take place 4 years after season 1 (since the awesome season 2 was a prequel from 1979). I dig that. Justified and Fargo are definitely the best things on FX. American Crime Story was good, so was Sons, Shield, and Rescue Me even was not bad. But Fargo and Justified are the best.
Also realistic. When ice breaks beneath you like that, the weight of the clothes pulls you pretty deep. Then, even if you have the strength to swim back up, you can't see a thing so it's hard to find the hole you fell through, so you're just trapped beneath the ice.
So here's my question: did Lester's brother go free? Because that tape they had, while it implicates Lester in the cover-up and proves his relationship to Malvo, he doesn't actually confess to the murder on the tape, one could argue he was calling on his brother's behalf. Certainly there's enough here to indict Lester on conspiracy to commit murder and maybe get his brother a new trial, but this wouldn't necessarily absolve his brother
He'd definitely be free of the murder charge. But his son still took a weapon to school. His wife probably still thinks he's cheated on her. And he was certainly in the posession of illegal firearms. His life is ruined anyways.
"I watched a bear once. His leg was in a steel trap. He chewed through bloody bone to get free. It was in Alaska. He died about an hour later, face down in a stream. On his own terms, you know? - Lorne Malvo describing a bear chewing its own leg off to be free of a bear trap. (something to that effect)
I was weirdly with Lester till the end. Yes he did killed his second wife, but he was the underdog for the whole season. He did triumph over Malvo and thats more than anyone in the show.
My alternate ending for the show, starting from here - Lester escapes the two patrolman. He later comes across Mr. Wrench (the show never said what happened to him). A shootout ensues, killing Mr. Wrench and wounding Lester. Lester ends up in a jail cell with Jerry Lundegaard...
Donald Record I actually would have preferred your alternate ending, i remember honestly feeling like this ending was a bit anticlimatic, just him dying....i didn't like that. same with breaking bad....i honestly didn't like how it ended, that's just my opinion, but i suppose it sends the message that cockiness gets you there
As soon as Lester framed his brother, I saw him as a different beast, I could not bear seeing him in frame and was anticipating when the show would finally kill him. Taking a step back I found the story to be a parallel to Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" as Lester shares similar traits and circumstances to that of Raskolnikov's which was interesting
Good writing, except the "thin ice" sign. It makes me furious when filmmakers treat their own audience like idiots. Out of all the places to run he coincidentally almost runs over this fragile small sign. Not only that, but had it not been there, it would have enhanced the suspense when you started to see the ice cracking. Never tell an audience exactly what is about to happen before it happens.
I wonder if the cops had turned around in time and disappeared into the woods, Lester could have been baited into turning back and thereby probably getting enough reflection time not to run at all costs.
People will do almost anything to survive if he made it across that lake he would have probably froze to death. You tend to not think too far ahead in moments like that.
When I first heard about a Fargo TV series I thought it would suck balls (because I love the film and the Cohen Bros.) but it didn't suck. In fact it was awesome.
In the beginning, I felt empathetic for Lester. He was going through some difficult times. Struggling at his job, struggling at home with his marriage, and struggling to grapple with the fact his high school bully was back. His character truly developed over the season. I think I lost empathy for him when he allowed Lorne Malvo to come back into his life in episode 9. Lester didn't know when to leave things be. He became a lying, manipulative, deceitful person. His evil side began to shine. He only pretended to feel sad when he got his second wife killed. Deep down he was a psychopath. It's too bad his second wife never saw it.
Psychopaths do well in life or end up in prison for terrible crimes; they learn fast how to manipulate people or take advantage of “weak” ones. Lester became an opportunist, but he was still a wimp at heart.
i wanted lester to get away with it, i dont like how they made this ending so black and white; bad guys die, good guys get a happily ever after. and no gus didnt turn into a predator he just killed malvo and was pretty shaken up on it, its not like malvos alpha boy theory of the strong killing the weak, he really just finished him off pathetically.
@@tyknight1858 it almost always takes place in Minnesota. There are scenes in the show and movie that tells you what town it takes place in, weather it’s Duluth, Barnard, bemidji, or the twin cities. The only reason the it was even called Fargo was because the coen brothers thought it sounded better then Brainerd MN. You can look it all up if you don’t believe me.
@@tylerkriesel8590 my homestead grandparents old hood. They COULD have called it "Rousseau County"! All four walked north into the Rainy River District to homestead. It wasn't COLD enough in Minnesota. Those mountains and that lake look exactly like where I am: the Purcells in the Rockies and Lake Windermere.
@Larry Richards this is correct but it could be said that the cold was a direct contributor to his death even though drowning would be what actually killed him. The shock to his nervous system that the hypothermia from the cold water would cause would make it virtually impossible for him to have the coordination to find the hole he fell in to get out of the water, therefore causing him to drown. So yes, hypothermia can set in pretty quick but suffocation kills quicker. If for some impossible reason the water wasn't cold he would have a much higher chance of not drowning, so in a way everyone here is technically correct.
That "thin ice" sign was ridiculous. Why can't they trust their own audience to be a little bit intelligent. Not only would it have been more exciting and entertaining had they not put that sign there, but it would have helped understand Lester's reaction too.
You get those signs in real life too, and there's a lot of Fargo's subtlety in the series and examples of them giving the audience a lot of room for it too. Maybe stop copying everything that a channel like "Every Frame a Painting" or some random video says about directing "duuh, why did they put it here, me very smart to understand" and be more original?
The sign isn't necessarily for the audience. It's also for Lester himself. His doom wouldn't have been quite as poetic if he hadn't been given one last line to cross, one last warning to ignore, one last opportunity to dig himself deeper after he thought he'd hit rock bottom. It's a fitting bookend to his whole arc.
"That thing that actually exists and is authentic to the location the story is set in was ridiculous" Great take buddy. Do you make up things to complain about with every show/movie?
Just finished this and at the risk of being virtually lynched by fargo fans in these comments, I'll leave my thoughts on the show. AWW JEEZ, This is the worst season of any show I've ever seen. HECK, Putting aside how absolutely tedious and repetitive each episode is, Nothing is explained! So many things left unanswered. A singular, paper-thin plot. I know writers nowadays think it's clever to not explain things and leave stuff unanswered, but c'mon. There's a line between trying to be clever and just being too lazy to write.
Walt just got rid of everyone who did him wrong, saved Jesse and delivered the money to his family, and before that he tried to give up every last penny he had to try and save his brother in law, then he took the blame for everything so they didn’t arrest Skyler as well. Walt made mistakes but he seemed to have regrets all the time and he got messed up by most of the deaths he caused. While idiot Lester killed his bitch wife, framed his idiot brother, got the police chief killed, got three people killed just so he could make Malvo blow his cover??? And then he sent his lovely wife to her death to save his own disgusting ass, and also Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele got killed because of him, while showing no regrets for anything and being a fucking pussy til the end
