[For Fargo “The Gift of the Magi” or any other recaps on Fetchland, assume the presence of possible spoilers.]
FX Summary:
The Gift of the Magi Floyd takes action and Charlie tries to prove himself; Peggy and Ed disagree about what to do next.
Fargo goes hardcore mainstream with this episode’s title, referencing one of the most well-known short stories ever told. We’ve all read or at least heard about The Gift of the Magi, the story of a poor couple who each sell their most treasured possession to buy a Christmas gift for the other. Then there’s the fun part, the wicked twist at the end – she got a watch chain for the watch he just sold and he bought a fancy clip/comb for the long hair she sold. In the poignant and oft misappropriated words of Alanis Morrisette, “Isn’t it Ironic?” As far as this episode, the answer is an indubitable yes, every storyline thick with this particular twist.
The story starts with the deeply resonant voice of the American Dream – Ronald Reagan gives a speech in Minnesota while on his presidential campaign trail. It’s a message thick with hope for a better tomorrow. Throughout the Reagan pep talk voiceover we see fourteen men on the Kansas City crew out for a hunt. Just as they’re about to shoot their first animal the unsuspecting crew take on sudden gunfire from behind and end up losing a a dozen men, everyone but Joe and one of the Kitchen Brothers. Reagan finishes his speech to a crowd with tears streaming down their inspired all american cheeks as they rise to their feet with applause.
Next we see Hanzee bring Rye’s belt buckle to Floyd and say it was a butcher that did it. Dodd misinterprets this to mean it was a contract killer posing as a butcher and thus that’s why they call him the “Butcher of Luverne.” Dodd is pulling this out of his butthole, of course, simply because it fits his vision for escalating the war.
In the next scene Dodd comes home from the hunting shootout to tell Floyd they took out all of the Kansas City crew except Milligan – who wasn’t there. Floyd says she wants the butcher dead and to show him no mercy. This mention of Ed shifts the scene to him waking from a guilt-laden dream about the bloody Rye. He gets up and goes down into the basement where Peggy awaits. She’s surrounded by her Hoarders level collection of magazines and books piled to the ceiling. Peggy finally tells Ed how her boss, Constance, saw the car and knew about the accident before they hit the tree to establish their fake alibi. She knows something! Panicked Peggy says they have to leave town. Those Gephardt ghouls are coming for us. We can’t stay here. Ed adamantly insists they dig in their heels, have kids, buy the butcher shop, stay together, make it work, figure it out. That’s what people do. He reminds her that she said all they had to do was clean up the mess and then could go back to normal. The visual representation of Peggy’s inability to let go of reading material coupled with her yearning to leave it all behind sets an ironic stage here.
In the next scene, Dodd allows Bear’s eager kid, Charlie to go along for the Butcher of Luverne murder with his minion, Virgil. Meanwhile Simone drives off to a hotel rendezvous with Mike and we see that one of the Kitchen Brothers also survived and stands by Milligan in his hotel room. So, the Kansas City crew is down to two. Simone tells Mike she didn’t know Hanzee was going to attack them. You believe me don’t you? She drops to her knees before him. Then he says, What are we Romeo and Juliet? and shows her Joe Bulo’s head in a hat box. Mike tells her he wants to know what her family’s going to do before they do it every time… otherwise she can die with the rest of them. So, Simone hits the bricks and it’s unclear if she’ll be back in Romeo’s arms anytime soon. One thing’s for certain, she’s stuck in an ironic situation. If Simone wants to be with Mike she’s gotta cozy up with her despicable father, the very person who’s driven her into Mike’s arms. Simone goes home to a threatening Dodd who offers her a “fist or a knife” ya know, like Dads do. It’s only because Floyd steps in to stop Dodd from messing with his daughter and tells Simone to go upstairs that he doesn’t start beating her right then and there.
At the butcher shop Ed’s making family calls trying to get a loan and failing. It’s a recession – remember? The cashier, Noreen asks him why he bothers. He’s just gonna die anyway. What’s the point? She’s resolute in her pig-tailed, absurdist philosophy. Bear’s son, Charlie shows up at the butcher shop then, gun in hand and hesitant about proving himself a real Gerhardt. Before he goes in the family minion reminds him not to leave any witnesses. Charlie enters the shop and Noreen asks him what meat he wants. He says he just wants to see Blumquist so she tells Charlie Ed’s the back. They flirt a little and talk Camus until Ed comes out with a plate of fresh cuts. Charlie chickens out. He buys meat and leaves.
Lou gets a call from the Fargo PD that there are twelve dead bodies in the woods and it’s obviously a Gerhardt job. Can Lou come and be a tough guy at the Gerhardt’s like last time? Lou says he’ll come first thing tomorrow after he’s done escorting Reagan’s bus to the next town. Then, in the best scene of the episode, Lou and Reagan are side by side chatting at a roadside urinal. Reagan thanks Lou for his service and tells his own war story. The irony lies in Reagan’s story because it’s about one of his war movies and he can’t even remember the ending. Reagan talks too long after Lou’s already zipped up and then Lou says he wonders if The United States can really get out of the mess we’re in. The sickness of the world seems to have gotten inside everyone, even his wife – killing her with cancer. How are we going to et out of this mess we’re in? Reagan responds, “Son, there’s not a challenge on God’s earth that can’t be overcome by an American,” Lou says, “But how?” and Reagan leaves the bathroom without answering.
In the next scene Betsy takes her trial drug and looks at her daughter’s drawing. At first it looks like a typical child’s doodle of a family with a house and sun above. But then we see it’s not the a sun at all, but a UFO. Hank comes in and Betsy tells him she’s nauseated but that’s good because it means she’s probably on a real drug and not just a sugar pill. The irony – reading a symptom of sickness as the best possible outcome.
Meanwhile back at the butcher shop Charlie’s in the phone booth calling home and says he’s ready to go back to school. It’s Bear’s dream come true for his son, if he makes it out of this debacle alive. Virgil then pressures Charlie back into the butcher shop. Once inside he flips the door sign to “Closed,” pulls out his gun and sneaks into the back room where Ed’s cutting a pig into pieces. Noreen comes out of the bathroom and alerts Ed with a shriek as Charlie takes a shot, so he ducks out of the way of the bullet, which misses Ed but starts a massive fire. Virgil then storms in from the back and the real fight ensues, a blazing fire spreading throughout the ruckus. It’s a close one with Virgil nearly strangling Ed before he frees himself and machetes Virgil. He and Noreen save Charlie, knocked out on the floor, and drag him out of the fire. The three of them are out of the street when the fire completely overtakes the butcher shop. The place is toast. Ed watches his American Dream go up in flames and advises Noreen to tell the cops those perpetrators shot first and it was self defense and he saved the kid. Then Ed, still in his bloody butcher apron, runs away as Noreen calls after him – confused why he couldn’t just tell the cops himself. Lou shows up at the shell of the now burnt up butcher shop and sees Charlie Gephardt sliding into the ambulance on a stretcher.
At the Blumquist’s Peggy packs a bright orange and a blue suitcase then picks up her freshly fixed car at the shop and pays with a bad check. She starts to drive away but then comes back and asks the dufus mechanic, Sonny if he wants to buy her car. He gives her seven hundred for it, about half what it’s worth… but she was eager to strike a deal today. She even says, “Better 700 today than 1400 tomorrow,” as if this is a well-known tome for ages. In her next scene it’s classic Gift of the Magi time on Fargo. Ed gets home and says they need to pack and it’s time to go. Time to run like Peggy said. Then she says no he was right. She sold the car and now they can buy the shop. Ed tells her the shop burned down and he killed another fella – maybe two. She’s gotta pack and they gotta go. Then police sirens are blazing outside their door and there’s no time to even consider packing. Irony prevails. They were both wrong and Lou was right.
But the biggest irony of this episode is the whole “American Dream” concept as best exemplified by Reagan’s presidential campaign. Have hope for the future! Believe in yourself! This coupled with the comedic insight of Noreen, the butcher shop cashier who quotes Camus and responds to every silver lining with, ‘You’re going to die anyway,” provides us with the most resonant ironic twist of the time. They’re both right. We are all going to die anyway and sure, why not go down in a blaze of apple pie and baseball glory – confident, happy, and armed to the gills with pride in the American Way. It’s at least as good a condition as any other for dying. Of course, to Lou’s point, these points of view and ways of life are hardly answers to the real challenges we faced as a country in 1979. The recession had exhausted our options until all americans felt we had left to hope for was a sunny outlook and the glorious, moving speeches of a movie star. Lou’s resonating question to Reagan remains, like an echo in the chambers of our country’s heart. How are all these pep talks really an answer to our problems? Lou remains the voice of reason for Fargo and he illuminates us as an audience with his insight. Meanwhile every character on the show ignores Lou’s reasonable conjecture and instead listens to the guy who sounds better and says precisely what they want to hear – Ronald Reagan.
–Katherine Recap
