Malvo's big mistake is that he killed Sam Hess for no reason other than his own pleasure/fascination. He wasn't standing to gain anything financially from it. You'll notice that box of tapes has nothing to do with the work that he is paid for. It's his box of projects/entertainment. He gets off on manipulating people and exploiting their weaknesses. When he ran into a loser as bad as Lester Nygaard, he just thought, "this is too good to not screw with". The man is the epitome of a psychopath. He's so good at it (feeding off of human weakness) that he is fascinating to watch. It's almost as if Malvo represents the devil on your shoulder and Gus represents the angel. Gus' decision to let Malvo go eats at him because he has a deep base of morality. Even though she did a wonderful job, the character of Molly was a little frustrating to me because she seemed almost too smart and clever. I can't tell you how many times I said to myself, "There's no way she could've just figured that out". I mean, with her skills she needs to be a lead detective in Minneapolis, not just an okay cop in a small town. Lester is fascinating because you can feel the weight of how 40 years of being picked on and feeling inadequate and inferior have just eroded his core being. His wife just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He would likely have never done it if he hadn't run into Malvo which was like the "trigger". Of course, you can see any sense of morality melt away into nothingness as his sense of survival kicks in. As crafty and amazing as it was how he initially got away with it, you just know that he will have to pay for the evil that he has done.
What did you guys think about the Greek American supermarket king? He was an interesting conflicted character for sure. That poor fitness trainer - I had a feeling that he'd be one of the first to be sacrificed and I was right. Every time he's on the screen you just know he won't be around long. He is a scumbag, but he certainly didn't deserve this:
Yes, neatly illustrated by the scene where he told the disgruntled kid to pee into the bosses fuel tank, then told the boss what was going on. Malvo just looks on and grins. Well, you never know. Some very intelligent people can find themselves mundane jobs. It's not implausible.
That poor fitness trainer - I had a feeling that he'd be one of the first to be sacrificed and I was right. Every time he's on the screen you just know he won't be around long. He is a scumbag, but he certainly didn't deserve this: [/QUOTE] This scene felt very Hannibal Lecter-ish to me in it's execution, if you pardon the pun. Listening to the chaos on the police radio channel was sheer recreation, as Purple Jim said.
Just when you thought you might like him? Are we watching the same show? The guy is a sadistic psychopath. He's thrilling to watch...but not likable...
I've been wondering the same thing (are we watching the same show). I decided last night to leave this thread alone since I've voiced my comments about the finale. Yes, Malvo is a sadistic psychopath who, taken to a higher level, is evil incarnate. He's not just a guy who was fooling around with the small town folk. There's nothing likeable about his character, and that was the point.
So... Spoiler What's the deal with the fish coming from out of nowhere and causing the auto accident a few episodes ago? Did that every get explained?
Not really. There was a clip of a news woman reporting on it and saying that the theory was a mini-tornado formed over the lake and sucked up a bunch of fish and water and then dropped them on the road, but I think it was presented as a theory. There were no reports that people actually SAW this tornado. Since it went along with the plague theme Malvo was doing to The Sausage King (water to blood, bug infestation, death of first born), I think we were meant to determine Malvo set it up, but they never showed how. The only thing I could think was that he arranged for some aircraft to dump a bunch of fish from its hold, but coordinating that to happen on a moving vehicle seems a real stretch.
Thanks - I had missed that news clip. I can live with not knowing exactly what happened, as long as there was something within the show that actually addressed it in some way (the news clip). At least this way we know it's not just a hallucination seen only by The Sausage King. I think we're just not meant to know, and that Malvo either planned it (don't see how), or it was just some fluke of nature (retribution from God in the eyes of The Sausage King).
I was half way expecting a supernatural ending regarding Malvo. Perhaps Gus, when sneaking up on Malvo, sees that evil looking wolf out the window, then looks back toward Malvo and Malvo is gone. Then he looks back at the wolf which is suddenly slinking away into the wilderness. All this signifying Malvo was a shape shifting sort of demon. That would explain a lot of earlier things too, such as how he got out of that basement in that early episode where Lester killed his wife. And possibly explain the fish, assuming the demon had supernatural powers. Otherwise there's a lot that doesn't make sense.
I think it was perhaps meant to be ironic that after being tormented by Malvo's fake Biblical plagues, Platt's character was actually beset by one that happened naturally. I also think it's fairly apparent that the show was not meant to be 100% realistic, so maybe it's a waste of time complaining that this or that plot element was not believable.
I agree as well. But as riverclown pointed out, they could/should have taken the writing of the finale farther out and made it much cooler than it was. Gus shoots Malvo. Lester drowns. The end. Yawn.
I think perhaps the issue with the finale, if there was one, is that Malvo was such a malevolent force, and Lester so despicable, that death didn't seem like enough punishment for either of them. Their endings couldn't help but seem mundane after all the mayhem they unleashed. (I felt the same about Walter White's final moments on Breaking Bad.) In the original movie, I always thought the final scene with William H. Macy's character was rather anticlimactic. (The TV show had a more dramatic ending for Lester, but it had in common that he was caught far from where the action happened by different cops.)
Good ending. I'm satisfied. I was hoping for a few seconds about Lester's framed brother for closure there...but I guess we just assume he got released. Not likely he got his family back, though.
Did the fish thing happen in winter? Not many tornados in winter and not many open lakes near at that time of year near Bemidji.
