The Tragedy Of The Commons – The episode opens at a Fall Planning Committee Meeting, with Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple), attempting to shield her daughter Scotty Lyon (Juno Temple) from the fighting parents. She attempts to lead Scotty safely from the auditorium when they are surprised from behind by math teacher, Mr. Abernathy (Dusty Bews). She shocks him with a taser and when a uniformed officer attempts to intervene, she shocks him as well. This leads to her being escorted to the local jail by Deputy Indira Olmstead (Richa Moojani). After being booked and stuck with the other offenders for several hours, Wayne Lyon (David Rysdahl) bails her out. She comments on his fancy appearance and he reminds her of the annual family Christmas card photo at his mother’s, Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh) house. She tries to use her poor appearance as an excuse to skip the event, but he’s brought her makeup and a change of clothes.

During the trip, she asks how Scotty feels about the arrest. Wayne ensures her it’s nothing that her Game Boy Sponge Bob couldn’t fix. She becomes upset once she learns he told his mother about the arrest, even though Lorraine has offered the assistance of her “fixer”, Danish Grave (David Foley).

Later that evening, Wayne helps Scotty with her tie and asks if she wouldn’t feel more comfortable in a dress. She said a suit feels more “dressed up,” as both Dot and Lorraine make their entrances. Once the photographer (Brent Gill) explains his plans for the photo, the family gathers in front of the tree.

At dinner, Lorraine introduces Wayne to the Attorney General, Mick Thigpen (James Madge). Wayne says he does and mentions voting for him twice. Mick harshly tells him politics aren’t a joking matter. Lorraine’s husband (Jan Bos) reminds everyone of the “no politics at the table” rule. The conversation quickly turns to Dot’s arrest. Mick promises to look into it but says assaulting an officer is a serious charge. Danish is quick to remind the Attorney General that the charges are alleged while Dot tries to explain it away as an accident.

Returning home, Dot tucks Scotty in for the evening. While doing so, Scotty asks if she’ll be going back to jail. Dot reassures her they are going to get the matter sorted and offers to make pancakes in the morning. Joining Wayne in the master bedroom, she turns down his offer to “take a tumble” and quickly falls asleep.

Wayne ruins Dot’s plans of making pancakes when he insists on driving Scotty to school. He says he’s needed in the office early but they’ll have time to stop for doughnuts. He also mentions working late. She promises to save his dinner. While knitting and enjoying daytime TV, Dot notices a masked intruder (Sam Spruell) approaching the side glass sliding door with a hammer in hand. After finding the door unlocked and entering with ease, he is joined by a second masked man (Devon Bostick). The first man hands the hammer to his partner and they follow Dot’s trail of yarn to the master bedroom. After a quick search under the bed and in the closet, the second man notices the bathroom door is closed. Opening the door, he is ambushed by Dot with a homemade blowtorch (hairspray and lighter). She fails to set the second man on fire but manages to flee from the room. In the hallway, she trips over a laundry basket and crashes down the stairs. Landing near the front door, she grabs an ice skate and conceals it under her body while playing opossum. Seconds later she uses the skate to surprise one of the intruders but only manages to slash his ear. A quick chase ensues and ends with her trapped.

Later that evening, Wayne and Scotty arrive at home to find the front door wide open. He quickly assumes the worst and tells Scotty to stay by the car while he creeps forward. After spotting a pool of blood on the floor he calls the cops. Deputy Olmstead is the first to show up and orders him to remain outside while she goes in to survey the scene.

Wayne shares news of the incident with Lorraine, Danish, and Lorraine’s head of security, Jerome (Kudjo Fiakpui). Danish says he suspects the incident is an attempt to ransom money and they can likely expect a demand in the 48 hours. Wayne says with Scotty’s school and the new fleet, he doesn’t really have any money. Lorraine reminds him that she’s the one with the deep pockets and the likely target. Danish says the real problem will be deciding between the FBI or a private team to handle the transfer. Lorraine suggests keeping everything as quiet as possible.

After work, Deputy Olmstead arrives home to find several past-due bills waiting on her in the kitchen. She finds her husband Lars Olmstead (Lukas Gage) in the garage, absorbed in his new golf simulator. She attempts to discuss her new case with him but he’s only interested in improving his drive. After learning that he spent $2,500 to enter a regional tournament, she mentions the late notices and suggests he consider finishing radiology school. He claims it’s merely a matter of time before his golf career takes off. He promises to join her for bed after a bit more practice.

The burnt kidnapper (Devon Bostick) whimpers in pain from the burns as his partner, Ole Munch drives down a desolate highway. Ole harshly attempts to keep him quiet, but Dot makes matters worse she pops up from the back seat and mentions the burns getting infected. Although they aren’t speeding, they draw the attention of a hidden patrol car. Just as Ole learns the vehicle was stolen, they are pulled over. Just as Ole warns Dot not to do anything stupid, she gets the back door open and runs past the patrol car. Ole uses the distraction to unload an automatic rifle at the two patrol men. He kills the driver, but the second officer, Witt Farr (Lamorne Morris) manages to escape on foot and alert dispatch. Both Farr and Dot make it to a nearby convenience store at nearly the same time.

Dot goes inside and attempts to free her hands from the restraint while Farr pulls his weapon and waits outside. After taking a bullet to the leg, he retreats inside where he learns there is no backdoor and the clerk doesn’t have a weapon. After helping Dot free her hands, the power to the store is cut. Witt patches up his leg while Dot pours oil on the floor at the front entrance. In the bathroom, she notices that the window is broken and hears a whimpering coming from the only stall.

After several minutes a barrel comes crashing through the front glass door and a shootout between Ole and Witt ensues. The sound startles (Devon Bostick) and he begins firing blindly from inside the bathroom stall. When he stops and slowly exits, Dot surprises him with a bag of ice. He awkwardly falls backward and hits his head on the toilet. At the front entrance, Ole carefully makes his way inside. Dot finds the attacker’s discarded pistol and unloads it. When Witt finds an opening he empties his pistol in Ole’s direction but misses every shot. Although Witt is now out of ammo, Dot uses the distraction to knock him out with a shovel.  She retrieves the rifle and joins Witt who suspects that the bullet nicked an artery because of all the blood. Once she uses a homemade tourniquet to slow the bleeding, she goes back to the front of the store to find that Ole is gone. She flees as well once she hears sirens in the distance.

Wayne puts Scotty to bed before going to his office to stare vacantly out the window. Several seconds pass before he falls asleep in a chair. Dot is shown entering the house behind him, but he doesn’t wake up until he hears her clattering around in the kitchen. Unaware that it is her, he grabs a candleholder and inches towards the kitchen where he finds Dot making pancakes. He tries to make sense of her odd behavior and the evidence the police found, but she explains it all away by claiming she was having a hard time with the arrest and needed to go somewhere to clear her head.

 

Fargo Review

The episode was certainly intriguing and a bit confusing at the end, but what better way to start a mystery? It’s hard to see how Dot can explain away the burnt ski mask and two different blood types found at the house. Why would she even want to? It was alluded to that she might have some kind of dark past when she was asking if the fingerprints went into a national database at the beginning of the episode. Deputy Olmstead appears to have a bit of a mischievous nature as well. As far as the acting and the camera work go, I can’t complain too much.

All that said, the thing I find most interesting is the similar feel that the series shares with season 1, which in my opinion was probably the best. It said at the beginning that this episode was based on a 2019 crime, so nay relation seems unlikely. I’d give the episode a 5 out of 10 based on its potential.

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