The third installment of FX Network’s Fargo series is set in 2010, and follows the story of the feuding Stussy brothers. Emmit Stussy (Ewan McGregor), the handsome one, has done well for himself. He’s been married for 25 years, and is the self-proclaimed Parking Lot King of Minnesota. His balding younger brother Ray (also Ewan McGregor) works as a parole officer, and often spends his days watching people pee into cups for drug tests. Every time he needs money, Ray must go begging to his brother for assistance. Ray blames Emmit for his misfortunes. When they were younger, Emmit tricked Ray into trading away his inheritance, a collection of rare stamps, for a now-worthless corvette.

Ray has fallen in love with Nikki (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), one of his parolees, and wants to buy her an engagement ring. When his brother refuses to give him the money, Ray hires one of his dimwitted parolees, Maurice LeFay (Scoot McNairy), to steal his stamp back from his brother. Maurice gets the information mixed up—instead of heading to Eden Prairie home of Emmit Stussy, he violently breaks into the Eden Valley home of Ennis Stussy (Scott Hylands), the stepfather of single mother/Eden Valley police chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon). And when Ray and Nikki try to cover things up with another murder, they only make matters worse.

Meanwhile, Emmit is having issues of his own. In order to expand his business, he had taken what he thought was a loan from a stranger named Mr. Ermentraub. However, when it came time to pay back the mysterious benefactor, he was nowhere to be found. One day the extremely odd V.M. Varga (David Thewlis) shows up at Stussy Corp, acting like he owns the place. He refuses to accept the loan repayment, informing Emmit and business partner Sy (Michael Stuhlbarg) that the money they were given was an investment and not a loan. Varga then explains that their company will now be used to launder money.

What unfolds is another thrilling season of mystery, murder, betrayal and intrigue, all with a wonderful blend of dark comedy and drama. Fargo is so artfully put together—each scene is beautifully and creatively shot, and there are so many different pieces that all come together by the end. This third season has an engaging story, interesting, quirky and well-developed characters, and makes excellent use of music to enhance the tone. While the first season of Fargo will always be my favorite, this third season comes in a close second. This third season reminded me a lot of the first, both in plot and in tone. Like season one, there is a story of a seemingly-normal man who gets in over his head in a plot of murder and other illicit activities, while a cop with a comical accent is on his trail. Except this time around, we have two of those stories that intersect.

The cast in this third season is stellar—there isn’t one performance that I could even point out as the weakest. Ewan McGregor is amazing in his dual roles. You often forget that he is playing both brothers—Ray and Emmit feel like two completely different people/characters, each with his own look and personality. Carrie Coon (who was also a standout in The Leftovers) nails the Minnesota accent and makes her character so likeable. Gloria goes on her own journey throughout the season as she prepares to go from Chief to just another cop in a larger force. David Thewlis is so perfectly creepy and disgusting as Varga, with all his strange proclivities and habits, and the disturbing lengths he will go to to get what he wants. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead is also a delight—there are so many layers to Nikki that we learn about over the course of the the season, and see how she is forced to adapt to her circumstances.

I thoroughly enjoyed re-watching the third season of Fargo on this DVD release. If I had had the time, I would have binged it all in one sitting. As each episode ends, you are left anxious to see what happens next!

While the first two seasons of the series were released on both Blu-ray and DVD, unfortunately FOX had decided to release this third installment only on DVD. That said, the picture still looks quite nice, with deep, rich colors, but the darker scenes are not quite as detailed as the original HD airings on FX. The audio track is excellent—dialogue is clear, the score sounds great, and the surround and stereo channels are well-utilized. For example, in the season’s opening sequence you can hear someone walking from behind you into the room, and when they leave you can hear them walk off behind you.

The four discs are packed in a standard multi-disc DVD keep case. The fourth disc also includes a 30-minute behind-the-scenes feature that includes interviews with the cast and crew.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (8:40:45)

• All 10 episodes of the third season
  “The Law of Vacant Places”, “The Principle of Restricted Choice”, “The Law of Non-Contradiction”, “The Narrow Escape Problem”, “The House of Special Purpose”, “The Lord of No Mercy”, “The Law of Inevitability”, “Who Rules the Land of Denial?”, “Aporia”, “Somebody to Love”
• 480p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese
• Closed Captioned

Extras:

• Inside Look (29:18)
  A collection of promotional featurettes for the third season. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producer/director/writer Noah Hawley, head make up/SFX make up designer Gail Kennedy, hair head of dept Chris Glimsdale, production designer Elisabeth Williams, director of photography Dana Gonzales, locations manager Robert Hilton, and stars Ewan McGregor (“Emmit Stussy/Ray Stussy”), Carrie Coon (“Gloria Burgle”), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Nikki Swango”), Michael Stuhlbarg (“Sy Feltz”) and Olivia Sandoval (“Winnie Lopez”). Play All or select from:
  • First Look (2:04)
    The cast talks about the premise of the third season.
  • Ray and Nikki (2:30)
    The cast and producer talk about the relationship between Ray and Nikki.
  • Emmit Stussy and Sy Feltz (2:29)
    The cast and producer talk about the character of Sy, and the relationship between Emmit and Sy.
  • One Actor, Two Characters (3:24)
    The cast, producer and hair and make-up designers talk about casting a single actor two play two roles, designing the different looks for each brother, and the make up processes involved.
  • Gloria Burgle (2:54)
    The actress and producer talk about the character of Gloria, and how she differs from the previous seasons’ leading ladies.
  • Varga (2:44)
    The cast and producer talk about the mysterious criminal character of Varga.
  • Anatomy of a Scene (3:06)
    The producer, production designer and director of photography talk about the scene where the worlds of Varga, Gloria, and Emmit collide in the Stussy office building.
  • The Digital Age (2:20)
    The producer, cast and locations manager talk about how technology affects the story and characters this the season.
  • Connectivity and References (2:05)
    The cast and producer talk about the third season’s references to the original movie, other seasons, and The Big Lebowski.
  • Locations (3:04)
    The locations manager and production designer talk about finding locations for the season that would contrast Ray’s city life and Emmit’s rural life. They also discuss matching location exteriors with interior sets.
  • Noah Hawley (3:07)
    The showrunner talks about his role, while the cast talk about what it was like working with him.

Final Thoughts:

In it’s third season, Fargo is just as fun and thrilling as ever. You don’t have to have seen the film or the other two seasons in order to fully enjoy this season—each year is a separate story, though there are some Easter eggs in there for folks who have seen the others. While there is no Blu-ray release this time around, the DVD still looks quite good and features an excellent audio track. The discs also contain a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. While I wish there had been a Blu-ray release, this DVD still comes highly recommended based on the quality of the series itself.