A Major Shakeup On 'Fargo'

There is a moment during Tuesday night's Fargo when Gus Grimly and Molly Solverson stop talking about the murders and the blizzard accident, and start chatting about fun things to do around their respective hometowns. Things they can do together. They make plans. That convo shift kicks up the pace of their relationship and the pace of the show: The story sticks us on a catapult, launches us into the air, and when we land, it's one year later.

Grimly is no longer a cop. He is a mailman. Grimly and Solverson are married. Greta calls Solverson “Mom.” And Solverson is very pregnant. Marge Gunderson, er, Molly Solverson is with child. They are a family. A sweet, happy family. It's perfect... but perhaps we should be wary of this quixotic picture. Perhaps it is too perfect to last. I am STRESSED OUT over whatever madness might go down during the next two episodes. I swear, if Lester Nygaard and/or Lorne Malvo do anything to hurt that family, I'll punch a pillow. I'll punch two pillows. You have my word.

A lot has changed in a year, but Solverson hasn't given up on Lester or Lorne Malvo. There's a bulletin board in her home office, and no, it isn't a real-life Pinterest board full of cutesy nursery decor ideas. She's tacked up notes, newspaper clippings, and photos pertaining to the Lester/Lorne Malvo case. It isn't Rust Cohle's storage locker by any stretch of the imagination (thank goodness), but she's certainly devoted a lot of time to its construction. She stares at her handiwork (hard to say how many hours she's already spent looking it) and decides to give someone at the FBI a ring. This isn't the first time she's done this. She lets the man on the other end know—again— that she has info about the Fargo crime syndicate massacre. She wants to help. She can identify the Lorne Malvo-y suspect. The person on the other end tells her to let it go. HAHA, sorry FBI man. Not our Solverson. Not in one million years.

That night, she watches an old black-and-white detective movie in bed. Grimly falls asleep by her side. "We're doing good," she says to her drowsy husband. "We have everything we need." Almost. Her face says something is missing, and that missing something is the answer to that goddamned case. Lester and Lorne Malvo are still out there somewhere. She has to catch 'em. She won't let herself give up. Ya gotta try, don't ya?

Where are those two goblins, anyway? Lester is accepting the 2007 Insurance Salesman of the Year award in Las Vegas. Give Lester a new suit, tie, and haircut, and you have the most confident man this side of the Mississippi. It's as if he devoted the last 365 days to selling insurance, going to Toastmasters meetings, and watching his new washing machine run the spin cycle. “If this year has taught me anything, and believe me I’ve seen it all, that the worst does happen," he says during his acceptance speech. "And you need to be insured.” He thanks the room and takes a seat next to coworker/new wife Linda. He's Lester 2.0.

Lester 2.0 goes to the hotel bar by himself for a celebratory nightcap. He makes flirty eyes at another woman sitting in the bar. But before he can start spitting game, the table across the room catches his attention. Specifically, the white-haired man telling a story to the table. Lester 2.0 hears his voice: Lorne Malvo.

SOLVERSON, CAN YOU HEAR ME?! THEY'RE IN VEGAS. GO TO VEGAS. SEARCH EVERY BLACKJACK TABLE, BUFFET LINE, AND STRIP CLUB. YOU'VE GOT THIS.

Okay. If a very pregnant Solverson doesn't go to Vegas and catch Lorne Malvo and Lester while they're sucking down blended daiquiris from enormous guitar-shaped novelty cups on their way to see a Cirque du Soleil show together, I will totally understand. It would be too weird a move, even for this fish storm of a television program. (Am I still sort of rooting for a Vegas blended cocktail arrest scene? PROBABLY.)

Image: FX