Felicia Nickens
The following recap contains spoilers for Fargo S5E4, “Insolubilia” (written by Noah Hawley and directed by Donald Murphy)
Woo! Yes, finally the bit of action I was waiting for. The first 15 minutes of “Insolubilia” reminded me of an adult version of Home Alone and I am here for it. I found myself smiling and giggling as each dummy made their way through one of Dorothy’s (Juno Temple) handmade booby traps, injuring themselves, and repeating.
Last week ended with Munch (Sam Spruell) entering Tillman’s (Jon Hamm) home, whereas this week opens with Jack Skellington aka Gator (Joe Keery) making his way into Dorothy’s. As he and his team go through the house and get jacked up by various contraptions, I began to wonder where the family was since they had just entered minutes earlier. The answer came shortly after when Wayne (David Rysdahl) pops his head from the attic when he fears Dorothy may be hurt. Dorothy directs Wayne and Scotty leave the attic and they run to the bedroom. Wayne runs to the windows and Dorothy urges him to stop, but he does not and is electrocuted in the process.
The sparks from the wires, and possibly Wayne, set the curtains on fire and quickly the whole room becomes ablaze. On the other side of the door, Gator is trying to get in. Dorothy gets Scotty out of the window and down the trellis, but with Wayne unconscious, she is forced to roll him off of the roof.
The house is on fire and sirens are getting closer, so Gator gathers his team and they leave. Another failure under his belt.
At the hospital Dorothy is comforting Scotty and manipulating the truth about what Scotty remembers, saying that Daddy was just clumsy and touched some faulty wires. As loving a mother as she is, it felt a little painful to watch her create this false narrative, sort of gaslighting her kid. That is all cut short when Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Danish (Dave Foley) arrive. Lorraine assumes it’s Dorothy’s fault (it kinda is) and is in the middle of telling her so when Trooper Farr (Lamorne Morris) and Deputy Olmstead (Richa Moorjani) come marching in. They want to question Dorothy, she feigns clueless and Danish throws some legal jargon at them. In the end no one questions her because Wayne is awake and off Dorothy goes.
Wayne is a little loopy. Could be from the fall, the morphine, or perhaps just his normal demeanor. Dorothy feeds him the same story she fed Scotty and he doesn’t quite seem to believe it, but in true Wayne manor, he just gives in.
Meanwhile, the FBI agents from Episode 2 return and are essentially begging a judge to let them pursue Tillman. In this conversation it is learned that Dorothy was Tillman’s second wife to go missing. Interesting. Would that be Gator’s mom who was first to go missing? Does Gator know that Tillman had something to do with that? Whatever the case, the agents are shut down as Tillman is too powerful and well connected. Something tells me they will go rogue on this.
And then there is Munch. His entering of Tillman’s home is a little anti-climatic. We don’t really see what happens once he’s there, but are witness to the warning he left behind. Tillman comes home and enters his girls’ room. Above their beds is a symbol written in blood and dirt. Later, as Munch takes a bath he spews to his mother about how people like Tillman think “their freedom should be free, that it has no cost, but the cost is always death.”
Tillman goes to the home of that couple from Episode 2, Lenore (Kelsey Falconer) and her abusive husband, Joshua (Sean Depner). Knowing that the husband was abusing the wife, Tillman uses this opportunity to murder Josh, and bribe Lenore into backing his story that her husband is actually Munch. He explains to Gator that since they caught “Munch” the case involving his murdered partner is closed and the state can call of its team. Less investigation around Tillman.
At this time Tillman also learns of Gator’s failure to acquire Dorothy and rides off on his horse to clear his head.
I knew Tillman was unsavory and ruthless in his endeavors to get what he wants, but watching him just pick a guy he knew no one would care about and kill him to end an investigation was next level. How many people have suffered over the years in his quest to be on top? We know he was abusive to Dorothy, at least it’s been alluded to. Did he abuse his first wife as well and did he go too far one day and kill her (purposefully or by accident?), or was she at least lucky enough to run?
Wayne saw Dorothy in action back at the house. His mind is jumbled but he remembers. How long will he go along with Dorothy’s version of events? I feel its been long enough and would love to see him learn the whole truth. Wayne is a stand up guy, I don’t think he will go anywhere and I would thoroughly enjoy watching him stand up to Tillman.
Then there’s the lawmen. Farr, Olmstead, and the Agents. They are in pursuit of different leads that all come back to Tillman. Between them and Dorothy, I suspect Tillman will have a hell of a fight later on in the season and I can’t wait. Jon Hamm is playing a conservative, evil, douche to the fullest and is doing an amazing job making it believable.
And hey, there were no nipples in this episode.
