The characters in the Fargo franchise constantly make questionable decisions. Here are the 10 worst they have ever made.
There are all sorts of quality storylines to be found in the Fargo series. The film set the template for a quirky but dark TV show to follow, which retained the Coen brothers’ signature style of violence mingled with humor. The film and shows also bring characters with skewed moralities, something that sets the stage for the plot to follow.
The storylines are such that a single decision by these characters impacts everything else, making these absolutely vital to the overall plot. All of these decisions turn out to be the wrong ones, although some are worse than others.
Malvo encountered deputy Gus Grimly after killing the police chief. However, he was able to threaten Gus to the point where the latter was too scared to apprehend or attack Malvo, allowing him to walk free.
Malvo could have easily killed Gus with no problems, yet had uncharacteristic mercy for the deputy. This decision came back to haunt him, though, as it was Gus who ultimately took Malvo’s life. What’s more, the memory of him being unable to get Malvo that fateful night was the reason why Gus killed Malvo.
When the argument is made over whether the film Fargo or the TV series is better, Carl’s nonsensical decision steers the verdict toward the show. After all, he had about a million dollars stashed away but decided to argue with his violent partner Gaear over wanting to keep the car.
Carl made the mistake of threatening Gaear in this argument but was too slow to realize that the latter came swinging with an ax after him. Had Carl simply let the car go, he’d have walked away a millionaire and no one would’ve caught him.
The third season is filled with the best quotes from the show, with V.M. Varga contributing most of these. He was able to seize control of the people he swindled, to the point where Varga considered himself the smartest guy in the room.
This led to him figuring he could intimidate Nikki Swango the same way, only to be horrified by the realization that she’d predicted his each and every move. Varga ended up having to abandon his position and his riches, seeing as he would certainly have been a dead man had he not fled in fear of Nikki.
Episode eight of the third season is often considered among the best episodes due to the surrealistic themes attached to it. One of these was the presence of Paul Murrane, who’s largely interpreted as an angel in human form. He advised Nikki (while she was in limbo) to fight the evils of the world.
However, she ended up interpreting it as a message to kill Emmit, a decision that cost Nikki her life. As it happened, Nikki became obsessed with finishing Emmit off, only for a police officer to interrupt. The resulting crossfire concluded with both Nikki and the officer dead, yet Emmit survived.
Throughout the second season, Hanzee gained enough fans for them to want him to return in a future Fargo season. The finale dashed this, however, as it was revealed that he became mob boss Moses Tripoli by 2006. This man was gunned down by Lorne Malvo in the first season.
His death was his own doing, though, as Hanzee had ordered Malvo’s death without so much as considering the possibility that the latter might survive. After Malvo did indeed learn of Hanzee’s orders, the killer stormed Hanzee’s headquarters and murdered him out of vengeance.
Despite being a protagonist, Peggy ended up being one of the most hated characters for fans of Fargo. That’s due to her repeated mistakes, all of which could’ve been avoided had she simply admitted that she’d run over Rye Gerhardt.
After all, it had been an accident, and Rye was a killer himself which would have meant that Peggy would’ve been off the hook. Ultimately, her decision not to divulge this fact led to the entire Gerhardt crime family’s attempt at killing Peggy and her husband.
Emmit was just a business owner who wanted to make a living, but he made the fatal mistake of assuming that his friend and lawyer Sy could conjure up solutions to their problems. As it happened, Sy got a loan from a shady company that was run by V.M. Varga.
Following this, Emmit slowly lost all hold over his own business and was made to sign documents that incriminated him as the guilty party for Varga’s criminal dealings. Emmit again made the wrong decision to trust Sy to get rid of Nikki, as she ended up interpreting that Emmit had tried to get her killed.
Jerry Lundegaard’s awkward mannerisms made for some of the funniest and best quotes of the Fargo film. His cowardly nature also made him take rash decisions, including paying off criminals he didn’t know or could control to kidnap his wife to ransom against his father-in-law.
The worst decision, though, was Jerry allowing the kidnapping to happen before pitching a lucrative deal to his father-in-law, which actually got accepted. By the time Jerry tried to call off the deal with Carl and Gaear, blood had been shed. Jerry could do nothing as his wife got killed and he was caught by the police for orchestrating everything.
The Season 2 episodes of Fargo get progressively better the further the story goes along. It also becomes clear that matriarch Floyd is the only one with any brains in the crime family. All three of her sons spell the Gerhardt’s downfall, each leading the cops to the family.
This was a result of Floyd’s plan to keep control of the family while making her sons think they were still in charge. And yet, this decision did hardly any good as Rye got himself killed and the other two brothers pushed Hanzee to the point where he ended up killing all the Gerhardts.
Lester was all clear of his crimes, having framed his brother for the murder of his wife. His newfound confidence brought Lester admiration and fortune from his peers and even a new wife who adored him.
He then made the worst decision possible by engaging Lorne Malvo once again, even when the hitman repeatedly warned that making Lester acknowledge him would be bad news. However, Lester couldn’t overcome his ego and wanted to be considered Malvo’s equal. When he realized what a monster Malvo really was, Lester tried to back out but was apprehended due to his connections with the killer.
