'Fargo' season openers feature homage

Tribune News Service
September 7, 2020 at 7:00PM
FARGO -- Pictured: Ewan McGregor as Emmit Stussy. CR: Matthias Clamer/FX
Ewan McGregor as Ray Stussy in “Fargo.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Q: My husband and I just finished watching Season 3 of "Fargo." Upon finishing I asked my husband if he could explain what the first scene of the first episode had to do with the rest of the story. That was the scene that took place in 1988 in East Berlin. I kept watching for a tie-in the entire time. We re-watched the scene again and still cannot explain its part in the story. Can you help us with that?

A: I can offer the explanation by Jack O'Keeffe of Bustle. Buckle up. "Much like the opening of Season 2, which features a film crew waiting for the arrival of then-actor Ronald Reagan, the opening of Season 3 is a prologue that sets up the themes of the season and features a specific homage to a popular work of fiction," said O'Keeffe. "The Season 2 premiere opens with two people waiting on a film set for Reagan, in reference to Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot.' Season 3 opens with what appears to be a tribute to ... Franz Kafka's 'The Trial' [which] follows a man as he undergoes a confusing and difficult legal process in an attempt to clear his name. The biggest obstacle? He has no idea what he's done wrong, despite the fact that everyone tells him that he'll most certainly be found guilty of his crimes. The opening scene of Fargo's third season mirrors this [and] ... hearkens back to Kafka's classic novel and establishes a theme for the characters throughout the rest of the premiere: they're all trapped."

Write to brenfels@gmail.com.

FARGO -- Pictured: Ewan McGregor as Ray Stussy. CR: Matthias Clamer/FX
Ewan McGregor as Ray Stussy in “Fargo.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Rich Heldenfels

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