After teasing Jon Hamm’s role in Fargo’s fifth season via a brief flashback in the season premiere, “Trials and Tribulations” wastes no time getting to the Jon Hamm fireworks factory. We meet Roy Tillman astride a horse as he surveys the landscape of North Dakota’s Stark County, for which he’s served as sheriff since the age of 25. And assuming the election we know is coming up (thanks to a billboard he passes) goes the way it’s long gone, that’s unlikely to change soon. Meet Roy Tillman, “A Hard Man … for Hard Times,” as his campaign slogan would like you to know. What’s more, he’s the latest in a line of Tillman sheriffs that goes back to his grandfather.
He’s also a man with a clear philosophy. “There’s a natural order to things,” he says in voice-over. “We know it in our bones.” What’s not immediately clear is that he’s attempting to apply this philosophy to a specific situation, intervening in a case of domestic abuse. That sounds like a virtuous act, but Tillman first wraps his admonition in a lot of talk about a wife’s natural place (even allowing for some hitting under the right circumstances), then drives the point home by having one of his deputies put the abusive husband in a chokehold, then scalding the perp’s face himself with hot coffee. He’s undeniably a hard man. But could it be possible he’s played a role in creating his county’s hard times?
On a personal level, they’re about to get harder. Roy’s son–deputy sheriff Gator (Joe Keery, looking quite unlike Stranger Things’ Steve with his haircut) informs his dad, “They missed her.” “Her,” of course, is Dot, and only one-half of “they” has returned: Ole Munch. “Never did you mention that she is, for real, a tiger,” he tells them by way of explanation. But he offers no apologies. By Munch’s reckoning, this was a job he never could have pulled off with such a meager team. And why did Roy want this Tiger? “She’s my wife,” he tells Munch. Though Dot’s been in hiding for nine or ten years, Roy hasn’t forgotten. And when her fingerprints showed up in the system after the last episode’s tasing incident, he decided to take action.
Roy gets points for promptness, but by all evidence, he didn’t have a great plan. Munch’s partner, Danny, is on the slab, and his attempt to take Munch out of the equation by putting a bullet in his head goes sideways immediately. So now Roy’s up against a tiger and whatever animal Munch most resembles. And so far he looks like a wolf.
Across the state line, Dot and Wayne are also having a difficult, if less fatal, talk with law enforcement. Indira wants to know why they found two different types of blood on her floor, neither of them hers, and about the hair DNA on the ski mask. Dot has answers for both, but they’re not particularly convincing. And though Wayne may be a different sort of Lyons than his mother, he knows how to shut down unwanted inquiries, sending Indira to Danish Greaves.
She’ll have to get in line as Danish is deep in conversation with Lorraine, who receives the news of Dot’s return with a suspicious eye. Which, to be fair, makes sense, but her theory that Dot’s acting as a Lady Macbeth (also kind of a Coens reference) to Wayne and pushing him for a more ambitious life than that of the owner of a Kia dealership is way off base. To figure it out, Lorraine proposes a “You brace him, I brace her” plan to Danish, which is an odd way to frame a talk with family members, but we’re obviously not dealing with a conventional family.
Of course, the same could be said for the Tillmans. If Roy is the king of his county, his hilltop hot tub is his crown. It’s there he first confers with Gator about the whole Dot situation, then meets with FBI agents Joaquin (played by Nick Gomez and not pronounced ja-queen) and Agent Meyer (Jessica Pohly, not Mrs. Ja-queen), who want to find out why Roy’s not enforcing the laws that the government expects him to enforce. Roy argues that he is the law of the land, to which Gator simply adds the word “freedom.” And that’s all they offer in the way of explanation before Roy rises nude from the tub and restates his position that he’s the best judge of how to “enforce what is right and prosecute what is wrong.” With that, he sends them on their way, but it’s unlikely he, or we, has seen the last of them.
Elsewhere, it’s time for a twin bracing. Dot tries to play nice, sticking to her story that she just kind of wandered off for a bit, even when Lorraine turns insulting, referring to her daughter-in-law as a “sassy thing with a tight caboose.” But Lorraine’s not buying it and lays down the hammer before offering to buy Dot off if she promises to leave. And that’s a bridge too far, earning Lorraine a whispered “listen, bitch” followed by a statement of defiance and an unambiguous threat to Lorraine’s well-being.
Across town, Wayne gets a visit from Danish and, via speakerphone, Lorraine, who expresses concern about this whole “kidnapping that ain’t a kidnapping thing.” Wayne stands by his wife despite Danish’s overwhelming evidence, which earns him a slap from his mother administered by proxy by Danish, a moment that makes them both feel undignified. But it’s not like either of them have much say in the matter.
Up in North Dakota, Witt’s hospital room hosts an impromptu meeting of law-enforcement officers. Indira has some questions about the night he was shot, but before she gets very far she’s joined by Gator, who, to say the least, isn’t all that helpful. Indira has a picture of Dot on her phone, but before Witt can confirm her identity, he “accidentally” deletes the photo. From Indira, Gator learns that Dot has returned to Scandia. This does not bode well for her.
But the discovery probably doesn’t bode well for Gator or any other potential intruders, either. Where Dot displayed a Home Alone–like ability with improvised booby traps in the previous episode, in this one she goes full Straw Dogs, rigging the place with electricity, sledgehammers, broken glass, and other defenses, much to Wayne’s dismay. It seems a bit, well, crazy. But does it? The Tillmans are pretty determined to bring her “home.” Either way, Dot keeps her cheerful demeanor with Wayne, though she lets it slip a bit when Wayne tells her Lorraine’s “litigatin’ against” her. And when he wants to know what’s up with all the new security measures, she deflects the concern by talking about society’s breakdown and how they have to be prepared for ruffians at the door. This brings Wayne around. When he suggests they buy a gun she tells him they’re now “speakin’ the same language.” This doesn’t seem like a home destined to stay peaceful.
Unless, of course, Gator, Roy, and the others never make it to Dot and Wayne’s house. Ole, it turns out, isn’t the type of hired killer who can let an attempt on his life go unanswered. At the same gas station where the gunfight went down, he kills Gator’s traveling companion and leaves a message: “You owe me.” That’s a debt he seems eager to collect.
It feels like all the pieces are in place now, doesn’t it? Roy wants his wife back. Lorraine wants Wayne’s wife gone. Neither knows that they’re troubled by the same person, and that’s just the beginning of the misunderstandings, all of which will play out against a Midwest that’s already experiencing, to paraphrase Dot, a neighbor-against-neighbor situation. Meanwhile, Ole’s acting as a wild card. Yet even if the setup looks clear, where all this is heading remains a mystery. But it’s probably not heading toward a peaceful solution.
Okay Then!
• Let’s talk about Ole. It was easy to write him off as a discount-bin Anton Chigurh after the previous episode, but he seems like an altogether more complicated character. His profession of nihilism nods to The Big Lebowski, but he’s a far more aggressive nihilist than those faced by the Dude. And when he’s told that he does believe in money, he doesn’t have much of a defense. He’s a pitiless killer with layers and an unusual fashion sense, in other words.
• While we’re at it, let’s talk about Danish, if only to note how amazing Dave Foley looks with a white mustache and eyepatch to match his hair. Will he get his story in full at any point? How long has he been Lorraine’s Smithers? And why?
• “You know, I heard a man went into a hospital in St. Paul for a kidney transplant. He ended up with someone else’s brain.” Remember, Fargo is all based on a true story.
• Roy justifies his approach to the job in terms familiar favored by the “constitutional sheriffs” ideology. His claim of sovereignty over all he surveys sounds ridiculous, but it’s probably the most grounded-in-reality element of the season.
• Speaking of which, season five isn’t being shy about tapping into some very of-the-moment cultural fissures, is it? It’s set four years ago, but that sadly doesn’t make it any less timely. Wayne’s desire to return to simpler times is understandable. He just wants to “play floor hockey in my socks with Scotty again and watch Real Housewives.” Metaphorically speaking, don’t we all?
