The Crocodile's Dilemma
| "The Crocodile's Dilemma" | |
|---|---|
| Fargo episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Adam Bernstein |
| Written by | Noah Hawley |
| Featured music | Jeff Russo |
| Production code | XFO01001 |
| Original air date | April 15, 2014 |
| Running time | 68 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Crocodile's Dilemma" is the first episode of the FX television series Fargo. It was written by show creator Noah Hawley and directed by Adam Bernstein. The episode received critical acclaim and was seen by 2.65 million viewers.
In January 2006, a drifter named Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) crashes a car at night on a wintry rural highway outside Bemidji, Minnesota, after hitting a deer, and cuts his forehead after banging it into the steering wheel. A nearly-naked man jumps from the popped trunk and bolts through the snow into the woods. Malvo calmly watches as the man runs away and makes no attempt at pursuit. In town, a put-upon insurance salesman named Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) runs into Sam Hess (Kevin O'Grady), a former high school bully who intimidates Lester into accidentally running into a window and breaking his nose. At the hospital, Lester meets Malvo and tells him about Sam, and Malvo offers to murder him. Lester fails to respond, but Malvo goes to Sam's workplace, to get a glimpse of him, and later that night murders him at a strip club by throwing a knife into his head.
Lester meets Malvo in a motel restaurant and confronts him about the murder. Malvo tells Lester that if Lester does not stand up to "the boss [Lester] will get washed away". Meanwhile, Chief Vern Thurman (Shawn Doyle) and Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) investigate the car wreck and find the nearly-naked man's frozen body in the nearby woods. They also look into Sam's death. While they are questioning Sam's wife Gina (Kate Walsh), Malvo calls the elder son pretending to be an attorney, and claims the younger brother inherited everything, leading the elder son to beat his brother with a hockey stick before Molly tackles him.
The police learn that Lester was overheard discussing Sam with another man (Malvo), at the hospital. Lester tries to impress his wife, Pearl (Kelly Holden Bashar), by repairing the couple's washing machine, but he fails at it, and Pearl mocks him. Lester, reaching his breaking point after years of her psychological abuse, hits her with a hammer and kills her. A panicked Lester summons Malvo to help with the aftermath. Vern arrives at Lester's house to question him about Sam, but Malvo arrives soon afterward and fatally shoots Vern, but only after the latter has radioed for backup after discovering Pearl's body. Malvo disappears before Molly shows up, and Lester intentionally knocks himself out to make the killings look like a home invasion. He eventually wakes up in the hospital with a gun pellet lodged in his hand.
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