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Fargo

804 statements
158 feature instances
71 referencing feature instances

Fargo	type	TVTItem
Fargo	label	Fargo
Fargo	page	Fargo
Fargo	comment	Fargo is a critically acclaimed dark comedy/crime movie from 1996, written and directed by The Coen Brothers. It stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare. Taking place in the Upper Midwest circa 1987, the plot concerns Jerry Lundegaard (Macy), a bankrupt car salesman who stages the kidnapping of his wife in order to cheat a ransom out of her wealthy father. But then things go wrong.Like many of the Coens' films, Fargo takes liberal inspiration from Film Noir, one of their favorite subjects—but rather than being a straight Genre Throwback (like Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing) or an Affectionate Parody (like The Big Lebowski and Hail, Caesar!), it's perhaps best described as a subversion of the genre. The story is a fairly straightforward tale of criminal intrigue and a dogged cop on a mission, but it derives much of its subtle Black Comedy from its setting, taking place in the famously friendly, folksy Upper Midwest. Likewise, Frances McDormand's character Officer Marge Gunderson is a famous subversion of the archetypal Hardboiled Detective, being a perfectly nice and well-adjusted police officer who spends most of the film galumphing around in a bulky parka while heavily pregnant.McDormand won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Gunderson, while the Coens won for Best Original Screenplay. While accepting the award, McDormand (who has been married to Joel Coen since 1984) famously joked that her years of "sleeping with the director" had finally paid off.An aired-in-2003 (but filmed in 1997) television pilot starred Edie Falco as Marge, but despite its praise, it wasn't picked up. FX began airing an anthology series based on the film in 2014, with the Coens as executive producers.
Fargo	fetched	2024-03-22T11:31:17Z
Fargo	parsed	2024-03-22T11:31:17Z
Fargo	processingComment	Dropped link to AnAesop: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Fargo	processingComment	Dropped link to CoitusInterruptus: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Fargo	processingComment	Dropped link to Foil: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Fargo	processingComment	Dropped link to GenreBusting: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Fargo	processingComment	Dropped link to Greed: Not a Feature - ITEM
Fargo	processingUnknown	CoitusInterruptus
Fargo	isPartOf	DBTropes
Fargo / int_117b3429	type	A Taste of the Lash
Fargo / int_117b3429	comment	Proudfoot about halfway through the movie, when giving Showalter A Taste of the Lash.
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Fargo / int_118a2d16	type	Hanlon's Razor
Fargo / int_118a2d16	comment	Hanlon's Razor: All of the murder and mayhem that occurs in this film happens because the crooks are as vile as they are inept.
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Fargo / int_11ad560b	type	Control Freak
Fargo / int_11ad560b	comment	Control Freak: Wade. When dealing with kidnappers, he wants to somehow negotiate, and has to be told by Jerry and Wade's trusted partner that it isn't a "horse trade". To maintain some control of the situation, he unwisely tries to confront the kidnappers himself and brings a weapon, which leads to his death.
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Fargo / int_1235f055	type	Dirty Coward
Fargo / int_1235f055	comment	Dirty Coward: Jerry is too cowardly to admit that he's lost a bunch of money. Instead, he tries to steal money from his father-in-law to cover his debt by having his wife kidnapped for the ransom.
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Fargo / int_1237828f	type	Anyone Can Die
Fargo / int_1237828f	comment	Anyone Can Die: And usually without warning.
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Fargo / int_1b65dfad	type	The Cameo
Fargo / int_1b65dfad	comment	The Cameo: Bruce Campbell as the man in the soap opera Grimsrud watches, although it was not recorded for the film. That's an actual regional soap that Bruce did indeed appear in.
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Fargo / int_1ba8eb64	type	Visual Pun
Fargo / int_1ba8eb64	comment	Visual Pun: Grimsrud kills Carl with an axe, like the lumberjack Paul Bunyan, whose statue has appeared cryptically in several shots. Grimsrud stares at the statue while being driven back to Brainerd.
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Fargo / int_1c5002bc	type	The Stoic
Fargo / int_1c5002bc	comment	The Stoic: Grimsrud, to the point of being The Soulless. He rarely speaks and doesn't react when shocking and violent things happen around him, even his partner storming through the front door with a bullet wound. Even when he kills, there is no rage behind his eyes. He likely feels no emotion at all, making him even more frightening.
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Fargo / int_1da5941e	type	The Quiet One
Fargo / int_1da5941e	comment	The Quiet One: Grimsrud, though for good reason. To the point that when Peter Stormare first saw the script he almost couldn't find his part! Shep also counts, responding in a similar manner as Grimsrud to Marge's questions, except for when he's beating Showalter for blowing his involvement.
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Fargo / int_1daa7fce	type	In the Back
Fargo / int_1daa7fce	comment	In the Back: One of the witnesses attempts to flee on foot after crashing his car only for Grimsrud to shoot him from behind at long range.
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Fargo / int_1dfd19f9	type	Papa Wolf
Fargo / int_1dfd19f9	comment	Papa Wolf: Wade. Deconstructed Trope, however, in that his insistence in wanting to handle his daughter's kidnapping is tainted with his hatred of Jerry (who insists that the kidnappers wanted him to be the one giving the money, and even if he wasn't the mastermind of the situation it could still have created a problem with the kidnappers), and thus exacerbates the problem, leading to his death.
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Fargo / int_204340fc	type	Vomiting Cop
Fargo / int_204340fc	comment	Vomiting Cop: Subverted. When Marge inspects the overturned car with the dead woman inside, she squats, about to vomit... from morning sickness. It passes quickly.
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Fargo / int_222dc873	type	Black Comedy
Fargo / int_222dc873	comment	Black Comedy: Ranging from the almost botched kidnapping more resembling a Looney Tunes short gone wrong, to Showalter's whining as he bleeds heavily from his cheek...
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Fargo / int_24321e44	type	Only Sane Man
Fargo / int_24321e44	comment	Only Sane Man: Marge is a classic example, as she's easily the nicest and most level-headed character in the whole film.
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Fargo / int_2534ee67	type	In Medias Res
Fargo / int_2534ee67	comment	In Medias Res: By the time the film begins, Jerry has already lost $320,000 that he stole from GMAC, consulted an ex-con to recruit two crooks, stolen another car, and started driving out to meet the crooks to set up a kidnapping.
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Fargo / int_25524784	type	No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
Fargo / int_25524784	comment	No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: One is given to Showalter by Shep Proudfoot after Marge interviews him about phone calls made from a hotel the perpetrators stayed at. Since Shep doesn't want to go back to Stillwater Prison, it's obvious he has motives.
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Fargo / int_25afd4a3	type	Good Guns, Bad Guns
Fargo / int_25afd4a3	comment	Good Guns, Bad Guns: Of the "revolvers=good, automatic=bad" type. The All-Loving Hero cop Marge Gunderson uses a Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver, as do all the other minor cops shown in the film. The immoral and psychopathic Showalter and Grimsrud share a SIG-Sauer P226 semi-automatic pistol between them.
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Fargo / int_26d1f65f	type	Verbal Tic
Fargo / int_26d1f65f	comment	Verbal Tic: Minnesotans pepper their statements with "Ah, geez," "ya", and "don'tcha know." The Swedish Grimsrud is unable to grasp the phrase "pancake house", referring to it as a "pancakes house". Peter Stormare thought that that was a typo and said the line as, "Where is the pancake house?" He was astonished when the Coens told him that he was supposed to say, "Where is pancakes house?" Swedish has no clear separation between singular and plural when forming a word into a new noun.
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Fargo / int_272abb98	type	Shoot the Shaggy Dog
Fargo / int_272abb98	comment	Shoot the Shaggy Dog: For Jerry, at least. His attempt at trying to fund his business deal results in his wife being murdered, his wife's father being murdered, and him in jail — and before that, the business deal was going to fail anyway, and if it hadn't, he'd have been sued for another bad loan. And if the deal had gone through, Showalter would have buried the rest of the money instead of splitting it.
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Fargo / int_28a5213a	type	Small Name, Big Ego
Fargo / int_28a5213a	comment	Jerry. Throughout the movie, he's rude and condescending towards everybody except for maybe his son (even though he's hardly somebody who can back up his own arrogance). Plus, he never stopped to consider what effect his wife's kidnapping would have on their son (or his wife herself, for that matter, who is understandably terrified). And while he's taken aback to learn his plan has resulted in three murders, he shows no remorse and goes ahead as planned.
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Fargo / int_295087bf	type	Non-Indicative Name
Fargo / int_295087bf	comment	Non-Indicative Name: There is a grand total of one scene set in Fargo â€” and that's the beginning. Most of the action takes place in between the town of Brainerd, Minnesota, which is over 150 miles east of Fargo, and the Twin Cities, about the same distance east of Brainerd.
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Fargo / int_2b80abf4	type	Trivial Title
Fargo / int_2b80abf4	comment	Trivial Title: Only one scene (the opening scene in which Jerry meets Showalter and Grimsrud) takes place in Fargo. The rest takes place in the next state over, Minnesota, between the town of Brainerd and the Twin Cities. The film only ever returns to North Dakota once, in a brief scene near the end, and even then it's in Bismarck.
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Fargo / int_2c27353f	type	Was It Really Worth It?
Fargo / int_2c27353f	comment	Was It Really Worth It?: Marge's "all for a little bit of money" speech also covers this trope.
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Fargo / int_2d4fa515	type	Ax-Crazy
Fargo / int_2d4fa515	comment	Showalter. He knows Grimsrud is an Ax-Crazy psycho who has murdered four people over the past few days, but still stupidly picks a fight with him over the car and refuses to pay him several thousand dollars for it, even though he had $920,000 hidden somewhere that Grimsrud knew nothing about. He pays dearly for that mistake.
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Fargo / int_2d6f00e4	type	Psycho for Hire
Fargo / int_2d6f00e4	comment	Psycho for Hire: Gaear Grimsrud and his slightly less fuckin' crazy "buddy", Showalter.
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Fargo / int_30ab0aa1	type	Worldbuilding
Fargo / int_30ab0aa1	comment	Worldbuilding: The Coen Brothers manage to make every character and place real. As noted by Roger Ebert:
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Fargo / int_3322dd48	type	Hollywood Law
Fargo / int_3322dd48	comment	Hollywood Law: Since it involved the death of a state trooper, the Minnesota State Police should have been investigating the murders.note Though the State Police do get involved, as it's implied Marge and Lou are simply first responders â€” though they're mostly out of the picture until the later half of the film.
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Fargo / int_35a858b3	type	Cluster F-Bomb
Fargo / int_35a858b3	comment	Cluster F-Bomb: Showalter, but he has good reason. He has one right before the parking garage shooting, thrown off his game by the appearance of Wade instead of Jerry. Proudfoot about halfway through the movie, when giving Showalter A Taste of the Lash.
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Fargo / int_3ac583f4	type	SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism
Fargo / int_3ac583f4	comment	Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: For a Coen Brothers film that contains a lot of Black Comedy as well as a lot of amoral characters, it actually leans more towards the middle of the scale than far down cynical.
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Fargo / int_3c0a4666	type	Noodle Incident
Fargo / int_3c0a4666	comment	Noodle Incident: The $320,000 GMAC loan for which Jerry forged the VIN numbers of nonexistent cars. The viewer never finds out for what purpose Jerry got the money, or how he (presumably) lost it. Jerry likely intended that part of the ransom money would be used to pay back the loan and get the persistent Reilly Diefenbach off his neck.
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Fargo / int_3cb6468e	type	Bad Liar
Fargo / int_3cb6468e	comment	Bad Liar: Jerry Lundegaard is terrible at making up excuses on the spot, and flees from Marge the second time she tries to question him.
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Fargo / int_3ec18c6f	type	Sherlock Scan
Fargo / int_3ec18c6f	comment	Sherlock Scan: Arriving at a few-hours-old crime scene, Marge deduces exactly what happened with a quick survey of the area, then figures out that the perp's car had dealer plates from the dead state trooper's memo.
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Fargo / int_3ed23024	type	Surprisingly Realistic Outcome
Fargo / int_3ed23024	comment	Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The movie is basically a deconstruction of what you'll find in a crime-thriller. After kidnapping Jean, Showalter and Grimsrud get pulled over by a state trooper because the car Jerry gave them doesn't have temporary tags. Showalter's first instinct is to try and bribe the trooper, who's not having it and tells Showalter to get out of the car. It isn't impossible for police officers to be corrupt in real life, but the vast majority of them aren't going to look the other way no matter how much money you offer them. You wave a few hundred dollars in a cop's face, and nine times out of ten, you're just giving them a reason to arrest you. Several example happen after Grimsrud shoots the trooper. Carl, despite being an amoral crook, is still rather shell-shocked by having a man murdered right in front of him, so close he gets splattered with blood. It takes Grimsrud telling him to hide the body to even register what just happened. Afterwards, the short and scrawny Carl tries to drag the taller and heavier corpse on his own, to predictably slow results. It takes so long they get spotted by a passing car. Grimsrud gives chase, but instead of a drawn-out car chase like the movies, the other car veers off the road and flips over. Turns out driving at full speed down an icy road in the middle of the night, without even traffic lights, is an accident in the making. Even without the driver probably being in a blind panic. Wade tries to be a Papa Wolf, ignoring Jerry (who says that the kidnappers gave specific instructions about him being the one who made contact and delivered the money) and charges off to the drop-off himself with a concealed pistol. His Clint Eastwood act when confronting Showalter is completely ineffective, resulting in the latter shooting and killing him out of sheer exasperation, and exacerbates the danger to his daughter's life even further. Disposing of a dead body via woodchipper isn't anywhere near as good an idea as it may sound. Not only does it take a long time, even without the woodchipper possibly jamming, it leaves a massive pool of blood that can't be cleaned and creates so much noise that Marge gets the drop on Grimsrud and yells at him from only a few feet away without him noticing. As Jerry finds out, being The Chessmaster is far easier in books and movies than in Real Life. Everything he plans winds up backfiring because of things he either didn't think through or had no control over, and it ends with his wife, father-in-law, and several innocent people all dead, him arrested while trying to flee, and his son now effectively orphaned.
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Fargo / int_3eee0728	type	Captain Obvious
Fargo / int_3eee0728	comment	Captain Obvious: "Oh for Pete's sake! He's fleeing the interview! He's fleeing the interview!"
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Fargo / int_40cc0c7e	type	Bittersweet Ending
Fargo / int_40cc0c7e	comment	Bittersweet Ending: The bad guys are either caught or dead, but they killed lots of people in the process, the money is most likely lost forever, Jerry's son now has no parents, and nobody really learns from their mistakes. However, Marge, her husband, and their future child will likely live Happily Ever After.
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Fargo / int_41271766	type	Happily Ever After
Fargo / int_41271766	comment	Happily Ever After: The final shot involves Marge and Norm happily sitting in bed with the baby on the way. They even say they're "doing pretty good." There are no conflicts for these characters, and no implications of problems in the future.
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Fargo / int_43eddd85	type	Door Focus
Fargo / int_43eddd85	comment	Door Focus: The camera stays on the door when Marge leaves the house after breakfast. Naturally, she returns to ask her husband for a jump start. Watch it here.
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Fargo / int_447b77a5	type	"Fawlty Towers" Plot
Fargo / int_447b77a5	comment	"Fawlty Towers" Plot: Deconstructed. Jerry heaps so many falsehoods together, and involves so many people in his scheme, it's actually surprising he manages to keep it going as long as he did. However, true to the trope, it all spirals wildly out of control, and by the time the body count starts coming into play, Jerry knows he's done for.
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Fargo / int_447d9e50	type	Xanatos Speed Chess
Fargo / int_447d9e50	comment	Xanatos Speed Chess: Jerry isn't very good at it, but that doesn't stop him from giving it the old college try.
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Fargo / int_49334c8e	type	Coitus Uninterruptus
Fargo / int_49334c8e	comment	Coitus Uninterruptus: One of the most distressing examples you'll ever watch in a film â€” Showalter and Grimsrud suddenly humping two ugly prostitutes.
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Fargo / int_49d59be9	type	Scenery Porn
Fargo / int_49d59be9	comment	Scenery Porn: You'd be surprised how beautiful a frozen wasteland can be.
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Fargo / int_4a3e547f	type	Leaning on the Fourth Wall
Fargo / int_4a3e547f	comment	Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At one point while threatening Jerry over the phone, Carl says "30 minutes, and we'll wrap this thing up." He says this when there are thirty minutes left in the movie's runtime.
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Fargo / int_4a6e9fd9	type	Obnoxious In-Laws
Fargo / int_4a6e9fd9	comment	Obnoxious In-Laws: Wade is a textbook example. He refuses to lend his son-in-law any money at all (even backhandedly mocking him for it), and screws him over on an investment. His insistence in handling the money drop-off because he doesn't trust Jerry ends with his death (and the death of a parking attendant because he sees Showalter when he is making his getaway) and Showalter being injured.
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Fargo / int_4af55b78	type	Credits Gag
Fargo / int_4af55b78	comment	Credits Gag: Musician and Minnesotan Prince was credited as "Victim in Field". In reality, the victim was played by one of the film's sound guys. Promotional materials for the film were eager to mislead audiences into thinking that a famous person would make a cameo because the Coens' last film had nearly killed their career and they thought this one would flop.
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Fargo / int_4b316d47	type	Break the Cutie
Fargo / int_4b316d47	comment	In-universe; Marge delivers one to Grimsrud, of all people, near the end of the film. It fits her dwindling (yet still prevalent) optimism rather nicely.
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Fargo / int_4f4190db	type	Sex in a Shared Room
Fargo / int_4f4190db	comment	Sex in a Shared Room: A variation — Carl and Grimsrud both have sex with prostitutes in different beds in the same room. Afterwards, all four watch TV.
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Fargo / int_5123df54	type	Dramatic Sit-Down
Fargo / int_5123df54	comment	Dramatic Sit-Down: Jerry sits down and stares off into space when he comes back from having seen Wade's corpse and the money missing.
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Fargo / int_5313c266	type	Bookends
Fargo / int_5313c266	comment	Book Ends: The plot begins and ends with someone running across snow and getting shot.
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Fargo / int_55180ce	type	Snow Means Death
Fargo / int_55180ce	comment	Snow Means Death: Occasionally, said snow is covered in blood. Look at the snow while Grimsrud is feeding Carl through the woodchipper.
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Fargo / int_5532b579	type	Acoustic License
Fargo / int_5532b579	comment	Acoustic License: Grimsrud fires a gun inside a car right beside his and Showalter's heads, and yet they don't seem to be deafened at all and continue talking right afterward.
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Fargo / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
Fargo / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License â€“ History: Norm is competing for his painting to appear on 29-cent stamps, but the film takes place in 1987, when stamps were only 22 cents.
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Fargo / int_56ff2e35	type	Bat Deduction
Fargo / int_56ff2e35	comment	Bat Deduction: Marge meeting with Mike Yanagita and being told that his sob story of his "wife" dying of cancer turned out to be a coverup for him stalking a woman he had a malignant crush on until she moved away makes her suspect that Jerry wasn't telling the truth about any missing cars from his dealership.
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Fargo / int_58154a14	type	Bribe Backfire
Fargo / int_58154a14	comment	Bribe Backfire: Showalter tries to bribe the state trooper who pulls them over, which only arouses his suspicion and leads to Grimsrud killing the trooper.
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Fargo / int_5ce7dbb9	type	Central Theme
Fargo / int_5ce7dbb9	comment	Central Theme: Valuing material wealth too highly destroys people and those around them.
Fargo / int_5ce7dbb9	featureApplicability	1.0
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Fargo / int_5d5fb8e2	type	Clueless Deputy
Fargo / int_5d5fb8e2	comment	Clueless Deputy: Lou, from what we see of him. He thinks "DLR" was the license plate itself, and not shorthand for "dealer plates" (plates issued to car dealerships that are used when an unregistered car has to be driven off the lot for whatever reason).
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Fargo / int_5f146203	type	Dissonant Serenity
Fargo / int_5f146203	comment	Dissonant Serenity: Practically everything that Grimsrud does. It's as if nothing can shock him. Averted when he's watching a soap opera on TV. When one of the characters dramatically (and acting rather badly) proclaims that she's pregnant with the other character's baby, he drops his fork in shock, but when Showalter comes crashing in through the door bleeding from a gunshot wound to his mouth, he's completely unfazed.
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Fargo / int_5fcedca	type	Big Eater
Fargo / int_5fcedca	comment	Big Eater: Marge seems to be almost obsessed with food, although she justifies it In-Universe by her pregnant status, a common variant of the Wacky Cravings. Ironically, the only food she doesn't seem all that interested in his her husband's eggs.
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Fargo / int_6201e8b0	type	I Have Your Wife
Fargo / int_6201e8b0	comment	I Have Your Wife: Invoked. Jerry planned the kidnapping to gain ransom money from her rich father.
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Fargo / int_62f9d08e	type	Freeze-Frame Bonus
Fargo / int_62f9d08e	comment	Freeze-Frame Bonus: The Lundegaards have an issue of Playboy in their bathroom magazine rack.
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Fargo / int_6682d6e4	type	Dying Moment of Awesome
Fargo / int_6682d6e4	comment	Dying Moment of Awesome: Jean's father adamantly refuses to hand over the money if he doesn't get his daughter back first; he gets shot in the stomach for trying to be a hero, but before dying, manages to shoot Carl in the face.
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Fargo / int_6b05b601	type	Jerkass Has a Point
Fargo / int_6b05b601	comment	Jerkass Has a Point: While he is an asshole, particularly to Jerry, Wade is right to doubt Jerry's reliability, given his obvious lack of business sense. It is also perfectly sensible to not want to lend Jerry $750,000 of his own money to risk in a real estate deal where Jerry would keep most of the profits if it paid off.
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Fargo / int_6b7e3069	type	Birth-Death Juxtaposition
Fargo / int_6b7e3069	comment	Birth-Death Juxtaposition: The scene of Gaear murdering his partner is followed by Marge lecturing him, and after a brief scene of Jerry failing to escape justice, Marge and Norm celebrate her child's birth to come in two months.
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Fargo / int_6b8b122b	type	The Good, the Bad, and the Evil
Fargo / int_6b8b122b	comment	The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Marge Gunderson is the good, as she's an All-Loving Hero who can't understand how some people can be so cruel. Jerry Lundegaarde is the bad, as he is an immoral businessman who's willing to put his wife in danger to cover up his own incompetence. Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud are the evil, for being the ones to commit the crime and kill quite a few people over the course of the film (even more so in Grimsrud's case).
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Fargo / int_6c75e0e4	type	Beware the Silly Ones
Fargo / int_6c75e0e4	comment	Beware the Silly Ones: Beware the Minnesota Nice Ones. Marge especially, who proves to be a tenacious son-of-a-gun in tracking the murderers.
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Fargo / int_6d9bc945	type	Babies Ever After
Fargo / int_6d9bc945	comment	Babies Ever After: The last two lines of the film remind the audience that there's a new life coming.
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Fargo / int_77063cd7	type	Hooker with a Heart of Gold
Fargo / int_77063cd7	comment	Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The two blonde sex workers aren't terribly bright, but they do come across as very friendly and rather sweet-natured.
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Fargo / int_779009b5	type	Beware the Quiet Ones
Fargo / int_779009b5	comment	Beware the Quiet Ones: Gaear Grimsrud is extremely laconic and is quite Ax-Crazy. Shep Proudfoot, too, who is only more talkative than Gaear on account of having a vocabulary of "Yep", "Nope", and Cluster F Bombs.
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Fargo / int_77b009ea	type	Phrase Catcher
Fargo / int_77b009ea	comment	Phrase Catcher: Carl Showalter is remembered by witnesses like this: "Oh, he was a little guy... Kinda funny lookin'."
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Fargo / int_7870735b	type	From Bad to Worse
Fargo / int_7870735b	comment	From Bad to Worse: A money-making scheme gone wrong ends with, among other things, a guy getting fed into a woodchipper.
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Fargo / int_79a60aec	type	For Want of a Nail
Fargo / int_79a60aec	comment	For Want Of A Nail: If only Showalter hadn't forgotten to put those temporary tags on the car.
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Fargo / int_79e3e9a1	type	Decoy Hiding Place
Fargo / int_79e3e9a1	comment	Decoy Hiding Place: Jean Lundegaard nearly escapes from Showalter and Grimsrud this way. She runs into the bathroom, opens the window — then hides in the shower. Her pursuers both think she jumped out the window, but Grimsrud lingers in the bathroom to disinfect a cut on his hand, and finds Jean almost by accident.
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Fargo / int_7abd339f	type	Black-and-White Morality
Fargo / int_7abd339f	comment	Black-and-White Morality: Despite the very ambiguous tale, the motivations of the characters are pretty clear-cut throughout â€” Marge is a kindly, upbeat family woman, while Jerry is an idiot in over his head and the criminals he hires are scummy weasels. It's also the point; contrasting and juxtaposing the relative "innocence" of the locals with the nigh-sociopathic brutality of the career criminals â€” mostly for comedic effect.
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Fargo / int_7d89315b	type	"The Reason You Suck" Speech
Fargo / int_7d89315b	comment	"The Reason You Suck" Speech. From Marge to Grimsrud.
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Fargo / int_7e1184d8	type	Suspect Is Hatless
Fargo / int_7e1184d8	comment	Suspect Is Hatless: The best description people can come up with for Showalter is that he's "kinda funny-looking" — no mention of hair/eye color, height or anything. Grimsrud gets even less.
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Fargo / int_7febc23b	type	Establishing Character Moment
Fargo / int_7febc23b	comment	Establishing Character Moment: After examining the dead state trooper, Marge comments that "...he looks like a nice enough guy...tsk...it's a real shame!" — showing her tendency to see people as essentially good right off the bat. When Marge tells her deputy that she "doesn't 100% agree" with his detective work (regarding the dealer plates), she does it in the nicest way possible so he doesn't feel inadequate, then immediately cracks a joke to make him laugh. It tells you all you need to know about Marge being both nice and clever. Jerry's first scene includes a number of tells about his personality. He not only lies about being told the wrong time to meet the kidnappers to cover up being late, but he also blames someone else for it. Jerry refuses to take responsibility and blames others for his own failings. His big establishing scene, however, is when Jerry passive-aggressively strongarms a couple into buying a coat of protective paint they didn't want on their car. He's a weaselly cheat and liar who no one likes. Carl does most of the talking in the first scene, interrupting Jerry, demanding explanations, and suggesting alternatives to Jerry's plan. Meanwhile, Gaear is half asleep, mouth gaping open and eyes mostly shut throughout the criminal conspiracy. They're a study in opposites: one high-strung and controlling, the other stoic and apathetic. Wade gets one, too. He's sitting in Jerry's home, watching the main TV, but doesn't even greet Jerry when he gets home, then sharply questions Jerry and Jean's parenting later that evening. When Jerry asks him about the deal he proposes, Wade refuses to talk about it and then casually remarks that Jerry's wife and son have no reason to worry about money, pointedly leaving Jerry out. All of this establishes Wade as the shot-caller of the family, with Jerry as the powerless outsider.
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Fargo / int_805deb6e	type	Small Role, Big Impact
Fargo / int_805deb6e	comment	Small Role, Big Impact: Jean Lundegaard. She's only on screen for a few minutes, but all the events of the movie stem from her husband's botched plan to have her kidnapped and ransomed.
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Fargo / int_82518cf7	type	Motor Mouth
Fargo / int_82518cf7	comment	Motor Mouth: Carl Showalter. "I don't have to talk, either, man! See how you like it. Just total fuckin' silence. Two can play at that game, smart guy. We'll just see how you like it. Total silence." This led to an in-joke, with Steve Buscemi constantly being told to shut up in his later film with the Coens, The Big Lebowski.
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Fargo / int_8271663b	type	Suspicious Ski Mask
Fargo / int_8271663b	comment	Suspicious Ski Mask: Gaer Grimsrud and Carl Showalter wear these as they kidnap Jean. This is played for comedy when Carl arrives on her porch with a ski mask and crowbar, looking every inch like a crook as he peeks through the window, but Jean just stares at him in confusion.
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Fargo / int_863fa679	type	What Happened to the Mouse?
Fargo / int_863fa679	comment	What Happened to the Mouse?: After all this drama over "a little bit of money," a big chunk of the money itself ($920,000) is never recovered. The only person who knows where it's hidden is dead. In the first season of the TV series, it is established that a Greek immigrant named Stavros Milos found the money days after it was buried and parlayed it into a chain of grocery stores called Phoenix Farms. The eventual fate of Jerry and Jean's son, Scotty, is never revealed, though presumably, having lost his mother and grandfather to criminals and his father to prison, he would be taken into care. Wade earlier said that Scotty and his mother will be OK (pointedly not including Jerry), which suggests that he has a will that would give her and Scotty his money in the event of his death. Scotty will have a tough time emotionally and personally, but at least he'll most likely be perfectly fine financially.
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Fargo / int_8797239c	type	Bait-and-Switch
Fargo / int_8797239c	comment	Bait-and-Switch: During the kidnapping, Jeannie sets it up to look like she's escaped out the bathroom window. A few minutes later, we and the kidnappers realize she's actually hiding in the shower. This is actually a savvy move on her part, but then she muffs her attempt to run for it.
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Fargo / int_8b4f2a4f	type	'80s Hair
Fargo / int_8b4f2a4f	comment	'80s Hair: The hairstyles of the hookers whom Margie interviews and Jean all showcase that this film takes place in 1987.
Fargo / int_8b4f2a4f	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_8b4f2a4f	featureConfidence	1.0
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Fargo / int_8b606a51	type	There Is No Kill Like Overkill
Fargo / int_8b606a51	comment	There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Showalter shoots Wade just once, through the chest, out of spite when Wade insists on seeing Jean. After Showalter gets shot in the cheek, he shoots Wade a few more times.
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Fargo / int_8b68d9a7	type	Stalker with a Crush
Fargo / int_8b68d9a7	comment	Stalker with a Crush: Mike Yanagita stalked a girl so much she had to move away, and he invented a story that he married her and she died — and uses that lie to try and get with a pregnant, married police officer, blatantly hitting on her because he needs a new "object of affection".
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Fargo / int_8ce55ec6	type	Ransom Drop
Fargo / int_8ce55ec6	comment	Ransom Drop: The ransom is supposed to be delivered by the kidnapped woman's husband who ordered the kidnapping in the first place. He will pocket his share of the money and deliver the rest to his partners. However, in the last moment the woman's father decides to deliver the money himself and refuses to hand it over until he sees that his daughter is alive. The kidnapper shoots him dead.
Fargo / int_8ce55ec6	featureApplicability	1.0
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Fargo / int_8d0785d5	type	Didn't Think This Through
Fargo / int_8d0785d5	comment	Didn't Think This Through: Jerry's entire plan. He hires two thugs whom he doesn't know and probably can't control, on the recommendation of a violent parolee, to kidnap his wife, and lies to them about the full amount of money being exchanged. He doesn't consider that the thugs might try to blackmail him for more money or that his stingy, bossy, and distrustful father-in-law might try to interfere rather than just hand over a million-dollar ransom (most of which Jerry was going to skim for himself before giving the rest to the kidnappers). He also never considers how his wife and son will take the whole ordeal. Even if his plan had been successful, the paper trail of the GMAC car loans would make no sense and indicate some sort of fraud on Jerry's part.
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Fargo / int_8e4a0f15	type	Dumb Blonde
Fargo / int_8e4a0f15	comment	Dumb Blonde: The sex workers Marge talks to. All any of them can say about Showalter and Grimsrud is that Showalter was "funny lookin'" and that Grimsrud was Swedish. And after some prodding, that Showalter was uncircumcised. One of them was Frances McDormand's accent coach for this movie. Think she did a pretty good job? Oh, yaaa. You betcha, yaaa.
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Fargo / int_8fd7af48	type	Sir Swears-a-Lot
Fargo / int_8fd7af48	comment	Sir Swears-a-Lot: Carl Showalter usually can't utter a sentence without putting a curse word in it.
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Fargo / int_90d44f44	type	Karmic Death
Fargo / int_90d44f44	comment	Karmic Death: Wade isn't one of the villains, but he is such a colossal asshole that his death comes as a great satisfaction. Carl is such a repulsive character that many viewers find his axing death and disposal by woodchipper at the hands of his even more sociopathic partner funny and somewhat satisfying.
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Fargo / int_916c72b3	type	Rule of Symbolism
Fargo / int_916c72b3	comment	Rule of Symbolism: Jerry, after his plan to raise money to pay for the loans is subverted by Wade and Stan, is shot in an extreme long shot of just him and his car, surrounded by snow, as he angrily chips the ice from his windshield — emphasizing his isolation, ineffectiveness, and powerlessness.
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Fargo / int_917bed8a	type	Minnesota Nice
Fargo / int_917bed8a	comment	Minnesota Nice: Probably the definitive film example. Almost every character is always smiling and helpful. On top of that, they have thick Northern accents that leave no question in the audienceâ€™s minds where they are from. Some deride this movie for the stereotype, while others embrace it.
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Fargo / int_957e5fc2	type	Villainous Breakdown
Fargo / int_957e5fc2	comment	Villainous Breakdown: Jerry has several minor breakdowns over the course of the movie, culminating in the final one when he's finally tracked down and arrested in Bismarck, making pathetic baby-man squealing noises as he tries to escape from the troopers. It demonstrates what an ultimately pathetic and inadequate man he is, and how far out of his depth he's gotten himself.
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Fargo / int_9645fcf2	type	Plethora of Mistakes
Fargo / int_9645fcf2	comment	He sets off the entire Plethora of Mistakes by not putting the correct tags on the car.
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Fargo / int_973d220f	type	Never My Fault
Fargo / int_973d220f	comment	Jerry's first scene includes a number of tells about his personality. He not only lies about being told the wrong time to meet the kidnappers to cover up being late, but he also blames someone else for it. Jerry refuses to take responsibility and blames others for his own failings. His big establishing scene, however, is when Jerry passive-aggressively strongarms a couple into buying a coat of protective paint they didn't want on their car. He's a weaselly cheat and liar who no one likes.
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Fargo / int_9843be73	type	As You Know
Fargo / int_9843be73	comment	As You Know: Showalter has Jerry explain the entire scheme to him, for clarity's sake.
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Fargo / int_9fb2452d	type	Evil Is Not a Toy
Fargo / int_9fb2452d	comment	Evil Is Not a Toy: A non-supernatural example. Jerry thinks he can enrich himself with no real harm to his family by having two out-of-town thugs kidnap his wife and that they'll do what he wants them to. But the nominally smarter criminal can't even control the violent impulses of the other one, so a jellyfish like Jerry has no hope at all. And he failed to think even the "good" part of the equation through â€” how his father-in-law and especially his son would react.
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Fargo / int_9ff2b000	type	The Consigliere
Fargo / int_9ff2b000	comment	The Consigliere: Stan Grossman is Wade's second in command.
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Fargo / int_a1d48853	type	Stupid Crooks
Fargo / int_a1d48853	comment	Stupid Crooks: Jerry's scheme to stage his wife's kidnapping in order to swindle money from his wealthy father-in-law goes horribly awry once the two criminals he hired for the job are pulled over by a state trooper shortly after the kidnapping, because one of them forgot to replace the dealer plates with license plates. They make things worse by unsuccessfully trying to bribe the trooper, and end up killing him along with two witnesses, which only complicates things and calls more attention to their actions. Then more things happen that don't go according to plan, and more people die as a consequence of this, including Jerry's wife, which also leads us to...
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Fargo / int_a3673c4c	type	It Gets Easier
Fargo / int_a3673c4c	comment	It Gets Easier: Carl reacts with a resounding and shocked "Oh, daddy!" to the first murder. He gets more and more angry and psychopathic as the film goes on until he's casually murdering people, too.
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Fargo / int_a3eea2ea	type	Cop Killer
Fargo / int_a3eea2ea	comment	Cop Killer: The first person killed in the whole film is the cop who pulls over Showalter and Grimsrud.
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Fargo / int_a4c37cbe	type	Mood Whiplash
Fargo / int_a4c37cbe	comment	Mood Whiplash: The movie turns on a dime between small-town quirkiness that's played for laughs and coldly brutal violence that decidedly isn't â€” and even then, it's a comical amount of blood with film-isms thrown in. Just watch this scene. (Warning for mild spoilers). The trailer reflects this, as the first half is light-hearted and quirky, while the second half turns dramatic, before veering back into comedic in the last few seconds.
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Fargo / int_a5f0752f	type	Rule of Drama
Fargo / int_a5f0752f	comment	Rule of Drama: Why does Marge drive to the middle of nowhere to confront Grimsrud, alone, instead of calling for backup? It's more thrilling that waynote admittedly, she's on the radio at the moment she sees it and says she sees it, so she knows backup is coming. Still, any cop - pregnant or not - should be waiting for backup, only staying close enough to be able to see if they try to leave, and follow them.
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Fargo / int_a6c69bd	type	MacGuffin
Fargo / int_a6c69bd	comment	MacGuffin: The briefcase full of money that's buried and never seen again, although it does show up in the show.
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Fargo / int_a6cda066	type	Rule of Three
Fargo / int_a6cda066	comment	Rule of Three: A minor example: twice Marge has a small slip on ice, but catches herself. When she encounters Grimsrud on the lake, she very carefully sets her feet down, to prevent herself from slipping.
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Fargo / int_a754fa9a	type	Instant Death Bullet
Fargo / int_a754fa9a	comment	Instant Death Bullet: The trooper, who gets shot in the top of the head.
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Fargo / int_a8896b94	type	Leave No Witnesses
Fargo / int_a8896b94	comment	Leave No Witnesses: After Grimsrud shoots the trooper, he tells the dumbstruck Showalter to drag the body off the road. Unfortunately, while Showalter is doing that, a car comes up from the other direction and slows down, the motorists having obviously noticed the dead cop's body. Grimsrud puts the Ciera in drive and chases down the two motorists, who overturn some way down the road. When he gets there, the driver starts to flee but is shot in the back by Grimsrud, who then steps up to the car and shoots the female passenger. Carl murders the parking attendant (off-screen) after killing Wade in the parking garage.
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Fargo / int_aa822c89	type	Disappointed by the Motive
Fargo / int_aa822c89	comment	Disappointed by the Motive: Marge's "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Gaear revolves around this: she just can't fathom how a person could cause so much death and destruction for a fairly paltry sum of cash and a GMC Ciera.
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Fargo / int_abe1e24e	type	Good Cannot Comprehend Evil
Fargo / int_abe1e24e	comment	Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Marge, as seen in the page quote.
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Fargo / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
Fargo / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: Grimsrud's reaction to Marge catching him in the process of "destroying evidence" in the woodchipper. Showalter finally realizing Grimsrud is about to chop him. Showalter and Grimsrud being stopped by the state trooper, and Showalter most likely about to be arrested.
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Fargo / int_ad641426	type	Trademark Favorite Food
Fargo / int_ad641426	comment	Trademark Favorite Food: Grimsrud is fond of pancakes and inists on eating them for both breakfast and dinner.
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Fargo / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
Fargo / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: She's extremely Minnesota Nice and indirect about it, but Marge has her moments. When she interrogates Shep Proudfoot about a mysterious phone call which he denies having made, she shoots holes through his story with a casual, folksy manner, almost as if she doesn't realize it. Then she points out that he could be considered an accomplice in the whole mess in an almost motherly fashion before returning to her normal, chirpy self and asking, "So do you think you might remember who called ya?"
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Fargo / int_aed65980	type	All for Nothing
Fargo / int_aed65980	comment	All for Nothing: In the end, absolutely no one involved in the scheme profits. Jerry gets arrested after his wife dies from his plot going awry, Showalter is disfigured, axed, and stuffed into a woodchipper for his troubles, Proudfoot is implied to be dragged off to court, and Grimsrud is caught in the act and imprisoned. It's implied that even if the kidnapping went off without a hitch and Jerry got his parking lot, the scam he ran on GMAC using fake loans would have eventually landed him in prison for fraud.
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Fargo / int_affd30b0	type	Stupid Evil
Fargo / int_affd30b0	comment	Stupid Evil: Both kidnappers, but especially Showalter: He sets off the entire Plethora of Mistakes by not putting the correct tags on the car. Instead of staying hidden while waiting for the ransom, he goes to a local bar (offscreen) and tells the bartender that he's staying "out by the lake," then needlessly intimidates him, bragging that he (Showalter) has recently murdered someone. The bartender tells the police about their encounter: Showalter's mentioning his temporary home means the police know approximately where to look for him. And completing his Trilogy of Idiocy, he antagonizes Grimsrud over a few thousand dollars when leaving quietly would have landed him almost a million, leading directly to his death at Grimsrud's axe.
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Fargo / int_b01abe4f	type	Catchphrase
Fargo / int_b01abe4f	comment	Catchphrase: "Aw, jeez." "Real good then." Gaear Grimsrud has "You know?"
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Fargo / int_b0e81c37	type	A Simple Plan
Fargo / int_b0e81c37	comment	A Simple Plan: The plan was simple, sort of: Jerry hires Showalter and Grimsrud to kidnap Jean and extort money from her father Wade so he can pay back a looming debt, paying them in advance with a car from his lot and promising them $40,000 of the $80,000 he claims he'll ask for. But the kidnappers get pulled over for lack of vehicle tags on the new car, causing them to kill the cop and two witnesses. This prompts a police investigation that gradually unravels the scheme. Meanwhile, Jerry tells Wade that the ransom is $1 million. Wade balks at the amount and insists on dealing with the kidnappers personally, which Jerry can't allow because he wouldn't get his cut. It all ends in disaster.
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Fargo / int_b2e94341	type	Based on a Great Big Lie
Fargo / int_b2e94341	comment	Based on a Great Big Lie: Most versions of the movie, theatrical and home video release, begin with a statement that the story was true, with names changed to protect those still alive. Yet the typical "all names and events are fictitious" disclaimer still appears in the end credits. Although they changed their story a couple of times - at one point they claimed they had read the story about a car dealer arranging to have his wife kidnapped, to undercover cops pretending to be criminals, which led the Coens to write a story about if the kidnapping had actually happened. The Coens eventually confessed that the entire story is fictional, and the statement is a thematic device meant to help the audience suspend disbelief. Apparently someone complained, because some DVDs are missing the pre-movie statement. Since the first bars of the opening theme play over the statement, it's replaced with a black screen during that time for those discs. However, as of the Blu-ray release, the statement was reinstated, and hasn't been removed since, so your DVD may vary. The only things that may be based on reality would be Jerry using nonexistent dealership vehicles to scam loans from GMAC (as happened from 1980 to 1991) and the scene where Gaear is stuffing Carl's remains down the woodchipper. Such a method of disposing of a corpse had been done before, as Richard Crafts of Newtown, Connecticut was convicted in 1989 of murdering his wife on November 19, 1986 and disposing of her body with a woodchipper.
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Fargo / int_b4fb830c	type	Smarter Than You Look
Fargo / int_b4fb830c	comment	Smarter Than You Look: Marge may come across as a dumb country hick, but she's a very gifted detective and easily the smartest character in the movie.
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Fargo / int_b58b4e3c	type	Too Dumb to Live
Fargo / int_b58b4e3c	comment	Too Dumb to Live: Showalter. He knows Grimsrud is an Ax-Crazy psycho who has murdered four people over the past few days, but still stupidly picks a fight with him over the car and refuses to pay him several thousand dollars for it, even though he had $920,000 hidden somewhere that Grimsrud knew nothing about. He pays dearly for that mistake. Wade ignores the kidnappers' instructions that Jerry should deliver the ransom and brashly heads off to the ransom drop alone. He then argues with Showalter and refuses to hand over the money until he sees Jean. It doesn't end well for him.
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Fargo / int_bc00493f	type	Precision F-Strike
Fargo / int_bc00493f	comment	Precision F-Strike: When Jerry must deal with an angry customer who is furious at having protective paint on his car applied despite Jerry's promise not to do so, he curses, "You lied to me, Mr. Lundegaard. You're a bald-faced liar, a... a fucking liar!" Jerry's customer (and his wife) is visibly shocked at himself, and Jerry literally hangs his head in shame. Averted by Carl, who swears all the time.
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Fargo / int_bc74ef27	type	Berserk Button
Fargo / int_bc74ef27	comment	Berserk Button: Shep Proudfoot goes ballistic on Carl for getting him noticed by the law, since he's on early release for a violent crime.
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Fargo / int_bc7e1c5b	type	These Gloves Are Made for Killin'
Fargo / int_bc7e1c5b	comment	These Gloves Are Made for Killin': Downplayed. After Gaear Grimsrud murders the state trooper by shooting him in the head. He instructs Carl to drag him off the road. Gaear does not wear gloves during this, but Carl puts some on before moving the body.
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Fargo / int_bd79d896	type	Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot
Fargo / int_bd79d896	comment	Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Defied by Grimsrud. After pulling Carl and Grimsrud over for failing to display a license tag, a state trooper begins to hear Jean's muffled screaming from the back of the car. Grimsrud promptly grabs the officers head and shoots him at point blank range.
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Fargo / int_bda72a5e	type	Clueless Detective
Fargo / int_bda72a5e	comment	Clueless Detective: Lou, Marge's second in command, just stares at her while she works. The one thing he does do on his own is a mistake.
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Fargo / int_bec0417c	type	Happily Married
Fargo / int_bec0417c	comment	Happily Married: Marge and Norm "Son-of-a" Gunderson. They live a fairly boring, unglamorous life of suburban routine, but they most certainly love each other.
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Fargo / int_c3585f4a	type	Boom, Headshot!
Fargo / int_c3585f4a	comment	Boom, Headshot!: Grimsrud gives one to the state trooper, and the blood spills into Carl's lap.
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Fargo / int_c39846a3	type	Pride
Fargo / int_c39846a3	comment	Pride: Perhaps the driving force behind everything a certain Mr. Lundegaard does. His father-in-law, a certain Mr. Gustafson, is similar.
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Fargo / int_c4db0699	type	Intentional Engrish for Funny
Fargo / int_c4db0699	comment	The Swedish Grimsrud is unable to grasp the phrase "pancake house", referring to it as a "pancakes house". Peter Stormare thought that that was a typo and said the line as, "Where is the pancake house?" He was astonished when the Coens told him that he was supposed to say, "Where is pancakes house?" Swedish has no clear separation between singular and plural when forming a word into a new noun.
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Fargo / int_c5249b29	type	Nice Guy
Fargo / int_c5249b29	comment	Nice Guy: Marge is friendly, kind, and respectful to everyone she comes across. In a twist, her easy manner just makes her more awesome and helps her a lot when investigating. Many police investigators in real life use the same tactic to get people to open up to them. It's not only her attitude towards interviewees and suspects. She tells a police officer his blunder of thinking "DLR" was the first part of a license number (when officers use that to indicate dealer plates), but does it in the nicest way possible, then cracks a joke to make him laugh and relax. The only time this veneer gets close to shattering is when she meets with an old classmate who unsubtly hits on her and is obviously trying to get a date with her â€” knowing she's married — and even when he puts her arms around her and she tells him off (gently), she apologizes.
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Fargo / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Fargo / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: To Blood Simple, also directed by the Coen brothers: Showalter getting spotted by a couple of motorists while dragging the trooper's body parallels the scene where Marty drags a barely alive Ray while a truck comes in their direction. Sadly for Showalter (and them), the motorists can't mistake the trooper for drunk like the trucker does for Ray. Jean hiding in the bathroom to escape her pursuers is an inversion of what Abby does in her own scene: while Showalter assumes Jean escaped through the window when she was hiding behind the shower curtain, Visser checks the shower first before figuring out that Abby went through the window.
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Fargo / int_cc7fae30	type	Outside-Context Problem
Fargo / int_cc7fae30	comment	Outside-Context Problem: The villains are violent criminals who will go to desperate means for some money... They could not be more out-of-place in the sweet, small-town Upper Midwest. The antagonist who hires them is miles out of his depth. This contrast is very much a deliberate choice.
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Fargo / int_d01cffbc	type	Badass Longcoat
Fargo / int_d01cffbc	comment	Badass Longcoat: Grimsrud has one.
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Fargo / int_d0b60f23	type	GoshDangItToHeck
Fargo / int_d0b60f23	comment	Gosh Dang It to Heck!: A theme throughout the movie. The Minnesota Nice populace tend to mince their oaths. When someone who's not a career criminal does swear, it gets a sharp chastisement.
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Fargo / int_d129e13e	type	"Eureka!" Moment
Fargo / int_d129e13e	comment	"Eureka!" Moment: When speaking to an old high school friend about Mike Yanagita, Marge suddenly understands Jerry's motives. You can almost see the light bulb turn on.
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Fargo / int_d56df5df	type	Wood Chipper of Doom
Fargo / int_d56df5df	comment	Wood Chipper of Doom: Perhaps the most infamous usage of this trope, where psychopathic criminal Gaear Grimsrud murders Carl Showalter with an ax, chops the body up into little pieces, then shoves the pieces into a ridiculously small wood chipper, which has jammed by the time Marge Gunderson arrives to the scene, horrified by Grimsrud's actions.
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Fargo / int_d62dd556	type	The Chessmaster
Fargo / int_d62dd556	comment	As Jerry finds out, being The Chessmaster is far easier in books and movies than in Real Life. Everything he plans winds up backfiring because of things he either didn't think through or had no control over, and it ends with his wife, father-in-law, and several innocent people all dead, him arrested while trying to flee, and his son now effectively orphaned.
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Fargo / int_d839c530	type	The Unfettered
Fargo / int_d839c530	comment	The Unfettered: Grimsrud. He has no reaction when they get the attention of a state trooper or when Showalter gets shot.
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Fargo / int_df410b77	type	Decoy Protagonist
Fargo / int_df410b77	comment	Decoy Protagonist: Jerry. Marge is unquestionably the main character, but she doesn't show up until after the 30 minute mark.
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Fargo / int_dfa40c1b	type	Didn't See That Coming
Fargo / int_dfa40c1b	comment	Didn't See That Coming: Essentially, the entire plot. Jerry's plan was that his wife would be kidnapped for a day or two, he would get the ransom, pay off his debts, and no one would be the wiser. The three dead bodies that kick off the plot, the murder of his wife and father-in-law, and the unraveling of his lies as well as his father-in-law refusing to play ball leads to one problem after another.
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Fargo / int_dfa71e43	type	Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
Fargo / int_dfa71e43	comment	Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Jerry Lundegaard has his wife kidnapped as a means to pay off a debt using the ransom. The plan unravels almost instantly, as the kidnappers aren't as competent or as sane as previously thought and his web of lies easily unravels, such as his inability to explain how the car he used to pay them disappeared from his lot. It's obvious he isn't very smart and probably had good intentions, making him more sympathetic than a villain who was selfish and manipulative.
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Fargo / int_dfe57573	type	Historical In-Joke
Fargo / int_dfe57573	comment	Historical In-Joke: When the stamp prices were increased in 1995 (a year before the film's release) from 29 to 32 cents, there was a heavy demand for 3-cent stamps.
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Fargo / int_dfe687c9	type	Alone with the Psycho
Fargo / int_dfe687c9	comment	Alone with the Psycho: Jean Lundegaard doesn't survive her time with Grimsrud.
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Fargo / int_e085feeb	type	Broken Record
Fargo / int_e085feeb	comment	Broken Record: To accentuate the simplicity of the characters, most characters repeat the same cliches.
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Fargo / int_e38d605	type	Big Guy, Little Guy
Fargo / int_e38d605	comment	Big Guy, Little Guy: Carl Showalter, the skinny shorter criminal, and his partner Gaer Grimsrud, the taller more muscular criminal.
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Fargo / int_e41cf31d	type	Extreme MÃªlÃ©e Revenge
Fargo / int_e41cf31d	comment	Extreme MÃªlÃ©e Revenge: Shep Proudfoot to Carl Showalter. After finding out Carl and Gaearâ€™s shenanigans have jeopardized his parole, Shep repeatedly tosses Carl across the room, repeatedly kicks him, briefly strangles him with a telephone cable, and then uses said cable to whip Carl hard enough to leave bloody gashes. Needless to say, Carl deserves every bit of it and more.
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Fargo / int_e4b69188	type	Very Loosely Based on a True Story
Fargo / int_e4b69188	comment	Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The whole movie makes fun of this, as the opening says it's based on a true story, but Word of God says this was just a joke.
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Fargo / int_e542d889	type	Gorn
Fargo / int_e542d889	comment	Gorn: Just look at how bloody the snow is as Grimsrud feeds Showalter through the woodchipper. Also the amount of blood that comes out of the head of the state trooper when Gaear shoots him. There is also Showalter's bleeding from the bullet wound in his jaw, and his horrendously inept attempts to patch up the wound.
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Fargo / int_e567510d	type	Determinator
Fargo / int_e567510d	comment	Determinator: For a pregnant policewoman, Marge certainly does take a lot of risks, doggedly pursuing every option and never giving up the hope of finding another clue.
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Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_e567510d
Fargo / int_e7ae07f5	type	Briefcase Full of Money
Fargo / int_e7ae07f5	comment	Briefcase Full of Money: Carl is startled to find out that the briefcase he thought would contain $80,000 in ransom actually has $1,000,000.
Fargo / int_e7ae07f5	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_e7ae07f5	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_e7ae07f5
Fargo / int_eb8ec7c8	type	Jerkass
Fargo / int_eb8ec7c8	comment	Jerkass: Wade Gustafson. He even rubs it in Jerry's face that his wife and son won't have to worry about their future. Not Jerry. Jerry. Throughout the movie, he's rude and condescending towards everybody except for maybe his son (even though he's hardly somebody who can back up his own arrogance). Plus, he never stopped to consider what effect his wife's kidnapping would have on their son (or his wife herself, for that matter, who is understandably terrified). And while he's taken aback to learn his plan has resulted in three murders, he shows no remorse and goes ahead as planned.
Fargo / int_eb8ec7c8	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_eb8ec7c8	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_eb8ec7c8
Fargo / int_eb8f64a6	type	No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Fargo / int_eb8f64a6	comment	No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The state trooper gets killed because he refuses to take Showalter's bribe.
Fargo / int_eb8f64a6	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_eb8f64a6	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_eb8f64a6
Fargo / int_ebee7b3a	type	Parking Garage
Fargo / int_ebee7b3a	comment	Parking Garage: Where Gustafson goes to drop off the ransom money. It doesn't end well for him, the parking attendant, or for Showalter's right cheek.
Fargo / int_ebee7b3a	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_ebee7b3a	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_ebee7b3a
Fargo / int_ed581814	type	Dismembering the Body
Fargo / int_ed581814	comment	Dismembering the Body: Carl gets hacked to pieces by Gaear, who then feeds the body parts into a woodchipper.
Fargo / int_ed581814	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_ed581814	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_ed581814
Fargo / int_efa2d938	type	Homage Shot
Fargo / int_efa2d938	comment	Homage Shot: The scene where Carl buries the Briefcase Full of Money beside the road is a homage to a similar scene in the 1960 British film The Criminal where Johnny Bannion buries a suitcase full of stolen cash in an empty field.
Fargo / int_efa2d938	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_efa2d938	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_efa2d938
Fargo / int_f1919d5b	type	Being Evil Sucks
Fargo / int_f1919d5b	comment	Being Evil Sucks: A bit of a running theme throughout the film is how the criminals all suffer and harm each other and innocent people in the pursuit of money which they ultimately don't get. By contrast Marge, the most kind person in the film, is content with her life and by the end she and her husband are, "doing pretty good."
Fargo / int_f1919d5b	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_f1919d5b	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_f1919d5b
Fargo / int_f25493f4	type	Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here
Fargo / int_f25493f4	comment	Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: "I'd be very surprised if our suspect was from Brainerd." Well, the suspects are from out of town and are staying at a cabin nearby.
Fargo / int_f25493f4	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_f25493f4	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_f25493f4
Fargo / int_fcf82917	type	Wacky Cravings
Fargo / int_fcf82917	comment	Wacky Cravings: Averted. Marge eats pretty normal food (and fast food on top of it). She just eats a lot of it.
Fargo / int_fcf82917	featureApplicability	-1.0
Fargo / int_fcf82917	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_fcf82917
Fargo / int_fdce712a	type	Hollywood Cop Uniform
Fargo / int_fdce712a	comment	Hollywood Cop Uniform: Taken up to eleven; the sheriff-like uniforms worn by Marge and her subordinates, with their seven-pointed stars and brown and tan coloring, are nothing like that of the real police of Brainerd, Minnesota, which are standard blue with an oval shield-shaped badge (however, the state trooper's uniform is more accurate). This seems to have been done deliberately to underscore the small-town nature of the characters.
Fargo / int_fdce712a	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_fdce712a	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_fdce712a
Fargo / int_fecc7486	type	Trick Dialogue
Fargo / int_fecc7486	comment	Trick Dialogue: Wade and Jerry, practicing their speeches.
Fargo / int_fecc7486	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_fecc7486	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_fecc7486
Fargo / int_name	type	ItemName
Fargo / int_name	comment
Fargo / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Fargo / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Fargo / int_name
Fargo / int_name	itemName	Fargo

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Fargo	hasFeature	A Simple Plan / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Almighty Mom / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	And Your Little Dog, Too! / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Based on a Great Big Lie / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Beware the Quiet Ones / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	BolÃ©ro Effect / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Braids, Beads and Buckskins / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Bribe Backfire / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Briefcase Full of Money / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Clueless Deputy / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Control Freak / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Cop Killer / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Crime After Crime / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Decoy Hiding Place / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Disappointed by the Motive / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Dismembering the Body / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Disposing of a Body / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Door Focus / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Dragon-in-Chief / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Evil Is Not a Toy / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	"Fawlty Towers" Plot / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Films of 1995â€“1999 / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Good Cannot Comprehend Evil / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Hanlon's Razor / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Hoarding the Profits / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Hollywood Cop Uniform / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Homage Shot / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	House Husband / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Idealized Sex / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Lawful Good / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Mad Libs Catchphrase / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Minnesota Nice / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Morning Sickness / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Motor Mouth / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Must Have Caffeine / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Mutilation Conga / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Narrative Profanity Filter / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Nausea Dissonance / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Parking Garage / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Phrase Catcher / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Pillow Pregnancy / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Polka Dork / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Pregnant Badass / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Prolonged Prologue / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Psycho for Hire / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Ransom Drop / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Roman Ã Clef / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Sex in a Shared Room / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Snow Means Death / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Soft-Spoken Sadist / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Stealing from the Till / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Stop, or I Will Shoot! / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Stupid Crooks / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	The '80s / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	The '80s / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	The Hyena / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	The Place / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	The Quiet One / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	These Gloves Are Made for Killin' / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Trick Dialogue / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Trivial Title / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Trolling Creator / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Vomiting Cop / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Wacky Americans Have Wacky Names / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Was It Really Worth It? / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Wood Chipper of Doom / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	Xanatos Speed Chess / int_b9e26f05
Fargo	hasFeature	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies / int_b9e26f05

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