Fargo - “The Heap” Recap. Miss Hubbard County.

Season 1, Episode 8

Air Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2014, 10PM E/P on FX Networks.

Rating: ★★★★★

[warning]WARNING: THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS.[/warning]

“I think we might have a problem here.” – Lester

Bob Odenkirk as Bill Oswalt, Allison Tolman as Molly Solverson

Cleared of any involvement in the murders of his wife Pearl (Kelly Holden) and Chief Thurman (Shawn Doyle) and feeling like a new man, Lester (Martin Freeman) starts removing all reminders of Pearl from their house. Lester even gets a new love in his life; she’s quiet, cleans up his messes, and Lester could stare at her beautiful body for hours. Who knew a washing machine could bring someone so much happiness?

Kitty Nygaard (Rachel Blanchard) pays Lester a visit to see how he is doing and vents about her husband Chaz (Joshua Close) who she feels betrayed her. It’s interesting hearing Lester remind Kitty that Chaz also killed his wife because you get the feeling Lester is starting to believe his lie.

Molly (Allison Tolman) returns to work but Chief Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) is less than thrilled to have her back. Oswalt fears she will start digging around the murder case again that he so proudly closed while she was in the hospital.

Molly: “That’s the problem actually, umm is that you’re still…”

Oswalt: “Still what?”

Molly: “Wrong.”

My thoughts on Oswalt have shifted over the last few episodes. I used to think his issues with Molly had more to do with her being a woman. But after watching the interrogation scene with Lester in “Who Shaves the Barber,” and his more recent scenes with Molly, I’ve come to realize Oswalt’s issues are less with Molly and more with her theories. For Molly to be right, people who Oswalt knows and went to high school with have become cold blooded killers. It’s mentally and emotionally easier for Oswalt to create a random drifter passing through town theory than to accept Molly’s evidence.

Liam Green as Moe Hess, Kate Walsh as Gina Hess, Atticus Mitchell as Mickey Hess, Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard

Despite Lester’s promise to take care of her husband’s insurance claim, a furious Gina Hess (Kate Walsh) shows up at Lester’s office, showing him a denial letter. Gina doesn’t hold back as she describes, in way too much detail, her sexual encounter with Lester in front of her kids, Moe (Liam Green) and Mickey (Atticus Mitchell), as well as Lester’s coworkers. I admit I laughed as Lester stands his ground with Gina and then puts Moe and Mickey in their place.

FBI Agents Pepper (Jordan Peele) and Budge (Keegan-Michael Key) face the music for being oblivious to Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) killing 22 people in the building they are staking out. The only reason Pepper and Budge know it’s Malvo is because his image was captured on an ATM machine. The situation looks dire for the two agents as they are relegated to working in the file room as punishment but Budge reassures Pepper, “This right here, two weeks tops.” Pepper remains stoic as he tapes the image of Malvo to the wall as a reminder of why they’re in this position. I am curious to see how the two agents fit into the final two episodes because right now, they bring nothing new to the story.

Jordan Peele as Agent Pepper, Keegan-Michael Key as Agent Budge

Cleaning up loose ends, Malvo sneaks into the hospital and strangles the officer guarding Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard). I’m not sure if it’s professional admiration or the thrill of being hunted but I was surprised to see Malvo free Mr. Wrench. The question is, will Mr. Wrench end up going after Malvo?

A big thank you to series creator/writer Noah Hawley for making me paranoid. I don’t know about you but the scene of Gus sitting alone in his vehicle in the middle of nowhere talking to Molly on the phone got me all worked up. The camera slowly pans out, ominous music starts playing, and I thought for sure Gus was a goner. I expected to see Malvo standing about ten feet away with a shotgun aimed at the car and then an explosion of red. Thankfully, Gus is still with us, for now.

The Twist.

The saying ‘There is a time and place for everything’ sums up how I feel about the twist midway through “The Heap” as the show suddenly jumps one year ahead. Gus is doing what he always wanted to do, working for the post office. He and Molly are together and expecting a baby. Despite the year passing by, Molly quietly continues to try to connect Lester to the Malvo murders.

Agents Pepper and Budge find themselves still wasting away in the file room. With no end in sight and only two episodes left, I wonder what it will take to get them out of the doghouse, or else what is the point for having them in the story in the first place?

Meanwhile, Lester is at the top of his game as an insurance salesman, and has married his coworker Linda (Susan Park). He continues to ooze confidence, especially around beautiful women, despite being married for a second time. Things are finally looking up for Lester until he turns and notices a familiar face as the episode fades to black.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the final 30 minutes of “The Heap” are great — as a season finale, that is. The only problem is there are still two episodes remaining. Suddenly, you’re not thinking about Lester and the murders, or Malvo gunning down 22 people. Jumping forward a year unfortunately deflates all the momentum Fargo has built up.

As an aside, Hawley also had some concerns about the jump and took time out of his busy schedule for a conference call during which he talked about what went into deciding to do the leap forward. You can read the transcript here.

Tweet me @staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “The Heap.”

Visit the show’s website http://www.fxnetworks.com/fargo.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.