Fargo (TV series) review: A remarkable reincarnation

Tuning into Channel 4 on Sunday evening, you might have been inclined to believe that a re-run of the 1996 classic Fargo was being shown rather than a new, high budget drama of the same name. "This is a true story", boomed the opening title card, just as it did nigh on 20 years ago in the Coen Brother's masterpiece, and indeed, Steve Buscemi, who played shifty kidnapper Carl in the film, could easily have been driving that car which crawled down a snow-drenched highway in the programme's opening shot. And while it's clear throughout this seventy minute pilot episode that homage has been paid to the movie at almost every opportunity, Fargo is by no means a copy. In fact, it's a witty, dark and intelligent piece of television which fits in perfectly with the superb first wave of post-Breaking Bad US dramas.

Altering only the year of events from the film's lonely Minnesota setting, Fargo's narrative is, in style, much the same as the original. Martin Freeman plays insurance salesman Lester Nygaard, a character almost comically alike to William H Macy's Larry all the way down to a perfectly nailed accent. Despite the similarities, Freeman's casting is a stroke of genius; the timid and tentative persona we saw so many times in the early days of Sherlock making for a sublime character development as Nygaard is pushed to the edge of sanity by a life of being bullied and undermined. His performance is complimented by that of Billy Bob Thornton, who plays the second lead role of sadistic killer Lorne Malvo. Although comparable to Peter Stormare's cold psychotic Gaear in the Coen's movie, Malvo becomes a far more interesting character even by the end of this episode, evolving into a far darker personality than a mere hired gun cliché. He perhaps represents a merging together of the two kidnappers portrayed in the film; Buscemi's articulate nature combined with Stormare's cold blooded brutality combining to form a more complete figure than ether. As for the side of the law, there's no replacing Frances McDormand's Oscar winning portraying of small town and heavily pregnant cop Marge, but Allison Tolman makes an admirable job of stepping into her shoes as the near-identical Molly. Despite the obvious and inevitable links between the characterisation of film and programme, it's likely that with another nine episodes and with such strong writing most of the cast will become individuals in their own right, as Freeman and Thornton already have.

As the original was, the episode is brilliantly scripted, paying exquisite attention to creating believable dialogue between the characters while also keeping the pace flowing and entertaining, and of course it's not without the usual twists and turns along the way. Indeed, even if you're familiar with the style employed here, these moments of sudden madness remain shocking, an effect only partially augmented by their frankly alarming level of gratuitous gore. The direction is perhaps a little more focussed on the programme's brutal violence than the more subtle Coens were, you'll notice the camera lingering a little too long over its casualties, which creates the unfortunate impression of mere pulp fiction. Fans of the film will be happy to note the lack of repetition of the movie, but in addition to the underlying recurring style in setting, characters and music, there are a number of "easter eggs" for Coen connoisseurs. While these hints are typically subtle and neatly implemented, there's one clumsy scene which so blatantly mirrors the famous moment where Buscemi and  Stormare are pulled over by a police officer on an endless snowy road as to be unfortunately predictable in its take on "what would have happened if the officer had just walked away". Still, it does at least serve to highlight the differences between Thornton's Malvo and the movie's incompetent criminal duo.

Fargo is a stellar effort, updating the Coen's brilliant picture to the present day with a new storyline and great performances while paying it's respects to the stark genius of the original. It may be a little clumsy and overeager to profess its adulation of the film, but when a programme is this clever and entertaining that's more than easy to overlook.

8/10