Fargo “A Fox, a Rabbit and a Cabbage” 

I’ve been hoping (and wishing and praying) for Lester Nygaard and Lorne Malvo to cross paths again. So when Lester saw Lorne in the bar at the end of “The Heap,” I got excited. And when I watched the preview for tonight’s episode and saw that Lester and Lorne were in an elevator together talking, I got nervous.

Let’s start with what Malvo’s been up to since the time jump. He’s been posing as Mike, a dentist in Kansas City, Missouri for the last six months. He’s engaged to his hygienist and finally seems to have the trust of his business partner Burt, whose brother is in witness protection for turning state’s evidence against some Chicago mobsters. And that’s who Malvo’s prey is. Turns out the brother is in Vegas so that’s how he ends up there and, of course, Lester’s there to pick up his award. So when Lester approaches Malvo’s table, Lorne pretends not to know him. But Lester is either too dumb or too cocky to play along. Even after Lorne urges him to, “walk away.”

But Lester follows Lorne and his party into the elevator and things start to get weird(er). Lorne’s companions want to know who Lester. Lorne asks Lester if this is what Lester’s wants. I’m not sure how Lester thought this would all end, but I wasn’t at all surprised to see Lorne pull a gun. I mean, he knows his cover is blown because of Lester so he has to take out the collateral damage now. Maybe he doesn’t kill Lester immediately because he thinks he can get Lester to help him dispose of the bodies. Lester has a brilliant idea then, which is to run. He drags Linda out of bed and they take the next flight back to Minnesota.

With Bill out at a law enforcement conference, Molly gets the call about Lester being a potential witness to a triple homicide in Vegas. Now here’s my question: How do they know Lester’s a potential witness? I’m assuming there was a camera in the hotel elevator. Otherwise, how would they have known Lester was there at all? But maybe the angle was all wrong and that’s what they need Lester for? I’m not all that interested in the why, I just love that the police know he’s connected to this crime in some way. It’s great to see Molly show up at Lester and Linda’s new home to ask some questions. Lester doesn’t let Linda tell Molly that they’re heading to Acapulco that night after she suggests they should stay in town.

In the meantime, Malvo’s back in Bemidji. He goes to Lester’s old house and terrorizes the children who live there. He’s such a nasty man and I kind of find him fascinating. I mean, I’m sure if I met a man like him in real life I’d run for the hills. But he’s such an interesting character that I can’t help but be intrigued. Since he doesn’t get any information out of the children’s father (especially after that tale), he goes to the local diner. Malvo clocks Lou as an ex-cop almost immediately and they have a tense and strange conversation. Quite frankly, I wasn’t sure Lou was gonna make it out of that talk alive. But I’m glad he did. And how tense was it waiting to see if Molly and Lorne would actually cross paths at the diner? I was on the edge of my seat.

When Lorne can’t seem to track down Lester’s home address, he goes to the one place he knows Lester will turn up eventually: his job. And Lester does need to go there to get his and Linda’s passports. But as he’s driving by he notices one of the lamps is on and that gives him enough pause to send his wife in dressed as him. And it works because Lorne shoots her. But Lorne seems like the kind of person who would not only check to make sure his victim is dead, but also make sure he killed the right person – even after the fact. So I’m at a bit of a loss. Does he know he killed Linda? When Lorne pauses to light up outside of Lester’s office I thought maybe he’s go investigate the car. Lester’s lucky he didn’t, but it’s hard for me to believe that Lorne thinks Lester’s dead. He’s a much better killer than that.

And even though Agents Pepper and Budge were so inept that the FBI sent them to the filing room, I love that they make Bill rethink the Nygaard/Thurman case. It’s nice that someone else with a badge (even if it is these two idiots) are giving Molly’s theories some credence.

I’m really looking forward to next week’s finale to see how it all shakes out. Ah, heck. I can’t believe it’s almost over.

The season finale of Fargo airs Tuesday, June 17th at 10/9c on FX.