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The Myth of Sisyphus
Season 2, Episode 3
Fargo Season 2 Episode 3
Episode Information
Air Date:

October 26, 2015

Viewers:

1.21 million

Written by:

Bob DeLaurentis

Directed by:

Michael Uppendahl

Episode Chronology
Previous Episode:

Before the Law

Next Episode:

Fear and Trembling

CrewGalleryTranscript


The Myth of Sisyphus is the third episode of Season 2 of Fargo, as well as the thirteenth episode overall. It premiered on October 26, 2015.

Description[]

The Gerhardts' search for Rye intensifies; Lou takes a trip to Fargo; Peggy overhears a new theory about the Waffle Hut shooter.

Plot[]

Hanzee Dent gently pets a rabbit in the woods outside the Gerhardt compound while he thinks about a childhood memory. A magician comes to visit his classroom and performs a trick in which he pulls a rabbit from a hat, Hanzee the only one of his peers unimpressed. Hanzee breaks the rabbit's neck and carries it back to the compound.

Floyd Gerhardt holds a meeting with Dodd, Bear, and three Gerhardt lieutenants to assert that she will be running the syndicate until Otto's recovery. Bear agrees with her on not going to war with the Kansas City Mafia, but Dodd insists Otto would want them to fight. The KC Mafia members check themselves into the nearby Pearl Hotel to keep an eye on the Gerhardts. Joe Bulo and Mike Milligan discuss plans over breakfast, Milligan still insistent on killing the Gerhardts as both of them agree they will likely pass on the deal. Bulo instructs him to wait for the market to decide, and tasks him with finding Rye.

Going up to Fargo to follow up on Irma Mundt, Lou Solverson is radioed by Hank Larsson. Hank tells him the gun Betsy found was identified with Rye's fingerprints on it. He meets local detective Ben Schmidt, a fellow Vietnam veteran who tells him about the Gerhardt family's history, and knows nothing of Milligan or the Kitchen Brothers when Lou asks him. Schmidt expresses resigned sympathy when Lou tells him the Gerhardts are involved, claiming it would be easier on Lou if he himself were the murderer.

Hanzee grills Dodd's eldest daughter and Rye's favorite family member, Simone, as to where Rye might be, getting the address of an apartment complex where she would buy drugs through him. As Betsy gets her hair cut in the salon where Peggy Blumquist works, Peggy tells Constance Heck she has committed to the Lifespring seminar. Peggy notices Hank hanging up wanted posters for Rye around town. As he comes in to discuss the case with Betsy, she theorizes in front of Peggy that Rye was hit by a passing driver. Peggy, on edge, interjects that the theory is baseless because any driver would have stopped to help after hitting him, to which Hank agrees. Betsy insists that instead of looking for Rye, Hank should look for the car that hit him.

Lou notices Skip Sprang loitering outside of Mundt's office and follows him with Schmidt. Skip claims he had a hearing, now postponed because of Mundt's death, and Schmidt lets him go, dismissing it due to Mundt having any number of cases like Sprang. Skip hurries to Rye's apartment, only to find Simone there. She and Hanzee forcefully take him away for a drive. Peggy and Ed drive their damaged car to the outskirts of Luverne, where Peggy explains her plan to cover up the car's damage: an alcoholic uncle of hers would scam insurance companies by wrecking his car after accidents under the influence. Ed hesitantly drives the car into a tree.

Bear discusses the Kansas City problem with his son, Charlie. He insists that Charlie go to school the next day so he can stay out of the increasingly dangerous situation, reminding him that his mother would want it that way. Lou and Schmidt arrive at the compound. Lou is mystified by Schmidt's subservience to the Gerhardts, and his straightforward questioning and show of evidence that Rye is responsible for three murders irks Dodd. The situation becomes tense until Charlie calls Dodd away, saying Hanzee wants to meet him "at the dig." Kicked off the property, Lou notices Skip's typewriter store is open and decides to talk to him. He instead finds Milligan and the Kitchen Brothers, drawing guns on each other. He and Milligan ask each other for Skip's location, neither of them knowing, and Milligan references his encounter with Hank, saying Lou reminds him of him. Milligan and the brothers leave, not before Milligan impersonates Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook!" line. Driving home, Lou encounters a man who tells him about "the visitors," who come with bright lights in the sky. He claims they visited two days prior, and they come in peace.

Peggy and Ed (Ed now in a neck brace) discuss their plan on the bus ride home. Ed is unsure, but Peggy insists they got away with it. Lou informs Hank he ran into Milligan while they and Betsy play Cribbage together.

Dodd arrives at a dig site. Simone tries to join him, claiming she deserves to help because of her finding Skip, but Dodd slaps her and locks her in Hanzee's truck. Dodd, believing Skip to be involved in Rye's disappearance, has Hanzee put him in a hole dug in the ground. Skip tries to leverage contact with Milligan for his life, but Dodd, annoyed, has a truck full of hot asphalt dump it on Skip, smothering him. He orders Hanzee to bring Rye back as soon as possible and kill anyone who tries to stop him, spits on the asphalt Skip is now buried under, and leaves.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Co-starring[]

Deaths[]

Trivia[]

  • The episode's title is a reference to the book of the same name written by absurdist philosopher Albert Camus, which Noreen paraphrases during the episode.
  • First appearance of Roost Bolton.
  • First appearance of Mickey Grout.
  • First appearance of Joey Seymour.
  • Last appearance of Skip Sprang.
  • This is the first episode to not be written by Noah Hawley.
  • Charlie's comment about Kansas City "they didn't look like fellas who want to own half a car" could be a reference to a line in Fargo the movie, where Carl Showalter argues over splitting a car.
Season 2 episodes

01. "Waiting for Dutch"
02. "Before the Law"
03. "The Myth of Sisyphus"
04. "Fear and Trembling"
05. "The Gift of the Magi"

06. "Rhinoceros"
07. "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!"
08. "Loplop"
09. "The Castle"
10. "Palindrome"

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