TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Based on the film of the same name in atmosphere, style and location only, Fargo presents more quirky characters and a new storyline that is expertly executed with dark humor and odd twists.
Episodes
Fargo: Season 1 Photos
Tv Season Info
Cast
as Lorne Malvo
as Lester Nygaard
as Gus Grimly
as Deputy Bill Oswalt
as Mr. Numbers
as Mr. Wrench
as Molly Solverson
as Don Chumph
as Greta Grimly
as Chazz Nygaard
as Gina Hess
as Stavros Milos
as Lieutenant Schmidt
as Kitty Nygaard
as Bo Munk
as Simone Gerhardt
as Lou Solverson
as Idea Thurman
as Max Gold
as Vern Thurman
as Pearl Nygaard
as Wally Semenchko
News & Interviews for Fargo: Season 1
Critic Reviews for Fargo: Season 1
All Critics (49) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (1)
Wrap a snowmobile suit around that thin skin of yours, and relish one of the best darn series of the year.
There's a considered cleverness and kindness to his [Hawley] scripts that would never fit into the tight margins of a motion picture; it lights this Fargo from within.
There is at least one significant link - you'll hoot in recognition - that could be the linchpin of the anthology. We're looking forward plenty of long, cold winters.
He [Hawley] makes us care about a wildly exaggerated situation involving characters who, by themselves, would be either 1) dull, 2) psychotic or 3) dumb as a stack of snowballs.
The acting and directing are uniformly strong, and the script, by Noah Hawley, proves that everyone who has ever described the Coen brothers' sensibility as "inimitable" was wrong.
The series, is funnier than the film, more bleakly so. The Coens got brilliant performances out of their film actors and they do here as well -- Thornton especially, who is a magnificent sociopath-monster. Freeman simply reminds everyone how good he is.
Audience Reviews for Fargo: Season 1
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
The Coen brothers adapt their Academy Award winning film Fargo into a black comedy–crime drama television series. In Season one a mild mannered insurance agent named Lester Nygaard murders his wife after a chance meeting with a hitman who's on his way to a job, but before long both the police and the mob are on their trails. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman, and Colin Hanks, the series features an impressive cast. And the show does an extraordinary job at capturing the tone and spirit of the original film, and includes a number of homages and callbacks. The writing is also quite good, particularly the dialog, which has a real Coen brothers flare to it. Incredibly smart and full of thrills, Fargo proves to be a worthy successor to the film and delivers an extraordinary first season.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
Discuss Fargo on our TV talk forum!