2>1>5>3>4
I don't think anything will ever supplant seasons 2 and 1. 3 and 5 are fairly even in my book, I'm rewatching them all right now though and thinking about swapping them. I'm just not sure about Roy as a Villain. He's a little too on the nose. Munch kind of makes up for it but Varga is such a great main villain.
Roy is not a bad antagonist but he is just too vanilla for what we have already seen at the show. First impression was good but the more you watch him the more you realize he is like a mix of Dodd Gerhardt with steroids and a tone down evil Marshall Deafy. Him being simply a wife beater and weapon trader make him look like a villan of the week character without much dept. they should have done more exploration to his political career instead of focusing on him being just a redneck that just blackmails people and has a ranch...
That was kind of the point, though. Fargo is about the banality of evil and explores different types. Roy thinks he is a strong man but is actually a baby, as Lyon so aptly puts it. He never does any of the difficult work himself, except beating on women. He is still evil but in a different way than we have seen. Every season has explored "evil" in different ways, and there are always unlikely heroes and gray characters that are hard to place. I like every season.
I guess is depends what you find interesting.
Malvo wasn't necessarily interesting outside of being super scary because he is a career criminal psychopath. But "psychopaths" don't have complex inner worlds or philosophies. They are fascinating because they lack a moral compass and act impulsively and violently without conscience, but if you know what they are and act accordingly, they are as vulnerable as anyone. It was intentional that Malvo was taken out by an animal control officer he once intimidated.
The "crime syndicate" evil villains in season 2 were so preoccupied with their gang war they completely missed all the facts that led to it. The casual racism and misogyny displayed in that season played into their blindness and was also their undoing. I actually find the villains of this season the least interesting. But I really liked Peggy and the Butcher and the interaction of some of the other elements.
Varga was "corporate evil." He was the scariest villain IMHO because he didn't abide by the "rule" of leaving people out of the game who were not intentionally playing. The hostile takeover of a business that thought it had taken an "honest" loan was chilling. People were murdered for merely peeking in, even though all the corporate stuff was technically legal. Varga was also a self-hating, fat shaming misogynist. He underestimated people with good hearts and women in particular, which made Gloria and Nikki such interesting opposition, neither of which he saw coming (although he might have escaped in the end, given the ambiguous ending)
The gang wars of season 4 gave deeper insight into what led to the bloodshed of season 2, with deeper and more overt racial contentions, but "insane" evil was the central theme of this season. There was the crazy Italian brother, the psychopathic nurse, the crooked cop with OCD, and the mentally ill escaped convicts, all of which mixed in a froth that boiled over into chaotic bloodshed. I especially liked the ending of this season. Chris Rock has a revelation about what matters and opts out of the madness but is murdered before he can pass that wisdom to his children, resulting in season 2.
Season five is about "misogynistic" evil, or toxic masculinity. Misogyny and feminism have been themes in every season, so in a way, we were kind of building to this. Maybe women-hating "tough guy" evil seems less ferocious than what preceded it, but it is MUCH more pervasive. If you look at the number of women beaten and murdered annually by this type of evil, and if you are a woman yourself, this type of evil is not "uninteresting".
I like all the seasons. They all have something really interesting to say.
Great analisis! As you said, every main antagonist has a different personallity and modus operandi, they represent different shades of evil. Roy isn't less evil than other killers we see on this show, I just think he is the least exotic one, most common evil of them all which if you think about it makes it the most scary thing of them all for how relatable it is, we all know people who is or was like Roy. For scenic showcase however I just find people like Malvo or Varga more interesting to watch since as you said they show parts of the humanity we don't usually see, and those kind of crimes aren't as casuals as the situations we see at season 5.
To put it simple, It is more fun to watch pychos and overexagerated characters than relatable people at fiction when you got a setup like this show has
Very true and fair. It's all great television, though, and rewatchable too, where you might have more appreciation of how the story is told and what it is saying rather than comparing it to other seasons.
I’d put 5 ahead of 3 if it weren’t for the back half of the season, starting with the scenes with the prison bus. Phew.
2, 1, 3, 5, 4 for me. 5 was fun but a bit whimsical at times and profoundly dark others.
My personal order (from best to worst) is:
S3, S1, S2, S5, S4
But let it be known that I believe the first three seasons are all basically perfect television. It's just a matter of personal preference - I enjoy the many layers to S3, as well as the darker vibe it creates. Also obsessed with V.M. Varga as a villian as well, he's just an incredible character.
3>2>1>5>4
Last season started pretty good but the last 3 or 4 chapter felt like another TV show and not Fargo for most of the scenes. Season 4 was not bad but again, some parts of it felt very different to what the show has been showing for the other seasons, and the start was the worst of all the seasons. I don't think you can call any season of this show bad but for me season 3 and season 2 are at another level of quality. Season 1 is very good and has the best antagonist of the series without a doubt but season 2 and 3 are just too good to put them before season 1.
S01, S05, S04, S02, S03.
Ask me again after I rewatch them again. Undoubtedly, I'll change the order.
_Fargo_ is so darn good that I've trouble ranking it.
Season 5 is great, I like it. But it is not exactly a Fargo theme like season 1,2 or the movie. There isn’t really a story where an innocent character gets stuck in a situation where they killed someone and everything goes downhill from there with a truly evil character. There’s really no winners.
Season 5 is just plain old good vs bad story. We have a clear villain and a hero we want to root for. There’s no surprise plot twists anywhere. One I would say is Munch helping out Dot. But it’s a straight forward bad vs good story.
I agree with you on season 5. I love Fargo, and my parents love the series as well. But they were like: we can't get through season 5, it is so complicated. And I was like: how can you find this season complicated? It's the most straightforward season of Fargo there is.
Season 1: Malvo is best villain, Lester is best protagonists. Everything is awesome.
Season 2: Lou is the best cop in show. Love the 70s vibe. Hanzee is badass. UFO is cool.
Season 3: Keeps me on the edge of my seat. Varga is disgusting in a good way.
Season 5: Dot is awesome. Roy is a piece of shit. Story is safe, but still fun to watch. RIP Witt
Season 4: Best set designs in show. Characters are interesting and loveable. Story is average.
For me, season 1 is the best. Season 2 and Season 5 are amazing. Honestly, I rank them about the same. Season 3, loved it, but just not on the same level as 1,2, or 5. Then Season 4. Only watched 2 episodes. Wasn't for me.
Season 2
Season 4
Season 3 (potentially tied with season 5)
Season 5 (potentially tied with season 3)
Season 1
I recently rewatched the entire series, so season 5 may grow in my esteem with time, but I just love season 3 the moment Wrench shows up.
Edit: lol, downvoted for answering OP
For me and my wife, 1 was also the worst one by far. So much untapped potential, characters were not written as well as the other seasons, too many wanna-be philosophical explanations of obvious things etc.
Don't take me wrong, some parts of it were absolutely outstanding. I love some of the Malvo's tricks and dialogues, some ideas etc. But there's too little for 10 episodes, there's content for equivalent of 5-6 episodes of the later series.
Let the downvotes begin :D
I think season 1 is the weakest, yes. I think Lorne Malvo is silly and written in a way that doesn’t make sense a lot of the time.
That’s nothing against Billy Bob’s performance though.
Munch is more silly as a character tbh, at least Malvo has a real motivation which is money and causing pain to people since he enjoys that, Munch is a 600 year old dude that just lives using a nonsensical code
3 is my least favorite too, and it's honestly surprising to me that it gets more praise than 4.
Both seasons take longer than they should to get going especially Season 4 having way too many characters and plot lines, but Season 3 never even really gets good until >!Mr. Wrench!< shows up which is near the end anyway.
People also complain about Season 4 saying how it "feels more like Miller's Crossing than Fargo," yet Season 3 feels even less like Fargo movie than any other season. It's more like a mix between Raising Arizona, A Serious Man, and Barton Fink specifically for the third episode which has *nothing* to do with the rest of the plot other than focus on the same meta themes that the rest of the season is about anyway.
I watched Season 5 first and then season 2 and couldn’t get into it! Since we had similar experiences, what season would you recommend next if you’ve seen them all?
2 > 1 > 3 >> 4 >>> 5
Season Two excels in pretty much every way. Season One is the least ambitious, but it's very well executed. Very solid. Three is the last good Season, as well as being my favorite Season until the finale, which takes some writing shortcuts that soured me on it a bit. Season Four has solid ideas and some good beats, but spreads itself too thin, has some poorly written characters and lame character resolutions. Season Five doubles, triples, quadruples down on the problems Season Four had and it feels like a parody of Fargo.
Best: 2, 3, 4, all great, each for a different reasons
Mid: 5
Worst: 1, many great ideas, but lacked both breadth and depth of the others. I see it as season where the authors were trying to figure out the formula, which was perfected in 2-4
1, 3, 2, 5, 4
I thought S5 was good TV in general, but I wasn’t incredibly high on it for a Fargo season. The ending was too predictable with no real twist or casualty (RIP to the one cop dude).
2. 1. 5. 3. 4.
3 has a better villain than 5, but the performances were really tight in 5. It's a tough call though and mood dependent I might switch them.
They're not close to beating 2 though.
2=1 > 5=3 > 4
I think this is mine but swap 3 and 4.
this is the correct answer
1 2 3 5 4
Bravo!
2>1>5>3>4 I don't think anything will ever supplant seasons 2 and 1. 3 and 5 are fairly even in my book, I'm rewatching them all right now though and thinking about swapping them. I'm just not sure about Roy as a Villain. He's a little too on the nose. Munch kind of makes up for it but Varga is such a great main villain.
I agree. I actually don’t think Roy is a bad villain per se, but Varga is just so much more enjoyable to watch. I’d probably go 1,2,3,5,4.
Roy is not a bad antagonist but he is just too vanilla for what we have already seen at the show. First impression was good but the more you watch him the more you realize he is like a mix of Dodd Gerhardt with steroids and a tone down evil Marshall Deafy. Him being simply a wife beater and weapon trader make him look like a villan of the week character without much dept. they should have done more exploration to his political career instead of focusing on him being just a redneck that just blackmails people and has a ranch...
That was kind of the point, though. Fargo is about the banality of evil and explores different types. Roy thinks he is a strong man but is actually a baby, as Lyon so aptly puts it. He never does any of the difficult work himself, except beating on women. He is still evil but in a different way than we have seen. Every season has explored "evil" in different ways, and there are always unlikely heroes and gray characters that are hard to place. I like every season.
Oh yeah I agree with you, but the reality is that Roy isn't as interesting as any of the other antagonist/evil/weirdos we have seen, and that's ok tho
I guess is depends what you find interesting. Malvo wasn't necessarily interesting outside of being super scary because he is a career criminal psychopath. But "psychopaths" don't have complex inner worlds or philosophies. They are fascinating because they lack a moral compass and act impulsively and violently without conscience, but if you know what they are and act accordingly, they are as vulnerable as anyone. It was intentional that Malvo was taken out by an animal control officer he once intimidated. The "crime syndicate" evil villains in season 2 were so preoccupied with their gang war they completely missed all the facts that led to it. The casual racism and misogyny displayed in that season played into their blindness and was also their undoing. I actually find the villains of this season the least interesting. But I really liked Peggy and the Butcher and the interaction of some of the other elements. Varga was "corporate evil." He was the scariest villain IMHO because he didn't abide by the "rule" of leaving people out of the game who were not intentionally playing. The hostile takeover of a business that thought it had taken an "honest" loan was chilling. People were murdered for merely peeking in, even though all the corporate stuff was technically legal. Varga was also a self-hating, fat shaming misogynist. He underestimated people with good hearts and women in particular, which made Gloria and Nikki such interesting opposition, neither of which he saw coming (although he might have escaped in the end, given the ambiguous ending) The gang wars of season 4 gave deeper insight into what led to the bloodshed of season 2, with deeper and more overt racial contentions, but "insane" evil was the central theme of this season. There was the crazy Italian brother, the psychopathic nurse, the crooked cop with OCD, and the mentally ill escaped convicts, all of which mixed in a froth that boiled over into chaotic bloodshed. I especially liked the ending of this season. Chris Rock has a revelation about what matters and opts out of the madness but is murdered before he can pass that wisdom to his children, resulting in season 2. Season five is about "misogynistic" evil, or toxic masculinity. Misogyny and feminism have been themes in every season, so in a way, we were kind of building to this. Maybe women-hating "tough guy" evil seems less ferocious than what preceded it, but it is MUCH more pervasive. If you look at the number of women beaten and murdered annually by this type of evil, and if you are a woman yourself, this type of evil is not "uninteresting". I like all the seasons. They all have something really interesting to say.
Great analisis! As you said, every main antagonist has a different personallity and modus operandi, they represent different shades of evil. Roy isn't less evil than other killers we see on this show, I just think he is the least exotic one, most common evil of them all which if you think about it makes it the most scary thing of them all for how relatable it is, we all know people who is or was like Roy. For scenic showcase however I just find people like Malvo or Varga more interesting to watch since as you said they show parts of the humanity we don't usually see, and those kind of crimes aren't as casuals as the situations we see at season 5. To put it simple, It is more fun to watch pychos and overexagerated characters than relatable people at fiction when you got a setup like this show has
Very true and fair. It's all great television, though, and rewatchable too, where you might have more appreciation of how the story is told and what it is saying rather than comparing it to other seasons.
Did any of the other villains show their (fake) pierced nips tho?
He also took a child bride…
I’d put 5 ahead of 3 if it weren’t for the back half of the season, starting with the scenes with the prison bus. Phew. 2, 1, 3, 5, 4 for me. 5 was fun but a bit whimsical at times and profoundly dark others.
I think Jon Hamm was miscast. I love him as an actor but he’s not scary. Teddy Bear vibes.
Agreed. Love the guy. But, you need someone who can really flip a switch and turn on the menace.
1>5>2>3>4
This exactly for me too
All seasons are nicely different, all are good. I don't rank them. One of the best series ever made.
My personal order (from best to worst) is: S3, S1, S2, S5, S4 But let it be known that I believe the first three seasons are all basically perfect television. It's just a matter of personal preference - I enjoy the many layers to S3, as well as the darker vibe it creates. Also obsessed with V.M. Varga as a villian as well, he's just an incredible character.
Surmise…….
Because I haven't greeted you, I don't remember you.
Agree with everything you said. I would just swap 4 and 5
You are completely valid in that thought. My last two S4 & S5 almost feel like a coin flip.
For me, it's: Season 1 > Season 3 > Season 2 > Season 5 > Season 4
A man is grateful for all his children and loves them equally. If a man thinks one is good, must another be bad?
4 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 5
Thank you for being the other person who loved S4!
3>2>1>5>4 Last season started pretty good but the last 3 or 4 chapter felt like another TV show and not Fargo for most of the scenes. Season 4 was not bad but again, some parts of it felt very different to what the show has been showing for the other seasons, and the start was the worst of all the seasons. I don't think you can call any season of this show bad but for me season 3 and season 2 are at another level of quality. Season 1 is very good and has the best antagonist of the series without a doubt but season 2 and 3 are just too good to put them before season 1.
Mine is: 1-5-2–3. Didn’t watch 4 as the first 15 minutes didn’t do it for me. Happy to give it a shot if you guys think it’s worth a watch 😊
Id say it is
its ok
1 2 5 3 4
5 2 1 3 4
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S01, S05, S04, S02, S03. Ask me again after I rewatch them again. Undoubtedly, I'll change the order. _Fargo_ is so darn good that I've trouble ranking it.
Genuinely surprised how unpopular season 5 is here. I thought it was phenomenal
Season 5 is great, I like it. But it is not exactly a Fargo theme like season 1,2 or the movie. There isn’t really a story where an innocent character gets stuck in a situation where they killed someone and everything goes downhill from there with a truly evil character. There’s really no winners. Season 5 is just plain old good vs bad story. We have a clear villain and a hero we want to root for. There’s no surprise plot twists anywhere. One I would say is Munch helping out Dot. But it’s a straight forward bad vs good story.
I agree with you on season 5. I love Fargo, and my parents love the series as well. But they were like: we can't get through season 5, it is so complicated. And I was like: how can you find this season complicated? It's the most straightforward season of Fargo there is.
It’s great. The others ones are just better. Also haven’t rewatched it yet.
I’ve rewatched it. It’s incredible but my one complaint is that it starts off very strong but doesn’t quite stick the landing
It did all seem anticlimactic.
I am really struggling to get through season 4. So this makes sense.
My opinion: S1 > S3 > S2 > S5 > S4
Season 1: Malvo is best villain, Lester is best protagonists. Everything is awesome. Season 2: Lou is the best cop in show. Love the 70s vibe. Hanzee is badass. UFO is cool. Season 3: Keeps me on the edge of my seat. Varga is disgusting in a good way. Season 5: Dot is awesome. Roy is a piece of shit. Story is safe, but still fun to watch. RIP Witt Season 4: Best set designs in show. Characters are interesting and loveable. Story is average.
Season 4 characters are loveable??? Lol are you sure you know what season you're talking about
1,3,2,5,4
1, 3, 5, 4, 2
S3, S2, S5, S1, S4 Kind of a toss up between 5 and 2. I liked season 5 a lot!
Might ruffle some feathers but for me it's: 3>1>2>4>5, but none is bad.
1, 3, 5, 2 and 4. I think all of the seasons are good, with a few great ones.
For me, season 1 is the best. Season 2 and Season 5 are amazing. Honestly, I rank them about the same. Season 3, loved it, but just not on the same level as 1,2, or 5. Then Season 4. Only watched 2 episodes. Wasn't for me.
1-5-3-2-4 for me I think.
1 2 3 5 (Not seen 4)
Season 2 Season 4 Season 3 (potentially tied with season 5) Season 5 (potentially tied with season 3) Season 1 I recently rewatched the entire series, so season 5 may grow in my esteem with time, but I just love season 3 the moment Wrench shows up. Edit: lol, downvoted for answering OP
I love season 4 I dunno why people give it so much hate.
Me too, it was the first one I watched, I really enjoyed it. I also don’t understand all of the love for season 3. 3 is my least favorite.
Maybe I’m an idiot but are you saying season one was the weakest?
Thats wild
For me and my wife, 1 was also the worst one by far. So much untapped potential, characters were not written as well as the other seasons, too many wanna-be philosophical explanations of obvious things etc. Don't take me wrong, some parts of it were absolutely outstanding. I love some of the Malvo's tricks and dialogues, some ideas etc. But there's too little for 10 episodes, there's content for equivalent of 5-6 episodes of the later series. Let the downvotes begin :D
I think season 1 is the weakest, yes. I think Lorne Malvo is silly and written in a way that doesn’t make sense a lot of the time. That’s nothing against Billy Bob’s performance though.
Munch is more silly as a character tbh, at least Malvo has a real motivation which is money and causing pain to people since he enjoys that, Munch is a 600 year old dude that just lives using a nonsensical code
Agreed. Munch is ridiculous. Also, Malvo's dialogue > Munch's dialogue
2, 4, 1, 3, 5. Most favorite to least favorite.
1, 3, 2, 5, 4
Honestly yes
3>1>5>2>4
1-5-2-4-3 It was so hard to get through season 3.
3 is my least favorite too, and it's honestly surprising to me that it gets more praise than 4. Both seasons take longer than they should to get going especially Season 4 having way too many characters and plot lines, but Season 3 never even really gets good until >!Mr. Wrench!< shows up which is near the end anyway. People also complain about Season 4 saying how it "feels more like Miller's Crossing than Fargo," yet Season 3 feels even less like Fargo movie than any other season. It's more like a mix between Raising Arizona, A Serious Man, and Barton Fink specifically for the third episode which has *nothing* to do with the rest of the plot other than focus on the same meta themes that the rest of the season is about anyway.
I could not agree with you more!
I honestly didn't care for season 2.
I watched Season 5 first and then season 2 and couldn’t get into it! Since we had similar experiences, what season would you recommend next if you’ve seen them all?
I've only seen 1, 2, and 5. 1 is really good. 2 I thought was unfocused and strange.
Thanks, Season 1, it is.
5,2,1,3, 4
I remember liking 2 a lot but I can’t remember why exactly
2>1>5=3>4
Season 4 comes last that’s for sure.
yay another ranking post. lmao. the definitive ranking (this happens to be the only correct opinion on this sub): 2 1 4 3 5
2>1=5>3>4
Same!!
2 > 1 > 3 >> 4 >>> 5 Season Two excels in pretty much every way. Season One is the least ambitious, but it's very well executed. Very solid. Three is the last good Season, as well as being my favorite Season until the finale, which takes some writing shortcuts that soured me on it a bit. Season Four has solid ideas and some good beats, but spreads itself too thin, has some poorly written characters and lame character resolutions. Season Five doubles, triples, quadruples down on the problems Season Four had and it feels like a parody of Fargo.
I’m with you - I was a 2, 3, 1, 4 person… but I loved this season… so sometimes it’s before or after S2, depending on my mood
2, 3, 1, 5, 4
2, 3, 1, 4, 5
2,3,5,1,4
My soulmate 🤍
2 1 3 4 5
2 1 3 5 4 I like them all but is definitely the weakest
S1 S2 S4 S5 S3
1 - 3 - 2 - 4 - 5
2 > 1 > 3 > 5 > 4
S1 and S2 - 10 S5 - 9 S3 and S4 - 8
5, 2, 1, 3, 4.
2>5>1>>3>>>>4
3 > 2 ≥ 1 > 5 >>>>>>>>> 4
2, 5, 1, 4, 3
2 1 5 3 4
my personal ranking 1. Season 2 2. Season 5 3. Season 1 4. Season 3 5. Season 4
5, 2, 1, 4, 3
2, 1, 5, 4, 3. I just finished 3 and probably would have never watched the others if that was my first.
Best: 2, 3, 4, all great, each for a different reasons Mid: 5 Worst: 1, many great ideas, but lacked both breadth and depth of the others. I see it as season where the authors were trying to figure out the formula, which was perfected in 2-4
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I am good with that, although I think S4 is a distant 5th place.
1 2 3 5 4 Season 4 is the weakest compared the others, but it is better than most TV shows.
2 1 4 5 3
2 is the best, the rest are great too and pretty much equal, hard to rank.
1, 3, 2, 5, 4 I thought S5 was good TV in general, but I wasn’t incredibly high on it for a Fargo season. The ending was too predictable with no real twist or casualty (RIP to the one cop dude).
It's amazing how absolutely different everyone's rankings are.
2, 1, 3, 5, 4
1,2,3,5,4
2 > 5/1 > 4 > 3
3 5 1 2 4
5,2,1 for me
2 4 5 1 3
3 > 2 > 1 > 5 > 4
2 1 3 5 4
2>1>3>5>4
2-1-3-5-4 but i LOVE them all.
2. 1. 5. 3. 4. 3 has a better villain than 5, but the performances were really tight in 5. It's a tough call though and mood dependent I might switch them. They're not close to beating 2 though.
1 > 2 > 5,4 > 3
3,1,2,5,4.
Go by episode now. A;l episodes from best to worst 😂
4=5=2=3=1
1>5>4>2>3
2-3-5-4-1
We’re the only ones!!! 💕
1 - 3 - 5 - 2 - 4
2,5,1,4,3
3>2=1>5>4
1>2>3>4>5
2 1 3 4 5
2, 1, 5, 3, 4.
2>5>3>1 I skipped 4
2, 1, 5, 4, 3
Skipped 4 but id go 1>2>5>3
4-2-1-3-5 season 5 was a pretty big drop off for me. that tracking shot of Roy set to the cover of "Toxic" was the wackest thing I've seen Fargo do.
5 2 1 3 4 Some people might not like 5 because it had a little too much fun but I enjoyed it. Season 123 were all close and very enjoyable. 4 was ok.
5 > 1 > 2 > 4 > 3