The final episode of season five of Fargo begins with Gator attempting to find a safe spot to travel in a wintry, snow-covered environment. He reaches out and stumbles inside the dugout house after feeling its wood door.
The conclusion of Fargo season 5 concludes all of the current storylines, including Dot Lyon’s struggle to break free from Sheriff Roy Tillman’s grip. A Midwestern housewife is kidnapped from her home in a convoluted criminal scheme orchestrated by her husband, setting up a scene akin to that of the first Coen brothers film in the opening moments of Fargo season 5.
Due to this botched kidnapping, Dot, who was once known as Nadine, and her abusive former partner, Sheriff Tillman, were once again at odds. The final episode of Fargo’s fifth season brought together all of the storylines.
Ole Munch persisted in his vengeance-seeking ways, Dot fled his barn to fight back, and a military convoy arrived at Roy’s ranch to bring him to court. In a very surprising fashion, “Bisquik,” the tenth episode of Fargo season five, brought all those plots to a close.
Recap
Odin Little is sitting on the porch when Roy approaches. He starts to chastise Roy, even getting up to confront him. With his back to him, Roy stands. Roy swivels around, knife in hand, severing Odin’s throat as Odin grips his shoulder.
Karen emerges around the porch’s corner as Odin begins to bleed out. She turns and runs after realizing what has transpired. Roy chases after her, but Dot is waiting for him with a shotgun, so he shoots him in the stomach as Roy reaches the corner.
She moves to kill him, but as she pulls the trigger, Witt Far and the FBI surround the porch. Dot cries that she is the hostage and lifts the gun. Roy uses the distraction as an excuse to get to his feet and hobble away.
A gunfight breaks out between the police and the militia after the shooting on the porch. Roy uses the dugout home as a haven. As Witt tracks his blood path through the snow, Roy, regrettably, is there and stabs Witt in the chest. Witt passes away on the dugout floor.
As Roy tries to flee down the tunnel, a tactical squad apprehends him because they are waiting for him there. Roy is told by Agents Joaquin and Meyer that Gator turned him over. Dot notices Gator as she is being escorted to an ambulance. They are traumatized, yet they are still connected.
He sobs into Dot’s shoulder as she gives him an embrace. Dot says she will bring him cookies when Gator asks her to see him in jail. Dot is informed by Agent Meyer that Wayne was contacted to ensure Dot was alright. Dot wants to thank Witt, so she asks where he is. Agent Meyer gives a sombre shake of her head, signalling that Witt did not make it. Agent Meyer drives a shell-shocked Dot back to Scandia.
Ending Explained
In the season finale, the FBI succeeds in overthrowing Stark County’s constitutional sheriff, Roy, after a protracted battle. Roy initially looks like he could get away. Dot shoots him in the stomach with a shotgun blast, but the officers mistake her for one of his goons and she turns herself in.
Roy manages to get up among the chaos and finds a nearby tunnel that will lead him safely outside of his fortress. He is shocked to learn, though, that FBI officers are ready to take him into custody at the other end of the tunnel.
Lorraine summoned the cavalry to invade Roy’s property in the season’s penultimate episode. However, they arrived too quickly to be following Lorraine’s instructions alone. Roy concluded that someone in his operation had betrayed him because the FBI agents had already left to take him out when they received Lorraine’s call. Agents Meyer and Joaquin look down on Roy as he is apprehended and taken into custody.
They take pride in having brought him to justice and, to cut a deep wound, they reveal who sold him out: Gator, his son. Gator is still chained, wearing a blindfold, and stuck in the snow at the start of the Fargo season 5 finale, having been abandoned by his angry father in the penultimate episode.
As Roy’s devoted right-hand man, Gator has carried out all of Roy’s requests during the season. However, Roy’s lack of appreciation for his son’s achievements is often demonstrated. When Gator finally had enough of his maltreatment and realized that no matter what he tried, his dad would never show him the love and affection he craved, he handed his dad over to the FBI.
After a conflict broke out between Roy’s militia and the FBI convoy seeking justice in the previous episode, the Fargo season 5 finale resumes where it left off. In an attempt to avoid being seen by the FBI investigators, Roy runs into his father-in-law. In this week’s episode, Roy’s father-in-law is still making fun of and demeaning Roy, even though he started to doubt Roy’s authority last week.
Ultimately, Roy cuts his father-in-law’s throat in cold blood after growing tired of his arrogance. Though not the last, Roy’s father-in-law is the first significant figure to perish in this conflict. Witt Farr pursues Roy to his underground passage, where he intends to make his getaway from the compound, after jumping on Dot to shield her from the gunshots of the FBI agents.
Roy slips up behind Witt, hiding behind the door as he enters the tunnel. After a little struggle, Roy throws his dagger at Witt. Witt attempts to shoot but fails, but Roy stabs Witt in the stomach, killing him. Later in the episode, Dot and Olmstead pay homage to Witt’s memory by going to his cemetery to mark a year since his valiant demise.
Following a year-long temporal leap, Roy is visited by Lorraine and Olmstead at a federal prison in Thompson, Illinois, where he is serving his sentence. Even if seeing Roy imprisoned would have been a satisfying kind of retaliation in and of itself, Lorraine goes over and beyond to truly make Roy pay for his misdeeds.
She admits that she is the largest contributor to the Federalist Society, which makes decisions about the legal system, including the appointment of judges. She also confesses that she has been using her power to keep Roy incarcerated by denying his appeals.
Furthermore, Lorraine has established a fund to assist “certain prisoners” whose debt is growing interest-bearing and forcing them to move away from their families while they are incarcerated. She utilizes this fund to support the cruellest, most vicious prisoners in Roy’s jail to win them over to her side in the dispute with Roy.
Because Lorraine wants Roy to experience the same kind of violence and fear that he inflicted upon his wife, these prisoners will ruthlessly beat Roy for the remainder of his term. When Dot and Scotty return home from the grocery shop in the last scene of Fargo season 5, they discover Ole Munch waiting in the living room.
Dot offers a kind speech about how “debts should be forgiven,” which causes Ole Munch to have a change of heart. He no longer feels as driven to exact revenge on “the tiger.” Ole Munch discovers he can finally put aside his narrow-minded desire for vengeance and recognize that there are many wonderful people in the world as he assists with supper and enjoys a delectable biscuit.
The fifth season of Fargo has revolved around the theme of debt and whether it should be forgiven or paid back. After leaving the marriage, Roy believed that Dot owed him a lifetime of matrimony. To force her to pay back this obligation, he hired kidnappers to her home, which set off the entire plot.
Lorraine brutally overcharges her debtors to maintain the prosperity of her debt-collecting agency. She utilizes her influence to persuade others to carry out her orders, such as assigning three Roy Tillmans to Stark County or appointing Olmstead as her director of security.
Roy owed Ole Munch for sulking on their agreement, and Dot owed him for killing his accomplice. For Ole Munch, repaying one of these debts equates to exacting revenge on one of his numerous adversaries. The lesson of the fifth season of Fargo is that while the debts of evil people—like Roy’s debt to society—should be paid, the debts of decent people ought to be pardoned. Following Dot’s gracious welcome and delectable dinner, Ole Munch experiences a Grinch-like epiphany and decides to forgive her.
