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Let’s Talk About Ole Munch’s Last Bite


Fargo presses kindness upon its Anton Chigurh analogue in the form of a biscuit.

As in previous seasons of the FX anthology series, showrunner Noah Hawley sprinkled various nods to Coen brothers’ creations and conventions in this fifth go-round inspired by their 1996 film, and Munch initially felt like a spin on Javier Bardem’s villain from No Country for Old Men, a figure who exists outside of time and society’s rules. Munch is a collection of contrasts: violence incarnate in his church-lady outfit of cardigan sweater and midi wool skirt; a pillar of honor even as he kills off Sheriff Roy Tillman’s henchmen and then blinds his son, Gator; a man who fuels himself with both pancakes and pages ripped from the Bible. His very existence is sensational, and Fargo treats him both like an aberration (unsettling musical cues from The Shining playing as he lounges in a room bathed in harsh red lighting; his ritualistic trespass upon Roy’s home while smeared in blood and mud) and like someone with a code so pure that it’s nearly sacred (punishing Gator for killing Irma and fleeing the scene; defending Dot against an unfair number of attackers).

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