Season 3, Episode 3: ‘The Law of Non-Contradiction’

The Mike Yanagita scene in the original “Fargo” is one of the most talked-about in the Coen brothers’ oeuvre, in part because it’s the one scene, in an otherwise airtight and intricate thriller, that isn’t critical to moving the action forward. (The other reason it’s brought up is to criticize the Coens for their condescension, but that’s not pertinent here.) The scene involves the police chief Marge Gunderson, who meets Yanagita, an old high school acquaintance, for a drink while she’s in Minneapolis investigating some bloody “malfeasance” in Brainerd, Minn. It’s an awkward encounter, in which Mike tearfully confesses his loneliness since the death of his wife and attempts to sidle up to Marge in a booth seat. Later, Marge learns that Mike’s wife is not dead — and that, in fact, he never had a wife at all.

There’s a lot to unpack in the scene, including Marge’s motives for getting dressed up and meeting another man in a hotel bar, but it’s a critical turning point in the film. Immediately after Mike’s lies are revealed, Marge returns to question Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) a second time and the film heads into its third act. Although Marge understands the basic parameters of the triple homicide she’s investigating, it took her meeting with Mike to change her thinking about the human capacity to deceive. Here was a guy from her hometown — the type of place where everybody keeps the front doors unlocked — and his lies shake her presumption of decency.

This week’s episode is basically an hourlong Mike Yanagita scene. Gloria Burgle travels from Eden Valley to Los Angeles to investigate her dead stepfather’s past and comes away with no pertinent information on the case. We know that she’s spending a few days on a red herring, because the important Stussy is not poor old Ennis, who just happened to adopt the wrong last name; it’s Ray, the Parking Lot King of Minnesota. The entire episode breaks off from Ray and Emmit Stussy, from Nikki Swango and V. M. Varga and all the characters who will figure into the main investigation once it gets back on track. For now, it’s all about Gloria. Like Marge Gunderson, she’s learning about secrets and lies and then coming back to her own town with unlocked doors, bringing with her a keener sense of the possibilities.

It also takes impressive swagger for the show to spend an entire episode chasing a red herring, especially so early in the season. For those struggling to get a handle on the plotting — or others, like me, struggling to get a handle on the purpose — this week’s episode risks alienating a swath of its audience. But the gamble pays off tremendously. We needed some time to get to know Gloria, who had been marginalized by all the “unfathomable pinhead-ery” she’ll need to investigate. And it’s nice to have a change of scenery after one film and two seasons in the upper Midwest. With any luck, the show will return refreshed and re-energized, like coming home from a nice vacation.