I am yet to see a few other promising TV series that were broadcast this year, but I have no doubt that as good as they may be (and some are according to echoes so far), this 3rd season of ‘Fargo’ will still be among the best. The ten episodes continue to explore the universe of the mid-North United States which was first created in the Coen Brothers 1996 film although for the first time in the history of the film and series the story does not happen in Fargo, North Dakota but in Minnesota. No need to worry – the place is as cold, as white, as populated by frozen infinite landscapes as in the titular place, and the story is at the same time cool and disturbing, populated with a landscape of characters that confront good and bad and bring together the fantastic and macabre with the day-to-day America. The guidance of Ethan and Joel Coen who sign as producers of the seasons is felt in the coherence of world which is being brought to screen despite the different locations, characters and casting.
source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802850/
The good woman cop in the small town is now called Gloria Burgle (acted by Carrie Coon in a manner consistent with the previous similar characters in the series), she has now a teen-age son and is divorcing her husband who left her for a man. When her step-father is assassinated one of the murders taking place in the area becomes personal. The bad guys are divided on different levels of evil. We have the local businessmen with their local conflicts and misdemeanors. We have the corrupt parole officer who sins into falling in love with one of his parolees (acted by the beautiful and amazing actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and from here on things can only spiral down. And the the top of the scale of evil we have the agent of the mob trying to launder many millions of dollars while taking over local businesses, The performance of David Thewlis in this role is fantastic, it’s one of these role and faces which one will never forget, and will probably never encounter again because the role is all composition. The quartet of exquisite acting performances is completed by Ewan McGregor who acts two brothers who are so different in character that it took me reaching the 3rd or 4th episode to realize the same actor is playing both. It is very seldom that such a level of acting happens in TV series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-5HwIR7hM
(video source Trailers Promos Teasers)
A lot can be written (some was already written) about the action, how it is constructed, how much role the coincidences play, whether there are big holes in the story, continuity problems or gaffes, or whether some of the shorter (the East Berlin opening, the Holocaust survivor intrusion) or longer (the full episode about the comics SF writer grandpa) side stories add value or distract the attention. In my opinion most of the material that was criticized was intentionally made as it appears on screen. Have really the stories described in the season happened in reality, as claimed at the beginning of each episode? I doubt. They are not that much credible in details, but they are true to the world of the Coens. Life is complicated, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, many times scare, we do not understand all that happens around us. So is the universe created on screen by the Coen brothers in the original movie and continued by the TV series. I love it as it is because I love life.