[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Fargo Year 5, Episode 6, “The Tender Trap.”]
In the latest episode of Fargo, “The Tender Trap,” the Debt Queen of the Midwest, Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh), threw her power around but was also rightly humbled by passionate Scandia cop Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani) regarding her daughter-in-law Dot (Juno Temple) who has been on the lamb since the previous installment.
Getting into a political dispute with self-righteous North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm), Lorraine is driven by her desire to win until Indira delivers her granddaughter Scotty (Sienna King) back home, along with a revealing file filled with photos depicting the abuse Dot was subjected to during her marriage to Roy. Asking Lorraine if she’s ever known Dot to claim herself as a victim, Indira pleads with the powerful woman to start caring.
Seeing something special in Indira, Lorraine offers the young woman a job, throwing her a metaphorical life raft out of debt and other aggravations. The offer surprises the cop, who needs to give the opportunity a think-through first, but the window for collaboration has been opened. Still, Lorraine’s reluctant to address the elephant in the room: Dot’s file.
(Credit: Michelle Faye/FX)
As the episode ends, viewers get a peek at what’s inside, which are various photos of Temple’s Dot bruised up and battered. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but Leigh tells TV Insider, “I think at that point [Lorraine] will do anything for her.” She goes on to add that it’s at this point Lorraine “Really sees what this woman has endured and what she’s been through and how much she loves her family, and she becomes part of that family.”
In other words, the mama tiger has been unleashed. If Episode 5 is any indication of what a mother tiger might do for her young, everyone better move out of Lorraine’s way. Particularly Roy, who has no idea what’s in store for him, according to series executive producer Warren Littlefield.
“Roy is absolutely confident in his power and his ability to continue to wield power, but on a personal level, he’s never gone up against the likes of Dot, and also, Lorraine wields money and power in a different way,” Littlefield notes. “And so that does escalate and I think you see from some of the trailers and the teasers this is going to be, in some sense, a classic western where it’s the showdown at O.K. Corral.”
On the road to confrontation, there’s still a journey to be had for Dot, who took off in one of her husband’s KIAs on the road to somewhere we have yet to see. “It makes sense when you get there,” Temple teases. “But it’s a pretty profound way of telling a difficult past and one that will [bring up] some really interesting topics to talk about.”
“I think you get very much inside of Dot and understand the trauma that she’s been through and why [Roy] can’t let her go,” Littlefield adds. “It’s very emotional.”
Fighting for Dot is Indira, whom Littlefield calls “a moral center for us. She is a compass as we try and navigate the complexity of this story, and somehow her compass stays true, and she rises above her personal problems to say, ‘I think my job is to protect Dot.’”
Whether or not she’ll take up Lorraine’s offer remains to be seen, but Moorjani says, “I think that she’s totally disenfranchised when she meets Lorraine, who kind of represents everything that’s antithetical to Indira — I mean, she’s the debt collector, and Indira is the one in debt. But then she ends up also offering her a way out of her situation. And I think that what’s so beautiful about these characters and this particular installment is it’s an incredibly female empowering season, and specifically with these three women,” Moorjani muses.
“I see them as three points of a triangle. We think they’re all on totally different journeys and have different points of view, but we see how much they need each other and how, throughout the season, they become more in alignment, and that’s how they collectively [they’ll be able to] reach their own salvation.”
Fans will have to wait and see what that salvation will look like as Year 5 unfolds. One thing’s for certain after this episode, we’re rooting for their victory.
Fargo, Year 5, New Episodes, Tuesdays, 10/9c, FX (Next day on Hulu)