Although Netflix has worked hard to make itself synonymous with TV, Hulu might just have a deeper library of interesting, excellent TV. Not only does it have a deeper library, but Hulu also produces plenty of interesting shows in its own right.
Many of those shows come from a partnership with FX, which has been committed to making great shows for more than a decade. One of the early shows that helped to cement FX’s commitment to quality was Fargo, an off-the-wall, sideways adaptation of the Coen Brothers movie of the same name. Each season is a different spin on the setting and archetypes of that original movie, and every season is worth watching. Here’s why it’s worth checking out:
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It manages to draw incredible talent
Because Fargo is an anthology season, the cast swaps out every season. That low level of commitment allows the show to draw the kinds of actors that would likely never agree to be part of a longer time commitment.
Over the course of its many seasons, this show has featured actors like Jon Hamm, Kirsten Dunst, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Chris Rock, and Jessie Buckley. Each of these actors is a tremendous talent, but the show’s flexible format allows most of them to play outside of their normal type in fascinating, compelling ways.
Each season is funny and contemplative
One of the dangers of riffing on a movie like Fargo is that the original document is pretty close to perfect. Why take on the effect of another piece of culture if there’s basically no way you can improve upon it?
And while it’s hard to say any individual season is better than the movie, each season of Fargo is just as funny, offbeat, and contemplative as the movie that birthed it. Each season is a fundamental meditation on good, evil, and suffering, and the show’s many characters are real, vulnerable people trying to make sense of a senseless world.
The show is unafraid of taking big swings
Not every big choice in Fargo works, but enough of them do that the series as a whole is a success. The show’s second season has a thread about aliens, Ewan McGregor plays twins in the third, and in the fifth, there’s an assassin who seems to be immortal.
Each one of those threads is, undeniably, a big swing, but part of what makes Fargo great is that it’s willing to try things. And, because the show reboots itself with every new season, the decisions that don’t ultimately work don’t stick around indefinitely.
Stream Fargo on Hulu.
