"The Six Ungraspables" is the fifth episode of the first season of the FX

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a di ...

Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...

''. The episode aired on May 13, 2014 in the United States on FX. It was written by series creator and showrunner

Noah Hawley Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

and directed by

Colin Bucksey Colin Bucksey is a British-born American film and television director. Career Since the 1970s, Bucksey has accumulated a number of credits in British TV, directing episodes of ''Crown Court'', ''Armchair Thriller'', '' Educating Marmalade'' an ...

. The title refers to the

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text=:ja:禅, 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a East Asian Buddhism, school of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Ch ...

kōan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Ja ...

known as The Six Ungraspables. In the episode,

Lester Nygaard Lester Nygaard is a fictional character in the first season of the FX television series ''Fargo'' and is portrayed by Martin Freeman, who received critical acclaim for his performance, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Glob ...

(

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most not ...

), trapped in a prison cell with the hitmen Mr. Wrench ( Russell Harvard) and Mr. Numbers (

Adam Goldberg Adam Charles Goldberg (born October 25, 1970) is an American character actor, filmmaker, musician, and photographer. Known for his supporting roles in film and television, Goldberg has appeared in films such as '' Dazed and Confused'', '' Saving ...

) after the events of the previous episode, finally reveals that the man the duo is after is

Lorne Malvo Lorne Malvo is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the first season of the FX television series ''Fargo''. He is portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton, who received critical acclaim for his performance and was nominated for a Primetime ...

(

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller '' One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, ...

). Meanwhile, Malvo, while continuing his scheme of blackmailing Stavros Milos (

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), ''Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), ''Executiv ...

), might be looking for revenge after Officer Gus Grimly (

Colin Hanks Colin Lewes Hanks (born November 24, 1977) is an American actor. He has starred in films including '' Orange County'', ''King Kong'', '' The House Bunny'', '' The Great Buck Howard'', and the '' Jumanji'' film series. His television credits inclu ...

) arrested him in the previous episode. "The Six Ungraspables" received critical acclaim, and was seen by 1.60 million viewers.

Plot

The episode starts with a flashback on how

obtained the gun which eventually was used by

to kill Vern Thurman during Lester's arrest at his own home. While in the present in jail, Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers obtain Malvo's name from Lester. They are released but Lester, whose hand has become severely infected after being hit by one of the shot gun pellets that Malvo fired at Thurman, is taken to the hospital.

Molly Solverson Molly Solverson is a fictional character in the FX television series ''Fargo''. One of the main characters of the first season, she is portrayed by Allison Tolman, who received critical acclaim for her performance, and was nominated for a Prim ...

rides in the ambulance and tries to get more information from Lester, though he is slightly delirious. She presents her evidence to Chief Oswalt, who is beginning to realize that all the recent events are related. With Stavros close to paying the blackmail demand, Malvo locks Chumph in his kitchen pantry overnight to prevent him from ruining the scheme. Malvo takes Stavros home and leaves. He spots Grimly parked by the road near the house and later follows Grimly to his home, but is confronted in his car by Grimly's neighbor. He threatens the neighbor before driving away.

Reception

Ratings

The episode was first aired in the US on FX on May 13, 2014 and obtained 1.60 million viewers. The show was aired in the UK on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

on May 18, 2014 and was seen by 1.0 million viewers.

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim. It currently holds a perfect 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'' writers Emily VanDerWerff and Zack Handlen gave the episode an ''A'' rating, saying "(...) this episode was immensely enjoyable, although some of that enjoyment was tempered for me by a very deep concern that Gus was about to get shot," followed by "It’s a good sign when a show can make you worry this much about someone so quickly." Another positive review came from

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

's Roth Cornet, who gave the episode an "amazing" rating of ''9.3/10'' and said "Midway through Fargo’s 10-episode run, the series at large is revealing itself to be an elaborate and gorgeously crafted grim parable in its own right."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Six Ungraspables, The 2014 American television episodes Fargo (TV series) episodes Television episodes written by Noah Hawley