Are we still in the modern Golden Age of Television? Now that we are years (if not decades) removed from many of the incredible series that have defined the era – like The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad – it's a question worthy of discussion. That being said, just because small screen quality overall presently isn't quite at the level of its previous heights doesn't mean that there aren't some phenomenal shows making all-time brilliant episodes. Earlier this month, the 2024 Emmys celebrated a number of excellent titles, like Succession, The Bear, and Beef... and if you're not watching Fargo Season 5, you're doing yourself a disservice. And if you don't want to take my word for it, take it from fiction legend Stephen King.
Fargo Season 5 aired its finale a couple of weeks ago, but the mind behind Carrie, The Shining, and Christine has been catching up recently, and he has clearly been floored by what he has been seeing. This weekend, Stephen King took to his personal Twitter account and shared with his followers a recommendation to catch up with the critically acclaimed crime series. He posted,
FARGO, Season 5: Who says peak TV is dead? This is amazing, offbeat, and riveting. Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh shine. Never seen anything quite like it.
Fargo has been away for a few years, with Season 4 having aired in the fall of 2020, and while that run is generally considered to be the weakest of the series thus far, the show has made a significant bounce back in terms of quality with Season 5. The latest story in the time-hopping anthology series takes place in 2019, and as acknowledged by Stephen King, the storytelling has been incredible, and the performances – particularly those by Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh – are special.
In the 10-episode season, Temple plays Dorothy "Dot" Lyon – a woman who seems like a stereotypical Midwestern housewife up until a couple of home invaders (Sam Spruell, Devon Bostick) break into her house and attempt to kidnap her. As it turns out, Dot's name is actually Nadine Tillman, and she has spent years on the run hiding from her ex-husband (Jon Hamm), a militia-minded, misogynistic, abusive psychopath who also happens to be the elected sheriff of Stark County, North Dakota. When Dot is able to skillfully escape her would-be abductors, the truth about who she is starts to leak out and turns her world upside down – including her relationship with her extremely wealthy, hard-nosed mother-in-law (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
Created by Noah Hawley, Fargo as a TV series very much functions as a love letter to the filmography of writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen, but a fun bit of trivia to mention here is that there actually is a great Stephen King connection featured in Season 5. In the third episode, titled "The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions," there is a scene featuring Sam Spruell's character lying in bed tuning into a police scanner, and the score is recognizable to King fans as "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" by Béla Bartók, which is memorably featured in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time that Stephen King has offered praise for Fargo, as he has been a fan of the show from the very beginning (in December 2014, he Tweeted that it was in the running for being the best show of the year). So, if you haven't been following his advice for the last nine years, what are you waiting for? Along with all of the previous episodes, Fargo Season 5 is available to be streamed in its entirety if you have a Hulu subscription or a Disney+ subscription. And if you're a Stephen King fan regularly looking for the latest updates about his books, adaptations and other developments, check out my column The King Beat, which goes live here on CinemaBlend every Thursday.
