FX’s “Fargo” has racked up quite the body count over its 10-episode run, and Tuesday night’s finale was no exception — killing off the sinister drifter Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) and mild-mannered insurance agent Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman).
And while our two bad guys meeting their ends wasn’t shocking — you could feel the noose tightening on them for weeks — the way each perished was satisfying to fans invested in their drawn-out cat-and-mouse game.
Indeed, since this drama was a closed-ended series, all the “Fargo” characters got endings to their stories, happy or otherwise. Here’s a look at the finale’s five best moments.
Gus takes down Malvo
Meek mailman Gus (Colin Hanks) gets a chance to redeem himself when he follows a hunch and tracks down Malvo’s hideout in the woods. He goes inside and waits, then ambushes an injured Malvo, whose leg gets caught in a bear trap at Lester’s house. Without hesitating, Gus shoots him five times, killing him and earning a citation for bravery.
Lester meets an icy end
With Malvo’s tape recordings implicating Lester for the murder of the latter’s first wife Pearl, Lester is on the run from authorities, who finally track him down two weeks later on a snowmobile in Glacier National Park in Montana. Panicked, Lester attempts to escape on foot over thin ice before he falls through and drowns. A fitting end for the selfish criminal.
Bill gets serious
Bemidji police chief Bill Oswalt (Bob Odenkirk) spent most of this season shooting down Molly’s (Allison Tolman) theories on Lester and Malvo, a clueless comic foil to the dark crime drama. But he turns introspective in the finale, remarking candidly on the state of humanity and announcing he’s quitting the force: “Don’t got the stomach for it. Not like some. Wearing the badge, seeing the lengths people are capable of, the inhumanity. Whatever happened to saying good morning to your neighbors and shoveling their walk and bringing in each other’s toters?”
Molly becomes police chief
Sidelined from the final pursuit of Lester and Malvo at the request of her husband Gus (who stresses he can’t take his daughter Greta (Joey King) to another funeral), Molly still gets a win in the finale. In his crisis of conscience, Bill finally recognizes that Molly is the better cop and tells her to take over the job of chief when she gets back from maternity leave.
Malvo kills Key & Peele
While the hilarious Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele meeting an untimely end was tragic, they get an honorable mention on this list for killing it in their roles as bumbling FBI agents Budge and Pepper. In their final scene, the duo drives Lester home from the station after questioning, then keep lookout for Malvo. When a car pulls into the driveway, they approach with guns, but it’s too late — Malvo ambushes them from behind and kills them both.