Fargo Review: Camp Elegance (Season 4 Episode 6)
This is another lackluster episode of the series even as Fargo Season 4 Episode 6, “Camp Elegance,” delivers some major plot development, and characters make some important choices.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that “Camp Elegance” is a boring episode. Plenty of big things happen and there is certainly enough action to keep things moving along at a steady pace.
Rabbi saves Loy’s son and effectively breaks with the Faddas, Loy kidnaps Gaetano in retribution for Doctor Senator’s murder, and Oraetta finds out about Ethelrida’s letter to her boss even though she doesn’t yet know who wrote it.
It should be an exciting episode as we enter the backend of the season and build to the inevitable climax of the Cannon-Fadda conflict, but it’s not. It has all the components from a plot perspective but doesn’t have the same tension and intrigue of the earlier episodes.
The problem is it’s getting harder to care about the characters as the season progresses and it fails to deliver on their potential set up in the season premiere.
Fargo Season 4 Episode 1, “Welcome to the Alternate Economy,” introduces a cast of intriguing characters that hint at layers to be revealed, and complexity that would make a familiar story about rival crime families more interesting.
Yet, as the season reaches the halfway point it seems that there isn’t more beneath the surface than what we first see on “Welcome to the Alternate Economy.”
Except for Loy Cannon, the entire Cannon syndicate remains woefully underwritten, especially after Doctor Senator’s death on Fargo Season 4 Episode 5, “The Birthplace of Civilization,” It’s hard to care much about any of them when they feel interchangeable.
Even Loy is rather shallow considering he is one of the main characters and the entire focus of the Cannon syndicate. We really don’t know any more about him after 6 episodes than we did when we first met him and that’s a problem.
It’s a problem for a lot of the central characters. Even Oraetta’s schtick is starting to feel stale as they continue to rely on her weirdness to make her interesting rather than expand her story in any meaningful way.
At least for the Cannons and characters like Oraetta, there is still time for them to become more interesting. We may well get stories about the underwritten characters that flesh them out and make us care.
We still have half a season left and there is plenty of opportunities to tell an ultimately satisfying story about them even if they get there a little too slowly.
That seems to be less and less the case for the Faddas.
Unlike the Cannons, the Faddas don’t just blend interchangeably. Worse, they get more boring the more we get to know them. Except for Rabbi who, after saving Loy’s son, probably can’t even be considered a part of the Fadda crew anymore. The entire Fadda family lacks any real depth or nuance.
This is most frustratingly true of Josto and Gaetano, who are not only boring but apparently rather dumb. Early on in the season, it seemed as though Gaetano would be the dumb force of chaos to Josto’s more strategic, reasoned approach.
As it turns out the brothers aren’t actually that different.
Josto may not be as volatile as Gaetano but his decisions seem just as rash and emotionally driven as his brother’s. Gaetano is driven by a sort of disturbed bloodlust and aggression, while Josto is driven by ego and impatience.
However, the result is the same — short-sighted decisions that escalate the situation unnecessarily.
The case and point for Josto is the order to kill Loy’s son. What purpose does that serve, what advantage does that give them? The only thing killing Satchel would do is remove the last piece of leverage they have over the Cannons and put his own brother in danger.
Similarly, what is the point of directly defying the syndicate’s higher-ups in New York by provoking the Cannons when he is told to do the opposite? Everything he does is impulsive and reactionary and it stopped being interesting three episodes ago.
There are a few bright spots on “Camp Elegance” that offer some interesting directions the rest of the season could go.
Characters like Zelmare, Swanee, Rabbi, and even Dibrell are still engaging enough to make continuing with the season worthwhile but not enough to make “Camp Elegance” anything more than underwhelming.
What did you think of this episode of Fargo? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Fargo airs Sundays at 10/9c on FX.
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Sarah Fields
Sarah is an obsessive geek who likes to get into the weeds and over think things. She is passionate about Sci-Fi and comics and is a giant classic film nerd. Sarah cares deeply about media representation and the power of telling diverse stories. When she's not writing or watching her favorite shows she spends her days working in the non-profit world trying to make life a little better for those that need some extra help.