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This may just be the closest that Fargo, the TV series, has ever gotten to feeling like a direct companion to Fargo, the movie. It's easy to write about how there's a direct correlation between the events of the movie and this episode that will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has it in their working memory, but what hammers it all home is one fundamental change. Season 4's gambit of taking Fargo out of Fargo met with mixed results, but so far, Season 5's eschewing of the period piece trappings that have made the last four seasons stand out among other contemporaries works surprisingly well... so far. If you loved Fargo for the period piece angle it's taken, I will say that it's best if you temper some of your expectations going into this. Otherwise, this is a fairly solid episode that manages to almost immediately offload Fargo's signature black humor without it feeling tacked on or obvious, and integrate it with a helpful serving of tension in the latter half.

Extra points for literally starting this series on one of my favorite Yes songs (the music nerd in me was SQUEALING). Extra-extra points for using the full version of that song, and not just the Single version that cuts off after the song's first half. And to top it all off, its use feels fairly natural and lends the opening scene of the episode a credence of absolute chaos-because, y'know, it's Fargo. It's only going to get crazier from here, folks.

Overall, very solid, and I'm looking forward to see what else is in stock.

There was a really weird moment in the second season of The Boys. Suddenly, the show went from high-stakes world-ending drama to the memories of one specific character. Do I remember what happened in these flashbacks? Not really. But I think you can chalk that up to execution rather than intention. The first season of The Boys was world-building, the second was world-building with some character interactions to the side, and now with the third, they've gone full-steam ahead on the character work. In my opinion, it's a smart direction to take the show in. They're never going to have the budget of an MCU movie, and even if they did, who would watch that for eight episodes? Part of what makes The Boys entertaining is that it's not like that. It's similar to a form of narrative punk rock, a defiance of the mainstream trends we've been seeing so much of lately. And it doesn't always nail the landing, but it does it with enough consistency for that to be its main selling-point.

I say all of this to hammer home the point that I get the disappointment that this episode has generated. All of the major world-altering stuff is fading into the background. It's there, but it's clear that the show is focusing its aim on something else. I personally don't mind it going in that direction, but if you fell in love with this show because the first two seasons were so laser-focused on the world they created, I can understand why you might think that nothing happened this season. Things did happen and their implications on where the show goes next could be massive. For those of us who like build-up and strong character dynamics, this season probably rocked. If you think having a whole season dedicated to both of this equates to little more than a filler arc, you do you.

I will say that I would prefer it if the show ended sooner rather than later. The issue I have with this finale is that those implications I mentioned could mean nothing if someone in the chain of command decides we need four more seasons. More of a great thing can be good sometimes, but occasionally, you get to the point where you have enough of a good thing and it keeps going for longer than it should. I really don't want that to happen to this show.