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    ‘Fargo’ Season 4, Episode 6 Recap: Blood for Blood

    Season 4, Episode 6: ‘Camp Elegance’Gaetano is ready for his beating.Kidnapped, bloodied and tied to a chair, having been shot point blank in the head and survived, the Italian brute laughs at the pain that awaits him. This is the machismo we’ve come to expect from him, which has stood him in stark contrast to his diminutive brother, who is characterized by a fumbling pragmatism. And yet before Gaetano gets worked over by a shadowboxing henchmen, he first has to listen to a Loy Cannon monologue about Sugar Ray Robinson. To him, this is the real torture.I can sympathize.As a continuing homage to the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, “Fargo” has gamely attempted to mimic the verbosity of the Coens’s scripts, which themselves evoke a bygone era of Hollywood patter. The wit and musicality of their dialogue is the hardest thing for a non-Coen to simulate — they have almost no contemporary equals in that department — but patterns of speech are a key element, too, with plenty of variance between big speeches and rat-a-tat exchanges. It never feels predictable.In the TV “Fargo,” and in episodes like this week’s especially, the long windup before characters finally get to the point can be exasperating. It’s not enough for Loy merely to beat Gaetano for information. He has to talk about a legendary boxer first. It’s also not enough for Loy to turn Odis from adversary to asset. He has to analogize owning figurines to owning human beings first. It’s not enough for a trigger man to take Satchel “for a ride.” He has to reflect on the American experience first.And so on. The problem isn’t so much the monologues themselves — though the figurine analogy is absolutely terrible — but the predictability of deploying them. When the audience can see a speech coming, it’s no different than being a mile ahead of the plot. Worse still, it throws the brakes on a conflict that’s been escalating steadily and is on the verge of busting out into the open. It plays against the show’s long-running strength for spinning a good yarn.Another spool’s worth of yarn gets spun on this episode, which focuses mostly on the Loy’s urgent need to retaliate after Doctor Senator’s death. Josto isn’t the shrewdest capo, but he realizes the significance of the moment. It’s the bell that can’t be un-rung. In the funniest scene of the episode, his consigliere sits down to deliver a two-point message from the bosses in New York: First, he has two weeks to “fix things” with Loy. Second, he has to make things right with his brother. The second point gets delivered immediately after he learns that Gaetano is probably dead. Setup, punchline.On his end, Loy wants to have his revenge but doesn’t feel he has to sacrifice his own men to do it. He directs Zelmare and Swanee to bring Gaetano to him alive, which they do through a miraculously not-fatal gunshot, and he strong-arms Odis into taking Satchel from the Faddas’ compound. (The latter is such an obviously terrible plan that it’s surprising Loy would dream of it, especially with his son’s life at stake.) As Deafy watches from afar, Odis pin-balls from one side to the other, a hapless tool of two mob outfits that think they have a lawman in their pocket.Under orders from Josto, who’s ready to dispose of the Cannon syndicate’s collateral, a henchman reluctantly drives Satchel to an abandoned camp, echoing the celebrated sequence in “Miller’s Crossing” in which Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) takes his mistress’s brother, Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), into the forest for a hit. Satchel doesn’t beg for his life like Bernie — he doesn’t realize his life is in danger — but there’s evidence that the henchman, like Tom, may not have the will to go through with it. We’ll never know, because Milligan shoots the man first.It’s here that the episode lands on a grace note, as Milligan defies the Faddas in defense of another son orphaned for the family business.“I never got to choose,” Milligan tells Satchel. “A child soldier, that’s what they made me.”So here’s Milligan, the Irishman once lent to an Italian family, coming to the aid of a Black boy lent out to the same clan. Milligan’s use of the word “choose” is telling: Americans are supposed to choose their destinies, and that’s a value that he’s chosen to fight for now on behalf of himself and a boy of a different race and a younger generation. There’s hope in that gesture, and it takes little pontificating to express it.3 Cent StampsOne big Coen moment, aside from the “Miller’s Crossing” reference: the man popping out from behind a shower curtain to abduct Odis, a nod to Jean Lundegaard’s kidnapping in the film “Fargo.” (The slapstick amateurishness of the operation, such a signature Coen touch in the film, is not in evidence here.)Two smaller Coen moments for the price of one: The darkening of the Gaetano’s doorstep mirrors Anton Chigurh’s showdown with Llewelyn Moss in “No Country for Old Men” and the bursts of light that stream into the room when he shoots through the door are straight out of “Blood Simple.”Surely there will be a point when Odis’s O.C.D. comes into play, right? And it’s not merely a character tic?Surely there will be a point when Oraetta’s role in the larger narrative is clarified, right? For now, she has easily deflected Ethelrida’s attempts to expose her. To quote Omar from “The Wire,” “You come at the king, you best not miss.” More

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    in Theater

    ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and ‘Leopoldstadt’ Pick Up Olivier Awards

    LONDON — “Dear Evan Hansen,” the hit musical about an anxious teenager who takes advantage of a fateful encounter with a schoolmate, was one of the big winners at the Olivier Awards on Sunday.It took home three Oliviers, the British equivalent of the Tony Awards, including best new musical for its production at the Noël Coward Theater and best actor in a musical for Sam Tutty, for his widely praised performance in the lead role, his West End debut. The Oliviers are normally awarded each April in a lavish ceremony at Royal Albert Hall in London, but this year the event was delayed because of the pandemic, and most of the event was prerecorded.“Dear Evan Hansen” was not the only production to win three awards. “& Juliet,” a jukebox musical that uses chart-topping hits by Britney Spears and Ariana Grande to retell “Romeo & Juliet” also won three awards, as did “Emilia” at the Vaudeville Theater, a romp about the life of Emilia Bassano, one of Britain’s first female poets. It was honored for best entertainment or comedy, best sound design and best costume design.Despite those big successes, this year’s Oliviers were notable for the variety of winners. “Leopoldstadt,” Tom Stoppard’s play about Jewish life in mid-20th-century Vienna, won for best new play. “This may be the Stoppard play for people who don’t normally cotton to Stoppard,” wrote Ben Brantley, in a laudatory review for The New York Times when the show opened in January. It had to shutter just two months later because of the coronavirus.A perhaps more surprising winner was “Cyrano de Bergerac” at the Playhouse Theater, named best revival ahead of Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell’s “Death of a Salesman.” That play, starring Wendell Pierce as Willy Loman, received five nominations in March.In the end, it only secured two awards, with Elliott and Cromwell winning best director for a production that brought race into the heart of Arthur Miller’s play, and Sharon D. Clarke winning best actress for her performance as Linda, Willy’s wife. Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, called Clarke’s portrayal “magnificent.” She “transforms a character often portrayed as a whimpering doormat into a strong, self-aware woman who knows the choices she has made and is determined to honor them,” he wrote.Other notable winners included Andrew Scott, who took home the best actor award for his performance as a self-obsessed actor in Noël Coward’s “Present Laughter” at the Old Vic. “He does not so much play the part of the vainglorious actor Garry Essendine as grasp it around the waist and do a hot-to-trot tango with it,” Ann Treneman wrote of Scott in a review for The Times of London. “His panache fills the entire theater.”The Oliviers came at a hopeful moment for audiences in London. On Wednesday, the National Theater reopened for its first production since the coronavirus forced its closure in March. “Death of England: Delroy,” a one-man show about a Black man examining his British identity, is being performed to a socially-distanced audience wearing face masks. Several West End productions are also scheduled to return in coming weeks under the same conditions, including “Six,” the hit musical about the ill-fated wives of King Henry VIII. But coronavirus cases are soaring in Britain, which could change the outlook for performances. On Sunday, Italy’s government closed theaters, concert halls and movie theaters until Nov. 24 because of rising cases. In France, theaters are having to start shows in the early evening because of a 9 p.m. curfew.The pandemic was referenced during the Olivier ceremony. “Those of us who believe in the theater also believe in its resilience,” said Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in a prerecorded speech. “Please remain resilient,” she added: “We need you, and we’ve missed you.” More

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    in Television

    ‘S.N.L.’ Spoofs the Final Debate and Adele Sings (a Little)

    Adele hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and to answer your most pressing question: Yes, she did sing, briefly, though H.E.R. was officially the musical guest. But first, there was a parody of Thursday’s second and final presidential debate to get through.The debate sketch, which opened the show, began with Maya Rudolph, its resident Kamala Harris impersonator, this time playing the moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News.She explained, “Tonight we have a mute button, because it was either that or tranquilizer darts and the president has a very high tolerance for those after his Covid treatment.”Onto the stage came Alec Baldwin as President Trump and Jim Carrey as Joseph R. Biden Jr. “How’s this mute button work?” Carrey asked. “Do I just haul off and slap him in the mouth?”Rudolph replied, “It’s not connected to anything but I will push it.”Baldwin, who was given an introductory question about managing the coronavirus crisis, responded, “What a nice question, thank you, Hoda. Can I just say you’re really doing a great job?” He added, “No, really, you’re taking really good care of us tonight. Now, could you just tell us about the special, please?”Baldwin repeated Trump’s now-familiar line that the country is “rounding the corner” on coronavirus. “In fact,” Baldwin said, “we’ve rounded so many corners, we’ve gone all the way around the block and we’re back where we started in March.”Indicating Carrey, Baldwin said, “If he was in charge, we’d all be in our basements and that’s where the haunted Annabelle doll lives. A lot of people are saying that’s a very scary doll.” He added that “we can’t spend all day in the basement, because we’re all not rich like Joe, with all the money he got from China.”Carrey responded, “Look at me. Do I look remotely rich? If I have money, where am I spending it? I live in Delaware. A night out is $28.” If he had an extra $3 million, Carrey said, “I’d be pulling up to the Capitol in a candy-red Trans Am with Kenny Loggins playing in the back. Not a recording — the real Kenny Loggins.”Baldwin said he could not reveal his coronavirus response plan because it was under audit, adding, “If you don’t believe me, you can talk to my lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.”The camera cut to Kate McKinnon as Giuliani, with her back to the audience, making an obscured but vigorous gesture. As she turned around, she revealed that she was rubbing her stomach. “It’s not what it looks like,” McKinnon said, adding: “Is this another ‘Borat’? You’ve got to tell me if it’s a ‘Borat.’”Finally, the two candidates were asked what they would say to people who did not vote for them. Baldwin replied, “If they didn’t vote for me, I guess I’d say, ‘Hola.’”Carrey said, “You know who he is and you know who I am. I’m good ol’ Joe. I’m reliable as a rock. I’ve got a five-star safety rating and I’m ranked best in midsize in my class by J.D. Power and Associates. I don’t have a golden toilet seat. I have a soft, spongy one that hisses whenever I park my keister.”‘Bachelor’ Parody of the WeekIn her opening monologue, Adele explained that she didn’t want to be both host and musical guest, saying that she would rather “just put on some wigs” and “have a glass of wine or six and just see what happens.” Nonetheless, “S.N.L.” found a not-so-subtle way to get her to perform selections from a few of her best-known songs in this sendup of “The Bachelor,” which cast Adele as one of its contestants.“I’m here because I’ve had a lot of heartbreak in my life,” she said at the start of the sketch. “First at 19, and then, sort of famously at 21, and then even more famously at 25.”Desperately vying for a bland romantic interest (Beck Bennett), Adele sang him excerpts from “When We Were Young,” “Hello” and “Rolling in the Deep,” then concluded with a spirited portion of “Someone Like You.” As the sketch ended, Adele said, “Catch me next week on ‘Love Island.’”Political Ad of the WeekThis filmed segment starts off like any number of other political commercials rotating endlessly in the run-up to Election Day, with the “S.N.L.” cast members playing seemingly everyday Americans explaining why they’re voting for Biden and against Trump. But, these people explain, they’re also worried. Because, as Ego Nwodim asks, if Biden wins, “then what are we going to talk about?”Pete Davidson adds, “The only thing I talked about for four years is Donald Trump.” Another voter played by Melissa Villaseñor says, “My entire personality is hating Donald Trump. If he’s gone, what am I supposed to do, focus on my kids again? No thanks.”Kenan Thompson says, “I am really worried for Rachel Maddow. Like, what is she even going to talk about?” (Following the commercial — paid for by the fictional Trump Addicts of America — the real-life Maddow tweeted, “I’ll be fine! I swear!”)Weekend Update Jokes of the WeekAt the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on the final presidential debate.Jost began:Well, the final presidential debate took place on Thursday and the actual CNN headline after was, “Trump Behaved More Like Regular Person.” That’s not a description of a president. It’s like a description of a robot from “Westworld.” This debate was so frustrating to watch. Did anyone else find themselves yelling lines at the screen that they wished Biden had said? Like when Trump talked about how good he’s been for the stock market, I was like, Joe, the stock market when you were Vice President went up four times higher than Trump’s stock market. You have the ball, you’re standing above the rim. Why will you not dunk it? Or when Trump said that Biden is all talk and no action, why didn’t Biden just say, “Bitch, show us your taxes, show us the vaccine, show us the wall and show us what prison you locked Hillary in”? Really, it was like Biden had an open field, running for a touchdown and then this happened: [plays video of New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones tripping in Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles]Che continued:Trump claimed that he was the least racist person in the room. Which is only something the most racist person in the room would say. You never hear Martin Luther King going, “I’m the least racist.” Nobody’s expecting you to be the least racist. I’d just settle for not-so-racist anymore. When you lie that big, it makes you look more guilty. Like when my uncle told me he doesn’t get high anymore, while he was holding my TV.Questionable Tourism Ad of the WeekWe can’t say we endorse this fake ad, which rests on the uneasy premise that Adele, McKinnon and Heidi Gardner are women who have traveled to Africa in search of men who will help them get over their divorces. (That’s already elicited a fair share of discomfort on social media.)But we include it here for the sake of completeness and for the sight of Adele repeatedly breaking character, which at least gives the sketch some moments of pleasant awkwardness. More

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    in Theater

    Attend a Black-Tie Gala From Your Living Room

    It’s gala season, when nonprofit organizations host their biggest fund-raising events of the year. Many of those events have been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, but others have moved online and are open to those who don’t have $1,000 or more for a table (donations are strongly encouraged).The Public Theater’s free virtual eventlast week featured a long list of stars, including Meryl Streep and Alicia Keys. And a benefit for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation earlier this month gathered celebrities such as George Clooney, Jay Leno and Jane Fonda. Here are some star-studded fund-raisers you can attend from your couch this season.#FightLyme With Avril & FriendsOn Oct. 24, the singer Avril Lavigne will perform during this virtual benefit concert to shed light on Lyme disease, which she contracted in 2014. Organized by the Global Lyme Alliance, a nonprofit that works to eradicate the disease, and the Avril Lavigne Foundation, the show will also feature performances by the band OneRepublic and the singer Rob Thomas. The broadcasts begins at 8 p.m. Eastern; tickets start at $25.I.C.P. SpotlightsThe International Center of Photography’s annual benefit celebrates women in film and photography and supports the center’s education and exhibition programs. This year’s event, on Oct. 27, will honor Nadia Hallgren, the director of the Michelle Obama documentary, “Becoming”; the photographer and artist Deana Lawson; and Lindsay Peoples Wagner, the editor in chief of Teen Vogue. Stream it on YouTube at 12 p.m. Eastern free. It will be followed by a Q. and A. session with the honorees on Zoom; tickets start at $250.In Search of the Sanderson SistersBette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy will reprise their “Hocus Pocus” roles during this spooky benefit for the New York Restoration Project, an open-space conservancy founded by Ms. Midler. Starting at 8 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 30, the show will play like a documentary that delves into the characters’ back stories and will feature cameos by Glenn Close, Jennifer Hudson and more. Tickets cost $10.VetsinTech Veterans Day GalaHosted by the nonprofit organization VetsinTech, this gala will raise funds for scholarships to support veterans training for careers in technology. The lineup features military leaders and special guests, like the rapper Snoop Dogg and the singer Jordin Sparks. The broadcast airs Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. Eastern. Veterans and their spouses can tune in free; others can purchase tickets starting at $25.A.B.T. 80th Anniversary Fall GalaThis fall, the American Ballet Theater commissioned virtual programming from four choreographers, who then formed “ballet bubbles” with their dancers and created the works in quarantine. The results will be filmed and are set to premiere during this gala on Nov. 18, which will benefit programs that will advance diversity and inclusion. Watch the event on the theater company’s YouTube channel free starting at 7 p.m. Eastern.Performa TelethonThe arts organization Performa is having its first ever online telethon on Nov. 18, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern. The event will be broadcast from Pace Gallery in New York and will feature live performances by the pianist Lang Lang, the artist Laurie Anderson and others. The event is free, and viewers at home can purchase limited-edition home goods commissioned for the telethon.The Center for Fiction Annual Awards BenefitThis virtual benefit and awards ceremony hosted by the Center for Fiction, a nonprofit literary organization, will celebrate the work of the writer James McBride, the publisher Chris Jackson and a number of debut novelists. Scheduled to be broadcast on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, the event also features appearances by the actor Ethan Hawke and the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Register online to watch free. More