History Recap / FargoS03E04TheNarrowEscapeProblem

* PaperThinDisguise: With a shave and a rather convincing wig, and having a very similar sounding voice, Ray's impersonation of Emmit is actually very convincing. Although Ray can't do anything about the fact, he weighs a lot more than Emmit, something that Buck ''does'' notice.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Varga states he's been all around the world before saying that he'd like to broaden his and Emmit's partnership. He then playfully refers to it as "abroadening" their partnership, granting himself some amusement.

* PaperThinDisguise: With a shave and a rather convincing wig, and having a very similar sounding voice, Ray's impersonation of Emmit is actually very convincing. Although Ray can't do anything about the fact he weighs a lot more than Emmit, something that Buck ''does'' notice.

In an effort to steal the stamp, Ray disguises himself as his brother, and convinces Emmit's banker to withdraw $10,000 from Emmit's account and to open Emmit's safety deposit box, only to find nothing but the cremated remains of Emmit's pet dalmatian Luverne.

* BigBrotherIsWatching: It's in this episode that Varga reveals to Emmit how thoroughly he's been watching him. Monitoring phone calls, reading emails, and looking up pictures online just covers what the audience knows so far.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The moment they're presented with evidence that Ray has been having an affair with Nikki, Ray's bosses move to suspend him if he agrees to claim it was a one time mistake. When Ray doesn't play ball and admits he plans to marry Nikki, they fire him on the spot.

* RealityEnsues:
** Sy collided with a waitress's Subaru while he was flipping off Ray at the restaurant two episodes ago. While Ray may have elected not to press charges, the waitress ''did'', and it's only a matter of days for the police to track Sy down.
** The moment they're presented with evidence that Ray has been having an affair with Nikki, Ray's bosses move to suspend him if he agrees to claim it was a one time mistake. When Ray doesn't play ball and admits he plans to marry Nikki, they fire him on the spot.

In an effort to steal the stamp, Ray disguises himself as his brother, and convinces Emmit's banker to withdraw $10,000 from Emmit's account and to open Emmit's safety deposit box, where only cremated remains are found.

* ActorAllusion: [[Creator/DavidThewlis Varga]] is designated as [[Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban the Wolf]] by the narrator.

* {{Leitmotif}}: This episode utilizes the score of Music/PeterAndTheWolf and assigns each person a character from the story and a musical instrument.

** Yuri and Meemo, the shotgun blasts from the hunter, are represented by the kettle drums.

* TooMuchInformation: Winnie doesn't hesitate to tell Gloria how she and her husband have been trying to conceive for months. They're doing mostly missionary now because she thinks it's important to look someone in the eyes when making babies.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Before Ray makes the withdrawal, Olander tries to warn him that taking $10,000 out of his account will set off an alarm with the IRS. Guess who shows up in [[Recap/FargoS03E05TheHouseOfSpecialPurpose the very next episode?]]

* DrowningMySorrows: After being fired and seeing his car in wheel clamps, Ray goes to have a drink in a pup.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Before Ray makes the withdrawal, Olander tries to warn him that taking ten thousand dollars out of his account will set off an alarm with the IRS. Guess who shows up in [[Recap/FargoS03E05TheHouseOfSpecialPurpose the very next episode?]]

'''Season 3, Episode 04:'''
!!The Narrow Escape Problem:
!!!Written by Monica Beletsky

* VillainousGlutton: Varga is shown at the beginning of the episode eating numerous plates of breakfast foods. After this comes the reveal that he's bulimic.

Narrated by Creator/BillyBobThornton, the episode begins when Ray, freshly shaven and dressed as his brother, is dropped off by Nikki at the bank. He walks in and is almost immediately approached by Emmit’s banker, Buck Olander. He tells Olander that he’s lost the key to his safety deposit box, but Olander is very hesitant to drill into the lock. Threatening to pack up his accounts, Ray finally gets into the box and demands $10,000 out of Emmit’s account. This ends up being all he takes, however, as the only thing in Emmit’s box turns out to be his dog Luverne’s ashes.

Emmit and Sy are surprised to hear that Ray took money from his account and defiled his dog’s ashes, but are more concerned with the Varga situation. Sy informs his partner that he doesn’t believe Irv’s death was a suicide and urges him to take a meeting with Ruby Goldfarb, a widow wanting to buy Stussy Lots. Emmit doesn’t want to sell, but agrees that there could be merit in talking with her.

Yuri and Meemo meet with Varga in a tractor trailer while Gloria looks over Maurice’s body, finding his parole card in his personal artifacts. She talks to Chief Dammick, who brushes her off as overcomplicating a simple break in. Refusing to drop the case despite his request, she goes to the parole office and meets fellow police officer Winnie Lopez, who was there to question Ray about the car accident with Sy. When she goes into his office to question him, she takes note of his last name also being Stussy and talks in-depth about how much she knows about Maurice’s incident, making Ray visibly uncomfortable. She gives him her card and walks out.

-->'''Ray:''' Chief?
-->'''Gloria:''' Ignore that. We’re doing some restructuring.
-->'''Ray:''' They always find a way to screw ya, don’t they?
-->'''Gloria:''' They try

On his way out from work, Ray is stopped by his boss, who pulls him into his office to speak with him and Deputy Director Brey Adams. Adams informs Ray that the office has found out about his relationship with his own client, Nikki. He offers him temporary suspension if he admits to it being a one-time thing, but confesses that he loves her. He ends up getting fired instead of her getting revoked, and discovers on the way out that Sy has booted his car.

That evening, Yuri and Meemo sit around Winnie Lopez, who’s planted herself in the lobby of Stussy Lots waiting for Sy. When he arrives, she informs him that the owner of the offending Humvee in the parking lot skirmish is being sued by the waitress whose car was hit. He informs her that he’ll have the woman in HR run the plate and get back to her, all while Yuri and Meemo watch menacingly from outside.

While Ray sulks in a bar somewhere, missing his meeting with Nikki and their potential Bridge sponsor, Varga shows up at Emmit’s house unannounced. Stella insists he eats dinner with the family, and eventually he proposes that Emmit make him a partner in the company. Emmit believes this to be an absurd request until Varga starts talking to him about how the rest of the population will eventually turn on the rich.

-->'''Varga:''' Look at me. This is a $200 suit. I wear a second hand tie. I fly coach—not because I can’t afford first, but because I’m smart. So look at you and look at me, and tell me who is the richer.

He begins explaining his steps to success as Emmit begins to open up his ears, but digresses about Ray being a distraction. He reveals that he’s well aware of the feud between the brothers, and offers to take care of the problem with Ray, but Emmit assures him that it won’t get in the way of anything. When he makes the same offer concerning Nikki, Emmit also refuses.

-->'''Emmit:''' I mean, he’s… honestly… a loser. So what else could she be?

Meanwhile at Gloria’s house, she’s just tucking her son in to bed when a car parks outside. She opens the door to find Winnie, who invites herself in and begins filling her host in on the details of her case. Winnie confides that Ray is the brother of the Emmit Stussy, the owner of Stussy Lots, who has the same last name as Ennis. That’s when Gloria realizes the connection.