History Series / FargoSeasonTwo

* GutturalGrowler: Bear speaks with a voice that will shake the fillings out of your teeth.

The series also features Creator/CristinMilioti, Jeffrey Donovan, Zahn [=McClarnon=], Bokeem Woodbine, and Creator/NickOfferman in supporting roles, among others.

[[WMG:[[center:[-'''Seasons of ''Series/{{Fargo}}'''''\\
[[Series/FargoSeasonOne 1]] | '''2''' | [[Series/FargoSeasonThree 3]] | [[Series/FargoSeasonFour 4]]-]]]]]

->''This is a true story. The events depicted took place in Minnesota in 1979. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occured.
-->--'''the text that opens each episode'''

** The second season, unlike previous installations, is actually set in the Fargo area in the 70s, and introduces three large, taciturn bearded white men (Bear Gerhardt and the Kitchen Brothers). Early fan speculation posited that any of them could eventually become Mr. Tripoli, the boss of the Fargo syndicate in the first season, set in 2006-7, a man who is also heavyset, bearded and generally quiet. Instead, [[spoiler: by the end of the series all three are dead, and it is established that Ohanzee Dent, a skinny Native American man, undergoes plastic surgery and an identity change to become "Mr. Tripoli", and most likely put on weight as a result of years of success as a crime boss.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: In episode 7, the mobsters bring in "The Undertaker," an infamous Mob "cleaner" who seems set to be the next BigBad of the show. In their first meeting, Mike walks up, hand extended, and [[spoiler:shoots the Undertaker in the head]].

* DisappointingPromotion: After claiming credit for destroying the Gerhardt crime family, Mike Milligan returns to the Kansas City Syndicate expecting his star to rise in the organization (even proclaiming himself a king and with ideas to form his own crew). The Syndicate indeed believes he should be rewarded for his efforts...with a promotion to a paltry middle management position, complete with a tiny office. Milligan is completely crestfallen to see how little his war has gotten him.

** In "The Gift of the Magi", Mike Milligan justifies Kansas City's war against the Gerhardt family by saying "we can't leave because we're the future, and they're the past. The past can no more become the future than the future can become the past." [[spoiler: After the Gerhardts are destroyed, Mike expects to be the new kingpin, just like in "the old days", but instead his only reward is a boring 9-to-5 desk job, where the real future of organized crime lies. In the end, he was just as unprepared for the changing times as the Gerhardts were.]]

* {{Irony}}: In "Myth of Sisyphus" Bear insists that he and Dodd will dictate what happens to their own children - Bear for his son Charlie, Dodd for his daughter Simone. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, Dodd has roped Charlie into his scheme, landing him in jail, while Bear takes it upon himself to execute Simone for her betrayal.]]

* PyrrhicVillainy: [[spoiler:Mike Milligan wins the war against the Gerhardts, but his reward is a tedious desk job.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:All of the Gerhardts are killed except for Charlie, and he is going to jail. Hanzee, Betsy, and Hank are all DoomedByCanon even though they survived the season. Ed Blumquist and quite a few other supporting characters don't survive the season as well.]]

* AbsenteeActor: Despite her name appearing in the credits, Kirsten Dunst doesn't appear at all in "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!" [[invoked]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: During the montage of all the dead Gerhardts, Otto, Dodd, and Bear look terrible with holes in their heads. Yet Floyd is lying gracefully with a pool of blood on her sweater and Simone looks gorgeous with no signs of any wound at all.

* DramaticIrony: Two members of the Gerhardt outfit are on their way to assassinate Ed and anyone who witnesses the murder. We then cut to the butcher shop, where the young clerk starts talking to Ed about the inevitability of death. When he goes into the back room, the clerk jokes that she might be dead when he returns.

** The Gerhardt family has a nasty reputation in Fargo. Det. Ben Schmidt tells Lou that he would rather confess to the murders himself and go to jail than have to take on the Gerhardts.

* ForWantOfANail: To ensure that they aren't implicated in the killing, Peggy and Ed fake an accident. Which leads to Hanzee Dent discovering the car in a local auto shop and tracking them down. Which also leads Lou to the same conclusion.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:It's pretty apparent that Lou's wife and father-in-law aren't long for this world, leaving him to raise Molly without them. The Gerhardt criminal empire is destroyed and all its members are dead save Charlie, who is in jail and will likely be convicted of attempted murder, ruining his father's hopes of a better life for his son. Mike is doomed to a life of mediocrity as some nameless office schmo, and Hanzee loses his entire identity, himself resigned to a lifestyle he's come to despise, and is DoomedByCanon. Ed's dead, having never gotten the simple life that he wanted, Ben and Hank are clearly affected by the events of the season, and Peggy is downright certifiable, not to mention carted off to the slammer. The body count of the season is tremendous, but even so, Lou seems to take everything in stride and [[EarnYourHappyEnding goes on to live his life, getting to see his daughter grow up and start a loving family of her own.]]]]

* CassandraTruth: In "The Castle", Lou tries to warn Chief Cheney against setting up a sting operation with the Blumquists as bait, telling him that the Kansas City mobsters (who he has faced several times at this point) are too smart to fall for it. Cheney not only calls him a coward, but has one of his deputies escort him out of the state. [[spoiler:Lou turns out to be right about the plan being a terrible idea, but the real danger comes from the Gerhardt family, not the Kansas City mobsters.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Ben Schmidt is a pretty lousy cop who is cowardly about facing the Gerhardts and wants to push responsibility to others. In the end, however, he manages to [[spoiler:shoot two of the Gerhardts' goons]] and, even though he's cold-cocked by Peggy, he's still the only person who goes with Lou to hunt them down. In the end, he's grown a lot.