What we see of Chief Vern Thurman makes him out to be a kind, decent man and an excellent cop, much like Marge Gunderson in the film. His interactions with his young deputy Molly show him to be an excellent mentor to her, gently telling her not to jump to conclusions without evidence when they investigate the crashed car, but also complimenting her hard work when she starts checking for reports of stolen cars outside of Bemidji. He even assures her that she'll be the Chief one day.
The Rooster Prince
A Muddy Road
Eating the Blame
The Six Ungraspables
Gus's neighbor Ari standing up to Lorne Malvo to protect his community.
Buridan's Ass
A more darkly comedic moment when Starvos rather gruffly tells his henchman to tell his son Dimitri he loves him. The henchman simply says that he won't.
Who Shaves the Barber?
Molly, weak from a bullet wound, feebly consoling Gus when he confesses that he shot her.
The Heap
Molly gives Gus a call and they happily set their first date. And then the camera does an extended pan across a forest to indicate a Time Skip where the two are married and Molly is accepted as "mom" to Greta.
The manner in which she accepts the date deserves a special mention, as Gus suffers a Can't Spit It Out moment before she does it for him. His smile afterwords seals it.
Gus: I saw in the paper this morning that the Logging Festival is coming up. Greta, you know, she really likes going to that.
Molly: Yeah, me too.
Gus: Yeah? Good. Good, well, maybe, uh, I mean, maybe we'll see you there.
Molly: Yeah, a certainty if we go together.
Bill happily fostering a Sudanese refugee to help him get his life back together. For all his insufferable cluelessness throughout the series, Bill has a good heart.
A Fox, a Rabbit, and a Cabbage
Gus, Greta, Molly, and Lou have breakfast together at Lou's diner. Greta begs Lou to take her fishing, and he tells her that she's the like the grandson he's always wanted. Bemidji still has at least one happy family.
Greta clearly admires Lou, even saying that she thinks she would cool with a limp, like he does.
After Gus and Greta leave, Lou tells Molly she 'did good', further driving home how the four (soon to be five) of them are now one big happy family. Considering how twisted this series is, it's positively adorable.
Agents Pepper and Budge come to Bemidji to see what Molly has come up with regarding Malvo, and they are very impressed with the layout she's made of all of his dealings with Lester and others around Minnesota. When Bill tries to wave them off, saying that Molly's investigation is unauthorized and unwarranted, they stand up for her, pointing out the various "coincidences" Bill overlooked, and commending her excellent police work.
For as ditzy and shallow Linda is, she exhibits her sweetness by inviting Molly into her home.
Morton's Fork
Lou sitting on the porch with a gun to protect Greta. Then Greta joins him and he tells her a little anecdote that hints that something is wrong. She promptly goes back in the house, grabs a BB gun, and joins her grandfather side-by-side.
Lou: That's my girl.
As the manhunt for Malvo kicks off, a despairing Bill tells Molly that he plans to resign after they catch him, and announces that he'll be nominating her as his successor as Police Chief. He apologizes for being such an Obstructive Bureaucrat, and admits she's a far better cop than he is, and Vern was right to put his faith in her. Molly, for her part, is humble and genuinely touched by his admission, and gives the poor guy some much-needed words of encouragement. After spending most of the season at odds with each other, it's nice to see the two cops finally mend fences.
Gus, Greta, and Molly finish the season by watching TV on the couch, their arms draped around each other, in a direct shout-out to the original film's ending. After all the woe and misery in the series up to that point, the decent people finally come out ahead.
Other
Molly's and Ida's friendship the whole time. Poor Ida maintains her cheery demeanor long after her husband's death.
