‘Fargo’ Returns With Excellent Performances, Lukewarm Plot
It’s a rare occurrence when one writer takes another’s story and adapts it into an entirely new creature of its own, outside of imitation or homage. It’s even more rare when that writer reinvents his adaptation yet again for a second installment. Noah Hawley did that last year with Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1996 dark comedy Fargo, easily one of 2014's best TV series. Now Hawley’s doing it all over again, adopting the anthology format for a second season of FX’s Fargo, taking the seeds from the Coen brothers’ classic and planting them in another original, bizarre field. But even the creative brilliance of sowing something new can lead to watching a very slow, tepid growth.