http://ew.com/tv/2017/04/04/fargo-se...ere-ew-review/
Fargo season 3 premiere: EW review
Grade - A
The new season of Fargo might be the most Fargo that Fargo has ever been. Last year’s installment of Noah Hawley’s imaginative communion with the films of Joel and Ethan Coen was a big crime saga with a sprawling cast that functioned as historical allegory about capitalism and spiritual malaise in the dawn of the Reagan era. Also, there were UFOs. His new story dials back the scale, at least to start. It’s a more intimate neo-noir about desperate people doing dumb things for dubious reasons, triggering a cascade of consequences for a widening array of people.
In plot and tone, the premiere strongly evokes the 1996 classic by the Coen brothers that inspires the show’s wintry milieu and chilly themes, more so than previous installments. But there are conspicuous differences, too, and in them might lie much meaning, although I’m wary of drawing too many conclusions: FX is only supplying critics with one episode for review. But I can tell you the premiere, airing April 19, is fantastic.
A theory I’m noodling but not ready to commit to is that the new season of Fargo reflects Hawley’s own relationship to the Coen brothers. He’s Emmit, leveraging the value of someone else’s stamp to build a franchise that is truly his own, yet remains beholden to his influences and inspiration. I can go on. I probably shouldn’t. Like I said: noodling. And let me clear: I think Noah Hawley is one the most exciting storytellers working on television today, and Fargo seems poised to affirm that truth once more.