‘Fargo’ season five praised as “return to form” in first reviews

Fargo’s fifth season has been described as a “return to form” in early reviews.

Created by Noah Hawley, the dark comedy crime anthology returns for its fifth season on November 21 on FX in the US.

The show, originally inspired by the Coen brothers’ 1996 film of the same name, has explored new time periods and locations with largely a new cast in every season so far. In the fifth season, the series takes a more contemporary 2019 setting across North Dakota and Minnesota.

A synopsis reads: “After an unexpected series of events lands “Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon” (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities, this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife is suddenly plunged back into a life she thought she had left behind.”

Alongside Juno Temple, the fifth season’s ensemble cast includes Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris and Richa Moorjani.

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Ahead of the show’s premiere, critics have shared their views on the first six episodes. In a positive review on TIME, the fifth season is described as “sharp” and “darkly hilarious”.

“As a follow-up to season four’s ambitious yet cluttered, 1950s-set exploration of American identity, which aired in 2020, it’s a tighter, funnier, but equally dark return to form for creator Noah Hawley,” the review reads. “This time, gender and class are the battlefields on which the show’s eternal war of good vs. evil are fought.”

In a review on Collider, which awarded the series a ‘B’ rating, they particularly praised Temple’s performance as “the highlight”.

“Although the season is about buckling up for a new mystery, this ends up being less interesting on the whole than the sequences where she is at the center,” the review reads. “Temple brings not only the perfect comedic timing to deliver some real zingers but also the necessary charm to ground the chaos that begins unfolding.”

TVLine, meanwhile, described Fargo’s return as a “throwback season packed with excellent performances”.

“[Hawley] seems reinvigorated here, delivering what might be the best Fargo season since at least season two,” the review reads. “Armed with a top-notch cast and jaw-dropping action sequences, Fargo’s fifth season is a lean and mean, back-to-basics thrill ride packed with laughs and frights that, in its own small way, helps us remember why we love television so much.”

Slashfilm, however, were slightly less effusive in a 6/10 review, writing: “If Noah Hawley could get out of his own way and stop avoiding all the obvious connections to Fargo and No Country For Old Men, he could make a brilliant show. As it is, with the new Fargo, he’s made a moderately compelling one.”

Other confirmed cast members in the season include David Rysdahl, Sam Spruell, Jessica Pohly, Nick Gomez, Dave Foley and Lukas Gage.

Fargo season five arrives November 22 on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, the same day it drops on Hulu in the US.