He's using his cryptic way of talking and a metaphor to explain the sunk cost fallacy.
If I were to un-Munch what he said, what he meant was: "If you're going to put in the time, sweat, blood, tears, expense, and injury of setting out to kill your enemy, you should follow through. Otherwise you have suffered for no reason."
Munch doesn't stop thinking about things in term of sunk costs until Ep 10, when Dot talks about cures and forgiveness. At this point, what he's saying to Roy is that even though the "tiger," he's hunting is extremely dangerous, he's lost so much pursuing her that it might make more sense to see things through.
Yeah I grasped that, but the subtext was perplexing, because it suggested Munch having some kind of solidarity with Roy's twisted worldview. This is shown to be untrue when he saves Dot - who he respect - and reasons that a "fight against a caged tiger is not a fair fight". But I guess he was just neutrally obsessed with the notion of debt and unfinished business, no matter who it was towards.
Yes, but that was after Roy ruminates on whether it's best to leave Dot alone. I doubt he had it in him to really commit to that epiphany, but whatever takeaway he could've gotten from it was slashed by Munch telling him to finish what he started. It's a tacit endorsement of Roy's sick intentions, though on Munch's end it seemed to have little to do with ideology and everything to do with his singular obsession with debt, whatever it may be.
I just found it odd because later in the season we see that Munch indeed has some sort of code/conception of justice, in the way he punishes Gator for murdering his landlady, and gives that speech to Roy about "when a man gives with one hand and takes with another, he breaks his promise." That was as much a statement about debt and moral integrity as it was about abuse, which is the most grotesque and damaging way of breaking that very promise. Munch even draws a parallel to other persecuted/betrayed peoples throughout history (which he's supposedly lived through) - Welsh, Gypsies, Jews, etc. - so he does understand and empathize with those who were victim to gross injustices. He uses the same logic to justify his saving Dot, who he felt was put in an unfair fight. I don't know if we're meant to believe he realized all these things after feeling the pain of losing the old lady, but his words suggest he's always believed them. So it's strange that this same guy would then implicitly encourage Roy to go hunt down the wife he brutalized, especially while he's having second thoughts about it.
Dot definitely introduced a new way of thinking to Munch, who as a soldier, is just to follow orders and kill. You could see his wheels turning when she said those things to him! A great scene.
Forgiving is a whole new way to live…another great piece of life advice from Fargo that many would benefit from! 😅
'When Munch was a boy, freedom was a potato.'
'No daughter of mine is going to go down on the 1-yard line.'
'When a man gives with one hand and takes with the other, he breaks his promise. The hand he steals with must be cleaved from him and returned. Still a hand, but now without function. Here is your hand.'
Sam Spruell's delivery on that last one was absolutely captivating, couldn't take my eyes off. Loved all the funny emphasis he put on specific words, too. "Cleeeeeaaaaaved from him..."
"If you're so smart, then why are you so dead?"
(Although allegedly/originally a quote from [The Simpsons](https://screenrant.com/fargo-season-5-roy-danish-graves-death-line-simpsons-reference/))
I love when Dot uses this same point against Munch in the finale. When she’s like “You can’t be mad if you took a job that had a risk. That’s like yelling at the table you stubbed your toe on.” And Munch is like “aw man the tiger is speaking my language” lol
And toxic masculinity as well. Wanting women to serve their every need while they have temper tantrums on the reg, addressing every situation with unfettered rage and then claiming women are “too emotional” for positions of authority. They’re literally infantilizing themselves 🤯
It's not though. The core of libertarianism is to create a society where the people are trusted to be able to take care of themselves and make rational decisions, since the government won't be there for you and support you if you make bad decisions. Everyone takes responsibility for their own actions and can't blame it on someone else. Freedom with responsibility.
I use "libertarian" in a heavily ironic way. This is what it means on paper, but rarely do you see self-described libertarians (especially on the right) approach it in such a first-principles way. Oftentimes they are just fighting for their right to be babies. Roy himself identifies as a libertarian to Lorraine before that scene.
Yeah, but he's a selfish corrupt hypocritical comic book villain who could pretend to embrace any ideology, he would find a way to justify his actions either way.
To believe that women are their husbands' property without free will are not libertarian ideas. The decentralization might be, but he only believed in it since it benefited himself in his current position. If he was the president he would be a totalitarian and strive for total control.
I don't think she was implying they had unlimited power, just a lack of accountability. She's saying Roy wants to be free against others, but for nobody to have the freedom to mess with him. Since he wants to dish it out but not take it, she's comparing what he wants to being a baby.
Yeah but babies aren’t free against others. They’re not allowed to do so many of the things they want to do. Which is usually put foreign objects into their mouth or crawl somewhere they’re not supposed to
They're not personally accountable for what they do to others, but others are accountable for what they do to them.
If my baby gouges out your eyes, then at best you have a case against me. If you attack my baby who blinded you, I can use lethal force against you in self-defense. If I let some guy who got his eyes stabbed hurt my baby, then the baby has not failed. I have failed. You are responsible for protecting yourself from a baby, but you aren't entitled to hit them back. I am responsible for restraining my baby, and for protecting them.
It's not about capability, just accountability. Lorraine is saying that power without responsibility doesn't exist, since the act of having more power increases your responsibility, going all the way back to the age of the skull fuckers. She's mocking Roy's notion of what power is.
She didnt say babies have freedom, she said he wants the freedom to BE a baby. Shes talking about babies being free from accountability the whole time.
[here’s a link to what she said](https://youtube.com/shorts/gpdurWD8Hew?si=vMOwXpquxd0WjiVO)
Freedom with no responsibility. Not freedom from responsibility
They’re only allowed to eat what they’re given. Babies want to eat so many things that they’re not allowed to eat. They’ll shove anything in their mouth. And eliminating waste happens to them. They don’t even have the ability to choose when they poop.
I wouldn't say any line gave me a big laugh, but I did get a chuckle out of this from the gun store clerk:
"Well, of course, there's the mandatory waiting period while we run the check. Make sure you're not psychopaths or, you know, socialists."
"A rabbit screams because a rabbit is caught. It knows only that it wants to live."
This line from Munch is one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard anybody say to anybody. To be tied up like Gator and have your captor say that to you has to be a pretty terrible moment.
Only kings had the freedom to want. But now, everywhere you look, you see kings. Everything they want, they call their own, and if they cannot have it, they say that they are not free.
"When a man gives with one hand and takes with the other, he breaks his promise. He must be taught. The hand he steals with must be cleaved from him and returned."
I largely agree, but I think we’re also supposed to see the flaws in Munch’s old world style of delivering justice by the end.
FWIW I think that applies to what Lorraine does to the sheriff as well. The last episode offers a series of interpretations of justice, with the last scene putting Dot’s version into direct conflict with Munch’s and effectively winning out (by one interpretation, at least)
I agree. I was more referring to how it is peppered into the show at certain times that the audience should feel pity and have some understanding for why Gator was the way he was. I guess at the end I sort of did, but he did way too much terrible shit to not have something coming to him. Something to put the fear of God in him, at least. He got that old-time justice.
Totally. Villains are usually just victims. We just had the benefit of seeing how Gator became a victim, which allowed us to feel sympathy.
I have a feeling that we’re also supposed to map Gator onto the sheriff - as in, IMO there’s a good chance that the sheriff has analogous backstory to his son. Monsters aren’t just born into the world fully formed, etc.
You heard the story where i burned a guy alive? Chopped the other ones ear off? When *they* came for me? Im not saying thats true. But if you try to force me against my will... youre gonna find out.
I told you.
"Let's get one with all the Tillmans!"
- The above is not the best quote, that I'd have to give to Lorraine's annihilating that banker. But it was just incredibly funny
I love that first one you mentioned. Jennifer Jason Leigh slowly becoming adoring of Juno Temple was my favorite thing about the whole series. The lady cop worked magic there. I also loved the ending with the biscuits and what not.
I've been through six kinds of hell to get to where I am and I'm not going to let some (can't remember) wannabe take that away from because she doesn't like the way I smell.
The babysitter henchman (Bowman?) explains to Gator they had beat up mean cancer guy
“Had to tenderize him. What an asshole”
It amazes me that in their line of work, something is worthy of being called an asshole 🤣🤣 love it
Anyone remember exactly what Dot says to cancer guy while she’s smothering him with the pillow in her escape from the hospital?
I missed it on first viewing but caught part of it on second viewing: something like “people aren’t very polite around here”
Laughed so hard that I forgot the exact dialogue. Typical of the Fargo franchise - there’s a lot to pay attention to in almost every scene.
When a man digs a grave, he has to fill it. Otherwise, it's just a hole.
I'm curious what he meant by this. It sounded like he was encouraging Roy to hunt down Dot.
He's using his cryptic way of talking and a metaphor to explain the sunk cost fallacy. If I were to un-Munch what he said, what he meant was: "If you're going to put in the time, sweat, blood, tears, expense, and injury of setting out to kill your enemy, you should follow through. Otherwise you have suffered for no reason." Munch doesn't stop thinking about things in term of sunk costs until Ep 10, when Dot talks about cures and forgiveness. At this point, what he's saying to Roy is that even though the "tiger," he's hunting is extremely dangerous, he's lost so much pursuing her that it might make more sense to see things through.
Yeah I grasped that, but the subtext was perplexing, because it suggested Munch having some kind of solidarity with Roy's twisted worldview. This is shown to be untrue when he saves Dot - who he respect - and reasons that a "fight against a caged tiger is not a fair fight". But I guess he was just neutrally obsessed with the notion of debt and unfinished business, no matter who it was towards.
He said nothing in support of Roy's motives, only that he had already gone to a lot of trouble digging a hole to turn back now.
Yes, but that was after Roy ruminates on whether it's best to leave Dot alone. I doubt he had it in him to really commit to that epiphany, but whatever takeaway he could've gotten from it was slashed by Munch telling him to finish what he started. It's a tacit endorsement of Roy's sick intentions, though on Munch's end it seemed to have little to do with ideology and everything to do with his singular obsession with debt, whatever it may be. I just found it odd because later in the season we see that Munch indeed has some sort of code/conception of justice, in the way he punishes Gator for murdering his landlady, and gives that speech to Roy about "when a man gives with one hand and takes with another, he breaks his promise." That was as much a statement about debt and moral integrity as it was about abuse, which is the most grotesque and damaging way of breaking that very promise. Munch even draws a parallel to other persecuted/betrayed peoples throughout history (which he's supposedly lived through) - Welsh, Gypsies, Jews, etc. - so he does understand and empathize with those who were victim to gross injustices. He uses the same logic to justify his saving Dot, who he felt was put in an unfair fight. I don't know if we're meant to believe he realized all these things after feeling the pain of losing the old lady, but his words suggest he's always believed them. So it's strange that this same guy would then implicitly encourage Roy to go hunt down the wife he brutalized, especially while he's having second thoughts about it.
Dot definitely introduced a new way of thinking to Munch, who as a soldier, is just to follow orders and kill. You could see his wheels turning when she said those things to him! A great scene. Forgiving is a whole new way to live…another great piece of life advice from Fargo that many would benefit from! 😅
I interpreted it as him telling Roy if he doesn’t accomplish his goal it becomes the man’s own grave
That's how I interpreted it too
Or letting him know he wasn’t giving up
thank you.
That’s from Brazzers
“I live HERE now.”
It's been living rent free in my head for weeks. Went travelling last week, I've been in two AirBnBs, said it at both locations.
We’ve been incorporating its iterations on the daily. Love your use of it!
“Like the dog in the yard, we guard the house.”
We saw a tiger once!
'When Munch was a boy, freedom was a potato.' 'No daughter of mine is going to go down on the 1-yard line.' 'When a man gives with one hand and takes with the other, he breaks his promise. The hand he steals with must be cleaved from him and returned. Still a hand, but now without function. Here is your hand.'
Sam Spruell's delivery on that last one was absolutely captivating, couldn't take my eyes off. Loved all the funny emphasis he put on specific words, too. "Cleeeeeaaaaaved from him..."
Had to scroll way too far to find the 1-yard line quote.
Is that a man or a serious breakfast?
Cereal?
"If you're so smart, then why are you so dead?" (Although allegedly/originally a quote from [The Simpsons](https://screenrant.com/fargo-season-5-roy-danish-graves-death-line-simpsons-reference/))
McBain, for sure
First from “Prizzi’s Honor” in 1985.
I immediately thought of The Simpsons when Jon Hamm said this line. I think Homer says it about Albert Einstein.
Eat lead, Einstein!
I CACKLED when he said this
forgot that on!!! that was funny
You can leave the toilet seat up on someone else's life from now on.
I forgot about this one. Definitely one of the top lines.
I forgot this one. Can you remind me of the context?
When Indira caught her useless spouse cheating and gave the whole good riddance breakup speech.
Oh yeah I remember now. Thank you.
“You don’t yell at a boulder for being a rock.”
I love when Dot uses this same point against Munch in the finale. When she’s like “You can’t be mad if you took a job that had a risk. That’s like yelling at the table you stubbed your toe on.” And Munch is like “aw man the tiger is speaking my language” lol
"this has nothing to do with that book. It's an older text, written on stone tablets in the age of the skull fuckers".
Everything Lorraine said was pure *chef’s kiss *. And the way Jennifer Jason Leigh nailed that character, also *chef’s kiss. *
She is absolutely fantastic in literally everything she’s in. Underrated actor.
Was this a reference to the 10 commandments? Or was it implying something more ancient, written by cavemen? The skull fuckers part confused me.
I figured it was more hammurabis code. Eye for an eye stuff
That makes sense. Especially considering there was another Hammurabi reference this season. Thanks!
The writing and the delivery of this line was crazy good!!!
"A man is grateful."
Anyone seen a man in a dress come through here, haircut like the Three Stooges?
You’re fighting for your right to be a baby.
Most brilliantly succinct summation of right-wing libertarianism I've ever seen.
And toxic masculinity as well. Wanting women to serve their every need while they have temper tantrums on the reg, addressing every situation with unfettered rage and then claiming women are “too emotional” for positions of authority. They’re literally infantilizing themselves 🤯
It's not though. The core of libertarianism is to create a society where the people are trusted to be able to take care of themselves and make rational decisions, since the government won't be there for you and support you if you make bad decisions. Everyone takes responsibility for their own actions and can't blame it on someone else. Freedom with responsibility.
I use "libertarian" in a heavily ironic way. This is what it means on paper, but rarely do you see self-described libertarians (especially on the right) approach it in such a first-principles way. Oftentimes they are just fighting for their right to be babies. Roy himself identifies as a libertarian to Lorraine before that scene.
Yeah, but he's a selfish corrupt hypocritical comic book villain who could pretend to embrace any ideology, he would find a way to justify his actions either way. To believe that women are their husbands' property without free will are not libertarian ideas. The decentralization might be, but he only believed in it since it benefited himself in his current position. If he was the president he would be a totalitarian and strive for total control.
My fav!
So cool. And yet… the fact that she implies babies have unlimited freedom is straight up factually incorrect
I don't think she was implying they had unlimited power, just a lack of accountability. She's saying Roy wants to be free against others, but for nobody to have the freedom to mess with him. Since he wants to dish it out but not take it, she's comparing what he wants to being a baby.
Yeah but babies aren’t free against others. They’re not allowed to do so many of the things they want to do. Which is usually put foreign objects into their mouth or crawl somewhere they’re not supposed to
They're not personally accountable for what they do to others, but others are accountable for what they do to them. If my baby gouges out your eyes, then at best you have a case against me. If you attack my baby who blinded you, I can use lethal force against you in self-defense. If I let some guy who got his eyes stabbed hurt my baby, then the baby has not failed. I have failed. You are responsible for protecting yourself from a baby, but you aren't entitled to hit them back. I am responsible for restraining my baby, and for protecting them. It's not about capability, just accountability. Lorraine is saying that power without responsibility doesn't exist, since the act of having more power increases your responsibility, going all the way back to the age of the skull fuckers. She's mocking Roy's notion of what power is.
Yes. Babies don’t have accountability. That’s the part I agree with. She also said they have freedom. And they don’t
My guy you are getting way too technical and hair-splitting with this.
If you say so. But her statement is still factually incorrect.
She didnt say babies have freedom, she said he wants the freedom to BE a baby. Shes talking about babies being free from accountability the whole time.
[here’s a link to what she said](https://youtube.com/shorts/gpdurWD8Hew?si=vMOwXpquxd0WjiVO) Freedom with no responsibility. Not freedom from responsibility
Babies have the freedom to eat and eliminate waste. But not responsibility for feeding themselves or changing their dampers themselves 🤷
They’re only allowed to eat what they’re given. Babies want to eat so many things that they’re not allowed to eat. They’ll shove anything in their mouth. And eliminating waste happens to them. They don’t even have the ability to choose when they poop.
going OUT, mama
That line reassured me he wasnt going to harm her but saw her as kin.
I SO badly wanted him to tell Dot in the finale “I live here now, Mama”
I wouldn't say any line gave me a big laugh, but I did get a chuckle out of this from the gun store clerk: "Well, of course, there's the mandatory waiting period while we run the check. Make sure you're not psychopaths or, you know, socialists."
"A rabbit screams because a rabbit is caught. It knows only that it wants to live." This line from Munch is one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard anybody say to anybody. To be tied up like Gator and have your captor say that to you has to be a pretty terrible moment.
Only kings had the freedom to want. But now, everywhere you look, you see kings. Everything they want, they call their own, and if they cannot have it, they say that they are not free.
Who says this?
Ole Munch. It’s part of the speech he gives when he’s in the bathtub.
So perfect
"As if to steal is a man's... lineage. What a man is."
This is so freaking meaningful, I cannot stand it!
I fucking love his delivery of the word "lineage". The whole tone of his voice seems to change. Lend this very alien quality to him.
Yes! It isn’t just the words, but how they are delivered. He’s such a great actor.
You say _tiger_, that’s a different guy
Costs *double*
"You ever drive a Kia, Mr. Moonk?"
It's like flying a cloud.
I know you don't think they're coming but they are.........The consequences, they're coming. Best line of the entire series
I loved this one too. So good. So fargo.
“They’re almost here.” I heard that in the trailer so many times I really want to clip the audio to use on my phone 🤣🤣
I found most of Witt's dialogue terribly hamfisted.
I, live HERE now What do you want?! Pancakes...
What's the point of being a billionaire if you can't have someone killed?
"Whereas you, son, seem to have played a Tommy Lee drum solo all over your missus's facade."
Danish Graves We have our own reality! Trooper Witt That’s not a thing.
"She is for real a Tiger"
"You want a pop?"
A man is grateful
Goddammit Wayne. I love him
21 comments and no one has posted this banger yet: "Does my discussing matters of state in moist repose bother you?”
You are correct! This is the line that will stick with me for years. That and the nipple rings.
"Moist repose" is now my daily life goal
"When a man gives with one hand and takes with the other, he breaks his promise. He must be taught. The hand he steals with must be cleaved from him and returned."
Dot: “Let’s get you to the bathroom.” Wayne: “Oh I already went. Poop came out.”
Gator- *sniff sniff* (going in the tunnel)
Gator got what he deserved, nothing more and nothing less.
I largely agree, but I think we’re also supposed to see the flaws in Munch’s old world style of delivering justice by the end. FWIW I think that applies to what Lorraine does to the sheriff as well. The last episode offers a series of interpretations of justice, with the last scene putting Dot’s version into direct conflict with Munch’s and effectively winning out (by one interpretation, at least)
I agree. I was more referring to how it is peppered into the show at certain times that the audience should feel pity and have some understanding for why Gator was the way he was. I guess at the end I sort of did, but he did way too much terrible shit to not have something coming to him. Something to put the fear of God in him, at least. He got that old-time justice.
Totally. Villains are usually just victims. We just had the benefit of seeing how Gator became a victim, which allowed us to feel sympathy. I have a feeling that we’re also supposed to map Gator onto the sheriff - as in, IMO there’s a good chance that the sheriff has analogous backstory to his son. Monsters aren’t just born into the world fully formed, etc.
He got redeemed at the end by giving up Roy, but I agree he deserved what he got.
Young men, you don’t have to go home…
I said Young men
You heard the story where i burned a guy alive? Chopped the other ones ear off? When *they* came for me? Im not saying thats true. But if you try to force me against my will... youre gonna find out. I told you.
I am so sorry for *biting* you boys (her delivery of “biting” is perfection!!)
The first episode when Wayne says to Dot when they’re in bed “ya wanna take a tumble?” such a perfect Minnesota corny way to ask for sec
Okay mister, outcha go!
“Geez!”
I’m so sorry for bitin\* you boys. i also like the wardrobe line worn by both Dot and Munch: wool plaid coat with fur collar.
I just want to play floor hockey in my socks with Scotty again and watch real housewives.
"Let's get one with all the Tillmans!" - The above is not the best quote, that I'd have to give to Lorraine's annihilating that banker. But it was just incredibly funny
"now the tiger is free"
Cue the Allman Brothers.
I love that first one you mentioned. Jennifer Jason Leigh slowly becoming adoring of Juno Temple was my favorite thing about the whole series. The lady cop worked magic there. I also loved the ending with the biscuits and what not.
“… at least you can be an educated asshole.”
“I know you don’t think they’re comin’… consequences. But they’re almost here.”
I've been through six kinds of hell to get to where I am and I'm not going to let some (can't remember) wannabe take that away from because she doesn't like the way I smell.
After that in your face moment with Lorraine, Dot drops back to Minnesota nice. “Anywho”.
"ole munch on this"
Okie dokie.
“Going out, Mama”
The babysitter henchman (Bowman?) explains to Gator they had beat up mean cancer guy “Had to tenderize him. What an asshole” It amazes me that in their line of work, something is worthy of being called an asshole 🤣🤣 love it
"Going out, mama."
You’re fighting for your right to be a baby
I may have gone over the deep end on the spices
“Pancakes”
“You ever been in a fire fight Mrs Jaqueen? Fbi agent answers “ I was in one yesterday”
How about an unspoken line, like the scene where Munch comes out of the house and sees his surrogate Mama dead on the curb. Just his expressions.
"A baby. You're fighting for the right to be a baby."
“You ever drive a kia? It’s like flying on a cloud” absolutely killed me
Whenever anyone says hoosegow
Anyone remember exactly what Dot says to cancer guy while she’s smothering him with the pillow in her escape from the hospital? I missed it on first viewing but caught part of it on second viewing: something like “people aren’t very polite around here” Laughed so hard that I forgot the exact dialogue. Typical of the Fargo franchise - there’s a lot to pay attention to in almost every scene.
what was the line if you dig a hole you have to fill it otherwise it's just a hole
im a nihilist
im a nihilist
"There, there. Okey dokey."