Fargo S1E6 - "Burdian's Ass" Recap

A group of men who are members of crime syndicate are shown to be having dinner at an Asian restaurant. The leader says the name, "Sam Hess," and it's his men (Mr. Numbers and Mr. Wrench) that are pursuing Sam's killer. Another man at the table, with an Australian accent, relays the findings from those henchmen to give an update as to their progress. It doesn't appear to be connected to Sam's business but may have something to do with an extramarital affair of his wife's. They are on their way to apprehend the person who they think is responsible but the leader sternly insists that he wants the killer dead and not apprehended.

Malvo lets Don Chumph out of the closet and then has him call Stavros using a voice scrambler and read the following message: "Once upon a time, there was a little boy. He was born in a field and raised in the woods. And he had nothing. In the winter the boy would freeze and in the the summer, he would boil. He knew the name of every stinging insect. At night, he would look at the lights in the houses and he would want. Why was he outside and they'd be in? Why was he so hungry and they fed? It should be me, he said. And out of the darkness, the wolves came whispering." The time and place for the ransom drop is set.

Gus tells Molly that his neighbour spotted a shady character outside the apartment building and he was real menacing along with having a police scanner. The neighbour got a plate number which Gus ran and traced back to a grocery chain (Stavros' grocery chain).

Lester is recovering at the hospital and is alarmed to find see there is an officer sitting outside his room that will dictate if and when he can go home. He checks his window to see if he could escape through it but finds that it won't budge. He gets back in bed when he hears someone coming and finds it his brother Chazz, demanding to know what he has done. He tells Lester he is a suspect in the murders and angrily tells him not to lie to him. Lester tells Chazz he needs to stand by him but Chazz tells him he's done with him and that he has been a burden to him his entire life. Lester then moves the patient next to him into his bed and wraps his own face in bandages so he is wheeled out in disguise. When left alone, he dresses in some stolen clothes and leaves the hospital.

Malvo sets Don up by duct-taping him in place and a gun to his hand before sending out some shots that bait the local law enforcement to come there so there's no one to get in the way of the blackmail exchange.

Lester makes it back to his place and retrieves the hammer from the hole in the wall behind the poster in the basement. He takes the weapons and a pair of Pearl's undergarments and plants them in Chazz's arsenal of weapons. He also takes one of the revolvers and plants it in Chazz's son Gordo's backpack. As he is leaving, he is spotted by little Gordo, who merely looks at him for a moment before turning away, leaving Lester to walk out being noticed by no one else.

The police officers surround the house in which Don is trapped. His mouth is taped shut and he can't get outside. He is told that if he doesn't come out, they'll start blasting. There's a wire rig set up so that when they police approach, a rifle in the window begins shooting. All the police officers then begin shooting into the house while Malvo listens in on the commotion from his police scanner. The police approach again and upon knocking the front door open, all they're able to see is a figure with a gun and Don is shut dead with countless bullets.

Malvo's car is rammed and the Misters begin shooting at him with machine guns. Amazingly, he manages to get away and then lays a trap for them by nicking his hand with a knife and creating a blood trail. He stabs Mister Numbers with a knife, demanding to know who sent him and when he says "Fargo," Malvo cuts his throat.

Malvo, likely due to some religious delusion, decides to skip the blackmail exchange and goes out to the snowy fence line where he first found the money in 1987. When there, he buries the suitcase filled with a million dollars and marks it with the red-handled windshield scraper just as he had found it. He begins driving back to town to meet his son Dmitri but then stops upon finding that the road is littered with dying fish. He discovers his henchman Wally facedown in the snow and his car overturned. Inside, his son Dmitri is dead. This of course mimics the plague Stavros had likely feared the most: the death of the first-born son. He cries in the snow and looks up at the sky, saying, "I gave it back."

Finally, we see Lester sneak back into the hospital. He sits in his hospital bed as if he had never left and after a long silent moment, he smiles.

Fargo airs on Tuesdays on FX at 10PM.