MovieChat Forums > Fargo (2014) Discussion > Gus in the Season 1 Finale (Spoiler)

Gus in the Season 1 Finale (Spoiler)

posted 8 years ago by dmark118
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm a little late to the party, sorry if this has been discussed. I didn't search the boards for fear of seeing a Season 2 spoiler.

I finished season 1 last night, and something that bothered me was Gus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he commit breaking and entering and murder? He "got" the bad guy and all, but a civilian can't walk into a house, wait for the person to show up, and shoot them on the couch. Malvo being a wanted man doesn't mean you can murder him. With all the talk of morality throughout the season, I really thought it was all leading up to this moment. Gus broke into the house where Malvo was staying and murdered him knowing what the consequence was going to be, and Molly was going to be faced with the decision to arrest her husband or cover it up. But apparently not. Instead he got a citation for bravery? Do mail men get bravery citations? I don't know, this just really bothered me. For a show that was so great, this seemed a little sloppy to me.

[–] denblauenochsen 8 years ago

Well, you said it yourself—the season (and Fargo as a whole) is concerned with MORALITY, not LEGALITY. As it so happens, a lot of our police departments in the US are not totally concerned with legality either. Lorne Malvo was seriously wanted in many killings. He was a COP KILLER. Those two words make him worse than Osama bin Laden to a small-town cop in the US.

Gus was a mail man. But let's not kid ourselves and think that all those SMALL TOWN COPS are going to forget that he was one of them, and that he actually left the force as a result of the impact that, again COP KILLER had on him.

It's 100% realistic and plausible, in both our universe and the show's, that Gus would see no consequence from killing Malvo and indeed be treated as a hero by his former and current employer (the federal government, from whom Malvo also claimed at least two lives).

[–] dmark118 8 years ago

Totally agree it's plausible that in a real world situation the police department would cover for Gus. The show, however, made no mention of a cover up. If anything, it makes it look like there wasn't one. Unless you're a cop with probably cause, which he wasn't, you can't go into a house and kill someone regardless of who the person is.

And to be clear, I had no issue with Gus doing what he did. I thought it was pretty great that Gus got to be the one who got Malvo since he was the one who let him go in the first episode. My issue was for a show that was believeable the entire time, having a character straight up murder someone and then completely brushing it aside seemed out of character and sloppy.

[–] denblauenochsen 8 years ago

Honestly I don't think there would need to be a cover up. You seem focused on the breaking and entering, a crime that rarely is made much of a big deal over. The killing or murder or whatever you call it would be understood without need for any cover up. Gus felt an obligation to his wife, family, the police force, and the community, he acted, and it's not like Lorne Malvo has some lawyer who's gonna investigate his client's death.

[–] dmark118 8 years ago

What he did was murder. If he gave the cops an exact account of what happened, they would have to arrest him. If he didn't, it would be a cover up.

[–] mollydtt 8 years ago

The cops? They were too idiotic to figure out anything. Malvo was superhuman, clever, and outsmarted everyone but Gus, Molly, and probably Molly's dad and Greta.

The cops in Bemidji and Fargo in season 1 didn't get anything right about Malvo or Lester.

[–] TaRaNRoD (1579) 6 years ago

You are either stubborn or a troll. Either way, if you actually think that the law is always respected and there is no possible twists to it, you are quite ignorant.

So, yeah. On paper, he commited a "crime"... but considering the circumstances, there is enough reasons for them to simply ignore some minor (in THIS case) details.

Anyways, who would have wanted to side with this murdering piece of human shit and give an ex-officer a bad time for killing him?

[–] CriticalCatalyst (115) 3 years ago

A cover up would not be necessary. The police would take the case before a Grand Jury. No jury in the country would indict Gus for the murder of a man (Malvo) who had caused so much mayhem. I mean Malvo killed thirty some people. This is very plausible and likely what would happen in real life.

[–] ExcellentBulletproofVest 8 years ago

It would not be difficult, at all, for a former cop to avoid jail for what he did to Malvo, especially when his wife was first on scene, he knew half the force and had killed a wanted criminal. Maybe they should have gone for into a bit more detail but realistically there's no f--king way he'd do time for that.
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What started out as a joke has turned out to be a disaster

[–] !!!deleted!!! (68218491) 8 years ago

I fully agree. Also, he didn't call the police when he discovered the killer. If he had, there were a good chance for the police to catch the suspect sooner, and the murders of at least two, probably three, more men to be avoided. "Brave" maybe, but also entirely irresponsible.

[–] Bolchevik (377) 6 years ago

Clearly murder, probably covered-up. I can't really see any legal explanation he could give that would justify his breakering and killing in cold blood. Now he had a moral ground : Malvo was some kind of Demon that would have probably find a way around or, worst, kill Gus' entire family to avenge himself.

@mollydtt : Lester was also pretty clever, he outwitted malvo at the very end with the bear trap.

[–] sunezno (269) 7 months ago

I 100% agree with you. There are way too many things in this season that I found unbelievable even before this, but this was the cherry on top for me.

You're right, Gus murdered Malvo, no two ways about it. It wasn't "justifiable homicide," it was premeditated murder. It also doesn't matter that Malvo was a bad guy, a wanted fugitive, etc. Gus could've (and obviously should've) called it in when he first saw the red car in the driveway. Instead, he went inside, laid in wait, and then shot multiple times the unarmed and badly injured Malvo as he sat on the couch nursing his broken leg. You can argue that he was avenging others, but that only makes it worse.

Again, I don't care what Malvo did, the other cops would have no choice but to arrest him. And I know, I know, somehow every single cop in this show (even the feds) are bumbling morons, but if anything, that just proves that they couldn't pull a cover-up, because they're all far too stupid to accomplish that.

Besides, for those people arguing that the cops could have easily swept this under the rug, gave Gus a medal, and carried on as usual, that's just not possible. There are way too many people involved, for starters, and the whole thing would likely be handled by a different jurisdiction anyway. I mean, the bad guy is killed by the deputy's husband? That in itself would require the case to be handled by another PD.

But, again, apparently every LEO in this show is an idiot, laws are meaningless, and logic is scarce. It's quite unfortunate.

[–] KutWrite (1317) 7 months ago

I had to suspend disbelief the first time a cop said on the radio "Over and out."

It was worth it, though.

Too, the Coen Brothers' films don't necessarily take place in our world. Different rules apply... including other-worldly intervention such as UFOs, animal demons/omens, and nature grabbing a fleeing double wife-murderer.