Lou Solverson

Lou Solverson is a fictional character in the FX television series Fargo. He first appeared as a supporting character in the first season, played by Keith Carradine, and then in a younger version as a main character in season two, played by Patrick Wilson.

Character summary

Season 1

Solverson has a minor role in season one. In 2006, he is a retired police officer, and is the owner of Lou's Coffee Shop. He appears as a wise mentor to his daughter, Molly Solverson who is investigating the crimes of Lorne Malvo and Lester Nygaard.

Lou Solverson in season one

Season 2

In 1979, Lou Solverson investigates a Waffle Hut shooting, with his father in law, Hank Larsson. He notes the strangeness of the shooter (Rye Gerhardt) apparently fleeing the scene in a different vehicle after parking his own car outside the diner. Unbeknownst to Lou and Hank, Rye was hit by Peggy Blumquist's car after running into the street after seeing a UFO. Peggy, not knowing what to do, takes the body home to her husband Ed to dispose of the body. At home, Lou is dealing with the worsening cancer of his wife Betsy, and his four-year-old daughter, Molly. Later, while driving his family into town, Lou stops by the crime scene where Betsy finds Rye's gun in some weeds. Later that night, Lou sees a light on inside the closed butcher shop and finds Ed Blumquist there. Lou asks to buy some bacon, while Ed does his best to distract Lou from noticing that he is putting Rye's body parts into a meat grinder. Lou eventually leaves unaware of what was really happening, and Ed finishes grinding Rye's body while strange flashing lights illuminate the exterior of the butcher shop.

The fingerprints on the gun are later found out to be Rye's, which leads to a manhunt for him. Lou travels to Fargo and meets Detective Ben Schmidt, to talk about the investigation. They visit the Gerhardt farm and have a tense encounter with the family. Lou then visits Skip Sprang's typewriter store, after noticing Skip acting nervously while at the late Judge Mundt's office earlier. When he returns home, he learns that Betsy's cancer is spreading, but learns that Betsy can take place in an experimental drug trial for a drug called Xanadu, but there is a 50/50 chance that Betsy would receive a placebo. Lou hesitates for Betsy to participate in the trial, but Betsy accepts anyway. After growing suspicious of the Blumquist's role in Rye's death, he visits their house to question them. They refuse to talk to him and ask him to leave. Lou tells them that the person they hit was Rye Gerhardt, and that the Gerhardt family has a very violent history. Peggy takes Lou's warning very seriously and plans to leave town, but Ed insists on staying. The next night, the police arrive and arrest Ed.

While Lou is interrogating Ed, the Gerhardt family arrives to take Charlie Gerhardt, who was arrested for burning down Ed's Butcher Shop, and to kill Ed. To avoid anyone from getting hurt, Lou sends out lawyer, Karl Weathers to tell the family that he is Charlie's lawyer and he will be released soon due to him being a minor. Lou escaped with Ed without being seen or hurt, but Ed escapes Lou and runs back presumably to Peggy. Lou and Ben arrive at the Gerhardt family farm after the funeral of Rye Gerhardt and take Floyd to the station for questioning. She accepts a deal that will absolve her family members for previous crimes they have committed in exchange for information about how the North Dakota syndicate runs their drug operation. While Ed and Lou are escaping the police station, Dodd Gerhardt enters the Bloomquist home hunting for Peggy. She manages to taze him with his own cattle prod and ties him up.

Ed runs home and he and Peggy escape with captive Dodd Gerhardt to a cabin in the woods to figure out what to do next. Hanzee comes to kill them, but kills Dodd instead. Hanzee escapes as Ed and Peggy are caught by Lou and Hank. But due to them not being in their jurisdiction, they call the South Dakota State Police. When Ed reveals his upcoming rendezvous with Mike Milligan to hand over now-dead Dodd Gerhardt, State Police Captain Cheney hatches a dangerous scheme for Ed and Peggy to wear a wire for the meeting, hoping to implicate Milligan and the Kansas City mob. When Lou strongly opposes this idea, Cheney has him escorted out of the state, though Hank stays behind. After Ed and Peggy agree to the plan in exchange for lesser criminal charges, the police set up an ambush at the motel meeting spot, only for Hanzee to observe their actions from a distance. Hanzee later uses this to betray the Gerhardt's. Meanwhile, Lou, who has discovered that Hanzee killed a gas station attendant, goes back to warn the other police that Hanzee likely knows of their plan. At the same time, Lou is unaware that Betsy has fallen seriously ill back home. Lou arrives at the motel too late, as the Gerhardts have ambushed Cheney and the other officers. Nearly everyone is dead except a wounded Hank and Ben Schmidt, who Peggy and Ed knocked out. Hank tells Lou to purse both the Blumquists and Hanzee.

Hanzee chases Ed and Peggy as Lou pursues Hanzee to end the madness. Hanzee shoots and wounds Ed as he and Peggy flee down an alley. The pair take shelter in a supermarket, hiding in the meat locker. While holed up inside, Ed confides to Peggy that he does not think they will make it as a couple, upsetting her. He then succumbs to blood loss, causing Peggy to break down mentally and hallucinate that Hanzee has lit the supermarket on fire in an attempt to smoke them out. However, Hanzee has fled. Lou, aided by Ben Schmit, arrives and subdues and arrests Peggy. While driving her back to Minnesota to be prosecuted, the two converse about life and death, with Peggy finally accepting her fate. Meanwhile, Betsy has recuperated from the side-effects of the experimental cancer drug she was taking. When Lou returns home, he, Betsy, and Hank gather as a family. The three ponder what the future holds for each of them and for the family.

Production

Wilson was Noah Hawley's initial pick for the role of a younger Lou Solverson in season two.^[1] Wilson, along with the rest of the cast saw a dialect coach prior to the filming of the series.^[2]

Hawley purposely tried to distinguish the younger version of Lou and the older version of Lou, saying "he’s not Keith Carradine yet. His character was a very calm and wise and comfortable in his own skin guy. Patrick Wilson has a confidence and he’s comfortable, but he’s not Keith Carradine yet. This journey will get him to a place where he can finally settle into his life and really be back from the war."^[3]

Reception

Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture compared Wilson's performance to Robert De Niro's Academy Award winning performance as a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, writing: "It’s a remarkable feat of acting continuity, in that it syncs up perfectly with Carradine’s performance in season one, yet it never feels like Wilson is doing an impression. He’s a young man, and he’s in good shape, but he carries himself like an older, heavier one, as if weighed down by burdens he hasn’t fully acknowledged because he’s not ready yet. You get a sense of a personality, perhaps a soul, in the process of evolving. It deserves to be likened to Robert DeNiro’s work as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II. I don’t make that comparison lightly. He’s that good."^[4]

Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix, wrote that "there's still that irrepressible sense of upper Midwestern politeness, even in the face of horror and madness, and given spectacular voice by Wilson. He doesn't much resemble the young Keith Carradine, but the role's otherwise a perfect fit for the contrast between his bland, square-jawed demeanor and the obvious intelligence that's always flashing underneath. Watching Lou slowly but surely untangle the mess he's been handed gives you a fine idea of where Molly got her investigative gifts."^[5]

Accolades

For his performance in season 2, Wilson was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries^[6] and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.^[7]

References