The last episode of Fargo season 5 opens on the cold, snowy, desolate landscape where Gator (Joe Keery) is trying to figure out how to get someplace safe. Reaching out he feels the wood door of the dugout house and stumbles inside.
Gator makes his way through the dugout, where Roy's men are lined up with guns trained on the FB. and police, all lined up on the road with guns pointing back at them.
Gator climbs out an escape tunnel. He hears the police shouting as he is trying to get his bearings and walks toward the them with his hands raised.
Karma takes her shot
Roy (Jon Hamm) walks up on the porch where Odin Little (Michael Copeman) is sitting. He begins to berate Roy, even standing up to fight him. Roy stands with his back to him. When Odin grabs Roy's shoulder, Roy whirls around with a knife in his hand and cuts Odin's throat.
As Odin bleeds out, Karen (Rebecca Liddiard) comes around the corner of the porch. She sees what happened, turns and runs. Roy runs after her, but as Roy rounds the corner Dot is there with a shotgun and shoots him in the gut. She advances on him, ready to finish him off, but just as she cocks the gun Witt Far and the FBI surround the porch. Dot raises the gun and yells she's the hostage. Roy takes advantage of the distraction to get up and limp away.
The shot on the porch sets off a shootout between the militia and the police. Roy escapes to the dugout house. Witt (Lamorne Morris) follows his blood trail in the snow, but unfortunately Roy is waiting, stabbing Witt in the chest. Witt dies on the floor of the dugout. Roy tries to escape out the tunnel, but a tactical team is waiting on the other end and takes him into custody. Agents Joaquin (Nick Gomez) and Meyer (Jessica Pohly) inform Roy Gator gave him up.
As Dot is being led to an ambulance she sees Gator. Despite everything, they have a trauma bond. Dot hugs him, and he cries into her shoulder. Gator asks Dot if she will visit him in jail, and she promises she will bring him cookies.
Agent Meyer tells Dot they called Wayne and let him know Dot is OK. Dot asks where Witt is so she can thank him. Agent Meyer looks grim, and sadly shakes her head, indicating Witt didn't make it. A shell-shocked Dot is driven back to Scandia by Agent Meyer.
Wayne (David Rysdahl), Scotty (Sienna King) and Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are waiting outside of the Lyon home. Dot cries, happy to see them. Lorraine, trying to be aloof, says she heard Dot shot Roy in the stomach. "That's my girl," she tells Dot. Dot hugs Lorraine hard, which makes Lorraine uncomfortable. But when Dot lets her go, she winks at Dot and tells her, "Good for you." These two women finally understand each other.
Debts paid and forgiven
The scene fades out and comes back one year later. Dot takes Scotty to lay flowers on Witt's grave. Indira (Richa Moorjani) is also at the gravesite before she leaves to take Lorraine somewhere. After a moment's reflection at the grave, Dot tells Scotty they better stop and get sour cream because Wayne is making chili for dinner.
Indira takes Lorraine to prison, as she's not done with Roy just yet. Lorraine tells Roy his current appeal attempt will fail. She is the single largest donor to the Federalist Society, which controls the courts. But Roy is smug, sporting a swastika tattoo and saying he fits in well in prison.
Lorraine tells Roy his real punishment is about to begin. She explains that 85% of the prisoners have debt, so she established a fund to help the prisoners and their families get rid of their debt, as well as putting money on their commissary accounts each month. Roy looks a little less smug. He asks Lorraine which prisoners. She points out a few in the visiting room and then tells him all of the men on Cell Block D, B and A. Roy finally looks scared.
Roy asks if Lorraine wants him dead, she says no. Lorraine wants him to live for a long time, to feel everything his wives felt. Every blow, every humiliation; real fear. Roy tells Lorraine he's not afraid of her. Lorraine retorts it's not her Roy needs to be afraid of.
When Scotty and Dot get home, Wayne is making dinner and visiting with Old Munch (Sam Spruell). Dot, keeping her cool, asks him why he's there. Munch says he's not finished with the tiger. A debt is still owed because she injured his ear.
But Dot skillfully redirects Old Munch with easy banter and conversation. She involves him in making some Bisquik biscuits to go with the chili. As Munch talks about the order of the world and the debt that's owed, Dot tells him he can also choose to forgive the debt. She talks about how sometimes people can't pay a debt because they are poor, or because there is a death in the family. Dot reminds Munch that people can choose to have empathy and humanity and to forgive.
As they all sit down to dinner, Munch has a revelation. The Bisquik biscuits thaw his frozen heart. He forgives the debt and Dot is free.
Fargo season 5 ending explained
The recurrent theme in Fargo this season was debt. Roy tried to make Dot pay for a debt he felt he was owed, but Lorraine showed him in the end that erasing a debt could be even more powerful than trying to force someone to pay a debt.
When Old Munch visited Dot, intending to collect the debt he felt he was owed, Dot convinced him that forgiveness and humanity were of more value than a debt. She also reminded him he took on a job that came with a risk, and he accepted that risk, so she was not responsible for what happened to him. Once he forgave her for the imagined debt, he freed himself as well as her.
All episodes of Fargo season 5 are available to stream on Hulu in the US and Prime Video in the UK.
