This is a true story.
The events depicted took place in Minnesota,
North and South Dakota in 1979.
At the request of the survivors,
the names have been changed.
Out of respect for the dead...
The rest has been told exactly as it occurred.
Feeling better then?
Mmm.
Doc says you had a reaction to those pills they gave you.
I told him they were supposed to kill the cancer,
but he says the pills may kill you first.
Hmm?
Is Lou back?
No, and no word either.
Something to eat?
Oh, God, no.
My dad?
Same. No word.
And Molly?
Tried to put her in her own bed, but she wouldn't go.
Stubborn. Yeah.
She gets that from her dad.
If you're not gonna eat, Doc says sleep.
Get your strength back.
Hmm.
So, you stay lying down, you.
And it's okay, I'll be right here.
That night, I had a dream.
Next week, we'll discuss economic concepts...
it felt so real,
even though I knew it couldn't be,
or wasn't yet.
Yes, Molly.
I dreamt of a magical future, filled with wondrous devices.
Where everything you could ever want
would be available in one amazing place.
All right.
Hey. Mmm-hmm. Daddy.
Just one more. And there was happiness there.
But then I saw farther still.
Years, decades into the future.
I saw a handsome older man, his back still straight.
Visited by his children and grandchildren.
People of accomplishment, of contentment.
But then,
I saw chaos.
The fracture of peace and enlightenment.
And I worried, that the future I had seen,
magical and filled with light...
Yeah. might never come to pass.
Go.
I can make it.
Dinner Sunday?
I'll be there. In a suit of armor.
Hey!
Hey, hey! Hey, hey, mister!
What's the trouble, young fella?
Mister, we need a ride.
Come on.
People of Earth.
I'm home.
Come on, Ed.
Come on. Come on.
Come on, you're gonna be okay.
Just a little further. Look.
Come on.
Get outta here.
Sweet Christmas.
Get outta here! Go on, get outta here! There's a bad man coming!
Okay, I'm gonna use the phone. I'm gonna call...
Hon, come on. Let's go, come on.
Come on.
Oh! Don't! Don't!
You were supposed to watch them, Ed and Peggy.
Come on.
Yeah. Okay.
I don't know, Ed.
It's okay.
We can lock it from the inside.
Hide out till they're... Till we're rescued.
World War III out there in case you didn't notice.
You okay there? Don't start.
She blindsided me, okay? A pack of wolves at the door.
I didn't think the bitch...
Didn't think she'd be dumb enough to sucker me.
Only one way he could have gone, Hanzee. Huh?
And your feeling is we go the same way, instead of home to bed.
Yeah. In a hurry.
FUBAR, yeah? FUBAR.
We got to lock it.
Here.
Come on, come on.
Here.
Sit down. You can do it. Come on. You sit here.
Come here.
Sorry. I gotta...
It's bad.
Hold on. Let me just see how bad it is.
Okay.
You're gonna be okay.
Peggy, I don't think we're gonna make it.
Don't you say that, Ed Blumquist.
We've come this far. We're gonna go all the way.
No, I'm saying even if we get out of this,
I don't think we're gonna make it, you and me.
What are you saying? We're just too different.
Don't say that. This, what we been through...
Adversity, that's what seals the bond.
Makes us stronger.
Like how a bone heals. Peg...
Peg...
No. No, I know I had my doubts. I know, but I'm sure now.
Peg. Will you just let me talk? I'm sure.
You're always trying to fix everything,
but sometimes nothing's broken.
Everything's working just fine.
If you can't see that, if you don't know that...
Ed.
I love you.
I do.
All I'm ever gonna want is to get back to what we had.
Hello.
Gale, be reasonable.
From this moment forward,
I decree, no more schnitzel or strudel.
Let's get some American food up in...
Everyone's dead.
Forget something?
Well, you caught me.
I thought nobody was home.
We're here.
Remind me which one you are again?
The kid Otto had with the maid?
You see the shotgun, right?
What, you couldn't afford a real one?
Times are tough, friend-o.
Hey, why do you think I'm stealing the silver?
Hey, maybe
in the spirit of human struggle,
we say bygones.
You let me get back in my car and drive away.
Do you know what the definition of the word "sovereignty" is?
What am I,
Professor from Gilligan's island?
Sovereignty is absolute power and authority.
Like a king? Exactly.
Which is who I am.
Your king.
Uh...
It's America, brother.
We don't do kings.
Oh, we do.
We do.
We just call them something else.
See, today is my coronation day.
And on coronation day, I've always believed,
a new king should start his reign with an act of kindness.
Right on.
And an act of cruelty.
That way, your subjects know that you're capable of both.
God and monster.
Shit.
Sign me up for the first one.
Problem is, Wilma works in the kitchen.
Oh, the Injun?
Right.
She has already received my kindness,
to wit, a brand new car,
and all the money that was in that cabinet you were searching.
Damn.
Which means you... Don't tell me.
are shit out of luck.
Story of my life, brother.
Hey, you ever been to Baltimore?
An act of cruelty, remember?
Well, I'm bushed, think I'm gonna go take a nap.
You should get some rest, too.
For in the morning, we journey home to bathe in that warm champagne
that is corporate praise.
Who knows?
Maybe they'll even throw us a parade.
I love a parade.
Ed, save your strength, huh?
You're gonna be fine and we'll figure this all out.
And I know I've been nothing but trouble to you.
I know.
Maybe he just walks away.
He's trying to smoke us out!
Help me, Ed.
They'll see... Somebody... They'll see and they'll...
They'll call someone.
They'll see.
Oh, my God, Ed.
It's just like the movie.
The movie I was watching this morning.
With the guy all tied up.
The Gerhardt, on the TV.
There was this... There was this couple.
This French... And they were on the run.
From the Nazi...
And the husband, or whatever he was,
he got shot, just like you.
But then they hid out in this...
Well, it wasn't a supermarket, it was a farmhouse,
but they hid out,
and the Nazi tried to smoke 'em out. Just like this.
But they got out!
Ed, they got out.
They were saved!
Ed.
Ed? Ed!
No! Ed?
Ed!
No.
Peggy! It's okay. It's okay.
It's me. It's me. Where is he?
Where is he? It's okay.
I'll kill him! No, no, no. He's gone.
No, you're lying to me! He's gone.
Put this down! No, no! You stay back!
Where is he? Where is the Indian?
Where is he? He tried to smoke us out! Stop.
Just like in the movie! Peggy, there's no smoke!
No! No. There's no smoke.
We need to check on Ed. He's shot. He's shot!
He's shot and the Indian, where is he?
He tried to light a fire, just like in the movie!
Just like in the movie!
Where is he?
Peggy. Where's the Indian?
Just look at me. Okay...
He lit a fire. No, the Indian got away, okay?
We followed Ed's blood trail, okay?
Kicked in the door. Us.
No, he's here. The Indian was never in the building.
No. He was. No.
Ed'll tell you. Ed.
Ed! Ed!
Come on, Ed, we're saved.
Ed, they're here!
We're rescued. Ed!
Ed? Ed!
Come on, Ed.
There's a manhunt underway for our man.
He won't get far.
Local PD says your father-in-law's in the ICU.
"Cautiously optimistic" is the report.
What about your boss?
I don't even know how to write this thing up.
Where to begin.
Well, like anything, I guess.
You know, start at the start and work your way to the end.
Okay, then.
You're gonna be okay.
I'm gonna take Peggy Blumquist back to Minnesota.
Anyone's got a problem with that...
Well, after the week I've had, they can keep it to themselves.
Mmm.
Morning.
Is Lou back? No.
So...
Is it...
Do you feel it?
Feel what?
My aunt lost her bosom to cancer.
Said it felt like somebody took a hot poker and put it through her heart.
No. Not like that.
Not yet.
You know how sometimes you get a peach from the bowl and one side is
ripe and yellow, and the other is black and moldy?
That's the only way I can think to describe it.
Camus says knowing we're gonna die makes life absurd.
Well, I don't know who that is,
but I'm guessing he doesn't have a six-year-old girl.
He's French.
I don't care if he's from Mars.
Nobody with any sense would say something that foolish.
We're put on this Earth to do a job,
and each of us gets the time we get to do it.
And when this life is over
and you stand in front of the Lord...
Well, you try telling Him it was all some Frenchman's joke.
Do you think...
Is there any chance I could be tried federal?
Why?
I thought, well, maybe I could serve my time in California.
There was this news report on the TV
about how there's this penitentiary
just north of San Francisco that looks out on the bay?
Doesn't that sound nice?
Maybe see a pelican.
We'll see what we can do.
I was there at the end, you know.
After the war, when Saigon fell.
On the USS Kirk, patrolling the coast.
And when the country went, it went fast.
And we had, like, you know, 24 hours to get everybody out.
But not just Americans, but our allies, the South Vietnamese.
All packed onto boats and helicopters.
We stood on the deck and waved them in.
One by one, they'd land, unload,
and then we'd push the whirlybirds into the sea.
Damnedest thing.
But then this Chinook comes, and those things...
Well, you just can't land one on a ship this size.
So we wave him off.
But the pilot's got his whole family inside,
and he's running out of fuel, so it's now or never.
So he hovers over the deck.
People start jumping,
scared or not, onto the ship.
There was a baby.
Literally, a tiny baby.
And the mother just...
Just drops him.
And one of my boys...
Like catching a ball...
He just sticks out his hands...
So, now, everybody's out,
and I'm thinking how the heck is this pilot, right, how's he gonna get out?
But he maneuvers off the port bow
and he hovers there for the longest time doing,
you know, what we learn later,
uh, taking off his flight suit.
And somehow he rolls the bird on its side,
and just before it hits the water, he jumps.
Six thousand pounds,
angry helicopter parts flying all around him.
And somehow he makes it.
How'd he do that?
What are you saying?
Your husband.
He said he was gonna protect his family no matter what,
and I acted like I didn't understand,
but I do.
It's the rock we all push, men.
We call it our burden, but...
It's really our privilege.
I never meant for any of this to happen.
You know?
Not to Ed.
Not to anybody.
I just wanted to be someone.
Well, you're somebody now.
No. See,
I wanted to choose.
Be my own me.
Not be defined by someone else's expectations...
And then that guy... That stupid guy!
Walked out into the...
Why did he have to do that?
You mean the victim?
No. That's not fair.
'Cause I'm a victim, too.
Was a victim first.
Before him. Victim of what?
Well, it's...
You wouldn't understand, you're a man.
It's a lie, okay?
That you can do it all.
Be a wife, and a mother, and this self-made career woman...
Like there's 37 hours in a day.
And then, when you can't, they say it's you.
You're faulty.
Like...
Like you are inferior somehow.
And then, like, if you could just get your act together
until you're half-mad with...
People are dead, Peggy.
Stay put.
Solverson residence.
Oh, thank God.
Who is this? Noreen?
Is that you, Mr. Solverson? Yeah.
We've been trying to...
I mean, all night we've been calling,
and the operator didn't know where you were...
What happened? Well, it's...
She's fine...
Just had a...
Well, she fell, is all.
Something about the pills they gave her.
What do you mean, she fell?
Where's Molly? She's here. At home.
We all are.
Your missus is sleeping and the girl right there with her.
She's stubborn all right, your daughter.
Your wife says she gets that from you.
But the doctor... He says your missus is fine.
Just needs rest and then to come in next week for some more tests.
She's sleeping currently.
I told her I'd sit up with Molly until you got home.
Okay, well, uh,
I got a suspect in custody.
On my way back from Sioux Falls, so, uh...
Tell Betsy I'll be home soon as I can. Okeydoke.
And, Noreen?
Thank you. You betcha.
And so, great empires fall and are forgotten.
You're thinking, why Tripoli?
Well, Tripoli, not to be confused with Levantine Tripoli
in the country of Lebanon,
was founded in Libya in the seventh century by the Phoenicians.
Then was conquered by the Romans.
And then by the Spanish and then by the Turks.
You see where I'm going.
I need a face man.
His details are inside.
I'm assuming you want more than just a skin peel.
Something structural...
A whole new man.
Like the phoenix, rising from the ashes.
What'll you do then, I wonder.
Join a new empire?
Maybe start one of my own.
So that it, too,
may one day collapse and fall into the sea.
Do I take it you'll try to get revenge on Kansas City?
Apprehend those responsible?
'Cause you can bet Kansas City will be heavily guarded.
Not apprehend.
Dead.
Don't care "heavily guarded."
Don't care "into the sea."
Kill and be killed.
Head in a bag.
Drop 'em down.
Put 'em down.
Dummy!
Look, you did good.
I had my doubts, but, uh, you really brought this thing home.
I had a few breaks. Don't do that.
Take praise and turn it into something else.
You're right. I'm sorry.
And don't apologize.
You still got a few rungs left to climb.
You're not gonna get there saying you're sorry.
Got it. Thank you, sir.
I did.
I worked hard night and day to get this done,
I don't mind telling you.
Which is why I was thinking, for this setup in Fargo,
I'd like to handpick a few men...
No, no, no. That's the day-to-day stuff.
We got a team for that.
Asset managers, mid-level and below. Drones, really.
They've already been deployed.
The real oversight of the new northern territories...
Well, that happens right here, in this building.
Which is where you want me.
Assuming you don't wanna be a grunt your entire life.
No. Of course not.
Good. Then pay attention.
It's 9:00 to 5:00 mostly, but management rewards initiative,
so, nights, weekends, whatever gets the job done.
You'll be working closely with the, uh, accounting department,
looking for ways to optimize revenue.
Shorter shipping routes, less palms to grease, that kind of thing.
The accounting department.
Yeah, and this whole, uh, Western thing. That's gotta go.
Get something gray or pinstriped with a white shirt, a real tie.
And cut your hair, okay?
The '70s are over, for Christ's sake.
See, I thought, well...
In the old days, when a guy conquered a place...
You want the old days?
Go work in a coal mine.
This is the future.
Look, you and I got off on the wrong foot,
but you seem like a good kid, so let me give you a tip.
The sooner you realize there's only one business left in the world...
The money business, just ones and zeros,
the better off you're gonna be.
Sir, believe me, I'm an earner.
Yeah, yeah, but listen to me,
I'm not talking about busting heads for collections.
I'm talking about profit and loss...
Infrastructure.
See,
last year, Donahue in the western branch...
He rejiggered the mail room,
ended up saving a million a quarter in postage.
Now, management was so impressed
they gave him California.
The mail room? Yeah.
Why didn't I think of that, right?
Uh, anyway, settle in.
Dale from HR's gonna come by with a few forms for you to fill out,
health insurance, 401 k...
And then, uh, get to work.
Quarterly projections and revenue statements are due on the 13th.
We're expecting big things from you.
Oh, uh...
You play golf?
Golf?
It's a great game. You should learn.
That's where all the deals are being done these days.
Look who I found.
Poppa!
Ow! Careful, careful now.
Give your poppa some room.
No, no. Okay.
This is just the medicine I need.
Well, you okay then?
You need to lie down? Nah.
No. No?
I'll take a beer though, if you got one.
Lou? Hell, yes.
I mean, "heck." Heck.
I think we earned one or 10.
Hey, Sheriff.
Noreen.
Heard you're, uh, running the place now. Oh...
It's mostly just babysitting and laundry.
She's been a real lifesaver.
Come on, squirt.
Let's get your party dress on.
See you in the funny papers.
Well...
More pie, Dad?
Not unless you want me to burst my stitches.
So...
You gonna put that in your report then?
What? Gunfight interrupted by a spacecraft?
Yeah, maybe leave that subtext.
And this Hanzee fella?
Uh...
Made the FBI's Most Wanted.
First one of those I worked, but so far, nothing.
Probably fled the border to Winnipeg or Points North.
Yeah. He'll show up again, I'm sure...
Like it or not.
You okay, hon? Yeah, sure.
It's just a cramp.
We're a sad bunch, huh?
Next thing, Lou will be grouching about his sciatica.
Yeah.
Well, we're sitting here together.
That's what matters.
A man once said,
"You'll know the angels when they come,
"'cause they'll have the faces of your children."
Anyway. Um...
Just happy to see you is all, Bet.
So, Dad, I fed your cats while you were in the hospital.
And they're grateful, I'm sure. Yeah.
And when I went over there the first time...
I went in your office.
Ah...
So, uh...
Well, okay.
So...
After your mother died, I got to feeling pretty low.
We all did.
And I took... Well, you remember, I took some time off.
And I started thinking...
Which I know is dangerous...
But, you know,
the things I've seen...
In the war,
and at home, on the job...
So much senselessness.
Violence, you know? And I got to thinking about...
About miscommunication.
Like how, isn't that the root of it?
Conflict, war... Doesn't it all come down to language?
Right? The words we say and the words we hear,
which aren't always the same thing.
So, I thought, you know, what if there was one language?
A universal language of symbols, 'cause pictures,
to my mind, are clearer than words.
So, that's what that is?
In your office.
You're making your own language.
Well, it sounds crazy when you say it out loud, I know.
But...
You know, when we see a box with a roof on it,
well, everyone knows that means home.
You know, and my six-year-old granddaughter, she draws a heart.
It means love. No question.
Anyway.
That's where I started, you know, with simple ideas,
and the more I worked on it,
the more it became all I could think about.
You're a good man.
Well, I don't know about that,
but I like to think I got good intentions.
What do you say tomorrow we go fishing?
Okay.
Get some sleep, you.
Good night, Mr. Solverson.
Good night, Mrs. Solverson.
And all the ships at sea.