Dot Lyon May Be The Best Protagonist In Fargo History, Here's Why

Summary:

• Each season of the TV series Fargo featured its own cast of colorful characters and intriguing stories that were not connected to one another
• To varying degrees, however, they all followed an established, familiar structure
• Season 5 made the most changes to the protagonist archetype, with Dot Lyon being the complete opposite of what we've seen before

Over the years since its debut almost a decade ago, in 2014, the Fargo TV series has introduced viewers to a number of different stories and colorful characters, surprisingly maintaining the mark of quality.

As an anthology series, each season was a self-contained story, connected only by style, a black comedy vibe, and a fairly familiar structure that featured a number of elements that remained more or less unchanged.

Season after season, we saw an ordinary citizen encounter an evil person, with the event bringing out more, previously obscure layers of their personality, with criminals and servants of the law also present in the background of the story.

However, with each story adding new twists to the formula, the show managed to avoid feeling repetitive, much to the delight of many fans who grew to love the show over its five-season run.

Season 5 Features The Most Unique Protagonist In The Show's History

Now, with more than half of season 5 episodes released, they have reason to believe that Dot Lyon, the main character of this season's story, brilliantly portrayed by Juno Temple, may be the best protagonist in the show's entire history.

Episode 6, which premiered on December 19, 2023, shed more light on Dot's previously obscure backstory and revealed just how much of a monster her ex-husband, Roy Tillman, portrayed by Jon Hamm, really is.

While there's still a lot we don't know about Dot (or Nadine, her real name), many fans love her for the very reason that she breaks away from the usual Fargo archetype.

Dot Lyon Is Almost The Antithesis Of The Show's Established Archetype

As mentioned above, we have seen before how ordinary people show their true vile and selfish nature, with their flaws becoming more and more apparent throughout the season, usually resulting in the character being crushed by them.

Dot is an entirely different case, as she is the first protagonist in the series who is not morally bankrupt (or at least it seems that way at the moment) and is desperately trying to be normal instead of falling into darkness.

Her character's flaws (which aren't that bad compared to other protagonists on the show) are a direct result of the trauma caused by her previous marriage, and while some of her actions also cause harm to other people, Dot has a perfect reason for acting the way she does.

Along with Juno Temple's excellent performance, all of this makes Dot incredibly likable and really easy to root for, unlike most of the other protagonists that have appeared in the series so far.

Of course, with four episodes left in season 5, a single unexpected twist could completely change the way fans view her, but such a drastic change would go completely against everything we have seen in six episodes, so it is highly unlikely that the writers would practically destroy the character.

To be fair, this doesn't make the characters from previous seasons of the show any less great, but making subtle changes to the formula by making the protagonist practically a reverse of what we've seen before has definitely brought a new flavor to Fargo.

Episode 7 of season 5 will premiere on December 26, 2023.