Chris Rock gets serious in Chicago-shot, mobbed-up fourth season of ‘Fargo’
Actor brings the pain — and the menace — in ambitious, mobbed-up 4th season of ‘Fargo’
“You know why America loves a crime story? Because America IS a crime story.” — Crime syndicate boss Josto Fadda in Season 4 of “Fargo.”
We’ve known Chris Rock can handle serious dramatic roles ever since he played the crack addict Pookie in “New Jack City” back in 1991, but Rock gives what might be his most impressive performance to date in Season 4 of “Fargo,” a gloriously eccentric, blood-spattered and mobbed-up period piece about the evil men (and women) do in the pursuit of power and the almighty dollar.
One could say Rock is the lead in this installment of Noah Hawley’s anthology series, which debuts on FX on Sept. 27. (I’ve seen the first nine of the 11 episodes.) That also could be said of Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley,
Emyri Crutchfield, Timothy Olyphant, Glynn Turman and a number of other cast members. This is the kind of share-the-wealth, ensemble-driven set piece where a dozen actors could be eligible for a Lead Performance nomination — or be in the supporting category.
Although Season 4 is set in the Kansas City of 1950, shooting took place in the Chicago neighborhoods of Rogers Park and Uptown, as well as Elgin and Blue Island. (Production was halted last spring when COVID-19 hit, and resumed in August under safety protocols.) In the series premiere, we get an explainer about the history of crime syndicates in the city, from Jewish gangsters to an Irish syndicate to Italian mobsters. Cut to 1950, where the Italian syndicate, run by Donatello Fadda (Tommaso Ragno) and his son Josto (Jason Schwartzman), and the Black criminal organization, headed by Rock’s Loy Cannon, are continuing the longstanding and dubious tradition of trading sons between families, under the deeply twisted logic this will keep the peace. Loy’s son Satchel (Rodney L. Jones III) will be raised by the Faddas, and Donatello’s son Zero (Jameson Braccioforte) will grow up in the Cannon household, in a kind of warped insurance policy. What could possibly go right? At times it’s hard to keep track of the players without a scorecard. In the opening episodes, we meet a vast and colorful array of mostly oddball and quite fascinating players, including: