Fargo Page #5

RON:

Guys at work. They talk about how

they look up to their brothers.

Their older brothers.

(beat)

Sometimes I tell people you’re

dead.

LESTER NYGAARD:

You --

RON:

I mean, heck, Lester. You’re forty

years old. When are you gonna get

yer act together?

Beat. Lester stares at him, ire rising.

CUT TO:

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Lester drives. Pearl sits next to him, fuming.

PEARL:

Yer own brother. You didn’t haveta

hit him. I mean, seriously. What

is the matter with you?

Lester drives, jaw clenched. The world is pressing down.

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE. ST. LOUIS, MS - NIGHT

A MAN sits alone in an office. This is MR. RUNDLE. Outside

his window is the skyline of a mid-western city. His

furniture is bland. No decorations on the wall. The man is

similarly forgettable. His phone rings.

MR. RUNDLE

(answering)

Claims and Adjustments.

INTERCUT WITH:

INT. CAR (TRAVELING). SAINT CLOUD, MN - SAME TIME

Lorne Malvo drives in a newly stolen car, on his phone. We

see an SUV in front of him.

MALVO:

It’s me.

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TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MR. RUNDLE

Mr. Malvo. Your call was expected

yesterday.

MALVO:

I got delayed.

MR. RUNDLE

Problems?

MALVO:

Car trouble. Fixed now.

MR. RUNDLE

But you finished the assignment?

MALVO:

Of course.

MR. RUNDLE

And when can they expect you in

Duluth? The new client is anxious

to begin.

MALVO:

Soon. I took a detour.

MR. RUNDLE

And the nature of this detour.

The SUV ahead of Malvo pulls into THE LUCKY PENNY, a strip

club. Malvo follows.

MALVO:

Personal. Shouldn’t be more than a

day or two.

MR. RUNDLE

I’ll let Duluth know.

Malvo hangs up. He watches Sam Hess get out of the SUV with

his two guys, walk to the front door.

CUT TO:

INT. BACK ROOM. THE LUCKY PENNY - NIGHT

Sam Hess is giving it to a HOOKER, who couldn’t look more

bored, a cigarette dangling from her lips.

HOOKER:

Oh, yeah, big fella. Oh, yeah.

29.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

Hess works towards his big finish, huffing and puffing. Then

suddenly, he STOPS. BLOOD pours from his mouth. The hooker

screams as Hess falls on top of her, revealing: LORNE MALVO,

who has just stuck a KNIFE into the back of Hess’s head.

Hess blocks the hooker’s view.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM. THURMAN HOUSE. SAINT CLOUD, MINNESOTA - NIGHT

Vern is sleeping next to his wife. The phone rings.

VERN:

Ya?

(beat, listening)

Aw geez. Where?

(beat, listening)

Okay. Pick me up, huh?

He sits up, scratches. Ida is half awake.

IDA:

Gotta go?

VERN:

Homicide. Molly’s coming ta get me.

Go back to sleep, hon.

She throws her arm over him, sleepily.

IDA:

Love ya.

VERN:

Love ya too.

CUT TO:

EXT. THURMAN HOUSE. SAINT CLOUD, MINNESOTA - NIGHT

Molly pulls up in her prowler. Vern comes out, climbs in.

Molly hands him a coffee.

VERN:

Thanks.

Molly drives.

MOLLY:

Ida sleeping?

VERN:

Ya.

30.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MOLLY:

Bill’s over the Lucky Penny. Says

it’s a real mess.

VERN:

Bar fight?

MOLLY:

Nope. Ya know those back rooms

they got for hanky panky? Well,

sounds like a customer was givin’

it to one of the girls. Got

himself stabbed in the head.

VERN:

The girl stabbed him?

MOLLY:

Bill says no. Says it was an

assassination type deal.

VERN:

(thinks about that)

Huh.

CUT TO:

INT. BACK ROOM. THE LUCKY PENNY - NIGHT

Sam Hess lays face down on the bed, the knife still sticking

out of the back of his head. Vern and Molly stand by the bed

looking down at him.

MOLLY:

Whatcha want me to write for cause

of death?

VERN:

Put self-explanatory.

Vern crouches, examines Hess’s profile.

VERN (CONT’D)

Well, heck. That’s Sam Hess.

MOLLY:

Hess that owns the trucking

company?

VERN:

Ya. With the two boys, both dumb

as a dog’s foot.

Molly looks around. A thought hits her.

31.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MOLLY:

Hold on. Isn’t Hess tied to that

syndicate of fellas outta Fargo?

Gun runners and such.

VERN:

So they say.

MOLLY:

Geez. Ya think this was, like, an

organized crime thing? A hit or

the like?

VERN:

(straightens)

Don’t know what I think yet.

Except that I was warm in bed a

half hour ago.

CUT TO:

INT. FARMDALE MOTEL. SAINT CLOUD, MINNESOTA - NIGHT

The owner, a heavyset WOMAN, is yelling at a sullen TEEN.

Malvo enters.

WOMAN:

How many times I gotta tell ya?

You can’t just take dirty sheets

offa one bed and put ‘em on

another. It’s unsanitory.

TEEN:

I shake ‘em out first.

WOMAN:

You don’t have the sense God gave a

clam, do you? Go shovel the walk.

The sullen teen exits.

MALVO:

I need a room.

WOMAN:

Just you?

MALVO:

Pardon?

WOMAN:

Is it just for you? The room.

32.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MALVO:

What difference does that make?

WOMAN:

Different rate for two. And if ya

got pets -- dog, cat -- that’s an

extra ten bucks.

MALVO:

What about a fish?

WOMAN:

Excuse me?

MALVO:

Would a fish cost me ten dollars?

WOMAN:

Well --

MALVO:

Or say I kept spiders. Or mice.

What if I had bacteria?

WOMAN:

Sir, bacteria are not pets.

MALVO:

Could be.

WOMAN:

Sir, perhaps you’d be happier in a

different motel.

MALVO:

I just want to know the policy.

I’m a student of institutions.

WOMAN:

(exasperated)

Sir, do ya have a pet or not?

MALVO:

Nope. Just me.

CUT TO:

EXT. FARMDALE MOTEL. SAINT CLOUD, MINNESOTA - NIGHT

Malvo approaches his room. The teen is shoveling snow

nearby.

33.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MALVO:

Why do you let her talk to you like

that?

TEEN:

Aw, she’s not that bad.

MALVO:

Son, she compared you to a clam.

The teen thinks about it. The woman is kind of a b*tch.

TEEN:

Well, what should I do?

MALVO:

Guy insulted me once. I pissed in

his gas tank. Car never drove

straight again.

The teen smiles, puts down the shovel. He walks over to the

woman’s car. Malvo lets himself into his room.

INT. MOTEL ROOM. SAINT CLOUD, MN - CONTINUOUS

Malvo goes to the phone, dials the front desk. He looks out

through the curtain. We can see the Teen with his pants

undone, pissing into the gas tank.

WOMAN:

Farmdale motel.

MALVO:

Yeah, I’m looking out my window and

there’s a young fella urinating

into the gas tank of a red Miata.

WOMAN:

Son of a --

Malvo hangs up, watches as the woman comes out of the office

with a shotgun. She YELLS at the teen, who panics and

stumbles away, his pants falling down.

Malvo closes the curtain.

CUT TO:

INT. COFFEE SHOP. SAINT CLOUD, MINNESOTA - DAY

A family place. Molly Solverson sits at a table, going over a

case file. LOU SOLVERSON (60) limps over with a pot of

coffee.

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TV Calling - For educational purposes only

LOU:

Warm ya up, hon?

MOLLY:

Thanks, dad.

LOU:

Whatcha lookin’ at?

MOLLY:

Murder file.

LOU:

Oh ya?

MOLLY:

Ya. Sam Hess got himself killed

last night over The Lucky Penny.

LOU:

Ya don’t say.

MOLLY:

Ya. Knife in the head. But ya

didn’t hear that from me.

Vern Thurman comes in, sees Molly, comes over.

VERN:

Hey there, Molly. Lou.

LOU:

Coffee? Eggs over medium.

VERN:

Won’t say no. How’s the leg?

LOU:

Goes from my ass to the ground,

same as the other. Thinking of

doin’ some ice fishin’ this

weekend.

VERN:

Sorry to hear it.

LOU:

Interested?

VERN:

No. Only thing I ever caught

fishin’ in winter was a cold.

Lou goes back behind the counter.

35.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

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