Season 2

Complete listed story — includes the ending

S2E1 · Waiting for Dutch

In March of 1979, Otto Gerhardt, patriarch of the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, North Dakota, is incapacitated by a stroke, potentially jeopardizing their dynasty's leadership and sending two of his sons, Dodd and Bear, into a power struggle. At a Waffle Hut near Luverne, Minnesota, Otto's third son Rye attempts to extort a judge into unfreezing the assets of his business partner Skip Sprang, but ends up murdering her and two restaurant employees. Wounded, he sees an apparent UFO and stumbles into the road, only to be struck by a passing car. The driver, beautician Peggy Blumquist, assumes Rye to be dead and hides him in her garage. Her husband Ed, a butcher, discovers Rye alive and stabs him to death after being attacked. The two elect to keep the incident a secret and hide the corpse in their meat freezer. State trooper Lou Solverson and Sheriff Hank Larsson (Lou's father-in-law) begin investigating the diner murders. At home, Lou tends for his cancer-stricken wife Betsy and their daughter Molly. In light of Otto's stroke, members of a Kansas City-based syndicate make plans to move on Fargo.

S2E2 · Before the Law

Otto's wife Floyd is approached by Joe Bulo of the Kansas City mafia, who offers her a buyout of her family operation that keeps the Gerhardts' leadership intact. Dodd bristles at his mother running the business, but acquiesces when Floyd names him her successor after the situation settles. Floyd demands Rye be found. Bulo's associates Mike Milligan and the twin Kitchen brothers also begin searching for Rye. While driving into town, Lou stops by the Waffle Hut crime scene, where Betsy finds Rye's gun. That night, Lou stops by Ed's butcher shop to buy bacon, unaware that Ed is disposing of Rye's body in the meat grinder.

S2E3 · The Myth of Sisyphus

The police begin searching for Rye after his fingerprints are identified on the gun from the Waffle Hut; Milligan, Dodd, and the latter's henchman Hanzee independently search for Rye themselves. At the beauty salon, Betsy speculates to Hank (her father) that Rye is the victim of a hit-and-run. Peggy overhears this, and convinces Ed to crash her car a second time to hide evidence of Rye's murder. Lou travels to Fargo, where he and Detective Ben Schmidt travel to the Gerhardt farm and have a tense encounter with Floyd and her sons. Lou then visits Skip's typewriter store, where he has a standoff with Milligan and the Kitchen brothers. Dodd's rebellious daughter Simone points Hanzee to Skip, who is brought to Dodd for interrogation. After determining that Skip has no information on Rye's whereabouts, Dodd has Skip buried alive, then directs Hanzee to look for Rye in Luverne.

S2E4 · Fear and Trembling

As Otto is being taken to a doctor's appointment, Simone has sex with Milligan, inadvertently mentioning the doctor visit. The Kitchens then eliminate Otto's guards in the parking lot outside the medical clinic, leaving Otto unharmed, but unguarded. Meanwhile, Floyd, Dodd, and Bear meet with Bulo and propose a counter-offer to his buyout in the form of a partnership. Bulo balks at the idea, since Dodd assaulted two of his men earlier that same day. Bulo phones his superiors, who reject the Gerhardts' proposal. They now offer two million dollars less than the first offer and demand the Gerhardts' complete surrender. In Luverne, Hanzee's investigation leads him to find Rye's belt buckle in the Blumquist fireplace. Lou talks to the Blumquists regarding his suspicions that they are involved in Rye's death, but they stubbornly refuse to cooperate. He warns them of the Gerhardts' violent history. At the Gerhardt farm, Floyd tells the family to prepare for war.

S2E5 · The Gift of the Magi

Lou is temporarily taken off the Waffle Hut murder case while working a security detail for presidential candidate Ronald Reagan. Dodd and Hanzee concoct a story characterizing Ed as a hitman called "The Butcher" hired by Kansas City to kill Rye, in an attempt to rile Floyd into waging war. On Floyd's orders, Hanzee kills Bulo and a Kitchen brother, and sends the former's head to Milligan. Milligan later threatens Simone into spying on her family for him. Dodd sends his henchman Virgil to kill Ed, accompanied by Bear's naive son Charlie. Peggy heeds Lou's warning and plans to leave for California, but Ed insists on staying. Peggy ultimately sells her car to get the down payment to purchase the butcher shop. The assassination attempt on Ed ends with Virgil dead, Charlie hospitalized, and the butcher shop ablaze. Ed returns home and decides to leave town with Peggy, only to learn she sold their car. The police arrive on the Blumquists' doorstep.

S2E6 · Rhinoceros

Ed is arrested and brought to the police station for questioning, while Hank interrogates Peggy at her house. Floyd demands "The Butcher" executed and Charlie released from jail; Dodd and his men go to the Blumquists' in search of Ed, while Bear fetches for Charlie. Hanzee knocks out Hank, but Peggy subdues Dodd in her basement using a cattle prod. Karl Weathers, Luverne's only attorney, is summoned to the station to represent Ed. Bear and his men arrive soon after; realizing Ed will be killed, Lou sneaks him out a rear window while Weathers convinces Bear to leave. Hank drives back into town and intercepts Lou and Ed, but Ed runs off, with Hanzee in pursuit. While the Gerhardts depart, Simone calls Milligan and asks him to murder her father as revenge for Dodd's abuse. Milligan and his men arrive at the Gerhardt farm and open fire with Simone, Floyd, and Otto inside.

S2E7 · Did You Do This? No, You Did It!

Otto is killed in Milligan's raid on the farm, escalating the war between Fargo and Kansas City. Lou and Ben arrive after Otto's funeral and take Floyd to the station for questioning. She eventually accepts a deal that absolves her family for their past crimes in exchange for information on the inner workings of the Kansas City drug operation. Bear drives Simone to a secluded forest and shoots her for betraying the family. Lou asks Weathers to keep an eye on his family; Betsy claims to Weathers she has received placebo pills for her treatments, and wants Weathers to look after her family after she is gone. Betsy later goes to her father's house to feed his cat, but discovers his office filled with strange drawings and symbols. Milligan's superiors call him to inform him that an "Undertaker" has been sent to take over his end of the operation; when he arrives, Milligan kills him and his men, intending to blame the murder on the Gerhardts. He then receives a call from Ed, who says he has Dodd hostage in his trunk.

S2E8 · Loplop

Ed rushes back home; he and Peggy put Dodd in the trunk of his car and hide out in a relative's hunting cabin in South Dakota, unaware that Hanzee is pursuing them. At a gas station, Ed makes several unsuccessful phone calls to the Gerhardts to bargain for Dodd's freedom. He finally comes to an agreement with Milligan, and prepares to meet him at a motel in Sioux Falls the next morning. However, Dodd gets loose, incapacitates Peggy, and hangs Ed; Peggy knocks Dodd unconscious in time to save her husband. A manhunt ensues for Hanzee after he shoots five individuals at a bar; he finds Peggy's coworker Constance and forces her to trick Peggy into revealing her whereabouts over the phone, to no avail. A gas station attendant calls the police after he recognizes Hanzee in his shop. Hanzee finds the cabin, shoots Dodd in the head, and asks Peggy for a haircut. Peggy stabs Hanzee in the back as Lou and Hank arrive, forcing Hanzee to flee.

S2E9 · The Castle

Lou and Hank call in the South Dakota Highway Patrol after recapturing the Blumquists. The Patrol's Captain Cheney hatches a reckless plan for Ed and Peggy to wear a wire to the meeting with Milligan. Lou strongly opposes the idea, prompting Cheney to have him escorted out of the state while Hank stays behind. The Blumquists agree to the plan in exchange for lesser charges, and the police set up an ambush at the motel. Hanzee lies to Floyd and Bear that Dodd is being held in the motel by the Kansas City mob. Lou stops at the gas station to call home, unaware that Betsy has collapsed, and discovers that Hanzee has killed the attendant. He rushes to warn the others, but arrives to find the Gerhardts in a shootout with Cheney's team. All but Ben and a wounded Hank are killed; Floyd realizes Hanzee's deception before he stabs her to death. Bear attempts to strangle Lou, but a UFO suddenly appears above the motel, allowing Lou to shoot a distracted Bear. The Blumquists flee with Hanzee in pursuit, while police reinforcements arrive.

S2E10 · Palindrome

Hanzee shoots Ed while he and Peggy flee. The two take shelter in the meat locker of a supermarket. Ed eventually succumbs to his blood loss, causing Peggy to have a mental breakdown and hallucinate that Hanzee has set the supermarket ablaze to smoke them out, mirroring a film she watched earlier. When she exits the locker, she is met by Lou, who arrests her. On the drive back to Minnesota, the two converse about her life and the killings. Hanzee receives a new identity from a confidant in a park, where he also rescues a pair of young boys, one of whom is deaf, from a schoolyard bully whom he attacks violently. Milligan is promoted after taking credit for wiping out the Gerhardts, to find himself working in management from a small corporate office. Betsy recovers from the side effects of her chemotherapy drugs; she, Lou, and Hank gather as a family, with no one able to explain the UFO. Hank tells them that the symbols in his office were his attempt at creating a universal language to promote better global cooperation. The three ponder what the future holds.