Fargo's, Lester Nygaard

Fargo, FX's series inspired by the Coen Brothers, begins with the story of a most ordinary, middle-aged Lester Nygaard. He works at a boring insurance job, his younger brother boasts his greater successes, his wife emasculates his every move, and his high school bully, Sam Hess, continues to torment him. The viewer soon realizes that Lester lives a pretty tragic life. That is, until he happens upon Lorne Malvo, who instructs Lester to take action. Malvo hints that killing Sam Hess and his own wife may be the solution. Weirdly, the audience is still charmed by Lester’s Minnesotan quirks as he smacks a hammer on his wife’s head and kills her, whilst muttering “Aw heck, oh jeez.” 

This is just the beginning of Lester’s rise in fortune and his proof of real worth, as Aristotle puts it. I won’t give too much more away, but Lester’s power increases with suspense, until you feel angry with yourself for ever being manipulated by his spell. Fargo as a piece of art, uses dark comedy to teach us about the subjective natures of evil. Key and Peele also show up around the 5th episode for more of the comedy's desperate foolishness.

Part of Fargo’s complexity is that Lester’s rise ultimately leads to his death, and the underdog policewoman, Molly, who had the right instincts about Lester all along, turns out to be the comedic hero. Lester dies pathetically, Molly is promoted, and the viewer feels satisfied. The irony, satire, and overall absurdity in dark comedy forces us to reflect on what the comedic hero encourages us to value. Most comedic heroes use these tactics to teach the downfalls of placing too much valor in the what is considered to be "serious," which is maybe why we feel so good afterwards.