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Fargo is one of the finest films by the Coen brothers, who have mastered the art of black comedy throughout their long career in Hollywood. They have earned four Oscars and have subverted the norms of any subgenre they dealt with. That's also the case with Fargo (1996), one of their earliest works that put them on a bigger map. By then, they had already earned the Palme d'Or for Barton Fink (1991), but the 1996 slow-burner made them even more popular.
Despite all the recognition, there's one scene in the film that has bothered film lovers. It's where police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) meets her school friend, Mike Yanagita (Steve Park), at a diner bar. In the scene, Mike confesses that he married one of their old schoolmates, Linda, and claims that she died of cancer. Moments later, he starts crying ugly in front of Marge, awkwardly confessing that he had feelings for her as well. Eventually, the scene ends with Mike going his way and Marge going hers.
We do not see or hear Mike after his scene. So, there's no sense of conventional resolution to his arc. That's why some viewers thought that the scene was pointless since it didn't directly correlate with anything else in the film. Well, that's far from the case. In fact, the scene offers a far deeper insight into Marge's character. Let's unpack how.
Mike Yanagita's meeting scene in Fargo reveals the cracks in Marge's moral code.
Throughout Fargo, Marge is shown as a clever but good-hearted woman. She strikes out as someone who sees only the good in people around her. Case in point — her discussion with Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) regarding the investigation of a state trooper's murder. Jerry feigns ignorance about the whole ordeal, even if it's his naive and reckless actions that led to the murder. He hires two men to kidnap his wife to extract ransom from his father-in-law.
Marge believes in Jerry without a shred of doubt and thinks he is a good person and is not capable of something evil. That's why she initially gives him a clean cheat. However, her interaction with Mike makes her question Jerry's statement. After their meeting, she learns that Mike concocted a lie about being married to Linda and her death from leukemia. In reality, Linda died of another cause. He lied, possibly to seek sympathy from Marge, hoping it would help him make a move.
Instead, Marge sets her boundaries and makes Mike sit on the other side of the table when he sits next to her. She is still cordial and gracious. That's why Mike thinks he still has a chance to be with her by telling a sob story. Once she realizes that Mike lied about Linda, she questions Jerry's earlier statement, which leads her to solve the case. That's why the inclusion of Mike's scene is possibly the Coen brothers' smartest creative move. It doesn't scream out its subtext. Instead, it makes us ponder its relevance.
The Mike Yanagita scene in Fargo reveals the subtle, creative genius of the Coen brothers.
Fargo isn't just about solving the mystery and realizing the end of an elaborate cat-and-mouse chase. It is about these seemingly simple characters capable of extraordinary, sometimes evil things. So, even someone as 'nice' as Jerry commits a felony. Marge slowly learns to see people beyond what they present themselves as. Even someone like Jerry can break bad. The film sheds light on the lives she or anyone else in her small town leads as opposed to the kind of life they want to lead.
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That's why another reading of the Mike Yanagita scene in Fargo implies that Marge was toying with the idea of a life beyond her marriage. After having the cringe-inducing meeting with Mike, she steps back from that thought, borne out of her hopes of escapism. So, the scene helps us better understand her nature and gradual character development. With that scene, Mike becomes one of the characters in the Coen brothers' films that appear only for a scene or two but have a larger significance.
That's why, during a discussion with film critic Roger Ebert about the finest films from the 1990s, Martin Scorsese spoke highly of the Mike Yanagita scene in Fargo, where Steven Park's intense and genuine performance stands out as peculiar and memorable.
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