Warning: The following explainer for who narrates Fargo Season 5, Episode 5, “The Tiger,” contains spoilers.
This actor went full David Attenborough in Fargo Season 5, Episode 5, “The Tiger,” narrating Dottie’s mental hospital escape as if it were a nature documentary.
Who Narrates Fargo Season 5, Episode 5, “The Tiger”?
Despite a last name reminiscent of a different big cat, Juno Temple’s Dottie Lyon was first compared to a tiger by Ole Munch in Season 5’s second episode. “The Tiger” thus reiterated this metaphor with Jason Schwartzman’s playful narration, as he peppered in facts about the animal kingdom as Dottie continued to outwit her opponents. In Season 4 of Fargo, Schwartzman played Kansas City mobster Josto Fadda, and his return this season as a narrator constitutes a time-honored Fargo tradition.
Though Noah Hawley’s Fargo is an anthology, the seasons’ plots have all been woven together in some way. However, beyond the plot interconnectivity, certain stylistic motifs appear across every installment of the Midwest crime saga. Schwartzman’s Season 5 role as a single-episode narrator played into one of these stylistic connections between Fargo’s seasons rather than a plot one (since Josto himself’s been long deceased).
Season 1 stars Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton both returned to Fargo to narrate episodes in subsequent seasons, with Freeman tackling Season 2’s penultimate episode, “The Castle,” and Thornton’s voice appearing in Season 3’s “The Narrow Escape.” Schwartzman followed these previous Fargo actors’ bloody footprints in the snow, engaging in a motif that has weaved its way through multiple seasons of Fargo.
Voice-Over Plays a Strong Role in Fargo’s Soundtrack
Beyond narration as a method to reincorporate previous Fargo stars as a nod to the series’ past, Schwartzman’s role exemplifies voice-over’s unique role within Fargo‘s soundtrack. Scenes like Bokeem Woodbine’s Mike Milligan reading Lewis Carrols’ “Jabberwocky” poem in Season 2 and the interview answers given by Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Lorraine Lyon this season often serve the same purpose a song would on the show’s soundtrack. While Fargo has a sweeping score and has certainly featured some apropos needle drops, this incorporation of voice-over adds yet another stylized weapon into Fargo‘s arsenal.
