Fargo‘s fifth season has drawn to a close, and it’s been one hell of a ride. But what happened and how did it all end? Here’s Fargo Season 5’s ending, explained.
Fargo Season 5’s Ending, Explained
Not all seasons of Fargo have such an obvious main villain, but this season we got MAGA-minded abuser and murderer “Sheriff” Roy Tillman as the nemesis of the piece. His second wife, Dorothy “Dot” Lyon, escaped his clutches years ago and started a family. But when he discovered she was still alive, he sent a pair of kidnappers, including the imposing Ole Munch after her.
They failed, but Tillman eventually got his hands on her and at the end of episode 9, she’d escaped her captivity and was hiding on his ranch. Meanwhile, the federal and local law enforcement that her mother-in-law had called in prepared to storm the ranch, taking on Tillman’s armed stooges and Tillman’s father’s militia. So what happened?
Roy slashed his militia-running father’s throat before being tracked down by Dot tracked (she’s proven herself to be something of a badass) who shot him in the stomach. But he fled as the authorities stormed the ranch and killed Deputy Witt Farr during his escape attempt. However, he was captured before he could make a break for it.
Law enforcement was ultimately victorious, also capturing the now eyeless (courtesy of Munch) Gator, Tillman’s wife Karen, and who knows how many of his goons. Dot returned home to be reunited with daughter Scottie and husband Wayne. Her once-frosty relationship with her mother-in-law Lorraine had thawed, and she awkwardly accepted Dot’s hug.
A year later, she and Indira, who was still working for Lorraine as her head of security, visited Witt Farr’s grave, before Indira and Lorraine went to see Tillman in prison. She revealed she’d arranged to help many of the prisoners with their family’s debts in return for them making Tillman’s life a living hell, not only for Dot but for his other wives.
Returning home, Dot (who was implied to be pregnant) discovered Ole Munch, actually Oola Moonk, waiting for her. He intended to fight her in revenge for her burning him (her killing his partner in crime seemed to bother him less). But she talked him into helping her cook. Sitting down for dinner, and he gradually told her his life story. Treating him with nothing but kindness, she offered him one of the cookies he’d helped make. The last shot is of him smiling, the first time on-screen, as he eats it and utters a brief sob.
Is Ole Munch Really Immortal?
If you take the ending for Fargo Season 5 at face value, Ole Munch / Oola Moonk is immortal, or at least un-aging. For a series that generally tackles crime, that might seem a bit out of left field. So what’s going on? Could it be that he’s really a 500 year old sin eater?
In short, yes. Fargo has touched on the supernatural and paranormal before, with Ray Wise’s character in Season 3, for example. So it’s entirely possible that Moonk is immortal. Sin eating, eating food off or more commonly near the body of the dead, was a real ritual. Though there’s no lore that suggests sin-eaters somehow extended their own lifespan by doing this, it was just a role.
Moonk has his happy ending, having finally being shown kindness, and wherever he goes from there, he’ll hopefully have a better life? Does he deserve one? That’s a debate for another time, but Dot sees parallels between the way he and she were both treated.
And that’s Fargo Season 5’s ending, explained. There’s no confirmation of a Season 6 but series creator Noah Hawley has suggested it could happen.
Fargo is available now to watch on Hulu.
