I've been re-watching the first season of Fargo with my girlfriend for obvious reasons: It's legendary. In fact, back in the DrugWars days (remember DrugWars?) I took the accounts @malvo and @lorne-malvo and used them as alts in my crusade to acquire all the drugs.
I remember the first season of Fargo being more of a slow-burn than subsequent seasons, but clearly I've remembered incorrectly. Already one episode in and three people violently murdered. It only escalates to infinity from here if I recall correctly.
Spoiler Alert!
If you're thinking about watching Fargo Season 1 for the first time... maybe don't read this post :D. I mean it aired in 2014 but still worth it if you haven't seen. This is the first and perhaps only time ever I will issue a spoiler alert, for anything.
Lorne Malvo
Billy Bob plays one of my favorite antagonists of all time. This guy is pure unadulterated chaos. He is King Wolf, surrounded by sheep pretty much 100% of the time. I'm just now remembering that he even issues a riddle to Colin Hanks:
I said, "Did you know that the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color?" My question for you is, why?
The perfect question asked by The Wolf.
The answer is that prey needs to have this kind of vision to avoid being annihilated by predators hiding behind foliage and whatnot. Lorne Malvo is an apex predator, and he views everyone around him as laughably defenseless fawns.
Well... not everyone
In this scene Malvo frees the hitman sent to kill him. He admires the one that got closer than anyone else. It would be a shame to kill another wolf while he licks his wounds. The world needs more chaos.
He even offers Mr. Wrench a Kill Bill type deal, letting him know he's always free to try again should he seek revenge for the death of his partner... Or not: chaos is king, and either outcome is acceptable. Otherwise life would be boring.
Not Evil
Sure, Lorne Malvo is a hired gun for the mob: one of the most dangerous hitmen out there. He murders people for money; a contract killer, but that doesn't make him evil. He is a professional opportunist, just like any corporation. How fitting that corporations are also legally people.
Lorne's actions are largely neutral (however chaotic), and often times even comical. In the first episode he meets his foil, Lester Nygaard, and is absolutely fascinated by him! In fact, he seems to be fascinated by all the silly little sheep running around doing sheep things. Look at how adorable and harmless they all are, doing those silly sheeple things!
Lorne takes it upon himself to avenge his own foil. "If this sheep, that is my opposite, can't defend himself... well I'll take it upon myself to take care of business." Malvo essentially vows to inject himself into his foil's life and kill his new "friend's" high school bully... setting off a volatile chain of events: chaos incarnate.
Heck! You're so sure about it maybe you should just kill him for me!
Queue the most devious ironic smile in existence.
Malvo loves chaos!
He's able to create it just by talking, and takes every opportunity to do so just for the lawls of it alls. Even when just getting a room for a hotel...
I just want to know the policy...
LOL
He's such a troll. He can create chaos on demand, and loves to mess with people. After he kills Nygaard's high school bully he calls the older son and tells him the younger son received all the inheritance. The older son then proceeds to lead the younger brother outside and starts beating him with a hockey stick.
The interesting thing is that most of the people he messes with are not good people at all. They are all in the meat grinder together, and he's there to show them what's what, imposing his will and unique code of ethics on the weaker players around him.
You're problem is that you spent your whole life thinking their are rules: ... There Aren't.
This is the perfect summation of Chaos.
Those in sync with chaotic alignment reject many if not all rules of society. They have their own code and make their own rules. They don't need approval or permission.
There be dragons here
One of the best scenes of the entire season. Maybe I just enjoy watching wimpy Colin Hanks get punked by Lorne's Jedi mind games. It's truly hard to tell if he is bluffing or not.
Considering he's threatening a cop that could easily draw his weapon with superior positioning and call for backup, I have to assume this is indeed 100% mindgames, and there are even fan theories that claim Malvo has legit psychic powers like a Jedi might.
I'm rolling up my window now...
.
So what do you do when the mob puts out a hit on you because you killed one of their guys? I dun know... go to where they work and gun them all down in broad daylight? Sounds good! Chaos supreme.
Sheep's clothing
Even better, when you get caught, simply blend into the background with everyone else. Billy Bob's acting range is pretty pro if you ask me.
Shades of green
And what do you do when a yuppy tries to blackmail you? No problem! Just start shooting randomly and make sure the cops kill him for you. This event can easily double as a diversion. Two birds one stone.
This scene jacked me up to 11 and was very upsetting for me the first time I watched it. That mass shooting at the concert had just happened recently and this scene made me realize just how easy it would be to set the stage and commit mass murder without getting caught. As long as the 'responsible party' ends up dead ('suicide' is best) no one will question it.
Even now I'm getting hot flashes just thinking about it even though this clip gets cut short before he gets gunned down by the cops who then comment something like, "What a weird way to commit suicide".
Chaos isn't pretty.
And then to proceed to tell kids there are ghosts in the house they live in because people died there. One killed directly by him (a cop no less) and the other an indirect kill from collateral damage chaos. Oh Lorne, you are really scrambling here. It's almost like he needs to do it just to syphon more energy into that empty husk of a soul of his. His evil side comes out here something fierce, and it often feels like he becomes more evil depending on how much he is on the backfoot and off-balance.
Even though he's a professional assassin, Lorne absolutely does not do it for the money. His motivations run much deeper than that. The world is in need of balance, and he is the balancer. Everything he does has a purpose.
This is proven by the fact that after exploiting this guy for a million dollars (someone he was hired to help) and suiciding the yuppy trying to take a cut, he doesn't even keep the money. He just throws it away, only ensuring that nobody else has it. This is the ultimate goal: To punish the dishonorable. Because even if he doesn't abide society's laws he still has a code of honor, which is clearly his most treasured trait and primary motivation.
Doesn't matter... it's the principal...
Proving once again his motivation is not money, he's willing to justify trading a $100,000 bounty for a comical look of surprise on his victim's face. Ever the optimist.
But all "good things" must come to an end.
Colin Hanks eventually realizes that Lorne will never be punished by the system, and feels forced to take the law into his own hands and kill Malvo in "cold blood". This is was super unpredictable and surprising. The look of Billy Bob's face as he's dying is poetic: filled with rage and spite rather than fear; he is a wolf, and will die like a wolf "on his own terms"
On his own terms!
In the scene where Malvo lets Mr. Wrench go free, he tells a story about a bear who chewed through his own bones to get free from a steel trap. The bear died face down in a river shortly after, but at least it was "on his own terms, ya know?"
This is where Lorne actually died... getting caught in the exact same literal bear trap he was talking about. He dies because of his own hubris and the need to fulfil his own code. "It's the principal of the thing". If he had never killed Nygaard's bully, this chain of events would have never happened and he would still be alive.
Zero dynamic change
Malvo knows who he is, and doesn't want to change. On the other hand, his foil Lester Nygaard goes through extreme change. He gains a lot of confidence and essentially goes from someone who is constantly picked on and exploited to someone who doesn't take any shit. The transition period is very ugly, and he even gets several people killed and/or imprisoned along the way.
Lester essentially becomes Lorne Malvo's character by the end of the season, and when he literally bear traps Lorne his transformation is complete, and Malvo dies shortly thereafter. Very poetic in an extremely metal kind of way.
RIP LORNE MALVO
You will be missed! (not really)
What sparked these posts?
Giving a little insight into my ADHD brain, all of this content was generated simply by someone asking me what my prediction was for Bitcoin. You heard that right! I'm gonna beat the dead crypto horse some more!
Much like the Bermuda Triangle or the maps of olden days:
We are in completely uncharted territory as it pertains to the cryptosphere. Someone asked me where Bitcoin is going and it just immediately popped in my head: "THERE BE DRAGONS HERE!
The Burninator abides.
There is no telling where we are going. Everyone is using 2017 or even 2013 as a template, but the environment we find ourselves in is absolutely nothing we have ever seen. Chaos is coming; chaos is here, and there is no predicting chaos.
Conclusion
Lorne Malvo might be the most pure Chaotic Neutral character of all time (zero dynamic character growth). Definitely bordering on evil, but he has a code and is largely motivated by it. It's the principal of the thing. He feels compelled to keep the players around him honest and honorable (by his own crazy standards).
The main principal here is that the world is messed up, and requires disruption. He is the disruptor. He exists to balance the scales, violently if necessary. Once his job is done, his existence is no longer required.
Looking at crypto, we see some similarities. The only reason crypto needs to exist is to balance the scales; to keep the centralized institutions honest after becoming so corrupted. Once that happens, crypto doesn't really need to exist anymore. In fact, money itself may not need to exist in a future where reputation and abundance are much more important. Food for thought.