Fargo (1996) is one of my favorite movies of all time and this incredible TV show is eerily similar in almost every aspect. All of the characters, plot lines , and screenplay seem to be based on the Coen brothers work - and boy did they do a good job!
shareI saw Fargo and I don't get any similarities at all. In fact the film bored me be to tears.
"Queens Conquer"
I guess you may have to watch Fargo again to get the similarities I mentioned....but as you found it boring I wouldn't expect you to watch it again friend:)
shareWell, it was far from a carbon copy. but there were a lot of interesting parallels, for sure.
shareYes, a "carbon copy" was a bit of an exaggeration on my part....after the first season I thought almost all of the plot sections we're eerily similar to those of Fargo. From the sheer greed and cowardly ways of the family dad, to the ruthless blonde chain-smoker of a killer etc...
The kidnapping scheme to extort money was similar. I'd hardly call it a carbon copy. I thought Fargo was a terrific film, never heard anyone call it boring. To each his own.
(The Fargo tv series is outstanding, right up there with the very best.)
I like this Happy Valley so far, well done.
Just came here to see if anyone else noticed the similarities too! It's too alike to have not ripped it off and just be a coincidence.
Cowardly worm of a man hires sketchy men to kidnap his bosses daughter for ransom money. Once he changes his mind it's already too late, the plan has started and everything goes tits up.
Lead female folky cop.
The 2 kidnappers that don't get along. One of them tall and blonde, chain smokes.
There are a few exceptions as Fargo is just an hour and a half movie, and this is 6 episode series at 45 minutes a piece, so it must be fleshed out much more.
But yes, too eerily similar to just be a coincidence.
Although a good show, it lacks the dark humour and charm Fargo has. But then if it did, it really would be a carbon copy.
Finally! Thank you!.... I've had so many dumb responses basically just criticizing me for starting the thread haha.... isn't the screenplay and characters spookily similar?!?..It wasn't until the end of the first season where I felt like I'd seen this somewhere before. Then I'm like....wait a minute!!
shareI'm really surprised to see people not seeing the similarities and criticise you for pointing it out. As a big fan of Fargo it was so glaringly obvious to me the moment the father proposed to kidnap the daughter. In that instant it all came to me.
I find it really strange no on else sees the stolen plot.
I did! Too many similarities for it to be coincidental. Happy Valley is entertaining- and Sarah Lancashire is always great to watch- but I thought the plot was definitely lifted from the Coen's film.
shareOh, and let's not forget the 'routine traffic stop with kidnap victim in vehicle turns into savage cop killing' scene...
How is that a "carbon copy" of Fargo?
Just because some wimp makes a deal with unsavory people to commit a crime?
Even if that was all there was to it (and it's not even the same crime), it would hardly make it a "carbon copy"? Or do you not know what a carbon copy is? It's an exact copy.
Happy Valley is about much more than one vague summary of one element of the first season. In fact, the show is more about characters.
Fargo, which I love by the way, is about everything but characters. All the characters remain very superficial. They are cogs in the machine that is the crime, which you see unfolding inevitably toward its cataclysmic ending.
Happy Valley is all about its characters, particularly Catherine whose similarity to McDormand character basically stops at two things: she's a woman and she's middle aged.
And even if the crime was everything, since the Coens admitted having been found their inspiration in a real crime, then I guess it's not even a carbon copy of Fargo's crime. Just a carbon copy of life?
For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco
Yes, I understand what you're saying.... using the phrase "carbon copy" was not correct, I could've worded that differently The only reason I posted this to begin with was because the plot and what happens to the characters as the kidnapping played out were the same as Fargo. Of course, if we start digging deeper we'll find discrepancies everywhere. I mentioned in an earlier post that as the season finale was beginning, I felt like I'd seen this show before - that's when the Fargo idea came to me.
shareIt's not as if Fargo invented the kidnapping gone wrong scenario. And I don't see anything in common between the leads other than the fact that they are both female police officers. I think you are making too much of superficial similarities.
shareOK thanks for the input....I think it's comes down to how we each view the productions. The events are superficial coincidences to some, and others see the events as far too similar to be coincidences. I guess this is what makes film such a brilliant thing!
shareCarbon copy certainly not. but I was thinking Fargo from episode 1 .
The basics of the plot, and certainly the father who starts it all being very like the william h macy chr ( one of my fave film chrs of all time!)
The father in seris 1 happy valley is a fantastic actor whose in a lot of british progs now,he started as part of the "league of gentleman" sketch group, look them up on you tube, i think happy valley fans will like thir very dark humour.
all their sketchs happen in a beautiful northern village, where terrible things happen!
Yes, one of the first things I thought when watching S1 of Happy Valley was how much the main source of the various sub-plots had in common with Fargo the Movie.
Namely an office-based suit clad bumbling yes-Man motivated by greed and selfishness hiring dubious characters to carry out a despicable act of kidnap at a huge cost of money and sufferance to people close to him.
And during the course of the actions taken by those he hired, he begins to realise that at each stage he has dug himself into an even deeper hole and there are to be no winners.
Well spotted also re. the female lead cop similarity and that of the two kidnappers.