Set in 1979, the second season of Fargo broadens its scale to five to five main characters, featuring a crime syndicate family, a state cop, and a small-town family of two. Unlike Fargo's first season, season two focuses mostly on telling a story through its characters, rather than a few tight characters and a long narrative.
As expected in Fargo, the 'normal' people get caught up in a much bigger picture as they take drastic measures in a notion of panic after a very, very big mistake; although in the case of Molly in this season, she unknowingly kills the youngest brother of the crime syndicate family moments after he flipped and shot three people in a diner, including a judge. You can already see where this narrative is heading.
The police want answers, and the crime syndicate family want answers; Molly and her partner Ed want nothing more than to ignore the events and continue on with their lives, drawing as little attention to themselves as possible, having disposed of the body. It creates a web of interest that ultimately leads to a centre: Molly and Ed. Drastic measures result in further drastic measures, and the suspense arises.
With a plethora of characters in this season, each character plays an essential part, no matter how small that character is. They're individually written to perfection, and the cast's performances only strengthens that brilliant writing. Not to mention, the cinematography in this season took a huge leap forward, becoming much more artistic and beautiful, with a clear 70's filter to fit the aesthetic of the decade. This season is beautiful.
Never does the season feel as if it's overstepping in its directions; there's always something happening to progress the story, and that's down to the sheer amount of characters within the show that actually play a part. It's difficult to not want to compare it to the 1997 film, but they're certainly alike in their tight narrative wrapping.