Fargo remains a crime movie classic and one of the best Coen brothers movies, but there is one scene that still puzzles many people. Fargo takes place in the frozen and mundane landscape of Minnesota, where the politeness of the community is juxtaposed with a series of grisly murders surrounding an unusual kidnapping case. It is the mild-mannered yet tenacious hero cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) who must solve the case.

Fargo proved to be a mᴀssive success for the Coen Brothers, earning a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars while also winning two awards. It has also maintained popularity throughout the years, leading to the critically acclaimed Fargo TV show drawing inspiration from the original movie. From Fargo‘s claims of being a true story to its wild tone, it is a subversive crime movie, but perhaps the most difficult aspect for audiences to wrap their head around is the famous scene with Mike Yanagita (Steve Park).

Why Fargo’s Mike Yanagita Scene Is Often Considered Confusing

The Moment Might Seem Like A Random And Unresolved Subplot

Fargo‘s dark and twisted crime story is already well underway by the time Mike Yanagita is introduced into the story. Frances McDormand’s character, Marge Gunderson, is investigating a series of murders when she gets a call from her own classmate, Mike, reconnecting with her after years. This random injection of the character leads to a scene in which Marge agrees to have dinner with Mike.

While catching up at the H๏τel bar, Mike repeatedly makes things awkward by getting too close to Marge and telling her how much he liked her when they were in school together. Eventually, he reveals that he had married another girl they went to school with, who later died of cancer, leading to him breaking down. While the scene ends there, Marge is later seen talking to an old friend who, not only is the girl Mike mentioned not ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, but they never got married, and he made the whole thing up.

The initial scene with Mike fits the oddball humor of the movie, with a mix of discomfort and dark comedy. The reveal that Mike lied adds an intriguing wrinkle to this subplot. However, what confuses many people is that there’s no resolution to this. Marge learning the truth about Mike’s “wife” is the last mention of him. Marge doesn’t confront him about his lies, nor is he brought into the plot. It was not a distracting scene at the time, but it is only on reflecting on the movie that many people wondered what the point of it was.

The Mike Yanagita Scene Perfectly Sets Up Fargo’s Ending

The Coen Brothers Masterfully Set Up The Key Revelation

While the Mile Yanagita scene in Fargo might seem like a rather pointless inclusion in the Coen Brothers movie, it is actually essential to resolving the main plot. Earlier in the film, Marge Gunderson visits Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) at his car dealership to inquire about whether there are any missing cars from his lot, as a car with dealer plates is linked to the murders she is investigating.

Marge is unaware at the time that Jerry took one of the cars from his lot and gave it to a pair of criminals as payment for kidnapping his wife. It was these dim-witted criminals who were responsible for the murders Marge is investigating. However, when Jerry insists that there are no missing cars, she takes the polite man at his word and moves on. However, the revelation that Mike is not the sympathetic and kind man he seemed to be makes Marge reflect on her instincts, and she decides Jerry wasn’t telling the truth.

The Mike Yanagita scene plays on the movie’s themes of good and evil. Marge is a character who likes to see the world as a good place filled with good people. However, she is also an intelligent police officer, and Mike’s lies serve as a reminder that people are capable of evil, whether she likes it or not. She is forced to confront the fact that she didn’t want to acknowledge, that Jerry was not honest, and that he was hiding something.

Mike Yanagita’s Actor Had A Different Interpretation Of His Famous Fargo Scene

Actor Steve Park Also Didn’t Understand The Scene

Despite only appearing in one scene in the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece, actor Steve Park made a big impression as Mike Yanagita in Fargo. Park has continued to have an amazing career since appearing in Fargo, recently starring alongside Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17 and joining the star-studded cast of Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. However, he still reflects on that memorable scene from earlier in his career.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, looking back on the movie and his role in it, Park admits that he almost pᴀssed on playing Mike simply because he thought the character was too old for him to play. However, he found something in the character that he was drawn to, but wondered if it would make the final cut, as he also struggled to understand its relevancy:

“The thought did occur to me that my scene might get cut, because it seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the movie,”

However, Park does admit that he was surprised by the reaction to the scene as he committed himself to a raw and emotional performance as a character who was desperate for some connection in his life:

“I remember Ethan calling me and telling me after one of the first screenings how funny everyone thought my scene was, and I was like, what?! For me, playing the character was just painful, so I was still in that [headspace] about it. When some time had pᴀssed and I could watch my scene objectively in the context of the rest of the movie, and see how funny it was, that was when I was able to appreciate my performance.”

In actuality, it is Park’s serious take on the material and his committed performance that makes the Mike Yanagita scene in Fargo work so well. While it is darkly comedic in the way only the Coen Brothers can achieve, the audience also needed to believe the pain of Mike’s story, just as Marge did, to make the reveal of the lie appropriately impactful.