Fargo the movie in 1996 seems to have heralded a seachange in TV generally. Most shows today, the real hits, do not follow the old fashioned linear narratives (think CSI) and moreover tend to have liberal amounts of absurdity built in.
Fargo the series has been one of the most successful efforts at balancing the narrative and absurdity to great effect.
Season 3 Fargo was showing signs of losing some of the zing. Not really a criticism, really just the observation that maintaining the level of quality of Fargo S01 is almost impossible.
Then comes this amazing episode out of nowhere. This single episode with its flashbacks in time and change of locale is better than many iconic films. It is for example better than, yet similar to, Chinatown.
Carrie Coon is amazing. The entire episode is amazing.