Fargo Season 5 Episode 4 Recap: Dot's House Is Burnt To The Ground

Once again, Tillman's crew tries to capture Dot in this episode but she outsmarts them. Her booby traps work, leaving Gator as the only one to escape. The last goon gets trapped, and Dot subdues him under the attic staircase. No matter how many men Sheriff Tillman sends, Dot refuses to surrender without a fight, and she usually comes out victorious. This scene highlights the familiarity between Dot and Gator, with Gator switching between calling her "Nadine" (her real name) and "Mama."

As the season goes on, Wayne starts realizing that his wife isn't who she claims to be. The big confirmation happens in episode 4 when a bunch of armed guys bust into their house and call Dot "Nadine." Dot ends up taking them down, but in the chaos, one of her traps accidentally zaps Wayne, and he ends up in the hospital. When he calls her Nadine there, Dot tries to convince him he's just seeing things due to his hospital delirium.

After Wayne gets zapped and the window catches fire, Dot's house ends up burning down. It's another bizarre situation, just like the electrocution. Now Dot has to explain it to Lorraine and the cops. She keeps saying it was just "bad wiring" that caused the shock and the fire, but the cops and Lorraine don't believe her. Indira mentions that the fire department is on it, investigating how it all started. So, Dot's lies are likely to come apart soon.

Even though Lorraine doesn't want it, Indira keeps digging into Dot's kidnapping with Witt Farr, the trooper Dot saved during the gas station showdown. While getting into her car, Indira gets a call from Lorraine's tough debt collection agency, reminding her about a $2,671.43 debt. She borrowed that money to cover medical bills for her husband Lars, who messed up his ring finger a few months ago. Lorraine is likely to use this debt and her power to jack up the interest to push Indira into giving up the case.

In Fargo Season 5 Episode 4, Agents Meyer and Joaquin show up again. They've gathered info about Sheriff Tillman and bring it to their boss at the FBI. They're hoping to dig deeper, bring more agents, and put Tillman behind bars. But, their boss is being annoyingly hesitant about giving the green light. In the chat, the agents mention that folks tend to vanish around Tillman a lot. They talk about some murders he's covered up and casually throw in that "two of his wives" have gone missing. Obviously, Dot is one of them, but now the big question is, who's the other one?

The FBI agents find out that Tillman swiped a bunch of guns and military gear. They think he's building his own armed group. But, when they tell their boss, he says to back off and not mess with Tillman. They're worried about stirring up trouble with his militia and causing a full-blown war. The fact that the FBI is afraid of this militia adds weight to the idea that Tillman might be running a cult.

After the useless boss tells them to back off Tillman, Agents Meyer and Joaquin spill the beans that they've tracked down one of Tillman's missing wives, Nadine. She's hiding in plain sight as Dorothy Lyon in Scandia, Minnesota, and they have her address. So, they drive down there, reach the address, and bam – the house is burned to the ground. The agents are in for a shock when they show up ready with questions for Dot, only to find her supposed home is just a pile of ashes.

In season 5, episode 2, Tillman was introduced, catching a guy beating his wife. Tillman got his henchman to choke the guy but stopped before he passed out. In episode 4, Tillman checks on the couple to see if they're following his orders. During the visit, the husband tries to shoot Tillman, but Tillman's faster – he shoots the husband dead. As the story unfolds, Tillman's sharpshooting skills will likely play a role in a later Fargo episode.