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This blog is for Fargo viewers watching the Sunday night UK transmission on Channel 4 – if you've seen further ahead than episode two, please don't post advance spoilers.

Read Richard Vine's recap of season one, episode one here.

'Things are kind of fuzzy'

Two wakes, a burial and a couple of new characters upped the oddball quota in this week's episode. We didn't find out whether or not Mrs Hess followed through with her promise to sing at Sam's funeral, but we did see how Lester is struggling to wrap his guilt, memories of murder and worries about keeping his story straight into one coherent "sad face" to present to his family and the police. It's a tense juggling act to watch, full of conflicting emotions and stress; weirdly, Lester actually looked a lot more upset about losing his spouse than Ida did over at Chief Thurman's wake. It's also resulted in a Martin Freeman performance that feels much less "Martin Freeman" than in the pilot – there's a real edge to the way he runs out of the drugstore, snapping at Deputy Molly about how "harassed" he feels, fending off her questions by defaulting to his amnesia explanation, then politely asking her to watch her feet as he closes the car door on her. His claim that "things are kind of fuzzy" is quickly accepted by the new Chief Bill Oswalt (more Bob Odenkirk – thank the TV gods), who dismisses Molly's suspicions about Lester on the basis that Lester had a reputation for fainting back in high school. It's a good setup for a funny and frustrating double act, as Oswalt insists that the drifter angle and the "cutthroat world of regional trucking" are the only avenues of inquiry worth pursuing, while Molly is sure that she's on to something.

'I'm 31, Dad. I carry a gun'

After focusing on Lester and Malvo in the first episode, it was good to spend a bit more time with Deputy Molly this week – her chats in the diner with dad Lou (Keith Carradine) helped build the sense that she's a second-generation cop who's got a real feel for detective work. Their deadpan exchange about the case ("Bill's a big believer in coincidence apparently", "What he lacks in common sense he makes up for in self esteem") made me think they were talking as equals who know what it's like to suffer fools in charge. Will Lou be called back into action before the series is done?

'You have a blessed day'

Is there anything more satisfying than a character who refuses to play the game? Malvo's simple refusal to show any ID at the post office or give any further explanation for the oddly addressed package he was there to collect was very enjoyable to watch – as was his decision to, shall we say, sit down on the job when Milos' head of security, Wally, tried to muscle him out of town. The nonchalant way he accepted his new identity ("I'm a minister, apparently"), and the revelation that he has kept a recording of Lester's incriminating message, all served to make us believe that he's done this all before. He's fairly nonplussed by the odd $43,613 ransom note that "supermarket king" Stavros Milos (a suitably smug Oliver Platt) wants him to investigate, as if that's the sort of curveball all his cases take. Is the "just-bronzed" personal trainer (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton) that's helping the soon-to-be-ex Mrs Milos really behind it – or is that too obvious?

'There's no library in this town. Why is there no library?'

Back on the subject of the oddball count, we met Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench (Adam Goldberg and Russell Harvard), the team who have driven in to help Mr Gold look into the untimely death of Sam Hess. They quickly find a man who unfortunately fits Malvo's description. Mr Gold confirms it's the wrong guy, so there's just one thing for it – get out the ice drill (the closest we've got to a wood chipper so far). Malvo probably has the edge on these two, but if they catch up with him, it's going to be a meaty showdown.

'Sometimes there is more than one right thing'

Meanwhile over in Duluth, Deputy Grimly (Colin Hanks) is still a cop in search of a proper case. From the conversation with his daughter, we know he's still fretting about doing the right thing after letting Malvo get away but the stray dog patrol was a bit goofy, and the moment with his flirty neighbour a bit out of the blue – it's not quite clear where Grimly fits into the overall picture yet.

Notes, quotes and the like

The eerie, spoken-word song that played us out tonight was Full Moon by eden ahbez (taken from his 1960 album Eden's Island). A kind of proto hippy who was adverse to capital letters as well as society in general, ahbez also wrote Nature Boy, popularised by Nat King Cole. Coupled with the drum solo that opened the episode and the shot of the meat-packers in the window behind Milos's office (echoing the Hess brothers pounding each other in the back garden), it's clear there's some thought being put into the show's style here.

"To Frank Peterson, thanks for nailing my blackmailer."
"You don't get to be the supermarket king of Minnesota without making a few damn enemies."
"Highly irregular is the time I found a human foot in a toaster oven. This is just odd."
It's only two weeks in the company of Mr Malvo, but somehow you know he's not kidding.

I've found an interesting interview with Adam Goldberg and Fargo writer Noah Hawley on the use of American Sign Language in this episode. There is lots of unreliable translation from Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench, apparently. Did anyone with ASL experience spot anything that Mr Numbers left out?

The title of tonight's episode is taken from a fable about a prince who believes he's a rooster – the courtiers teach him to act like a human by convincing him that roosters do everything that humans do. Is it a reference to the supermarket king's less-than-savvy son Dmitri – or the way in which Malvo slips into his new identities?

Finally, thanks to the commentators who spotted the White Russians on the bar menu last week – did anyone notice any other nods to the Coens tonight?

Did episode two of Fargo live up to the first? Let us know in the comments below.

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