'Fargo'

While the temperature might drop into the negatives during Minnesota winters, the new TV series “Fargo” blazes hot.

A spinoff of the 1996 movie of the same name, “Fargo” tells a tale of small town living where the people aren’t all they appear to be. However, no prior knowledge is necessary to enjoy the show.

“Fargo” begins in the middle of a Minnesota highway. A man drives slowly through a storm in a beat-up Sedan. A deer darts across the road, startling the driver. He swerves, but another leaps in front of him, throttling the car to the snowy banks. As the driver cradles his injured head, another man emerges from the trunk wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and darts into the woods.

Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman), a failing insurance salesman, represents the hallmark of mediocre living. Passing day to day in the shadow of his younger brother, Lester struggles with his wife, family and even an old high school bully reminding him of his miniscule existence. After an intimidating spat with his teenage nemesis Sam Less, Lester lands in the hospital, where he meets a peculiar stranger. This nomad is the driver from the earlier scene, Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton), who takes interest in Lester’s pitiful life and suggests he get even with Sam.

Seeing Lester’s timidity at the thought of murder, Lorne asks if his own abilities would be of service. When Sam shows up dead, Lester must scramble to make sense of the crime while local police hunt for the offender.

Though small town murder may be easy enough to understand, the characters remain a little more complex. Thornton provides an eerie intelligence to Lorne to the point that the character seems like a prophet of violence and chaos. Lorne’s intimidating demeanor does not stem from a hulking figure or someone with firepower, but from the image he projects of a man who follows only the code of his own natural law. Abiding no other rules but his own, Lorne becomes the sinister image of wanderers after dark.

Freeman keeps the worminess to Lester’s character while maintaining a level of rage under the radar. Even Allison Tolman provides warmth to the show by playing upbeat deputy Molly Solverson, a woman eager to solve crime and abide by her chief. Her character shadows the lead in the movie “Fargo,” Chief Marge Gunderson.

Whatever it is that you think you know about the life of intricate small towns and friendly Midwesterners, “Fargo” will make you think twice. Let’s hope the series will strike an interest with young viewers and bring them to watch the 1996 classic — or at least give people a few pointers on their Minnesotan imitations.