One disappointing aspect of the finale, and perhaps of the entire show, is how Molly is ultimately sidelined once all of the chips are down. While I know that it’s for not only her own protection, but for the better of her unborn child, I couldn’t help but feel cheated when she agreed to wait at the police station, anxiously listening to the manhunt progress on the radio.
After so much build up, I’m not the only one who expected a big showdown between Molly and Malvo, or at the very least, Molly and Lester. However, with more contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that it wasn’t the system that kept her down, the misogyny of the police force, or any other outside influence. It was a choice she made to let events take their course, without her direct involvement. When in the interrogation room with Lester, she tells him the story of the man with the glove, who accidentally leaves one on the train platform but doesn’t realize it until he’s already seated, the train in motion toward its destination. What does the man do? He drops the other glove out the window and onto the platform, so that “whoever finds the glove will have the pair.”
That was her final decision to let Lester go, to throw the fish she had so painstakingly caught back into the ocean, only to get eaten by another fish. She knew she’d already lost Malvo, and knew that she couldn’t bring one down without the other. So, she let Lester go, hoping that the pair would both find their maker.
The idea that Molly and Malvo never meet except for the split second that they almost run into each other in the whiteout shootout is baffling and brilliant at the same time. It’s also very Coen Brother-y. Just look at No Country For Old Men as an example. The film sets up this huge showdown between Anton Chigurh and Llewelyn Moss, only for the two characters to have one quick shootout, and then never meet again. Molly and Malvo weren’t meant to face off. Not physically, anyway. In the end, their showdown is defined by their differing ideologies. Molly is confident and decent enough to let the glove go. Malvo would have taken that glove and shoved it down someone’s throat.
