Fargo Season 5 Finale Ending Explained: How Roy Finally Pays for His Deeds

The Fargo season 5 finale resolves all its ongoing storylines, along with Dot Lyon’s struggle to run away from Sheriff Roy Tillman. 

Season 5 began with a vibe similar to the original. A midwestern housewife is kidnapped from her house as a part of her husband’s criminal conspiracy. This case brings Dot, previously known as Nadine, back into business with her problematic ex, Sheriff Tillman. 

In the penultimate episode, a military convoy comes to Roy’s ranch to serve justice, Dot escapes to get back at him, and Ole Munch remains determined to take revenge. The final episode ties up all the loose ends and offers a complete ending. 

1. How was Sheriff Roy Tillman defeated in Fargo? 

The FBI manages to catch Sheriff Tillman with the help of his own son, Gator. He tries to escape through a tunnel, but FBI agents catch him at the other end of the tunnel. 

In the penultimate episode, Lorraine contacts the reinforcements that reached Roy’s property to conduct a raid. However, they arrived too fast, and before Lorraine could contact them. Roy realizes that the FBI agents knew his whereabouts before receiving Lorraine’s call, implying that he had a traitor in his organization.

In the beginning, it looks like Roy can escape. Dot shoots him in his stomach, but the officers mistake her as one of his henchmen, and she surrenders. Roy takes this opportunity and attempts to escape through a tunnel and reach outside his compound. 

However, the FBI agents get hold of him on the other end of the tunnel. 

2. Why did Gator help catch Roy? 

Gator betrays his father as he has had enough of his abuse and negligence. Despite being Roy’s right-hand man, Gator never gets appreciation or love from his father. At one point, he decides to give it all back by turning him in. 

At the beginning of the season 5 finale, we still see Gator tied up, blindfolded, and abandoned in the snow by his father. Roy has never been appreciative of his son and has tormented and abused him several times. 

Despite his misbehavior, Gator has supported his dad through thick and thin. When he realizes he will never be able to get his father’s love and kindness, he gives up and turns against him out of pain. 

3. Who dies in the Tillman Ranch? 

Two major characters, Witt Farr and Roy’s father-in-law, die in the Fargo season 5 finale. Roy kills his father-in-law by slitting his throat while he plunges a knife into Witt while escaping through the tunnel. 

The season 5 finale begins as a war between the FBI convoy and Roy’s militia breaks out. He meets his father-in-law while trying to get out of sight of the FBI agents. 

He mocks Roy as he was doing in the previous episode, leading Roy to lose his patience and slit his throat. Roy’s father-in-law is the first important character to die in the final battle. 

Roy also kills Witt Far, who follows Roy through the secret tunnel. When Witt enters the tunnel, Roy sneaks behind him and tries to kill him with a knife. Although Witt shoots, he misses, and Roy plunges his knife into Witt. Dot and Olmstead later honor his memory by visiting his grave on his first death anniversary. 

4. How do Lorraine and Olmstead get their revenge?

Lorraine avenges Roy by denying his appeals and keeping him in jail as an in-charge of the Federalist Society. She uses her power to influence judicial decisions and make Roy pay for misdeeds. 

One year later, Lorraine and Olmstead visit Roy at a federal prison in Thompson, Illinois, where he is serving his sentence. Lorraine could have been content with seeing Roy destroyed, but she inflicts more pain on him for his crimes. 

Lorraine is the largest contributor to the Federalist Society, the organization responsible for matters related to the judicial system, and she has been using her leverage to reject Roy’s appeals and keep him locked up.

Furthermore, Lorraine also initiates a fund to assist “specific prisoners” whose debt is gaining more interest and affecting their families while imprisoned. She uses this fund to support the most brutal inmates in Roy’s prison to win them over in the dispute with Roy. 

These inmates are paid to assault Roy for his time in jail. Lorraine resorts to such brutal means as she wants Roy to experience the violence and terror that he inflicted on his wives.

5. About Fargo

Fargo is a black comedy crime drama that airs in an anthologized format. Each season of the show is set in different eras of time. Every season a new story and a host of new characters are introduced. Fargo has starred Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson, Ewan McGregor and Chris Rock.

Fargo is based on the 1996 film of the same name, directed by the Coen brothers. The series is created by Noah Hawley.