Fargo season 5 episode 7 titled ‘Linda’ is out, and we are back with the Fargo season 5 episode 7 recap. Now we know that Linda is more than just a woman's name. The episode is crafted around Dot's past as Nadine, revealing how she ended up with Roy and how Linda is a part of Nadine's miserable past. This explains why Dot is out finding Linda and how she can help Dot save herself from the evil mind of Roy.
Linda
Dot continues on her journey to Camputopia despite being terribly tired. On the way, she stops by and retrieves an old hidden letter with a Camputopia sign from under a windmill.
Dot finds out the address and enters the house to find a puppet show running on the stage, which reminds her of her miserable past with Roy. Tired Dot fainted and fell unconsciously on the ground.
She woke up to a lady who introduced herself as Linda. Confused, Dot requested that she take her to Linda, who had sent her the letter.
After talking to this woman, Dot realizes that every woman staying there is called Linda, and they call the real Linda, Saint Linda.
This place was a space Linda created for the abused woman who shared the same suffering and pain of abuse to unite and share their story of pain to be able to start a new beginning.
Every woman that came got a chance to illustrate their story of suffering through the puppet show.
In short, it was an understanding and compassionate act by Linda for women who went through abuse and pain from men.
Who is Linda?
When the woman finally takes Dot to Linda (Saint Linda), Dot gets furious over seeing her and hits her hard on the face, revealing that the two had a dark past.
Linda, Nadine, and Roy's past
Linda is the one who got Nadine into Roy's life. Linda was Roy's wife when she met 15-year-old Dot, lost and alone in a store. She took young Dot to her house, where she lived with Roy and their son Gator, and purposefully let her be with Roy.
At the time, Roy abused Linda, beating and torturing her all the time.
Linda brought Dot to the house as a way to escape from Roy. Following her plan, she escaped from the house alone in the wee hours of the morning.
This left Gator and Dot alone with Roy.
It was then that Dot had to marry Roy and suffer the abuse all along.
Young Gator and naive Nadine in the past
When we got to see the flashback of Dot's past as Nadine through the puppet show, we also saw how the younger Gator and naive Nadine were brought closer under the abuse of Roy.
Roy not only abused his wife Linda and Nadine, but he also abused Gator even when he was a small boy. He would slap him often and beat his mother, Linda, in front of him.
This made Nadine and Gator share an understanding towards each other, as we could see Gator seeking comfort in Nadine in the past when Roy beat Linda.
Wayne misses Dot.
The episode featured scenes of Wayne and Scotty together, where Wayne mostly seemed confused as to the aftereffects of getting wired and missing his wife Dot.
One night, when Scotty asks him to read his story before bedtime, Wayne makes up a story about Dot, and through it, he tells Scotty that Dot has to fight off the dark to come back home.
This also shows that Wayne understands Dot's struggles and sympathies with his wife.
Dot asks Linda for help.
Dot tells Linda that she is there to take her back with her to testify against Roy. But Linda does not agree immediately, and she tells her to share her story of abuse through the puppet show with every Linda present in the house. Dot finds this futile and a waste of time and pleads with her to come with her anyway, but in vain.
At last, Dot has to put her all into preparing her puppet and presenting her past through the show.
Linda appreciates her for her bravery and tells her that she would go with her to testify against Roy, saying they would tackle him together.
They both get on the car and start their journey, but Dot's happiness does not last long after they take a halt at an eatery in the way.
Roy finds Dot
Right when it felt everything was going right with Dot, things take a u-turn for Dot as a minor accident with a car leads her to wake up injured on the bed, only to find Roy waiting for her with no sign of Linda anywhere.
The episode ends with Dot lying injured on the hospital bed, visibly helpless, when Roy stands there, telling her that he's got her( with a smirk).
Ole kills a man with an ax.
In this episode, Ole kills the spoiled son of the old lady whose house he lives in. That is mostly because the son was misbehaving with the old lady and also demanded rent from Ole for staying in his house. Initially, Ole agreed and gave him the money, but right when he left the house, happy for his win over him, Ole hit him with an ax and killed him.
Gator's plan fails
Gator gets out to trace Ole with the tracking device he planted in his car to kill him. Gator is successful in tracing the house where Ole lives, and he shoots him through the window (he actually shot a silhouette that resembled Ole). While Gator thinks he has killed Ole, he has actually been fooled by Ole because it was the dead man's body that Gator shot through the window.
After that, Gator attempts to retrieve the money bag from Ole's parked car when he gets caught by the old lady of the house. But while she tries to get hold of him, a push from Gator lands her hard on the ground, eventually killing her. This agonizes Ole, and he might be up for revenge in the next episode.
Summary
Unlike the last episode, which had no Dot scene, this episode was all about Dot and her dark, abusive past as Nadine. Episode is a big reveal on Dot's secret that she had been hiding from the start and unfolds the story a bit for us to know where the story could be going ahead.
We will have to wait for Fargo season 5, episode 8, to witness more of Dot’s story unfold.
See the Fargo Season 5 Cast real life partners. Find out who's 'Dot' actor Temple Juno dating.
