10 TV Performances Way Better Than Anyone Expected

4. Martin Freeman - Fargo

You know what you're going to get with a Martin Freeman performance, don't you? That's not to pour scorn on his acting ability, because he's very good at what he does, but it's often within the same wheelhouse: from TV roles in The Office and Sherlock, to big screen ventures Love, Actually, The Hobbit, and MCU, Freeman gives you a performance that often feels like he's just playing a riff on himself: he's awkward and bumbling, dryly funny, and a nice guy straight man.

So when he was cast in Fargo, Noah Hawley's TV anthology inspired by the Coens jet black comic classic, it seemed like we might get to hear that one again, albeit with a Minnesotan accent.

At first, it seems to be as expected: Freeman's Lester Nygaard is a downbeat insurance salesman who is one of the life's victims. It's a little more miserable than most of his roles, but not much of a stretch. And then comes the hammer. When Lester snaps and hits his wife with the hammer, that's when Freeman's performance flips. From then on in we're presented with a wonderful, slimy dichotomy as Lester tries to scheme his way out of trouble but keeps falling down holes along the way.

He's violent and vile, and yet at times still manages to make you believe he's the victim. He tries to play the big man and simultaneously shows us how small Lester is. And then towards the end he really ramps up just how twisted he's become, allowing his wife to take the brunt of Malvo's rage, and Freeman sells that too with faux-horror. It's not only a great performance, but one that relies on our pre-conceived notions of Freeman to help work.