S1E1 · The Crocodile's Dilemma

Complete story — includes the ending

In January 2006, Lorne Malvo hits a deer while driving on a highway outside Bemidji, Minnesota. A nearly naked man escapes from the trunk and runs into the woods. In town, insurance salesman Lester Nygaard runs into his childhood bully Sam Hess, who intimidates Lester and causes him to break his nose. Lester meets Malvo in the hospital and tells him about Hess; Malvo casually suggests murdering him, which Lester neither approves nor rejects. Malvo later kills Hess, telling Lester he never said no to the idea. Police chief Vern Thurman and police officer Molly Solverson discover the bodies of both Hess and Malvo's kidnapped man, and learn that Lester was overheard discussing Hess with Malvo. At his house, Lester gets into an argument with his verbally abusive wife, Pearl, and impulsively kills her with a hammer. Vern arrives to question him, but Malvo, whom Lester summoned to help, kills Vern and disappears. Lester knocks himself out to make the killings look like a home invasion. In Duluth, Malvo is pulled over for speeding by officer Gus Grimly, but threatens Gus into letting him go.