Cooler but still well above normal this week

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FX released the first substantive peek at the third season of "Fargo" today. It's a chilly 30 seconds of intrigue and menace — with pie to boot.

The full season of the show, loosely based on Joel and Ethan Coen's classic film, will premiere in April. The plot revolves around two brothers: Ray and Emmit Stussy. Emmit has hit it big as the "parking lot king of Minnesota." Ray, who works as a parole officer, resents his brother's success. Cue the murder, mayhem and mobsters.

Recap season two with Aw Jeez

Both Stussy brothers are played by Ewan McGregor, who hails from Scotland. (He 

 the StarTribune in January that the Minnesota accent is the hardest one he's ever had to learn.)

The new teaser gave us our first look at McGregor in the role, and he's nearly unrecognizable.

1. It's winter and snow is on the ground. Surprise, surprise.

National TV audiences will never see the sunnier side of Minnesota — not on"Fargo" anyway. "It's a winter show for better or worse," series creator Noah Hawley 

With a mile-high hairline and a mustache that wishes it was still on Tom Selleck's face, the "Star Wars" actor practically disappears into the role. (I'm guessing this particular Stussy brother is Ray.)

3. McGregor and his fur-coated sidekick are up to something shady.

It is a crime show, after all. Whatever they've done — or are planning to do — is enough to make them leave behind their crinkle fries when the Eden Valley chief of police, played by Carrie Coon, shows up. 

His accomplice is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Nikki Swango, a recently-released parolee with a taste for competitive bridge.

4. Is this Marge Gunderson with a better haircut?

Carrie Coon's role as the chief of police for Eden Valley, a small town outside St. Cloud, will no doubt call to mind Frances McDormand's turn as Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson in the original "Fargo" film. It's too early to say how close the connection will be, but the haircut is sleeker.

Coon's character in the new season is named Gloria Burgle, because of course a police chief's last name is Burgle.

Noah Hawley has said in previous interviews that the new season is set around 2010, but between the styling and the car in the parking lot, it looks like a blast from the past — or maybe the characters are just stuck there. 

Roadside diners may be the least safe place you can be, if you find yourself in the murderous Midwest mirror-world that is the setting for "Fargo." Season two opened with a bloody massacre at the Waffle Hut, and now the pink neon sign is flashing "DIE" into the wintry night. We expect nothing less.

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Aw Jeez: A Fargo Podcast

Tracy Mumford

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The third season kicks off in April, featuring Ewan McGregor playing two roles: Emmit Stussy, the "parking lot king of Minnesota," and Ray Stussy, his resentful younger brother.

A first peek at 'Fargo' season three

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