Sam Spruell as Ole Munch on Fargo. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/FX.
Vitals
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch, mysterious mercenary and ancient sin-eater
Minnesota and North Dakota, Fall 2019
Series: Fargo
Episodes:
– “The Tragedy of the Commons” (Episode 5.01, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “Trials and Tribulations” (Episode 5.02, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions” (Episode 5.03, dir. Donald Murphy, aired 11/28/2023)
– “The Tender Trap” (Episode 5.06, dir. Dana Gonzales, aired 12/19/2023)
– “Linda” (Episode 5.07, dir. Sylvian White, aired 12/26/2023)
– “The Useless Hand” (Episode 5.09, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/9/2024)
– “Bisquik” (Episode 5.10, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/16/2024)
Creator: Noah Hawley
Costume Designer: Carol Case
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I recently received a request from BAMF Style reader Joe (thanks for the tip, Joe!) to review the interesting style of Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), an antagonist from the fifth and latest season of Fargo, which just ended last month.
For those unfamiliar, the series is a loosely connected anthology inspired by—and tangentially related to—the 1996 masterpiece film by the Coen brothers, who also joined as executive producers after being impressed by series creator Noah Hawley’s interpretation. Each season is primarily set in a different era and locale throughout the snowy American Midwest, pulling additional inspiration from other Coen brothers’ films.
With his relentlessness and terrible haircut, Ole Munch arguably takes a few queues from No Country for Old Men‘s Anton Chigurh… though the mysterious Munch ultimately demonstrates a more merciful sense of pragmatism than the psychopathic Chigurh. A self-described nihilist (which also echoes the philosophy of German technopop stars-turned-kidnappers in The Big Lebowski), Munch reveals himself to be over 500 years old, doomed to immortality as a sin-eater from 16th century Wales… delivered by fate to 21st century Minnesota.
Other than a quick glimpse in her nightmares, we first encounter Ole Munch from the nervous perspective of Scandia housewife Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) as she spies him stepping up onto her back porch during her mid-day knitting—a scene recalling a similar kidnapping scenario in the 1996 movie. Dot shows more resourceful pluckiness than the unfortunate Mrs. Lundegaard, instead channeling James Bond—specifically Roger Moore in his debut, Live and Let Die—as she crafts a makeshift flamethrower that buys her some time as she fights off her would-be kidnappers.
Dot’s violent resistance transforms the already-bitter Munch’s professional mission into something more personal, though she ultimately reminds him that he “took a job that had a risk to it. You got hurt. You can’t get mad at the risk.” Over the course of the season, which begins with a clumsy kidnapping and ends with the healing power of a homemade biscuit, Munch develops a begrudging respect for his erstwhile target Dot, whom he comes to regard as “the tiger.”
What’d He Wear?
Combined with his stone-carved face in its permanently pained expression, Ole Munch’s unorthodox manner of dress certainly makes more sense in the context of his history of sin-eating, which has cursed him to immortality. His threadbare tweed coat, tattered turtleneck, union suit, and kilt—all made of hardy brown cloth and showing considerable wear—suggest a wardrobe cobbled together over centuries of painful existence.
Luckily, the season’s overlap with Halloween allows the curiously costumed Munch to blend in more than usual as he takes to the streets of the suburbs to continue his personal vendetta.
Across the first three episodes, Munch wears a brown-and-mustard herringbone woolen tweed knee-length overcoat, lined in a gold, gray, and black-striped polyester. The single-breasted coat has notch lapels (finished with welted edges), which roll to the top of a three-button front. The set-in sleeves are finished with wide cuffs, and the back has a long vent. The hand pockets have wide-welted vertical openings.
Of course not every day is Halloween, so Munch’s quasi-medival dress would typically invite suspicion—especially when he supplements it with an old burlap sack worn like a hooded mask with cut-out eyeholes.
Munch’s bizarrely old-fashioned look is anchored by his dark brown cotton union suit, an antiquated type of one-piece long underwear that originated in mid-19th century America. Though once a staple among men and women, particularly in rural areas, the union suit—thanks in part to its characteristic “crap flap” over the seat—has often been reduced to the butt (so to speak) of jokes in pop culture. A VIP Fan Auctions listing for one set of Munch’s screen-worn “coveralls” suggests that they may be Fruit of the Loom.
Rather than the traditional manner of wearing it completely under his clothes, Munch wears his union suit as an intermediate layer, exposed under his coat and kilt. The ten-button front placket extends down from the round crew-neck to the crotch, with tan two-hole buttons. The placket extends under the crotch to the seat, where the requisite flap is secured with an additional button though this aspect (and functionality, thankfully) is never clearly seen on screen.
Other than the missing fourth button, Munch wears only the top button undone, showing the moth-eaten top of his distressed dark-brown turtleneck, made by Par Simons from a thin blend of viscose and nylon.
Perhaps the most unexpected element of Ole Munch’s wardrobe is the plaid kilt he invariably wears. The “walking kilt” evolved from the more voluminous “great kilt” (or “walking plaid”) through the 17th and 18th centuries with traditional Scottish highland dress; as kilts have since developed a wider association with Gaelic and Celtic identity, it’s not out of place for a Welshman like Munch to be wearing one in tribute to his heritage. These kilts are pleated skirts that extend at least to the knees, made from a mid- to heavy-weight wool patterned in a tartan plaid.
Munch’s taupe-gray wool kilt is patterned in a light cream-colored plaid, consisting of sets of five narrow stripes intersecting horizontally and vertically, further complicated by faint blue horizontal and rust vertical stripes that create a subtly colorful overcheck. Styled with wide belt loops around the waist, the kilt features approximately twenty pleats on one side.
Munch holds up his kilt with a heavy black leather belt, detailed with triple rows of silver-toned metal studs and closed through a silver-toned octagonal single-prong buckle.
Munch strides through the increasingly snowy Midwest in well-worn black leather mid-calf combat boots, custom-made for the production by Jitterbug Boy, a Toronto-based shoemaker that specializes in crafting footwear for the stage and screen. These plain-toe boots have six rows of derby-laced eyelets, five additional sets of speed hooks, and a final row of eyelets around the tops.
His light taupe-gray wool socks extend over the tops of his boots and the bottoms of his union suit.
As Fargo‘s fifth season extends into November and the weather grows colder across the Upper Midwest, Munch borrows a heavier coat from his new housemate Irma (Clare Coulter), whom we see wearing it in “Insolubilia” (Episode 5.04).
You’ve got to admire Ole Munch’s unorthodox mindset for looking at this woman and thinking: style inspo.
The knee-length coat was custom-made for the production in a rust-orange wool with a cream-colored windowpane overcheck. The collar is faced with a voluminous fur that builds Munch’s image as an animal-like predator.
Extending down to Munch’s knees, the coat has a relatively short side vents and hand pockets. As it was intended to be a woman’s coat, the four brown horn buttons are placed on the left side for a right-over-left buttoning structure.
Munch debuts the long fur-collared coat when meeting with the Tillmans in “The Tender Trap” (Episode 5.06).
When Munch returns to the Lyon home for the final act of the last episode, “Bisquik” (Episode 5.10), he wears a blacked-out version of his usual attire, now sporting an almost identical coat, turtleneck, union suit, kilt, and socks but all in shades of charcoal-gray or black. It’s possible that these are replacement clothes from the same manufacturer, but the levels of distress across the garments suggest that he may have simply dyed his existing clothes to theses dark shades of gray and black to disguise the bloodstains obtained in battle.
Tired of eating sins? Try homemade biscuits and orange pop instead!
A wide array of screen-used costumes and props from Fargo‘s fifth season were auctioned by VIP Fan Auctions earlier this month, including pretty much everything worn by Ole Munch from head to toe across multiple episodes. You can see more photos and descriptions of the screen-worn pieces at the below links:
- Lot #167 (Episode 1-3 complete outfit, except belt, including mask)
- Lot #250 (Episode 1-3 coat and coveralls)
- Lot #223 (Episode 6-9 coat, coveralls, and kilt)
- Lot #269 (Episode 10 complete outfit, except belt)
Sam Spruell’s screen-worn costumes from Fargo, season 5. Source: VIP Fan Auctions.
The Gun
Consistent with his era of origin, Ole Munch demonstrates a preference for time-tested bladed weaponry like knives and axes, perhaps resentful of what “the cannon and the musket” did to the Plains Indians he had lived among after his arrival in North America several centuries prior.
When needed, Munch still relies on more modern weaponry like the short-barreled AR-15 carbine he wields in combat after Dot takes refuge in a North Dakota gas station with state trooper Witt Farr (Lamorne Morris) in the season premiere, “The Tragedy of the Commons”.
I’m not expert enough in the intricacies of AR-15 pattern rifles to specifically identify the 10″-barreled carbine that Munch is armed with—especially in such a dark-lit scene—but I can recognize that it features a six-position “M4” collapsible stock, A2-style upper receiver and flash hider, quad-rail hand-guard, and front sight block featuring a bayonet lug. The weapon is also clearly a 5.56x45mm NATO rifle rather than an 9mm SMG derivative, based on the width of the two STANAG magazines that Munch keeps “jungle-taped” for fast reloads.
We at least see enough of the weapon to discern that it’s not one of the colorful AR-15 rifles that Lorraine Lyon (Jennifer Jason Leigh) demand her family pose with for her annual Christmas card, earlier in the same episode.
The armed Lyon family poses for Lorraine’s annual Christmas card photo.
How to Get the Look
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch on Fargo. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/FX.
Whether you’re already thinking about Halloween or you want to bring the spirit of a 16th century Welsh sin-eater to your winter wardrobe, Ole Munch can stand tall as your immortal inspiration in his warm and well-worn coats, union suit, kilt, and boots.
- Brown-and-mustard herringbone woolen tweed single-breasted 3-button men’s overcoat with notch lapels, vertical-welted hand pockets, cuffs, and single vent
- Rust cream-windowpane wool knee-length 4-button women’s coat with fur collar, hand pockets, and short side vents
- Brown cotton union suit with 10-button placket and rear flap
- Dark-brown viscose-and-nylon turtleneck
- Taupe-gray cream-checked wool multi-pleated knee-length kilt with wide belt loops
- Studded black leather belt with silver-toned octagonal single-prong buckle
- Black leather mid-calf plain-toe combat boots with 6 derby-laced eyelets and 5 sets of speed hooks
- Light taupe-gray wool boot socks
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series, currently streaming on Hulu.
The Quote
When a man digs a grave, he has to fill it. Otherwise, it’s just a hole.
The post Fargo, Season 5: Sam Spruell as Ole Munch appeared first on BAMF Style.