I've seen the movie and the previous series, and this is the only one where the "compromised businessman" character has a confession scene that breaks your heart. Unlike the frantic denial displayed in other set-pieces like this, Emmit's confession is not to a crime (that he did not technically commit) but to the offense that has eaten his soul away over long years. His recounting takes us back to the kinds of childhood events that are ultimately cataclysmic in their effect but take years to perceive, the "if only I had known" decisions that were the first and perhaps ultimately fatal loss of innocence, the start of damaged family relationships that either could not be repaired or entailed too much psychic cost. It is unexpected sadness that hits home at a point where this knowing yet cynical series usually turns up the wackiness.
