Camp Elegance

In September 2020, it was reported that the sixth episode of the season would be titled "Camp Elegance", and was to be written by series creator Noah Hawley, co-executive producer Enzo Mileti, co-executive producer Scott Wilson and producer Francesca Sloane, and directed by Dana Gonzales. This was Hawley's 29th writing credit, Mileti's first writing credit, Wilson's first writing credit, Sloane's second writing credit, and Gonzales' second directing credit.[1]

In its original American broadcast, "Camp Elegance" was seen by an estimated 0.70 million household viewers and gained a 0.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 0.1 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[2] This was a 6% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.74 million viewers with a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographics.[3]

"Camp Elegance" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "Right now, a lot of Fargo is interesting, in that I'm curious how things will end up, and it was certainly a bummer when Doctor Senator got shot; but outside of intellectual satisfaction, I don't really care that much what happens to Josto or Loy or almost anyone outside of Ethelrida, Rabbi, and Satchel. I wouldn't say the show is boring at this point. But a lot of what's going on has a detached quality, a certain roteness that keeps it from feeling specific beyond the names."[4]

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "There's some very good stuff coming up, including some material involving Rabbi and Satchel that's easily the season’s highlight. But this has been an imperfect season, and many of those imperfections come to the forefront this time out."[5] Nick Schager of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It's only a matter of time before the Faddas and the Cannons engage in all-out conflict. And though that doesn't commence in 'Camp Elegance', tensions continue to incrementally escalate, putting everyone in harm's way."[6]

Keith Phipps of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Of course, whether there will be much of a Kansas City left after the war remains an unanswered question."[7] Nick Harley of Den of Geek gave the episode a 3.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "As the shortest episode of the season thus far, 'Camp Elegance' uses its time economically. Though Odis isn't my favorite character, it's fun to see him torn between the warring families. Things will likely get trickier for him once Deafy fully inserts himself into the mix. Gaetano's fake out death wasn't great, but I can't wait to see him in full on Hannibal Lector behind bars mode. Finally, Rabbi has fully fulfilled his potential, and his status as a noble third party in this story gives us someone to root for. It's not all working exactly how it should, but Fargo is managing to entertain more often than not."[8] Scott Tobias of The New York Times wrote, "The problem isn't so much the monologues themselves — though the figurine analogy is absolutely terrible — but the predictability of deploying them. When the audience can see a speech coming, it's no different than being a mile ahead of the plot. Worse still, it throws the brakes on a conflict that's been escalating steadily and is on the verge of busting out into the open. It plays against the show's long-running strength for spinning a good yarn."[9]