The Birthplace of Civilization

In September 2020, it was reported that the fifth episode of the season would be titled "The Birthplace of Civilization", and was to be written by series creator Noah Hawley and producer Francesca Sloane, and directed by Dana Gonzales. This was Hawley's 28th writing credit, Sloane's first writing credit, and Gonzales' first directing credit.[1]

In its original American broadcast, "The Birthplace of Civilization" was seen by an estimated 0.74 million household viewers and gained a 0.2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 0.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[2] This was a slight decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.76 million viewers with a 0.1 in the 18-49 demographics.[3]

"The Birthplace of Civilization" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "While 'The Birthplace Of Civilization' has its share of strong scenes and striking visuals, there's an airiness to it, an emptiness, that keeps preventing those individual scenes from connecting together in any but the most intellectual way. This week's theme is a bit more clearly stated than usual, and it's not bad, and there are some moments of suspense. But every time it seems like momentum is being built, every time it seems like the series might shift into a higher gear, there's a hitch or some character beat that doesn't quite land to keep it from making that transition."[4]

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "It's another chaotic episode — so much that one can hardly blame Rabbi Milligan for wanting to take Satchel with him and disappear into the night if things get much worse — as the Faddas, the Cannons, and the cops all make moves against one another, with the Smutny clan somehow caught in the middle of it all."[5] Nick Schager of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "In the underworld, there are no half-measures — once you're in, you're in all the way. That's a lesson learned by more than one character in Fargo's fifth episode, 'The Birthplace of Civilization', which moves its opposing clans ever closer to war."[6]

Keith Phipps of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "But where it's possible to imagine the average Kansas City resident going through day-to-day life without encountering any of the crime and weirdness we'd seen prior to this episode, 'The Birthplace of Civilization' seems like a tipping point, the moment when the bloodshed starts to spill into the streets and the sub-rosa conflict between warring gangland factions becomes impossible to hide."[7] Nick Harley of Den of Geek gave the episode a 3.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "While Fargo shows bright spots, it's constantly weighed down by endless gabbing. However, while the series is going to miss Glynn Turman's Doctor Senator, his death could be the fuel that ignites a full-on explosion of action. Loy may have lost his righthand man, but he now has two wild cards at his disposal. And Gaetano helped strike back against his family's enemies, but it's likely to cause more strife between the Fadda brothers. There's good and bad all across the board, onscreen and in quality too."[8] Scott Tobias of The New York Times wrote, "The death of Doctor Senator is, nonetheless, a big shock, because there was never a moment when he didn't seem entirely confident in his actions. Perhaps the real lesson from his Nuremberg story was that he should never feel that he is in control, even when he has successfully gotten the goods from a Nazi war criminal."[9]

TVLine named Glynn Turman as an honorable mention as the "Performer of the Week" for the week of October 24, 2020, for his performance in the episode. The site wrote, "Fargo is, if nothing else, a treasure trove of adorably odd character names, and Glynn Turman's Doctor Senator has been a bright spot in Season 4, acting as Loy Cannon's level-headed advisor. The veteran actor brings a wise, regal air to Doctor Senator, who flexes his intellect as he launches into monologues about the ways of the world. This week, Senator faced off against a pair of violent Italian mobsters, but Turman's face didn't betray even a flicker of fear as Senator calmly pointed out their logical fallacies and referred to the pair as 'just boys makin' a mess that one day I'm gonna have to clean up.' Senator didn't survive his run-in with the Italians, alas, and he even seemed to know his number was up — but the legacy of Turman's precisely calibrated turn will linger over the rest of this season, we're betting."[10]