"Do you think a police officer is not allowed to shoot you because you're carrying a knife and not a handgun?"

I also love the suggestion that this was premeditated murder. To me it appeared that Gus really didn't have much of a plan beyond vaguely maintaining some element of surprise. It's not like he knew Malvo was going to come back wounded, giving him an opportunity to approach him on more even terms. For all we know the…

No one's gonna say "The law is the law, arrest Gus Grimly!"

The bottom line is, as a citizen making a citizen's arrest, was it reasonable for Gus to think his life was in imminent danger when he pulled the trigger. Malvo was lying next to a weapon, the type of weapon he had demonstrated he was capable of killing someone with at a distance. It's fairly open and shut. Whether…

Malvo's criminal history, especially the knowledge Gus had of Malvo throwing a knife from a distance into another man's skull would be completely factored in to any decision to shoot him. Gus is allowed to attempt to make a citizen's arrest, I'm not sure what your fixation on him not being a police officer is.

At what point was it premeditated? When he walked into the cabin Malvo was squatting in unarmed? When he approached who he thought to be Malvo with one of Malvo's own guns and opened fire after seeing Malvo next to a knife, which he then removed from Malvo's proximity after shooting him? You also ignored my point that…

What is the larger point though? That, although Gus was perfectly within his rights to shoot Malvo he should have gone above and beyond what was legally required of him and try to bring him in?

You seem to have a tenuous grasp on the concept of due process.

It's so laughable and kind of scary that people don't realize what constitutes being armed and what can get you shot. A suspect next to a knife with a suspected history involving killing a man by throwing a knife into the back of his head from a distance definitely, absolutely justifies deadly force.

Molly was the first person on the show to suspect that Malvo threw that knife. She's married to Gus, who I'm sure knows every detail of that whiteboard of hers. What are you talking about?

Whether or not he 'lurked' with intent to kill is entirely subjective and difficult to prove. It might appear that way to us as viewers of the show, but to anyone in the show's universe a former police officer spotted what he thought might be the suspect's vehicle, and went into the house unarmed only brandishing one…

You're right. If you plan on coming to the United States and killing 30 something people and become wanted by the police, and happen to find yourself wounded and sitting next to a large knife when a former police officer finds your secret lair (full of illegal weapons) you will most likely be shot and killed, which is…

Yeah that's how I interpreted it as well. Felt pretty silly coming on here until I read this.

Nonsense. In the process of making a citizen's arrest, a former police officer shot an incredibly dangerous suspect (what is the alleged body count, 30 something people at this point?) with one of the suspect's many guns who was sitting next to a knife, a weapon which the suspect had previously demonstrated he was…

what do you think first degree murder is?

Lol, what are you, a criminal defense lawyer or something? How was Malvo unarmed? Did you not just watch what he cut his pants with to set his broken bone? Do you think a police officer is not allowed to shoot you because you're carrying a knife and not a handgun?

That's all good and fine but it doesn't answer my question: since when are conversations recorded without the permission of someone not admissible as evidence in a criminal courtroom?

Gus was aware that Malvo could literally kill with anything. He had just finished cutting his pants with a small sickle device he placed an arm's reach away after setting his broken bone. To top it off, the house was filled with weapons. It's bizarre that people are clinging to this one aspect of the episode.

A lot of what you said though wasn't really "critical skills" it was just you saying the story didn't go the way you would have liked to see it go.

He went there to make a citizen's arrest. He shot a guy who was an arm's reach away from a sickle he had just used to cut his pants, a guy who previously killed someone with a throwing knife from 20 feet away. No charges would ever be pressed.