I watched the first episode, and while I enjoyed it, something seemed...off. Then I rewatched the (brilliant) film, and that thing that bothered me became clear:

It's the first live-action work I've ever seen that suffered from Uncanny Valley Syndrome.

To wit, it feels like it's some kind of creature wearing a Fargo skin. Everything seemed like slightly-off analogues of the original film. The places where it worked best were the ones that didn't have direct antecedents in the prior work (like the Lorne Malvo character). The Coens' work is so mercurial and idiosyncratic that it's nigh impossible to ape them and not have it feel like a wonky Xerox copy.

My biggest fear with it was that it would essentially become a cover band version of the Coens' greatest hits. Based on the pilot, it's a definite danger, but I think the creatives behind it have the talent to make something good, so long as they aren't afraid to step out from the long shadows of the Coens. From what I've read, the series does indeed start to come into its own more in later episodes.