S03.E02: Civil Union

[TexasGal]

Quote

Wendy asks Helen - not Marty - to help close a deal, the Byrdes get a new houseguest, and business goes boom aboard a rival casino.

Airdate 03.27.2020

Keep your discussion to this episode only - thank you!

[DoctorAtomic]

I very much enjoy Wendy turning into a straight up criminal, but I think it made good narrative sense she was knocked down a peg here. She's only just starting and Marty has been doing it for a long time. I can get his better grasp of risk. 

I also would get along with Ruth fantastic because I'm always yelling at work. 

[Prower]

I can't believe how much these dumbasses still talk on their phones about criminal activity. I mean seriously? The FBI is after you. Do you have any idea how easy it is to tap a phone? At least use an encrypted messenger that deletes messages after a few seconds. That's still not as secure as meeting in person, but it's something.

Speaking of meeting in person: Can these dumbasses maybe not have their phones around when they talk about illegal activity? The microphones on those things can easily be turned into a bug.

Argh.

[Lone Wolf]

So much for "You won't even know I'm here."

If Jonah crashes that drone one more time he's going to need a new one.

Bear with me if I've missed something - I had a belly full of sake by the time I finished the last episode - do we know why Marty's trying to  sabotage the Big Muddy deal?

 

 

[DoctorAtomic]

He still doesn't want to launder and make moves yet because he thinks it's too risky. That was the gist of his 'law of large numbers' speech. 

[UnknownK]

A second casino would cause an audit which means he can't launder money which means he is of no use to the cartel.

[Avaleigh]

On 3/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, UnknownK said:

A second casino would cause an audit which means he can't launder money which means he is of no use to the cartel.

Sometimes I don't think that Marty does a good job of explaining to people why he wants to do certain things. He was like that with Ruth a lot in the previous two seasons and he's been like that with Wendy where he straight up refuses to discuss something and then gets surprised when she isn't on the same page as he is. I think he could have tried harder to convince her that this isn't the right move for them if they want to keep the feds off their backs. I'm not sure that Wendy knew that getting the other casino would immediately result in an audit.

[roughing it]

3 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

I'm not sure that Wendy knew that getting the other casino would immediately result in an audit.

Wendy was too caught up in riding her own wave.  That's one thing that the Byrdes really need to improve, is their communication.  They need daily morning meetings to discuss strategy and daily events, just like a business.  This is a partnership, and works much better when everyone is up to speed and on the same page. But then we would have no drama....

[AZChristian]

31 minutes ago, roughing it said:

Wendy was too caught up in riding her own wave.  That's one thing that the Byrdes really need to improve, is their communication.  They need daily morning meetings to discuss strategy and daily events, just like a business.  This is a partnership, and works much better when everyone is up to speed and on the same page. But then we would have no drama....

And they need to AGREE to follow through on decisions they make together.

We're rewatching from the first season.  In episode 2, when they get to the Ozarks, Wendy goes off house hunting while Marty goes off money laundering schemes hunting.  He TELLS her "Our available money is $20,000.  Do not sign anything until you call me."

So she heads out with Sam and finds the house with Buddy.  She was all set to go back and talk to Marty (even though she's less than thrilled with the built-in roommate) when Buddy pops up with "Okay, now go talk to the decision maker."  That did it for her.  She was DONE being told what to do . . . especially by men.  She bought the house and presented it to Marty as a done deal.

They're both guilty of going off and doing things on their own, and sometimes their schemes are in opposition to each other.  It's an ongoing train wreck.

[roughing it]

25 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

So she heads out with Sam and finds the house with Buddy.  She was all set to go back and talk to Marty (even though she's less than thrilled with the built-in roommate) when Buddy pops up with "Okay, now go talk to the decision maker." 

To be honest, that would piss me off as well and I may have done the same.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 4/3/2020 at 7:46 AM, Avaleigh said:

Sometimes I don't think that Marty does a good job of explaining to people why he wants to do certain things.

It really hasn't been that long that everyone has been on the 'team' so to speak. Marty has been working on his own for a lot longer than he has with Wendy. That's not an excuse, but I find the communication problems to be believable. 

I don't think it's a bad idea that Wendy has her 'own thing'. And again, Marty needs to realize that too, but she needs to communicate that as well. 

 

[BetyBee]

I don't have the stomach for all the cruelty and violence this year. I think the show is fine, but this season was in the can before the world went to hell. I would normally binge, but I'm just not enjoying it. I'm not sure if I'll continue.

[Blue Plastic]

Wendy might not know that getting a second casino would trigger an audit, but shouldn't Helen? She's been pressing for the deal too. I didn't think Marty knew, either, from the way he didn't seem prepared when the FBI agent came to tell him.

I do wish Marty and Wendy had better communication skills. But I guess that would reduce the drama on the show, so! Marty is very dismissive and short with people. I also think what keeps the two of them from really treating their relationship as a business is that they have too much emotion and bad feelings invested because they've had a bad marriage for a long time.

[Dobian]

Wendy sure is making that leap from bad/flawed person to straight-up evil.

[SlovakPrincess]

Well, that was a legitimately excellent episode!  (Except for the Darlene scenes. Ugh, why is she still here?)

Ben is shaping up to be a very interesting character!

Helen is also far more interesting than she was in Season 2.  

I'm enjoying the casino scenes -- maybe in large part because those scenes are actually well lit and without the annoying omnipresent blue filter!  And Ruth gets something interesting to do!    

Nice going, Wendy.  You've earned yourself ... disturbing late night phone calls from a psychotic cartel kingpin.  Also a "friendship" with Helen, the woman you have to walk on eggshells around because she could get you killed in an instant.  Wendy acts like she's trying to network and impress the CEO of a company and get promoted to a corner office ... and just ignores Marty pointing out to her that they shouldn't be taking on more expectations from the murderous drug cartel.  

On the other hand, Marty better hope they never find out he tried to sabotage the casino deal. 

[KeithJ]

On 5/3/2020 at 5:30 PM, Blue Plastic said:

Wendy might not know that getting a second casino would trigger an audit, but shouldn't Helen? She's been pressing for the deal too. I didn't think Marty knew, either, from the way he didn't seem prepared when the FBI agent came to tell him.

I really don’t think he knew either.  If he did, he would have definitely said something to stop the purchase.  Him trying to sabotage it at every turn was really a dick move.  I got the impression that he still thinks there is an “out” for him from the cartel.  The only “out” he has is the cartel killing him when he says he doesn’t want to launder anymore.

This was also the second or third time Marty tried screwing over the KC mob.  They wouldn’t have been too happy with him if the deal didn’t go through.