S03.E03: Kevin Cronin Was Here

[TexasGal]

Quote

The FBI dives deep into the casino's finances, Wendy's dreams take a dark turn, and Marty worries that the writing may be on the wall.

Airdate 03.27.2020

Keep your discussion to this episode only - thank you!

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm not following Helen dumping on Marty. The FBI said the warrant was triggered with the purchase of the second casino. He actually stopped that from happening available Wendy went ahead with the slot machine scam. 

He's the one person who knows how to move the money and they're not letting him do his job. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I was like oh no, Ruth, don't tell Helen you don't need Marty. 

And I like Ruth was actually upset when she figured it out. 

[Armchair Critic]

Got to admit "Time For Me To Fly" is my favorite REO song and if that came on the car stereo I would be loudly singing to it.

So the wife just rolls down the hill and that's that? I assume the husband just reported her missing but I would have liked to see more of the aftermath.

I feel like I should be rooting for Wendy but I am on Marty's side and glad to see Ruth is too.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Armchair Critic

[UnknownK]

5 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

Got to admit "Time For Me To Fly" is my favorite REO song and if that came on the car stereo I would be loudly singing to it.

So the wife just rolls down the hill and that's that? I assume the husband just reported her missing but I would have liked to see more of the aftermath.

I feel like I should be rooting for Wendy but I am on Marty's side and glad to see Ruth is too.

Wendy is batshit crazy.

Marty didn't volunteer for this life, does not enjoy it, does what he thinks will keep death away for as long as he can, and if he think he can get out from under the mess by running he will.

Wendy looks like she wants power and all the trappings of ill gotten fortune. Wendy also likes to win at all costs. While she starts playing nice she goes for the jugular as soon as she can. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I tend to think Wendy has resigned herself to the fact that they're in this for life, so might as well be a big shot than get beaten into the ground.

I think it's naive of Marty to think they can just walk away. Wendy is right to buy the hotels, etc., to insulate themselves somewhat, but the criminal life certainly does excite her. 

[Chas411]

I honestly nearly prefer Darlene to Wendy at this point. Or rather Wendy’s smugness. I just want her to be taken down a few pegs.

[Lone Wolf]

Jonah got cock blocked.  

I don't think Ben had any intention of leaving, which apparently was a good thing given the end of this ep.  I don't think he's going to make to the end of the season though.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:14 PM, Chas411 said:

I honestly nearly prefer Darlene to Wendy at this point. Or rather Wendy’s smugness. I just want her to be taken down a few pegs.

Bitchy wives you love to hate seem to be a recurring theme in these kinds of shows - Carmella Soprano, Betty Draper, Skylar White, Wendy Byrde, Carol Brady (okay, maybe not her).   

[Kiddvideo]

Funniest line of the season for me was, after Marty tried to make it sound oh-so-ordinary, the manager flat-out told Kevin Cronin that Marty wanted them to launder money.

[latincoffee]

On 3/29/2020 at 2:22 PM, UnknownK said:

Wendy is batshit crazy.

Marty didn't volunteer for this life, does not enjoy it, does what he thinks will keep death away for as long as he can, and if he think he can get out from under the mess by running he will.

Wendy looks like she wants power and all the trappings of ill gotten fortune. Wendy also likes to win at all costs. While she starts playing nice she goes for the jugular as soon as she can. 

Wendy is getting more gangster as each episode goes by. She does seem like she wants power  & definitely does not like losing and Marty is catching up to it.

Her occurring dream of sending Marty off with a bag of money (as she did with Ruth's dad) & then killing him is weird and I wonder if this is what she is subconsciously thinking of doing in the near future or is scared that it might happen to him. 

I wonder how all of this will boil over. Its getting so good!

Edited April 4, 2020 by latincoffee

[BrooklynRat]

On 3/29/2020 at 2:22 PM, UnknownK said:

Wendy is batshit crazy.

Marty didn't volunteer for this life, does not enjoy it, does what he thinks will keep death away for as long as he can, and if he think he can get out from under the mess by running he will.

Wendy looks like she wants power and all the trappings of ill gotten fortune. Wendy also likes to win at all costs. While she starts playing nice she goes for the jugular as soon as she can. 

Except he literally did. He knew Del worked for the cartel and he made a conscious decision to work for them pre-Ozark even though he had serious misgivings. He was living in a state of denial if he thought he could ever easily extricate himself from a life of crime. 

 

Unrelated: why doesn’t Ruth upgrade her living situation?! She’s making over $100k a year. 

[AZChristian]

6 hours ago, BrooklynRat said:

Unrelated: why doesn’t Ruth upgrade her living situation?! She’s making over $100k a year. 

At one point, she was looking at houses that would be big enough for her cousins, Cade, and her.  But then her "loving" father put her down severely, saying something like she was never going to be a "white picket fence" kind of person, so she should quit trying to fool herself.

[Raja]

7 hours ago, BrooklynRat said:

Except he literally did. He knew Del worked for the cartel and he made a conscious decision to work for them pre-Ozark even though he had serious misgivings. He was living in a state of denial if he thought he could ever easily extricate himself from a life of crime. 

 

Unrelated: why doesn’t Ruth upgrade her living situation?! She’s making over $100k a year. 

I just figure it was like with Miss Darlene in that is the family land, even if they are possible squatters when they put their trailers on it

[UnknownK]

You can always build a house on that land if they wanted to.

I think the reason she doesn't live in a nice place has to do with the fact that her job is mob based and can go away in a second so she probably just wants to bank the money for when she has to either run or find other work.

Besides if she starts looking like she has money all the other rednecks in her area will plan on robbing her.

[BrooklynRat]

4 hours ago, AZChristian said:

At one point, she was looking at houses that would be big enough for her cousins, Cade, and her.  But then her "loving" father put her down severely, saying something like she was never going to be a "white picket fence" kind of person, so she should quit trying to fool herself.

I know but he’s gone now. I just think it’s sad she didn’t pursue her dream once his negativity was out of the way. 

 

Also, can’t believe there was no discussion here of Marty taking the FBI deal. That seems HUGE! But I guess everyone is just binge-watching at this point—no breaks for discussion 🙂

[sugarbaker design]

On 5/6/2020 at 1:41 PM, BrooklynRat said:

Also, can’t believe there was no discussion here of Marty taking the FBI deal. That seems HUGE! 

It was huge, but I found it odd he didn't bring up any contingency plan for Wendy and the kids.

[SlovakPrincess]

This season definitely benefited from some new, fresh characters that weren't all doom and gloom.

Ben is fun!  I really like this actor.  

I love Agent Maya, and love how Marty instantly knew, despite her charm and attempts at joking with him about music, that she was a shrewd agent and he couldn't risk laundering around her.  I like the dynamic of her and Agent Evans both going at Marty from different angles.  

And I really felt for Marty ... of course he would want to take Maya up on her offer of a short prison stint and then consulting.  Maybe he's deluding himself that the cartel wouldn't still track him down and kill him after that, but consulting for the FBI is exactly the kind of thing Marty should be doing with his skills and intelligence, and you can tell how desperately he wants that life instead.  Marty is certainly to blame for his problems, but he knows this and walks around like a guy who regrets trapping himself and his family in hell ...  

... Unlike Wendy, who is treating this like her big self-actualization moment.  Good grief, even when she does something good (like plotting to get Zeke away from Darlene) she has to be annoying and smug about it.  

I LOL'd at 2 points:

• When the "therapist" asked Marty what it would feel like to let Wendy have her way on her "project" and he said "like death!" 
• When Marty was trying to talk to the REO Speedwagon guy in veiled terms, and the guy makes his phone call, loudly:  "so, this guy wants us to help him launder money..."

 

[paramitch]

As of this episode, I'm officially and actively not enjoying this season.

I know it's all doom and gloom and stuff, but I hate seeing Marty and Wendy actively work against each other to this intense degree (to the point that they are taking lives and endangering each other).

The opening with Wendy playing with the dog is the perfect example -- of COURSE this was not a sweet moment with a dog, but rather a sweet moment with the dog she was about to slaughter for catching Cade (and it was completely unnecessary anyway -- what a stupid plan -- they had CARTEL people to assassinate him, for God's sakes). (Also, it reminded me of a moment from PREACHER, back when I was briefly watching that show.)

I also cannot stand Darlene and I'm so grossed out by every moment with her and that baby. And now I have to watch her creep on Wyatt (and I hate watching him align with her when she is a thousand times worse than Ruth ever was).

I do love Ben, and am so thankful for him because he at least seems to be able to smile and enjoy life. Which of course means he will almost certainly die horribly in an upcoming episode. 

I continue to love Ruth, but that's a given at this point. I would cautiously like to see her with Ben, because while he's a little volatile, he does seem smart, socially liberal, and caring. But we'll see. It's just nice seeing him make her smile, at this point.

I'm not gonna stop watching -- I'm interested in Marty genuinely considering taking a deal (who can blame him? otherwise everything just escalates and it never ends -- his life is horrible), and I love the FBI agent who convinced him to do that. She's a perfect example of someone who would be FAR more effective with gaining witnesses than fricking Petty, who was so busy drugging, screwing, undermining, and threatening people that there's no way his case would have even held up in court. Instead, this woman's "catch more flies with honey" approach is masterful, and so much smarter.

Maybe I've just binged the show too fast and I need to take a break. It's just so depressing at this point. I liked it as a portrait of a marriage and family surviving in the face of the criminal aspect, but now that stuff is definitely falling away.