S03.E06: Su Casa Es Mi Casa

[TexasGal]

Quote

Marty and Wendy tell each other how they really feel, Ruth confronts Wyatt, Darlene lets her ambitions be known, and Ben's past comes into focus.

Airdate 03.27.2020

Keep your discussion to this episode only - thank you!

[DoctorAtomic]

I was hoping that coming back from Mexico would spur Marty and Wendy to get back on the same page and kind of clear the table. That was one blockbuster of an opener. Though I have to agree with Wendy that Cade had to go. 

I'm getting back to the point that Darlene being alive strains the credulity of the show. I mean, sure drug cartels make deals, but mainly because they want to make money. She's not doing anything but being an annoyance. They should be able to make her disappear quite easily. I mean, she's going to order the cop around just like that. Sure. 

Charlotte continues to impress. She handled the whole thing at the lake as best as she could. 

I feel like the plot with the brother is kind of tacked on at this point to just throw something at Ruth. Her having to deal with the mob and learn to run the casino and clean is interesting enough for me. And throw whatever is the deal with Wyatt. Not for nothing, for someone who doesn't want Ruth's dirty money, he's fine with growing poppies. 

Edited March 29, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[laurakaye]

I replayed the opening scene with Marty, Wendy and the therapist at least four times before I could move on.  That was fantastic - especially Marty's toss-off line to the therapist  - "you're a real beauty" - in the midst of Wendy screaming at him.  Props to Jason Bateman for also being a great director as well as phenomenal actor...I can feel the rage bubbling just beneath his low-key, uncomfortably calm surface.

[Armchair Critic]

Wendy's brother is 40 something, isn't Ruth only in her early 20's? I guess I shouldn't complain since we have Darlene and Wyatt, but seems like every show the guy gets with a much younger woman and nothing is said.

[DoctorAtomic]

I know he was older, but I didn't think he was 40s. 

[roughing it]

It was never said how old Ben was, but the actor is 38, and I think the actress who plays Ruth is 26.  But still quite a bit of age difference at this stage.  Ruth may be attracted to older men anyway, given her needing-to-please daddy issues.

But Darlene and Wyatt??  JFC, that's on a whole lot more disturbing level.  IDK does Wyatt have grandma issues?

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, roughing it said:

It was never said how old Ben was, but the actor is 38, and I think the actress who plays Ruth is 26.  But still quite a bit of age difference at this stage.  Ruth may be attracted to older men anyway, given her needing-to-please daddy issues.

Once when they showed Ben from a distance, I said to hubby, "I thought Ruth's dad was dead.  What's he doing there?"  Hubby pointed out that it was Ben.

[DoctorAtomic]

Ruth has her shit together though. She's running a casino. I don't see 38 to be that much of a stretch. If that's how old the character was. I had thought early 30s. 

[Armchair Critic]

 

21 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I know he was older, but I didn't think he was 40s. 

Laura Linney who plays Wendy is 56 years old. She is an attractive woman but she looks her age, even if she is playing a little bit younger the brother being under 40 would be too much of an age difference between siblings.

[Chas411]

I feel like Wendy is supposed to be younger? Maybe late 40s or early 50s? 

[Paloma]

On 3/31/2020 at 2:24 AM, Armchair Critic said:

Wendy's brother is 40 something, isn't Ruth only in her early 20's?

I thought when the show started Ruth was in her teens--maybe even still high school age. I assume she has to be at least 21 now because she works in a casino (and before that worked in a strip club). But she looks so young that it feels wrong for her to be sexually involved with a guy who can't be less than late 30s and may be 40s, especially since just before he arrived in Ozark he was a substitute teacher in high school. Probably part of the reason it feels wrong to me is because I still think of her as Kimmie in The Americans,

Spoiler

as a young teenager who had a very cringe-worthy relationship with a 40-something man

(spoiler-tagged for those who have not seen that series). 

[AZChristian]

11 hours ago, Paloma said:

I thought when the show started Ruth was in her teens--maybe even still high school age. I assume she has to be at least 21 now because she works in a casino (and before that worked in a strip club). 

We've been re-watching from the beginning (and are picking up on clues to things that happen later).  Ruth was 19 when she was cleaning the hotel rooms, just before Marty hired her.

In Missouri (if my Googling leads me to correct info), the age limit for working in a club (even as a dancer) is 18.

[DoctorAtomic]

Ruth had to grow up faster than other kids her age, so her 21 is like 30. 

[SoWindsor]

I don’t like how tv and movies portray bipolar. They make it seems like a lost cause and that those with bipolar are incapable of relationships.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Re Ben's age: Charlotte is 17 and Jonah is 14. That means Wendy would probably be in her early to mid-40s right now: it's doubtful she and Marty had Charlotte any earlier than her mid-20s, as the show alludes to a misspent youth of hers. So let's say she's 43 years old. She and Ben have the kind of easy more-or-less-equals relationship you generally only get with siblings that are a few years apart, so that would put him at 39 or 40, assuming he's the younger sibling. No way should he be dating a 21-year-old Ruth Langmore.

Ditto to everyone who dislikes the whole "Bipolar Family Member Goes Off Their Meds and Creates Havoc" plotline. I've hated it since ER drove it into the ground with Abby Lockhart's mom and brother.

The entire Wyatt-Darlene pairing means (IMHO) one of two things:

A) The writers had Lisa Emery and Charlie Tahan under contract but didn't know what to do with either, so they threw them in together.

B) We're building up to Darlene being offed by the Cartel (there's only so much crap Navarro will take from her) and Wyatt taking over as the main antagonist to the Byrdes. The tipoff will be if Darlene and Wyatt suddenly get married.

Other observations through six episodes (and I have not seen the others, nor have I read anything about them other than the Netflix teaser synopses):

Weird how Charlotte and Wyatt, previously BFFs who were on the verge of moving in together, have not shared even one scene this season.

If Three moves in with Wyatt and Darlene, will there even be a reason for Ruth to stick around the Langmore's pathetic "compound?" She'd be better off just moving into a room at the Casino's hotel.

 

[Suzywriter]

On 4/1/2020 at 9:45 AM, Armchair Critic said:

 

Laura Linney who plays Wendy is 56 years old. She is an attractive woman but she looks her age, even if she is playing a little bit younger the brother being under 40 would be too much of an age difference between siblings.

My aunt--mom's sister--had children 22 years apart.  My grandmother was two years older than her mother's baby sister. Grandma (as a girl, of course) walked her aunt to her first day of school. My son in law has brothers that are 19 and 26 years older than he is. I had several friends in high school who had diaper-sized siblings. It happens. 

Ben said that his sister "left when she was 18 and was never around" when he was growing up. He might have even been born after she left. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Suzywriter

[TexasGal]

12 hours ago, Suzywriter said:

 

Ben said that his sister "left when she was 18 and was never around" when he was growing up. He might have even been born after she left. 

Taking my response to season thread because I can't remember what episode the thing I wanted to respond happened in!

[Scout Finch]

Darlene angrily tells the sheriff that Jacob is still warm in the grave.

Me: So the bed's not even cold yet and someone else is already sleeping in it with you?

 

[Dobian]

I've reached the point where I think I hate Wendy more than any character I have seen on any tv show ever.  The thing is, I like evil characters.  Tony Soprano was a great evil characters.  Cersei on Game of Thrones was a deliciously evil character.  But Wendy is simply an out-of-control bitch.  It's not that she does bad things but that she constantly wraps herself up in sanctimonious justification.  Marty gets hauled down to Mexico where he is psychologically tortured for days because she decides to have a direct personal relationship with a freaking cartel drug lord, and she berates him for that in this episode, but leaves out how she is calling said drug lord unauthorized on his private line to chew him out and comes very close to getting her whole family dumped into the river.  Yet it's Marty putting them in danger and not her.  She criticizes him for wanting to try and turn a Fed when the reason the Feds are there in the first place is because of her misguided idea to sell Navarro on buying another casino.  Wendy won't hesitate to throw anyone under the bus, including her own kids, if they get in they way of her narcissistic drive for wealth and power.  She really is a sociopath.  You saw it in the syrupy way she negotiated with those riverboat casino owners until she didn't get her way and the real Wendy came out.  And the way she spoke to the judge at the custody hearing for Zeke, until she didn't get her way again and her true nature surfaced once more.  She basically oozes her cloyingly sickening charm to get what she wants, and if that doesn't work she tries to figure out how to destroy the person who defied her.  At least Marty, for all his flaws, really does simply want what's best for the kids and to get out of this situation, but his psychopath wife loves the spotlight too much and will ruin anyone who tries to take that from her.  Her sense of entitlement knows no bounds.  Wendy really is a loathsome piece of work. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Dobian

[CrystalBlue]

On 5/25/2020 at 4:11 PM, Dobian said:

I've reached the point where I think I hate Wendy more than any character I have seen on any tv show ever.  The thing is, I like evil characters.  Tony Soprano was a great evil characters.  Cersei on Game of Thrones was a deliciously evil character.  But Wendy is simply an out-of-control bitch.  It's not that she does bad things but that she constantly wraps herself up in sanctimonious justification.  Marty gets hauled down to Mexico where he is psychologically tortured for days because she decides to have a direct personal relationship with a freaking cartel drug lord, and she berates him for that in this episode, but leaves out how she is calling said drug lord unauthorized on his private line to chew him out and comes very close to getting her whole family dumped into the river.  Yet it's Marty putting them in danger and not her.  She criticizes him for wanting to try and turn a Fed when the reason the Feds are there in the first place is because of her misguided idea to sell Navarro on buying another casino.  Wendy won't hesitate to throw anyone under the bus, including her own kids, if they get in they way of her narcissistic drive for wealth and power.  She really is a sociopath.  You saw it in the syrupy way she negotiated with those riverboat casino owners until she didn't get her way and the real Wendy came out.  And the way she spoke to the judge at the custody hearing for Zeke, until she didn't get her way again and her true nature surfaced once more.  She basically oozes her cloyingly sickening charm to get what she wants, and if that doesn't work she tries to figure out how to destroy the person who defied her.  At least Marty, for all his flaws, really does simply want what's best for the kids and to get out of this situation, but his psychopath wife loves the spotlight too much and will ruin anyone who tries to take that from her.  Her sense of entitlement knows no bounds.  Wendy really is a loathsome piece of work. 

So true.  Wendy has turned into one evil bitch, but I enjoy watching the hell out of Laura Linney doing Wendy, especially her eye expressions.

[CrystalBlue]

On 3/30/2020 at 8:24 AM, laurakaye said:

I replayed the opening scene with Marty, Wendy and the therapist at least four times before I could move on.  That was fantastic - especially Marty's toss-off line to the therapist  - "you're a real beauty" - in the midst of Wendy screaming at him.  Props to Jason Bateman for also being a great director as well as phenomenal actor...I can feel the rage bubbling just beneath his low-key, uncomfortably calm surface.

This opener is definitely  rewatch-worthy.  Stunning performances!

[Anela]

I’m watching on my iPad.  The massive argument happened at the beginning of this episode? I messed up, sorry mods.  I mentioned it in the previous thread.  I did like the therapist saying she would want a shitload of money.  
I’m sure that something will happen to Ben, now that he’s promised to make sure that Ruth is safe, and they’ve slept together.  

[SlovakPrincess]

I really like Ben, and I kinda wish they weren't going the go-off-his-meds-and-get-out-of-control route with him.  Is there no other story TV writers can tell for a bipolar character?  (Kinda makes me appreciate that long-ago episode of Sex and the City, where a guy Charlotte was dating cheerfully told her he'd rather have erectile dysfunction than give up the benefits of his depression medication).  

C'mon Helen, just have Darlene killed already.  What are you waiting for?  And I guess Wyatt is just giving up on college now, so he can live with a murderous heroin dealer old enough to be his grandma?  He is such a lazy moron ... book-smart, but a lazy moron.  

Erin is a complete moron.  So is Helen, since it seemed like this was the first time she was trying to give her 16-year-old daughter the sex talk.  Bit late, Helen!!  

The highlight of the episode was, of course, the therapy session.  "Shut the fuck up, Sue!"  LOL.  As much as Wendy aggravates the hell out of me, I really enjoy Laura Linney's acting.  Marty finally venting all his anger was great to watch, as well.  As was Sue wanting "a shitload" of money to keep her mouth shut - and Marty's resigned "of course you do" reaction to that.  Hee!

Wendy really still doesn't get it.  She and Marty can't split up now, and she can't just casually mention to the cartel lawyer that their marriage is in trouble.  Idiot.