S02.E01: Reparations

[paulvdb]

Quote

Ruth's dad gets out of jail. Approval for a riverboat casino calls for Wendy's political skills. The Mexican cartel demands reparations from the Snells.

 

I just watched the season premiere. I wish the show would get rid of the Snells, but other than that I mostly liked it and am looking forward to the rest of the season.

[Mindthinkr]

Taking a hearse to test drive? Um...I’d have questioned that had I been the funeral director. 

Not good that the daughter took 20k and split it with her brother. Spend a grand in the wrong place will have people questioning. 

[MrsR]

I don't mind the Snells.  I wish they had held off on Cade for a while. I expect there to be an obstacle to Ruth's happiness and success but I think it would have worked better for her to have some of those things before her shit heel father shows up and threatens it. 

 

Really odd use of A Summer Wind.

[atlantaloves]

I'm ready to start my binge today, I really like this show a lot, except for the Snells, they are just terrible actors with rotten fake accents. 

[Pike Ludwell]

6 hours ago, paulvdb said:

 

I just watched the season premiere. I wish the show would get rid of the Snells, but other than that I mostly liked it and am looking forward to the rest of the season.

I especially wanted Mrs Snell to die last season. No such luck. What a B!! That said, it will be interesting to see the battles between tough, sly guy, Mr Snell, and the cartel.

The only good purpose for having Cade on there now is if we can see Ruth start standing up to him when he gets abusive. If she's just going to let herself be relentlessly pushed around -- that is no good. I'm suspecting we will see her being pushed around for a while yet, but eventually she will have an epiphany. I understand the concept of otherwise tough people having severe hangups as to family, but I find it annoying and want to see Ruth stay tough and grow up and not be constantly cowering to him. 

Edited August 31, 2018 by Pat Hoolihan

[Quilt Fairy]

Did anyone else think Cade was going to rape Ruth when he crawled into bed next to her?  Or that it's gone on in the past?  Makes sense that she bought him a whore as a get-out-on-parole present and also that afterwards Cade said "Next time get me a blonde." 

[Eureka]

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Did anyone else think Cade was going to rape Ruth when he crawled into bed next to her?  Or that it's gone on in the past?  Makes sense that she bought him a whore as a get-out-on-parole present and also that afterwards Cade said "Next time get me a blonde." 

Yup, I said to DS that I had a bad feeling about them in that scene. Also when she showed him his trailer and he said “get over here.”

[Duke2801]

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Did anyone else think Cade was going to rape Ruth when he crawled into bed next to her?  Or that it's gone on in the past?  Makes sense that she bought him a whore as a get-out-on-parole present and also that afterwards Cade said "Next time get me a blonde." 

Yes I totally got that vibe too.

[Portia]

10 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Taking a hearse to test drive? Um...I’d have questioned that had I been the funeral director.

I don't think he felt like he was in a position to argue with his new boss. 

[Kenz]

I get that they want a grim feeling with the dark, grey, depressing lighting, but it drives me crazy. They are making the inhabitants of the Missouri Ozarks all look like hicks. The music choices are very strange. I liked season 1, but this one is just dull and dark.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Kenz

[Mindthinkr]

8 hours ago, Kenz said:

I get that they want a grim feeling with the dark, grey, depressing lighting, but it drives me crazy. They are making the inhabitants of the Missouri Ozarks all look like hicks. Also, the background music choices are very strange. I liked season 1, but this one is just dull and dark.

This season also seems to be dragging. Things are happening, but I agree, it does seem dull and dark. 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

On 8/31/2018 at 1:11 PM, Mindthinkr said:

Not good that the daughter took 20k and split it with her brother. Spend a grand in the wrong place will have people questioning. 

Hopefully they are smart enough not to spend it there. The brother said it would be good to have "in case they needed it" which made me think it's an escape plan for him anyway.

I'm excited this is back and I've got something to binge again.

It is a very dark show, in the literal sense. I think someone last season mentioned something about a "blue filter," so I guess that's what it is. I liked the steam coming off the dead body in the woods. Very atmospheric.

I prefer the Snells to Ruth's uncle and the corrupt FBI agent, so that's a trade up for me.

I liked that Wendy got to use her political knowledge in order for them to score the casino. I enjoyed the charity ball scene.

Edited September 1, 2018 by DoubleUTeeEff
changed Ruth's brother to uncle. duh.

[Armchair Critic]

Ugh Ruth's father, I keep waiting for him to snap and I also got an incest vibe. Even though Mr. Snell is annoying AF his wife is worse and I couldn't help feeling a little satisfaction that he hit her where it hurt.

The bright spots for me were seeing Oscar from The Affair and Buddy has grown on me.

[sjankis630]

Alright can someone help out this foggy old man. Am I to think that the Snells killing dude would have the new Cartel people satisfied that all is now well?

Or was it the money too? 

I admit I was doing some laundry when the episode played and missed a little here and there.

[hincandenza]

1 hour ago, sjankis630 said:

Alright can someone help out this foggy old man. Am I to think that the Snells killing dude would have the new Cartel people satisfied that all is now well?

Or was it the money too? 

I admit I was doing some laundry when the episode played and missed a little here and there.

The Snells- who are batshit crazy- killed Del out of some ridiculous hillbilly pride.  The cartel demanded a fair negotiation and gave Marty 1 hour to accomplish this.  Jacob realized that only blood for blood would work (and simply offering money would show its own form of weakness), so he killed their like-a-son right-hand man, Ash.  The cartel would recognize the trade-off- and equivalent value- and call the debt paid.

The unseen cartel heads basically think similarly to Jacob: their stupid, violent world is all about "pride", and "respect", and "power", and "weakness".  So the Snells offering up their own "highly-placed lieutenant" would be seen as a way of wiping the slate clean and returning to a pure business relationship.

That said, I'm just now watching episode 2, and the Snells are not so good at... anything related to business.  Or basic human interactions.  The Snells are little more than feral animals, wearing human-shaped clothing, and while the cartel is similar, they are also presumably too wealthy and professional to play this sort of game with the Snells much longer.  "Coach Sue, Esq." does not strike me as one to dabble in backwoods feuds and petty spats.

[Lemons]

On 8/31/2018 at 7:50 AM, paulvdb said:

 

I just watched the season premiere. I wish the show would get rid of the Snells, but other than that I mostly liked it and am looking forward to the rest of the season.

I want them to get rid of Ruth's ugly father.  That story line is cliched and over used.  The girl wants to go good but her evil father keeps pulling her down.  

[ganesh]

On 8/31/2018 at 11:38 AM, MrsR said:

I wish they had held off on Cade for a while. I expect there to be an obstacle to Ruth's happiness and success but I think it would have worked better for her to have some of those things before her shit heel father shows up and threatens it. 

I feel like the dad getting out of jail is just filler and manufactured drama. I also got the total incest creep out that everyone else did though. 

On 8/31/2018 at 12:10 PM, Pat Hoolihan said:

I especially wanted Mrs Snell to die last season. No such luck. What a B!! That said, it will be interesting to see the battles between tough, sly guy, Mr Snell, and the cartel.

I actually liked Mr Snell here killing Ash and actually being realistic about the larger context. I do think the wife needs to go because she has no idea of the larger context and would like to see Mr Snell taking her out later in the season. He knows well enough that a river boat casino is going to rake in the cash, but since Marty laid the proposal out she's been a huge barrier. 

[ganesh]

32 minutes ago, hincandenza said:

I think one of the reasons I hate Darlene the most isn't just that she's shrill, or profoundly narcissistic/psychopathic, or pings all the "wicked stepmother" revulsions. 

I don't know if I hate her, but she can't see anything strategic for nothing. It's nearly inexplicable how the Snells are this long standing crime family when she'll blow the head off a cartel kingpin. 

I wouldn't give Jacob too much credit either. He might be willing to make a deal, but wow does it take way more effort than you're going  get in the payoff. 

[CelticBlackCat]

I got the creepy incest vibe too.  I didn't think it would be rape, but that Daddy Cade thought he'd pick up where he left off, which is why Ruth made sure he had his own trailer and a hooker.

[Guest]

In the age of binge watching, I know it's difficult sometimes to keep straight what happened on which episode, especially when watching a bunch of them over a short course of time. With that in mind, please be careful to only discuss the current (and/or former, if it relates) episode in each episode thread so as not to spoil other posters who haven't seen future episodes. Thanks! Please PM me with any questions.

[Ottis]

I'm finding I have less patience for the scenes involving the kids. Watching them adjust in season one was surprisingly OK. Seeing the daughter try to run away, and the way the pressure was playing out in the son's actions (getting a gun), felt integral to the story's progress. Stealing money from the cartel stash at this point is a step backward. If the kids don't recognize by now how important every dollar is to the cartel, and what will happen if they don't get paid, that makes no sense, even for kids. Those two are smarter than that. Now they have helped make their dad  (and mom) more vulnerable.

A smarter move, and one that would have fit nicely into their adaptability, would have been for one or both kids to ask their dad for a reward or payment, to reflect THEIR risk and contributions to this enterprise. Then dad and mom could have been both somewhat proud and somewhat sad at what this is teaching their kids.

I know cartels are powerful, but it seems like blowing people away all the time, in a variety of settings, would create a problem for them at some point. There are smarter moves.

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

 

Did anyone else think Cade was going to rape Ruth when he crawled into bed next to her?  Or that it's gone on in the past?  Makes sense that she bought him a whore as a get-out-on-parole present and also that afterwards Cade said "Next time get me a blonde." 

Yes I totally got that vibe too.

 

I'm thinking that her 2 uncles also had at her at some point.  I think some mention of abuse was made in the 1 st season, I'm not sure what type.  Does anyone think that social services would approve Ruth as her cousins' guardian?  I think she never called them.

[qtpye]

Laura Linney is too nice looking of a woman to wear that purple monstrosity they put her in at the gala.

Glad bitchy hillbilly wife lost her precious Ash.

Ruth’s dad can die anytime.

[Old Man Neil]

On 7/21/2019 at 2:15 PM, qtpye said:

Glad bitchy hillbilly wife lost her precious Ash.

You know, for all her faults, I bet Mrs. Snell bakes a mean apple pie. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Ha, ha, ha! Ruth yelling at the man having sex in the VIP room, “What the f- - - are you putting your T-shirt on first?!? Get your pants on! Get your pants on!”

[Johnny Dollar]

Just started on S2. The first episode seems like the plot picks up literally the day after the last episode of S1. Three seemed to grow up at least into Five seemingly overnight. 

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Just started on S2. The first episode seems like the plot picks up literally the day after the last episode of S1. Three seemed to grow up at least into Five seemingly overnight. 

Cute comment.

I was curious about why Three was named Three.  The best theory is that his Dad was a big Nascar fan . . . and Dale Earnhardt's car was #3.  Makes as much sense as anything else.

[Johnny Dollar]

On 8/26/2019 at 8:14 PM, Old Man Neil said:

You know, for all her faults, I bet Mrs. Snell bakes a mean apple pie. 

I hear her lemonade is to die for.