Ozark Recap Season 3 Episode 2: Civil Union

Today we’re diving into Ozark season 3 episode 2, which could also be known as “the girl power hour.” We had predicted that season 3 would be about the women, but damn, it’s ALL about the women so far. Marty is almost an afterthought. He’s like a fly that keeps buzzing around trying to annoy people and they just keep swatting him away.

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*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Wendy and Helen Take Charge

Wendy and Marty go to the “Big Muddy” casino to encourage the owners to sell to them. Marty sabotages the deal and tells owner Carl that maybe he shouldn’t go for it.

Wendy’s not having it, so she goes back again, bringing Helen along this time. Marty finds out because he has installed spyware on her phone and is listening to her conversations.

They convince the owners to sell, but Marty is busy working his own angle. He goes to Cosgrove and asks him to cause an interruption in the rival casino’s business. This will temporarily eliminate the competition for Big Muddy and cause the owners to back out of the deal with Wendy.

Frank Jr. and another guy rig the competitor’s fireworks show to blow up the boat. Marty’s plan works and Big Muddy’s owners pull out of the deal.

But Ruth comes to Wendy’s rescue. She’s been learning about slot scams and vulnerabilities and figures out a way to bring in a ton of people to play Big Muddy’s slot machines and win. The casino is hemorrhaging money and Wendy boldly confronts them and forces them to sell.

Wendy is really taking a lot of risks. Does she think Helen and the cartel will protect her? And then Navarro actual calls Wendy and asks her about some bad omen. That was very bizarre. Would Navarro really call WENDY?

It’s looking like this season is going to be a tug-of-war between Marty and Wendy.

Ruth is Untouchable

Marty and Ruth go to see Cosgrove. Marty offers him an extra 10% payment for Ruth throwing Frank Jr in the water. Cosgrove says Jr is “untouchable.” They ultimately agreed on on extra 15% and that Ruth is untouchable, too. You could see Ruth was grateful in the hint of relief/happiness on her face.

Not much else happens with Ruth this episode until the end when she helps Wendy and Helen get the upper hand in acquiring the new casino.

The New Guy: Baby Brother Ben

In the cold open of this episode, we see a substitute teacher take all his students’ phones and throw them in a wood chipper, then start beating on a grounds worker.

Yep, that’s Wendy’s baby brother, Ben.

He shows up at the casino and just hangs around, raising suspicion from Ruth. He finally tells her who he is. We find out that he skipped out on a warrant after the substitute teaching situation and he needs a place to lay low for awhile. Marty is not happy to have him there and he’s worried about Ben finding out something he shouldn’t know about.

The New Girl: Helen’s Daughter Erin

Helen is moving to the Ozarks for the summer. What does that mean? Does she want to keep a handle on what’s happening, or does she have bigger plans for Wendy?

It seems Helen is going through a nasty divorce and we see her on the phone with her ex – just as he gets attacked and beaten in a parking garage. Hmm.

Helen’s teen daughter Erin is with her for the summer in the Ozarks. I’m calling her Charlotte 2.0. She tells Charlotte she wants to go to Party Cove to lose her virginity (“just get it over with”) so she doesn’t have to go back to Chicago a virgin.

Meanwhile, Jonah is using his drone to sneak a peek at Erin sunbathing on the dock…

We also get a couple brief scenes with Darlene. She sees Jonah and Wendy in the grocery store parking lot and comments, “Your hair is coming in nice!” LOL. Also, Jonah didn’t know baby Zeke was with Darlene, so he was kinda disturbed about that.

Back home, Darlene is bonding with Wyatt. She gives him a pep talk about the Langmore’s history in the town and makes him feel maybe a little proud? She offers Ash’s cabin to Wyatt to live in. She’s DEFINITELY up to something.

In the closing scene, FBI agent Trevor serves a warrant to Marty, which was triggered when they bought a second casino. The Feds will audit the Missouri Belle and watch everything for the next 60 days. Marty goes home and gives Wendy an awesome, sarcastic looks that says “Told ya so.”  Well, Shannon thinks it was awesome. Fadra thinks it was annoying.

Clearly Shannon is Team Marty and Fadra is Team Wendy. At least for now!

The symbols this episode are: stroller (Darlene), champagne bottle (Helen & Wendy’s celebrating), lucky 7’s (slots scam), and ear buds (Marty listening to Wendy’s calls).

Dirty Dilemma: Wendy

Should Wendy tell Marty that she’s in direct contact with Navarro? What would you do?

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