Ozark Recap Season 3 Episode 3: Kevin Cronin Was Here

In Ozark Season 3 Episode 3, s**t gets deep and ramps up! This was an intense episode and we are here for it!

Click on the player above to listen to our full discussion on the podcast!

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Lots of our listeners/readers are still wondering why Wendy put food coloring in the milk and did all those strange things in her old house in Chicago. We have the answer thanks to J from California. They wrote in this comment:

“Hey ya’ll.  I love your podcast! I think in Season 1, Wendy talks about her upbringing as a bored Preacher’s daughter, breaking into homes, spiking the milk with food coloring, messing with the family pictures and drinking beer from the fridge. Do you remember that or am I mistaken?” 

AHA! THANK YOU! I did a little Reddit digging and confirmed that yes, this was referred to in Season 1!

Wendy’s actions were definitely symbolic of her state of mind, but also maybe showing that she is bored and needs to get out from under a man (her dad/Marty) and get back to who she really is. 

Wendy Has a Dream

This episode opens with Wendy playing with a dog. Then we see her driving a car (Helen’s car) and singing REO Speedwagon’s “Time For Me to Fly.” Very symbolic – it’s her time to fly.

Then she’s taking a dead dog out of the trunk! We see Cade’s death scene replayed out with Wendy shooting Marty. It’s a dream. What does it mean that she has this dream? She’s empowered and ruthless. Are these her desires or her fears? Probably a little bit of both.

Cosgrove comes to see Marty, but he’s not around so he tells Wendy that they didn’t “do what they did” as a favor and he wants the new casino up and running. Wendy has her confirmation that Marty sabotaged the purchase of the casino by blowing up the rival casino.

Wendy and Marty argue about their issues with the therapist – which is hysterical because they manage to argue without really saying what they are doing. They just call it “a project.” After the session, the therapist tells Marty she thinks he and Wendy could be happy. To which he responds, “Save it. I’m not bribing you to make us happy.”

During family dinner, Navarro calls Wendy again! He tells her his girlfriend just had a baby and he wants a better life “for all of them” (just how many kids does this guy have?). He also tells Wendy, “If you can’t get what you want with reason, you have to get it with force.” Which she later relays to Carl…

Anita Has an Accident

Wendy and Helen go to Big Muddy. Helen is boosting Wendy’s ego, suggesting that she is eclipsing Marty professionally. They are trying to get Anita and Carl to sell them the hotel with the casino and Wendy is being so arrogant and nasty! She tells them, “We are bigger than you and we are meaner. And we do not lose.” And they walk away. Yikes.

Wendy later meets with Carl and we think she’s so transparent in her manipulation! But Carl is pretty weak and ultimately he decides to convince Anita to sell the hotel.

We see Carl and Anita going for a walk, and Carl says he’s putting his foot down this time. Anita is badgering Carl, being so mean to him. She tells him he’s a terrible business man and she should have married his brother. She is kinda hitting him, and her pushes her away. She falls down the hill, hits a tree, and falls into the water.

Carl just kinda stands there, then slowly walks away. We had some issues with this scene. Fadra thinks Anita’s character was not consistent. Shannon thinks Carl is not the kinda guy who would just walk away if his wife died. But the show is probably done with these characters, so maybe their development is not that important!

Ruth is Confused

Marty asks Ruth to launder money in the new casino without Wendy’s knowledge. Ruth is loyal to Marty, but she’s getting frustrated because of the conflicting communication she’s getting from the him and Wendy.

She tells Marty, “Get your shit together!”

Helen also comes to see Ruth in this episode. She tells Ruth, “I lost my Dad when I was your age.”

Ruth: “Was he murdered?” LOL!

Helen asks Ruth if she could run the day-to-day at the Missouri Belle “if Marty were away.” Uh-oh.

Ben is Putting the Pieces Together

After an encounter on the lake where Jonah demonstrates that the Byrdes are clearly “in” with the Sheriff, Ben starts to wonder just what his sister and her family are into.

Ben tells Wendy how Jonah is his favorite – that he is a boy version of her. Wendy is flattered and she lets her guard down a bit, telling him of her affair. Later in the episode, she tells him she wants him to stay. We think she likes having someone “on her side” who knows who she really is.

Hillbilly Fistfight

Wendy goes to the farmer’s market to pick a fight with Darlene. She was surprised to see Wyatt there, but she offers Darlene money for baby Zeke. She starts egging on Darlene and really hits below the belt, prompting Darlene to smack her in the face. Wendy says, “That oughta do it,” and walks away.

Darlene is all riled up and says she’s gonna kill Wendy, but Wyatt calms her down and diffuses the situation.

We thought she might have gone to the police or social services, but she just goes home and takes photos of her face and split lip. We’re not really sure what Wendy’s planning here…

Marty Goes to a Concert

Marty is talking to the REO Speedwagon manager, Dickie, and trying to subtly convince him to use Marty’s vendors as they set up for the concert. Dickie gets the drift and calls his guys, saying, “Hey. This guy wants us to help him launder some money…” Another LOL moment!

And in case you didn’t know, the title of this episode is, “Kevin Cronin Was Here.” Kevin Cronin is the lead singer of REO Speedwagon.

The New Girl: FBI Agent Maya Miller

Maya Miller settles in at the Missouri Belle and will be tracking every receipt and all the happenings at the casino. She tells Marty that if they see a jump in revenue after they leave, the process will start all over again. So money laundering is out.

But Maya presents herself as different than the other agents who “have it out for Marty.” She offers Marty a way out where he can plead to a lesser charge, serve 18 months in a country club prison, and then work for the FBI helping them find people like him.

At the end of the episode, Marty tells her he’ll take that deal.

Unfortunately, the Cartel (we think) gets to Marty first, grabbing him from the concert and taking him away. Ben sees this and he and Ruth speed after the car – but they stop and point a gun at them, forcing them to back down and stop following.

There are a couple other short scenes that may be significant:

• Trevor has one of the mafia’s boys who helped blow up the casino fireworks and he says he’s going to help them get Marty.
• Erin is waiting for her new Ozark friends to pick her up and she asks Helen if they found out who beat up her dad. We think Erin’s going to find out about Helen’s real job this season and that could be a big problem for Helen!
• Jonah has a crush on Erin.
• Ben makes his move on Ruth, asking her out. We think this might be the first time we’ve ever seen Ruth smile!

The symbols in the opener of this episode (and their meanings) are: fingerprint (we’re not sure?), microphone (REO Speedwagon concert), fist (fistfight with Darlene), fish in fishbowl (FBI agent’s fish / symbolic of being watched).

Dirty Dilemma: Marty

Should Marty take the deal with the FBI? Do you think Maya is being entirely honest? Does Marty really think he can ever “get out?” What would you do?

We’d love to hear your comments:

• Call 315-STING-TV (315-784-6488) and leave us a voice message with your feedback.
• Email your comments and ideas to [email protected]
• Join our TV & Movie Discussion Group and our Ozark’s Dirty Laundry Facebook groups.
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook