Line #2 Headscratchers/Ozark


1	! Season 1
2	* How did the Snells distribute their heroin before Mason started doing his lake sermons? They make it sound like it's impossible without him, leading them to agree to a deal with the Navarro Cartel, but what did they do beforehand?
3	** In season one, Jacob mentioned how difficult it was moving his heroin across land as his men were more likely to get pulled over. It seemed like he was speaking from experience, which was why he started shipping it down the river. Since the police are almost as likely to have boats as cars, he might've run into problems there as well. The river church made things easier and he wanted to keep it that way.
4	* Why can't Marty and his family go into witness protection?
5	** Because, in his own way, Marty has an unshakeable belief in the "American Dream". He doesn't just want to survive; he wants to succeed because that's what a family man does. Going into witsec would be admitting defeat and resigning his family to a life of mediocrity and more or less the same level of danger from the cartel. Rebuilding the laundering operation is his way of "fixing" his problems and adhering to his worldview.
6	** Marty probably believes that the Cartel [[WitlessProtectionProgram will bypass witsec security]] and violently murder him, his wife and his kids. His PI even says the chances of your kids staying off social media is almost nil.
7	! Season 2
8	* After the FBI raid the Snells and discover human remains on their property, why do they arrest Jacob and not Darlene? Notwithstanding the fact that she personally commits many (if not most) of these murders herself, they're a long-term married couple, who have run the farm together for decades. It's highly improbable from their point of view that she wouldn't be at the very least considered an accessory, and way, ''way'' more improbable that Petty wouldn't want to use that suspicion as leverage.
9	* Why doesn't Buddy just get a reverse mortgage instead of selling his house on the unusual stipulation that he be allowed to live in the basement until he dies? Reverse mortgages were created for just this kind of thing: elderly people who own their homes but can't afford their living expenses. He'd be able to continue living in his home without becoming the lodger of a bunch of strangers.
10	** Other than the same reason Hamlet didn't kill his uncle when he had the chance (there wouldn't have been a play), Buddy probably just doesn't want to be hassled with all the paperwork.
11	** Also, it's likely he was looking for companionship (or at least a caretaker) in his last months. He didn't seem to need the money, and the condition he be able to stay seems more about human contact than money.
12	* Rather than try to do something impossible (ask for Zeke back within the span of a few hours when it normally takes weeks), put himself into Wilkes' debt with a big ask, and raise suspicion to himself, why didn't Marty go over to Mason's house and explain that if Mason could wait two or three days, he'd have his kid back? It didn't benefit Mason to do something drastic and lose a chance at his ultimate goal.
13	** To put it lightly, Mason was not in a very great place, emotionally and psychologically. His wife was murdered, his faith in God shattered, and now his child taken from him. Not to mention, Marty would be the worst person to calm him down since Marty had lied to him before and arguably is the reason for all of Mason's troubles in the first place.
14	** Mason very explicitly blamed the two Byrdes for all that had gone wrong in his life. He had repeatedly said to both their faces as such, and repeatedly spurned their (very obviously good) advice on numerous occasions throughout Season 2. There was no way he would have listened to anything Helen or Marty said at all. He literally equated them with the devil out loud, to their face.
15	* Why did Helen continually put responsibility on the Snells on Marty? The Snells were impossible for Marty to handle on his own and they were also working for the cartel. Plus, it would let the Snells know that the cartel wasn't playing around strengthening their position.
16	** Marty promised the cartel that he had things handled in the Ozark. That puts the onus on him to get things in order. As far as the cartel is concerned, when someone says they can do something, it's not the cartel's responsibility to do their job for them.
17	** This is my biggest pet peeve, in addition to the Cartel not giving the Byrdes any kinda man power....in fact...
18	* How come the Byrdes don't hire any personal muscle for their protection?
19	** It'd be hard to keep up the cover of being angel investors in the Ozarks by hiring private security. Not to mention, they'd have to account for that expense on their taxes AND they'd be paying security with the cartel's money. The cartel wouldn't take kindly to their launderer spending their money on armed muscle without their clearance or command.
20	* How have the Snells lasted as long as they apparently have? Even accounting for the fact they've been around a while, and have their own systems for disposing of bodies or concealing deaths, they are inflexible, entitled, spoiled, ignorant, and oblivious. Darlene is something like a psychopathic and quite possibly delusional spoiled brat who throws adolescent tantrums over anything she sees as an insult. Which is nearly everything. She's emotional, irrational, and impulsive, incapable of accepting blame or recognising when she's responsible for her own problems. It's made clear multiple times, not just the killing of Del but even brief interactions that Darlene's snits and tantrums cause friction and offense which escalates tensions between them and the Cartels. One Cartel goon just outright states 'they have NO manners'. All the Snells need to do is keep their shit together for a half hour here, an hour there, things would go smoothly. Jacob's reactions to Darlene make it clear it's just how she is, which begs the question, how have they ever gotten anything done?
21	** It's a case of "Big Fish Little Pond". In their small, rural area, the Snells ran things for 70+ years, likely unopposed as everyone around them were either too powerless or too scared to act. Before Marty came to town, they had zero experience with Cartels or people smart enough to thwart their plans. That's when they started getting nasty, it seems.
22	* Why did Ruth confess to murdering her uncles to Wyatt when Cade threatened to tell him himself? While Wyatt doesn't hate Cade, he'll probably more inclined to believe Ruth over him.
23	** It was a long overdue confession. Wyatt always suspected that something was wrong and Ruth was always tortured about not telling him. It was also her way of picking a third option and go against Cade. He also refused to go to college without finding out the truth and that would've made Ruth feel like she's running out of options as well.
24	* How could the bones from one of the body belong to Grace if she was dead for about 3 months? How long does it take for a body to become a skeleton?
25	* So, the Cartel decided to kill the Snells... by only shooting at them once, and then letting them go? And then never follow up on it no matter how much trouble Jacob or Darlene prove to be? Why is Marty afraid of the Cartel killing him when apparently they just give up if you don't immediately die?
26	** Gang violence happens in spasms. It takes a lot of coordination to pull off a successful hit on the leader of another gang and if it doesn't work, then it takes some time to rearm and regroups without bringing down more trouble from the cops. The cartel took their shot at the Snells and they missed. They just have to wait for things to cool off and they'll try again.
27	* Why did Marty move out of the house after his fight with Wendy? It'll be cheaper and safer to just stay and she didn't have any real authority to force him out. It's not like the kids want him out either, can't he just give her the silent treatment for the next few days?
28	* Why didn't Helen use a pseudonym when meeting with Sue?
29	* When in their great escape did Wendy change her mind about saving Ben, and why?
30	** When he made a phone call to apologize. No matter where Wendy took Ben, he would never stay hidden and would inevitably do something to endanger himself and in turn her family.
31	* How did Helen not see Jonah and his shotgun's online through her translucent door?
32	* After the Byrdes took over the Belle, a business that rakes in millions in a month, why didn't they hire any security? Even just one bodyguard/head of security?
33	** There were bodyguards on standby when Ruth ordered Ben to leave before he outed himself as Wendy's brother.
34	* How much of a heads up did Nelson have on his hit on Helen? Was it a loyalty test? He had said he would warn her and then kills her. It is entirely possible he was told while surrounded by other cartel killers, men who would kill Helen and him. You would want the bodyguard to do it as a way to prove the guard's loyalty and to prevent the guard from resenting you for killing his charge.
35	* This is probably just a (somewhat glaring) continuity error, but: when Wendy and Ben arrive at the diner, it's at the end of their second day on the road, and as we later find out, they're somewhere in Eastern Kentucky. Wendy calls to notify Nelson of Ben's location; up until this point he had no idea what direction they were headed in, and in fact was thrown off by a decoy planted in the wrong direction (Kansas City). So how's Nelson able to show up just in time for Ben to figure out something's off?
36	! Season 4
37	* Why was Wendy arrested along with Marty for the road rage incident? She didn't assault the other guy, it was Marty's doing.
38	** Cops are not very discriminating when it comes to arresting people for public incidents. She was involved, she threw in a hit or two; that's enough for the cops to book her. If the charges stick or not, that's up to the states attorney.
39	* Why did Ruth buy out the Missouri Belle? Did she have some fondness for the place or did she just want to annoy the Byrdes?
40	** Little bit of both plus local pride. The Belle is where she started leaving her past behind her and her history of being a mere grunt by setting up the high roller game and other high profile upper management duties. It also let her stick it to Wendy. Finally, she was proud to be Ozarkian, which the Bryds weren't.
41	* Why was Ruth building such a lavish house for herself? She deserves to spoil herself a little, of course, but with only her, Three and maybe Rachel living, she didn't need to go all out.
42	** The house was for both the living and the dead. It was going to be a home that her family had always fantasized about.
43	** And for future Langmore generations, if she or Three decide to have kids someday.
44	* Why was Nelson trying to kill Ruth and/or Rachel?
45	** He didn't actually arm himself, he may have just wanted to intimidate them since they didn't follow up on continuing the riverboat's laundering. If they refused again, he may have prepared to rough them up or even kill them.
46	* How did Ruth and Rachel get Nelson's body under the pool without the workers finding it?
47	** The pool was about to be lined with cement the next day. There was no need for the workers to dig any deeper.
48	* Why did Mel decide to meet the Byrdes in the end and tell him that he's busting them?
49	** Mel is as addicted to being right as he is addicted to drugs. Confronting the Byrdes in the end is his high.
50	** RuleOfDrama. But I can think of two possibilities:
51	*** Maybe it wasn't a well-planned and deliberate choice on his end. It's fully possible that he had just broken in, found Ben's remains and wandered off in daze with the Byrdes arriving home immediately after. Mel then decided to seize the opportunity to confront them on a whim.
52	*** Second, plain [[MomentOfWeakness human error]]. Mel had gotten really involved in that case and had a [[ItsPersonal major bone to pick with the Byrdes due to their attempt to bribe him with his career]]. After he found out the truth, Mel had the perfect opportunity to rub that in on the Byrdes before busting them for good, the possibility of he himself getting killed ([[IdiotBall idiotically]]) escaping him. Stupid on his part? Maybe it was, but it's still understandable.
53	** Maybe he was on drugs or drunk and thought it'll be a good idea to confront the two.
54	** Mel's speech to the Byrdes make it clear that he's become TheAtoner. He says that he couldn't live with making a DealWithTheDevil on his conscience, so he's compelled to both set things right and tell the Byrdes to their faces (and by extension to himself) that he's not for sale after all
55	* Why didn't Clare rat on Wendy and Marty being present at Javi's assassination, or that Wendy helped lure him there?
56	** From Clare's perspective, the Byrdes are just as ruthless as Camila and only marginally less powerful. Lying to Camila would antagonize her, but telling the full truth would antagonize the Byrdes - Its possible her partial confession was an attempt to TakeAThirdOption and appease both parties.
57	** Clare actually liked the Brydes, and she likely didn't want more people to die on her conscience. In all likelihood, she hates Ruth for getting her into this mess in the first place.
58	*** I think this is the most likely explanation. Clare is a PunchClockVillain. Her company causes more deaths than any of the criminal enterprises in the show, something she fully accepts, yet she's squeamish about murder when it's right in her face. She knows the Byrds personally, and they're standing right next to her, looking her in the eyes as she holds their lives in her hands. Naming them would be tantamount to killing them herself, and she can't bring herself to do it even though protecting them puts her in some amount of risk.
59	** The Byrdes also prove useful allies to Clare and could protect her from future reprisal and get her lucrative business deals.
60	** Camilla's main priority was her son's killer, she probably wouldn't care for the whole story. There was no need to overreach and further complicate matters. Just give up Ruth and the matter will be put to rest.
61	* Why did Clare have so little security? After being kidnapped by Ruth, you would think she'd get additional security.

Context Headscratchers / Ozark