'Ozark' season 3: 'Twisted' Darlene Snell might live in the forest to keep baby Zeke away from Wendy Byrde
With a dangerous and dark plot, 'Ozark' has sifted its way through deep waters. The second season ended with women getting an upper hand in the battle for power and Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) seems to be on an evil quest.
Remember how she poisoned strip club owner Bobby Deane with a syringe-jab to the neck and, later, literally blew the head off of drug lord Camino Del Rio (Esai Morales) after he referred to Darlene and her husband Jacob (Peter Mullan) as "rednecks" in season one?
A ruthless villain, she follows her own set of morals and goes to any length to get what she wants. In season two, she made it clear to Jacob that she wanted a baby to carry on the family legacy of a multi-million-dollar heroin empire in the Missouri Ozarks. In a tragic twist, Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) murdered the pastor, Mason Young (Michael Mosley), to protect his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) during a brutal kidnapping showdown. Darlene then seized the chance as she killed Mason's wife and stole his baby boy Zeke.
She may be trying to heal her emotional wounds with the baby, but Wendy already plans to get the little one back. Considering the Byrdes were previously fostering the child, she may be able to get the child into her family after killing Darlene.
Fans are not too happy with the baby going to the Snell family or the Byrde family as they feel he needs a "loving" home. In a Reddit thread, a fan wrote: "To recap, Darlene killed Zeke’s mother and Marty killed Zeke’s father, so I’m thinking Ruth might be the more fit parent for that child at this point," and another said, "The kid deserves to be adopted into a loving home. None of those people deserve that child. They're all involved with the cartel one way or another and it's no way to bring up a child. Not even sure how they intend to explain the child ending up with Darlene to child services."
Expressing his disgust, one fan wrote on Reddit: "Who else was mad when Marty handed the baby over to Darlene? I was so mad that I had to hit pause, then remind myself it's all TV. Using the poor baby as a bargaining chip was far too low. Had a WTF moment the minute he placed the wee child in her demonic hands. Zeke didn't deserve any of it. The Snells and Marty selfishness ruined the child's life."
Going by Wendy's dark streak — especially after she ordered the killing of Cade Langmore — she might get a leg up! One user wrote on Reddit, "Wendy was getting attached to the baby and seemed determined to get him back from Darlene. So, do we see more trouble from Darlene in the next series?"
Hinting on Darlene's future in the show, Emery told New York Post: "I don’t know what’s going to happen, I can’t even imagine. But I don’t want to be killed off. Darlene is on an arrow-straight track to hell. I think she’s such a fighter and will do anything to keep that baby. It seems to me that [Darlene] goes on the lam and lives in the forest with the baby. I have no idea, but it’s intriguing to me."
In the same interview, she called her character "twisted" but not "evil" and added that she believes in Darlene's decisions. "I have to say, I can’t think of her as evil or else what would be the point? She has to have some kind of really strong convictions about what’s been done to the Snell family. I think she’s twisted but I think I have to believe in her. For me, it’s a joy to play that side of somebody, that scary stuff. It’s because you get to throw it all out there."
As the next season hits Netflix in 2020, it will be interesting to see how long can Darlene keep the baby as there seems to be a major plot in place to separate the two. Perhaps, the baby might fall into Ruth Langmore's (Julia Garner) hands after she betrays Marty and kills Wendy to get a place on the big table.