[Header Image: Mae Whitman as Annie Marks, Christina Hendricks as Beth Boland, and Retta as Ruby Hill | NBC]
This episode was really about the girls trying to sort out some messes and it ended up being one the most hilarious and entertaining episodes of the season as well as continuing to push the narrative forward towards the finale.
Over time, Beth is being sent body parts from Rio that they assume are Boomer’s but she simply ignores them. That whole montage of her putting the parts down the sink was one the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen. I love that it got increasingly worse for her to the point that she stormed right up to him in the park to demand what he wants which really opens the episode up to the messes that the trio are going to have to figure out.
While Rio having Boomer’s body and using it in such a gross but entertaining way is a problem, it also presents another one which is the fact that Annie and Ruby owe him for not delivering the pills they got from Canada. It was clear that was going to come back to bite them and Rio has long since learnt that the best way is to make them pay him back instead of killing them because then at least he gets something out of it. That, in this case, is getting them to wash a ton of fake money. With no dealership to use and the refund system most likely still not an option, they’re forced to do everything from exchanging notes for coins at the laundrette to swapping out the fake money with real money from the charity pot at work, and even buying ice-cream with $100 bills. It’s slow working but they do try and it was entertaining to see them attempt to find ways to make it work. Something else I appreciated was that they didn’t linger too much on the fact that Annie and Ruby didn’t tell Beth about Canada. She’s clearly upset and even remarked that Ruby had gone behind her back again but it is hard to deny that she was out and they needed the money so it worked that they seemed to swiftly move past it.
Cleaning all of that money, they realise that if there’s no body then Rio can’t use it against them so Beth decides to follow him from the bar they’ve frequented before. We see him go about his day and she eventually finds his apartment and gets inside. That whole act was something else. It further shows that she’s quick on her feet and while it doesn’t go exactly to plan, she still finds her way into his place. Speaking of, it is exactly what I imagined! A little more spacious but still. It’s simple but sill speaks volumes and while it does showcase the fact that he has a lot of money, it’s not too in your face which works well for Rio. It also accommodates for Marcus but it’s confirmed from this episode that he doesn’t live with Rio full time. It was all a really interesting and great insight into Rio and we also get the added information that his neighbours know him as “Christopher.” Now, is that his real name? I don’t know. Rio could still be his real name or maybe neither of them are but it is interesting that he uses two separate ones which does makes sense if he wants to create some kind of distance.
That being said, Beth is caught snooping and it speaks volumes that Rio was aware of her following him the entire time. At any point he could have stopped her but he allowed for her to see his routine for that day (which is most likely the same every week considering Marcus has baseball) and to get into his apartment. He’s most likely confident that she won’t use any of what she’s discovered against him especially considering most of what she’s found out could potentially hurt Marcus and his ex but also because she’s tried to use things against him before and that didn’t work out, but also that’s a pretty vulnerable thing to let someone into your place and allow for them to snoop around like that. While his place is quite simple there’s still some telltale things that offer up even the slightest bit of insight into who he is and he was okay with Beth seeing that.
Things clearly still aren’t level with them which is showcased clearly when they refuse to answer each other’s questions, he’s unbothered by the fact that cleaning the money is going to be slow and painful, and the fact he asks her to leave when it seemed like they were about to kiss. It also probably won’t help matters that Ruby used a lot of the fake cash to get a lawyer for Stan.
Now, because Rio is aware it’s going to take much longer than usual, nothing might happen so long as Ruby replaces it all. However, it’s probably going to take her longer to obtain the money because she’s got to save it all up from scratch instead of change dirty for clean. I can’t imagine it’ll go down particularly well if she, Beth, and Annie can’t provide it all, however, for now I’m basking in the delight that Stan has good representation. We all knew that the pen cap was laughable evidence considering it was Boomer who found it and we all knew that Turner was being shady and cutting a lot of corners but now we have confirmation that the case against Stan is a joke. If using the fake money like that gets Stan off and they don’t get caught, I’m content for now.
Although, even if he gets off (or rather when, let’s be optimistic), there’s still the fact that Turner is like a dog with a bone. He thinks of Beth as this horrific human being so he’s not going to stop chasing her and he’s been looking into Rio for far too long now. They’re not going to give up but our trio have an advantage because they know that Noah is FBI although for some reason he nor Turner have clocked on to the fact that Annie might suspect. You would think the fact that she was cold with Noah after her brother-in-law’s dealership was raided, (thanks to her information,) they would realise that she might be onto them but they don’t and it’s hilarious. But regardless, they’re going to try and feed Noah false information to keep the FBI off their trail and honestly, it’s exactly what I was wanting. Hopefully this, as well as the fact that he seems to be having regrets, will lead towards the downfall of the investigation.
That being said, while they do have an advantage, there’s also a disadvantage with the body that Beth, Annie, and Ruby buried. While finding out that Boomer stores any meat at Fine and Frugal for the right price was gross, it was hilarious to think that he might have ended up there himself. Although they do obtain a body that is wrapped up in the same way Boomer’s was, we discover that the one they buried has darker hair and so therefore is the wrong one. The next episode sees the return of Mary Pat and the episode is titled ‘Jeff’ (her husband’s name who died prior to us being introduced to her) and a lot of people, including myself, are suspecting that maybe this other body is actually Jeff’s. There’s also the possibility that the girls never dumped Boomer’s body in the dumpster but instead it was Jeff. At this point, I’m not going to underestimate how wild things can get from here but I’m curious to get some answers regardless during the next episode.
Beyond that, there are two other important pieces of information that I think are worth noting. The first is the fact that Beth and Dean are getting divorced although it’s still unclear what will happen in terms of custody. It’s a long time coming but the fact that he handed over the papers ensures that he’s finally willing to move on so it should be a pretty straight forward process for the most part. The second is Sadie. He has grown closer to Noah and if he wasn’t FBI and lying his way in, I would be so happy at how well they get on. Turner has no issue with using Sadie to get information which adds to how shady he really is and while Noah seemed indifferent I’m guessing it will bother him eventually. But here’s the thing, Sadie is going to get hurt if this ever comes out. Annie can’t exactly tell him the truth but either the FBI investigation is successful and Sadie finds out everything that way or the investigation fails and Sadie discovers that Noah lied. Either way, Sadie is going to get hurt and I’m honestly so scared.
wonderoes 