Helen Pierce quotes from Ozark

Helen Pierce

Ben does not have to die because he told Erin. He has to die because Erin is not the last person he will tell.

Marty Byrde

Since when is it prudent to try to off your partners before a deal is even finalized? I must have missed that issue of the Harvard Business Review.

Helen Pierce

I told you, the cartel is gonna do what the cartel is gonna do.

Marty Byrde

Right.

Helen Pierce

Your job was to find a way to make this deal without the Snells.

Marty Byrde

I was in the middle of trying to figure out if that's even possible.

Helen Pierce

I did not say it was done. The Snells poisoned my client's product. My client couldn't allow such brazen disrespect without a proportional response.

Wendy Byrde

We completely understand your client's need for respect.

Marty Byrde

Are you fucking kidding me?

Wendy Byrde

Marty...

Marty Byrde

I mean, your client's little ego trip just completely fucked us. It fucked the casino, and he pissed away $50 million.

Helen Pierce

It wasn't my decision. I wasn't even informed of it.

Wendy Byrde

How do we salvage this?

Helen Pierce

Find a way to immediately cut the Snells out of this deal.

Marty Byrde

We're not salvaging shit.

Helen Pierce

It's the first law of power, Marty. Those who can, shit on others. Those who can't, clean it up.

Marty Byrde

I'm not playing your fucking games anymore.

Helen Pierce

You don't have an option.

Marty Byrde

Neither do you. And neither does your client, if he wants to keep his $50 million. You think I'm the only one over a fucking barrel?

Helen Pierce

Clean up your own shit.

Wendy Byrde

He'll do it.

Marty Byrde

Jacob.

Jacob Snell

Excuse me if I don't shake your hand.

Marty Byrde

I'm fine skipping pleasantries. Let's make this overture brief.

Jacob Snell

The Almighty himself could not convince us to lift our blockade.

Marty Byrde

What about the federal government? You know who I spent the morning with? Your friends over at the power company. I wanted to know how it was that they were able to get your ancestors off of their land so quickly back in 1929.

Jacob Snell

No mystery there. Lies, theft, intimidation.

Marty Byrde

Well, they got an assist from a little thing called riparian rights.

Jacob Snell

Pardon me?

Marty Byrde

Riparian rights are the laws that say who owns the land under a body of water. It's kind of crazy, right? I mean, who ever stops to consider the land under a lake? Or, in this case, the Missouri River. Which last time I checked was a federal waterway. What this means, Jacob, is that the instant you flooded your land and connected it to the Missouri, you ceded all of that flooded land to the US government.

Helen Pierce

Which is how I managed to obtain this written order guaranteeing our workers access to the boat. Now, if you defy this order, we can have the US Marshals escort them.

Jacob Snell

And the land that you need for access roads and parking lots to get the people to your precious boat. We own all of it. What's to stop us from parking guards all around the water's edge?

Marty Byrde

Eminent domain. The feds are gonna give all the surrounding land to our business partners to build shopping malls and hotels and, yes, access roads. Because it's in their financial interest. The tax revenue from said development is gonna be massive, just like it was in 1929. They own it all. Above, around and below.

Jacob Snell

There is a sermon to be had here, but I don't feel much like praying.

Marty Byrde

If you try to fight this, it will cost you a lot more than a bullet in the shoulder.

Jacob Snell

Which is why you asked to meet me alone. You were afraid Darlene wouldn't be quite so receptive. I'll need assurances...if we're expected to stand down, that you will never, ever try and hit me or my wife ever again.

Marty Byrde

You have them, so long as you keep Darlene in line. Jacob...tell Darlene that the casino profits are gonna make you richer than you ever imagined. That you can use them to buy twice the land that you have now.

Jacob Snell

She's the same woman now as when I married her. Same woman that slipped into this booth 45 years ago, took my beating heart in both her hands and took off quicker than a mare. Same woman I've been chasing ever since.

Marty Byrde

They'll kill you, Jacob.

Jacob Snell

What do you do, Martin, when the bride who took your breath away becomes the wife who makes you hold your breath in terror?

Helen Pierce

I'm not sure you appreciate the historical significance of what it is you're about to pull off. Medellín, Sinaloa, Juárez, every one of them tried to create something like this. Every one of them failed. A legitimate, self-sustaining operation like a casino. This is why crime organizes. Have you given any thought to the next five years?

Marty Byrde

Uh, I'd love to talk about the operational account.

Helen Pierce

Because you're pillars of the community now. You've established a foothold in the gaming industry. You could expand, completely legitimately. Honoring your obligations to my client, obviously.

Wendy Byrde

I am so sorry, but I have to get him home. I mean, it's just been a long time since we've been tied to a nap schedule.

Helen Pierce

It's funny how you forget there was ever a time before they could tell you to go fuck yourself. [chuckles] But not you. No. You wouldn't call up and talk about your father's girlfriend, would you? No.

Marty Byrde

The operational account.

Helen Pierce

What about it?

Marty Byrde

It's not up and running.

Helen Pierce

Once the contracts are signed.

Marty Byrde

That's in two days. I could be working now.

Helen Pierce

Well, is there some kind of rush I'm not aware of?

Marty Byrde

Just trying to be efficient.

Helen Pierce

Well, call us superstitious. On a long road trip, you're most likely to get into an accident a mile from your home.

Marty Byrde

I understand you're upset.

Helen Pierce

Oh, really? Do I seem upset? My client, on the other hand...

Marty Byrde

We've been over all this.

Helen Pierce

Yes, we have.

Marty Byrde

Considering the amount of hires that we had to make, there's no way--

Helen Pierce

Yes, you don't know who might've infiltrated, so you don't wanna launder. I understand. Just as I'm sure you understand that I didn't ask to drive to the Ozarks today, but we all have to do things that are outside our comfort zone, don't we?

Marty Byrde

They think that we killed a fed. Agent Petty’s DNA was all over Cade Langmore’s truck.

Helen Pierce

They know you didn’t kill him.

Marty Byrde

But you know what I mean. I think what none of us can account for is the emotional component for the FBI. We can't be sure what level of resources they'll invest.

Helen Pierce

So, is it a tougher hand? Sure. But the reality is, it doesn't matter if they think that you hired Cade to get rid of Petty and then got rid of him. You've always known the laundering would have to be done right under the FBI's nose.

Marty Byrde

And it will. I just need some time before I start moving tens of millions of dollars through that building.

Helen Pierce

You're supposed to be the best. That's why you were hired.

Marty Byrde

Well, then listen to me, okay? People as individuals are completely unpredictable. One person making one bet, there's no way I could possibly know which way he or she is gonna go, but the law of large numbers--

Helen Pierce

Yeah, you're mistaking this for a discussion. Look, I was sent here for a simple reason, to deliver one simple message in person, despite my own various shit-shows, which I guarantee stack up quite nicely against your own. Launder the fucking money. Starting tomorrow. Are we good, or are we in our feelings?

Marty Byrde

We're good.

Helen Pierce

Good.

Wendy Byrde

So, you think this house will work?

Helen Pierce

Um, at least it's three months I don't have to deal with Gene. Ugh, he attacks and attacks and attacks. He has no idea what I've endured just to keep him alive. Not that I want him dead, obviously. I mean, I do want my kids to have a father, but do I fantasize now and then about him getting the shit kicked out of him? Losing a few of those teeth he spent a small fortune capping? [clicks tongue] You betcha. I don't mean to dwell on Gene.

Wendy Byrde

You're not.

Helen Pierce

It's just, you know, when things get so hostile so fast, you think, "How'd I manage to fuck that up so badly?" That painting has no intention. How is it that all these years, I was trying to protect my family, and actually, I was just doing the opposite?

Wendy Byrde

For all you know, things could have been much worse, and you're the reason they're not.

Helen Pierce

Maybe he sensed that I was keeping things from him and withdrew. I don't know. Maybe it is all my fault. Maybe if I'd told him everything, we'd still be together. I don't know.

Wendy Byrde

That just trades one set of problems for another. Ask our therapist. [laughs] We're very careful.

Helen Pierce

Hmm.

Wendy Byrde

Maybe that's the only way to truly make a marriage last. Make it impossible to blow up without the shock wave swallowing everyone.

Helen Pierce

Mutually assured destruction.

Helen Pierce

What do you think happened at that casino last night?

Marty Byrde

Boy, I mean, your guess is as good as mine.

Helen Pierce

So, why did Wendy look like she thought maybe you did know?

Marty Byrde

I don't know. Where's this coming from?

Helen Pierce

Where it's coming from is that I'm starting to sense that you two aren't exactly on the same page about this expansion plan.

Marty Byrde

Hmm. As you know, I don't like to take on unnecessary risk.

Helen Pierce

I'm not talking about philosophical differences. I'm talking about something deeper. In case you hadn't noticed, this plan now involves more than just the two of you. So, when you have problems, they become my problems.

Marty Byrde

I think you should be having this conversation with the both of us.

Helen Pierce

Wendy isn't the issue here. Just be thankful that she and Ruth have got us back on track. [pause] You didn't know.

Marty Byrde

Of course I knew. I'm surprised that, uh...that you did so soon. Good.

Wendy Byrde

How is your ex? Is he still in the hospital?

Helen Pierce

He is, and doing about as well as he should be. How are you and Marty?

Wendy Byrde

We're okay. We're-- We're good. We're just... We're a little disconnected at the moment.

Helen Pierce

Ah. Same thing happened to us. When I started eclipsing him professionally, he was no longer interested in me sexually.

Wendy Byrde

Oh, I'd hardly say I'm eclipsing him.

Helen Pierce

Oh, please!

Wendy Byrde

No, we can't do any of this without him.

Helen Pierce

Few people get my client's attention the way you have.

Wendy Byrde

And should I be worried about that?

Helen Pierce

What, his attention?

Wendy Byrde

Mm-hmm.

Helen Pierce

Only if you fuck up.

Helen Pierce

You don't ask this man the same question twice.

Marty Byrde

Well, Helen, I'm not asking a question. I'm telling you, as the person who directs these finances, we need to look for a short-term solution for our laundering problems.

Helen Pierce

And I am telling you, as his attorney, my client wants his new business clean. You're gonna have to find another way.

Marty Byrde

Tell me, is it your client's wish, or is it Wendy's?

Helen Pierce

Why would you ask that?

Marty Byrde

Well, because I don't think you understand how invested she is with your client.

Helen Pierce

Meaning what, precisely?

Marty Byrde

The only reason we can't move money through the Missouri Belle now is because of an audit that she brought down on us. Okay? Maybe she should talk to Navarro.

Helen Pierce

No.

Marty Byrde

Her obsession with expansion, it's fucked us.

Helen Pierce

No, no, no, no. You fucked us, Marty. I've seen the warrant. Wendy didn't cause this audit. You did, when you decided to blow up a casino. Let's be plain. You played, you lost. I have no interest in looking at that any further. My interest is in moving forward as a team. Now, I assume that's not gonna be a problem. Is that gonna be a problem?

Marty Byrde

No.

Helen Pierce

She was a good listener. Do you ever get tired of this?

No, not really.

Helen Pierce

Good. Keep your schedule open.